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[ "Bee Gees", "2009-2012: Return to performing and Robin's death", "When was Robin's death?", "20 May 2012", "When did they return to performing?", "Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009" ]
C_6cca1f87ae8e46bd949e4e2bdf8ac2d4_0
What happened in 2009?
3
What happened in 2009 at the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing?
Bee Gees
In an interview with Easy Mix radio host Tim Roxborough on 1 September 2009, Barry's 63rd birthday, Barry commented on future tours saying that "they will be back"; but in an agreement with Warner/Rhino they would not make an announcement at that time. On 7 September 2009, Robin disclosed to Jonathan Agnew that he had been in touch with Barry and that they had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and "perform again". Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to issues with severe abdominal pain. On 13 February 2012, Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and his final. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. With Robin's death, Barry became the last surviving Gibb brother, and the Bee Gees dissolved as a musical group. CANNOTANSWER
appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009.
The Bee Gees were a music group formed in 1958, featuring brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid- to late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies; Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid- to late 1970s and 1980s. The Bee Gees wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists and have been regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop music history. They have been referred to in the media as The Disco Kings, Britain’s First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music. Born on the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived in Chorlton, Manchester, England until the late 1950s. There, in 1955, they formed the skiffle/rock and roll group the Rattlesnakes. The family then moved to Redcliffe, in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia, later to Cribb Island. After achieving their first chart success in Australia as the Bee Gees with "Spicks and Specks" (their twelfth single), they returned to the UK in January 1967, when producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience. The Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (1977) was the turning point of their career, with both the film and soundtrack having a cultural impact throughout the world, enhancing the disco scene's mainstream appeal. They won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever, including Album of the Year. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them among the best-selling music artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; the Hall's citation says, "Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees." With nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the Bee Gees are the third-most successful band in Billboard charts history behind only the Beatles and the Supremes. Following Maurice's sudden death in January 2003 at the age of 53, Barry and Robin retired the group's name after 45 years of activity. In 2009, Robin announced that he and Barry had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and perform again. Robin died in May 2012, aged 62, after a prolonged period of failing health, leaving Barry as the only surviving member of the group. History 1955–1966: Music origins, Bee Gees formation and popularity in Australia Born on the Isle of Man during the late 1940s, the Gibb brothers moved to their father Hugh Gibb's hometown of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Greater Manchester, England in 1955. They formed a skiffle/rock-and-roll group, the Rattlesnakes, which consisted of Barry on guitar and vocals, Robin and Maurice on vocals and friends Paul Frost on drums and Kenny Horrocks on tea-chest bass. In December 1957 the boys began to sing in harmony. The story is told that they were going to lip-sync to a record in the local Gaumont cinema (as other children had done on previous weeks), but as they were running to the theatre, the fragile shellac 78-RPM record broke. The brothers had to sing live, but received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career. In May 1958 the Rattlesnakes disbanded when Frost and Horrocks left, so the Gibb brothers then formed Wee Johnny Hayes and the Blue Cats, with Barry as "Johnny Hayes". In August 1958, the Gibb family, including older sister Lesley and infant brother Andy (born in March 1958), emigrated to Australia and settled in Redcliffe, Queensland, just north-east of Brisbane. The young brothers began performing to raise pocket money. Speedway promoter and driver Bill Goode, who had hired the brothers to entertain the crowd at the Redcliffe Speedway in 1960, introduced them to Brisbane radio-presenter jockey Bill Gates. The crowd at the speedway would throw money onto the track for the boys, who generally performed during the interval of meetings (usually on the back of a truck that drove around the track) and, in a deal with Goode, any money they collected from the crowd they were allowed to keep. Gates named the group the "BGs" (later changed to "Bee Gees") after his, Goode's and Barry Gibb's initials. The name was not specifically a reference to "Brothers Gibb", despite popular belief. During the next few years, they began working regularly at resorts on the Queensland coast. Through his songwriting, Barry sparked the interest of Australian star Col Joye, who helped the brothers get a recording deal in 1963 with Festival Records subsidiary Leedon Records under the name "Bee Gees". The three released two or three singles a year, while Barry supplied additional songs to other Australian artists. In 1962 the Bee Gees were chosen as the supporting act for Chubby Checker's concert at the Sydney Stadium. From 1963 to 1966, the Gibb family lived at 171 Bunnerong Road, Maroubra, in Sydney. Just prior to his death, Robin Gibb recorded the song "Sydney" about the brothers' experience of living in that city. It was released on his posthumous album 50 St. Catherine's Drive. The house was demolished in 2016. A minor hit in 1965, "Wine and Women", led to the group's first LP, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs. By 1966 Festival Records was, however, on the verge of dropping them from the Leedon roster because of their perceived lack of commercial success. At this time the brothers met the American-born songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Nat Kipner, who had just been appointed A&R manager of a new independent label, Spin Records. Kipner briefly took over as the group's manager and successfully negotiated their transfer to Spin in exchange for granting Festival the Australian distribution-rights to the group's recordings. Through Kipner the Bee Gees met engineer-producer, Ossie Byrne, who produced (or co-produced with Kipner) many of the earlier Spin recordings, most of which were cut at his own small, self-built St Clair Studio in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Byrne gave the Gibb brothers virtually unlimited access to St Clair Studio over a period of several months in mid-1966. The group later acknowledged that this enabled them to greatly improve their skills as recording artists. During this productive time they recorded a large batch of original material—including the song that became their first major hit, "Spicks and Specks" (on which Byrne played the trumpet coda)—as well as cover versions of current hits by overseas acts such as the Beatles. They regularly collaborated with other local musicians, including members of beat band Steve & The Board, led by Steve Kipner, Nat's teenage son. Frustrated by their lack of success, the Gibbs began their return journey to England on 4 January 1967, with Ossie Byrne travelling with them. While at sea in January 1967, the Gibbs learned that Go-Set, Australia's most popular and influential music newspaper, had declared "Spicks and Specks" the "Best Single of the Year". 1967–1969: International fame and touring years Bee Gees' 1st, Horizontal and Idea Before their departure from Australia to England, Hugh Gibb sent demos to Brian Epstein, who managed the Beatles and directed NEMS, a British music store. Epstein passed the demo tapes to Robert Stigwood, who had recently joined NEMS. After an audition with Stigwood in February 1967, the Bee Gees signed a five-year contract whereby Polydor Records would release their records in the UK, and Atco Records would do so in the US. Work quickly began on the group's first international album, and Stigwood launched a promotional campaign to coincide with its release. Stigwood proclaimed that the Bee Gees were "The most significant new musical talent of 1967", thus initiating the comparison of the Bee Gees to the Beatles. Before recording the first album, the group expanded to include Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney. "New York Mining Disaster 1941," their second British single (their first-issued UK 45 rpm was "Spicks and Specks"), was issued to radio stations with a blank white label listing only the song title. Some DJs immediately assumed this was a new single by the Beatles and started playing the song in heavy rotation. This helped the song climb into the top 20 in both the UK and US. No such chicanery was needed to boost the Bee Gees' next single, "To Love Somebody", into the US Top 20. Originally written for Otis Redding, "To Love Somebody", a soulful ballad sung by Barry, has since become a pop standard covered by many artists. Another single, "Holiday", released in the US, peaked at No. 16. The parent album, Bee Gees 1st (their first internationally), peaked at No. 7 in the US and No. 8 in the UK. Bill Shepherd was credited as the arranger. After recording that album, the group recorded their first BBC session at the Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, in London, with Bill Bebb as the producer, and they performed three songs. That session is included on BBC Sessions: 1967–1973 (2008). After the release of Bee Gees' 1st, the group was first introduced in New York as "the English surprise." At that time, the band made their first British TV appearance on Top of the Pops. Maurice recalled: In late 1967, they began recording the second album. On 21 December 1967, in a live broadcast from Liverpool Anglican Cathedral for a Christmas television special called How On Earth?, they performed their own song, "Thank You For Christmas" which was written especially for the programme, as well as a medley of the traditional Christmas carols "Silent Night," "The First Noel" and "Mary's Boy Child" (the latter incorrectly noted as "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" on tape boxes and subsequent release). The songs were all pre-recorded on 1 December 1967 and the group lip-synched their performance. The recordings were eventually released on the "Horizontal" reissue bonus disc in 2008. The folk group the Settlers and Radio 1 disc-jockey, Kenny Everett, also performed on the programme which was presented by the Reverend Edward H. Patey, dean of the cathedral. January 1968 began with a promotional trip to the US. Los Angeles Police were on alert in anticipation of a Beatles-type reception, and special security arrangements were being put in place. In February, Horizontal repeated the success of their first album, featuring the group's first UK No. 1 single "Massachusetts" (a No. 11 US hit) and the No. 7 UK single "World." The sound of the album Horizontal had a more "rock" sound than their previous release, although ballads like "And the Sun Will Shine" and "Really and Sincerely" were also prominent. The Horizontal album reached No. 12 in the US and No. 16 in the UK. With the release of Horizontal, they also embarked on a Scandinavian tour with concerts in Copenhagen. Around the same time, the Bee Gees turned down an offer to write and perform the soundtrack for the film Wonderwall, according to director Joe Massot. On 27 February 1968, the band, backed by the 17-piece Massachusetts String Orchestra, began their first tour of Germany with two concerts at Hamburg Musikhalle. In March 1968, the band was supported by Procol Harum (who had a well-known hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale") on their German tour. As Robin's partner Molly Hullis recalls: "Germans were wilder than the fans in England at the heights of Beatlemania." The tour schedule took them to 11 venues in as many days with 18 concerts played, finishing with a brace of shows at the Stadthalle, Braunschweig. After that, the group was off to Switzerland. As Maurice described it: On 17 March, the band performed "Words" on The Ed Sullivan Show. The other artists who performed on that night's show were Lucille Ball, George Hamilton and Fran Jeffries. On 27 March 1968, the band performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Two more singles followed in early 1968: the ballad "Words" (No. 8 UK, No. 15 US) and the double A-sided single "Jumbo" backed with "The Singer Sang His Song". "Jumbo" only reached No. 25 in the UK and No. 57 in the US. The Bee Gees felt "The Singer Sang His Song" was the stronger of the two sides, an opinion shared by listeners in the Netherlands who made it a No. 3 hit. Further Bee Gees chart singles followed: "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", their second UK No. 1 (No. 8 US), and "I Started a Joke" (No. 6 US), both culled from the band's third album Idea. Idea reached No. 4 in the UK and was another top 20 album in the US (No. 17). After the tour and TV special to promote the album, Vince Melouney left the group, desiring to play more of a blues style music than the Gibbs were writing. Melouney did achieve one feat while with the Bee Gees: his composition "Such a Shame" (from Idea) is the only song on any Bee Gees album not written by a Gibb brother. The band were due to begin a seven-week tour of the US on 2 August 1968, but on 27 July, Robin collapsed and fell unconscious. He was admitted to a London nursing home suffering from nervous exhaustion, and the American tour was postponed. The band began recording their sixth album, which resulted in their spending a week recording at Atlantic Studios in New York. Robin, still feeling poorly, missed the New York sessions, but the rest of the band put away instrumental tracks and demos. Odessa, Cucumber Castle and break-up By 1969, Robin began to feel that Stigwood had been favouring Barry as the frontman. The Bee Gees' performances in early 1969 on the Top of the Pops and The Tom Jones Show performing "I Started a Joke" and "First of May" as a medley was one of the last live performances of the group with Robin. Their next album, which was to have been a concept album called Masterpeace, evolved into the double-album Odessa. Most rock critics felt this was the best Bee Gees album of the 1960s with its progressive rock feel on the title track, the country-flavoured "Marley Purt Drive" and "Give Your Best", and ballads such as "Melody Fair" and "First of May" (the last of which became the only single from the album and a UK # 6 hit). Feeling the flipside, "Lamplight," should have been the A-side, Robin quit the group in mid-1969 and launched a solo career. The first of many Bee Gees compilations, Best of Bee Gees, was released featuring the non-LP single "Words" plus the Australian hit "Spicks and Specks". The single "Tomorrow Tomorrow" was also released and was a moderate hit in the UK, where it reached No. 23, but it was only No. 54 in the US. The compilation reached the top 10 in both the UK and the US. While Robin pursued his solo career, Barry, Maurice and Petersen continued on as the Bee Gees recording their next album, Cucumber Castle. The band made their debut performance without Robin at Talk of the Town. They had recruited their sister, Lesley, into the group at this time. To accompany the album, they also filmed a TV special with Frankie Howerd and cameos from several other contemporary pop and rock stars, which aired on the BBC in December 1970. Petersen played drums on the tracks recorded for the album but was fired from the group after filming began (he went on to form the Humpy Bong with Jonathan Kelly). His parts were edited out of the final cut of the film and Pentangle drummer Terry Cox was recruited to complete the recording of songs for the album. After the album was released in early 1970, it seemed that the Bee Gees were finished. The leadoff single, "Don't Forget to Remember", was a big hit in the UK, reaching No. 2, but only reached No. 73 in the US. The next two singles, "I.O.I.O." and "If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else", barely scraped the charts. On 1 December 1969, Barry and Maurice parted ways professionally. Maurice started to record his first solo album, The Loner, which was not released. Meanwhile, he released the single "Railroad" and starred in the West End musical Sing a Rude Song. In February 1970, Barry recorded a solo album which never saw official release either, although "I'll Kiss Your Memory" was released as a single backed by "This Time" without much interest. Meanwhile, Robin saw success in Europe and Australia with his No. 2 hit "Saved by the Bell" and the album Robin's Reign. 1970–1974: Reformation In mid 1970, according to Barry, "Robin rang me in Spain where I was on holiday [saying] 'let's do it again'". By 21 August 1970, after they had reunited, Barry announced that the Bee Gees "are there and they will never, ever part again". Maurice said, "We just discussed it and re-formed. We want to apologise publicly to Robin for the things that have been said." Earlier, in June 1970, Robin and Maurice recorded a dozen songs before Barry joined and included two songs that were on their reunion album. Around the same time, Barry and Robin were about to publish the book On the Other Hand. They also recruited Geoff Bridgford as the group's official drummer. Bridgford had previously worked with the Groove and Tin Tin and played drums on Maurice's unreleased first solo album. In 1970, 2 Years On was released in October in the US and November in the UK. The lead single "Lonely Days" reached No. 3 in the United States, promoted by appearances on The Johnny Cash Show, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Dick Cavett Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. Their ninth album, Trafalgar, was released in late 1971. The single "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" was their first to hit No. 1 on the US charts, while "Israel" reached No. 22 in the Netherlands. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" also brought the Bee Gees their first Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Later that year, the group's songs were included in the soundtrack for the film Melody. In 1972, they hit No. 16 in the US with the non-album single "My World", backed by Maurice's composition "On Time". Another 1972 single, "Run to Me" from the LP To Whom It May Concern, returned them to the UK top 10 for the first time in three years. On 24 November 1972, the band headlined the "Woodstock of the West" Festival at the Los Angeles Coliseum (which was a West Coast answer to Woodstock in New York), which also featured Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and the Eagles. Also in 1972, the group sang "Hey Jude" with Wilson Pickett. By 1973, however, the Bee Gees were in a rut. The album Life in a Tin Can, released on Robert Stigwood's newly formed RSO Records, and its lead-off single, "Saw a New Morning", sold poorly with the single peaking at No. 94. This was followed by an unreleased album (known as A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants). A second compilation album, Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2, was released in 1973, although it did not repeat the success of Volume 1. On 6 April 1973 episode of The Midnight Special they performed "Money (That's What I Want)" with Jerry Lee Lewis. Also in 1973, they were invited by Chuck Berry to perform two songs with him onstage at The Midnight Special: "Johnny B. Goode" and "Reelin' and Rockin'". After a tour of the United States in early 1974 and a Canadian tour later in the year, the group ended up playing small clubs. As Barry joked, "We ended up in, have you ever heard of Batley's the variety club in (West Yorkshire) England?". On the advice of Ahmet Ertegun, head of their US label Atlantic Records, Stigwood arranged for the group to record with soul music producer Arif Mardin. The resulting LP, Mr. Natural, included fewer ballads and foreshadowed the R&B direction of the rest of their career. When it, too, failed to attract much interest, Mardin encouraged them to work within the soul music style. The brothers attempted to assemble a live stage band that could replicate their studio sound. Lead guitarist Alan Kendall had come on board in 1971 but did not have much to do until Mr. Natural. For that album, they added drummer Dennis Bryon, and they later added ex-Strawbs keyboard player Blue Weaver, completing the Bee Gees band that lasted through the late '70s. Maurice, who had previously performed on piano, guitar, harpsichord, electric piano, organ, mellotron and bass guitar, as well as mandolin and Moog synthesiser, by then confined himself to bass onstage. 1975–1979: Turning to disco Main Course and Children of the World At Eric Clapton's suggestion, the brothers moved to Miami, Florida, early in 1975 to record at Criteria Studios. After starting off with ballads, they eventually heeded the urging of Mardin and Stigwood, and crafted more dance-oriented disco songs, including their second US No. 1, "Jive Talkin'", along with US No. 7 "Nights on Broadway". The band liked the resulting new sound. This time the public agreed by sending the LP Main Course up the charts. This album included the first Bee Gees songs wherein Barry used falsetto, something that became a trademark of the band. This was also the first Bee Gees album to have two US top-10 singles since 1968's Idea. Main Course also became their first charting R&B album. On the Bee Gees' appearance on The Midnight Special in 1975, to promote Main Course, they sang "To Love Somebody" with Helen Reddy. Around the same time, the Bee Gees recorded three Beatles covers—"Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" with Barry providing lead vocals, and "Sun King" with Maurice providing lead vocals, for the unsuccessful musical/documentary All This and World War II. The next album, Children of the World, released in September 1976, was filled with Barry's new-found falsetto and Weaver's synthesizer disco licks. The first single from the album was "You Should Be Dancing", which features percussion work by musician Stephen Stills. The song pushed the Bee Gees to a level of stardom they had not previously achieved in the US, though their new R&B/disco sound was not as popular with some diehard fans. The pop ballad "Love So Right" reached No. 3 in the US, and "Boogie Child" reached US No. 12 in January 1977. The album peaked at No. 8 in the US. Saturday Night Fever and Spirits Having Flown Following a successful live album, Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live, the Bee Gees agreed with Stigwood to participate in the creation of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It was the turning point of their career. The cultural impact of both the film and the soundtrack was significant throughout the world, epitomizing the disco phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic. The band's involvement in the film did not begin until post-production. As John Travolta asserted, "The Bee Gees weren't even involved in the movie in the beginning ... I was dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs." Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film. The brothers wrote the songs "virtually in a single weekend" at Château d'Hérouville studio in France. Barry Gibb remembered the reaction when Stigwood and music supervisor Bill Oakes arrived and listened to the demos: Bill Oakes, who supervised the soundtrack, asserts that Saturday Night Fever did not begin the disco craze but rather prolonged it: "Disco had run its course. These days, Fever is credited with kicking off the whole disco thing—it really didn't. Truth is, it breathed new life into a genre that was actually dying." Three Bee Gees singles—"How Deep Is Your Love" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Stayin' Alive" (US No. 1, UK No. 4) and "Night Fever" (US No. 1, UK No. 1)—charted high in many countries around the world, launching the most popular period of the disco era. They also penned the song "If I Can't Have You", which became a US No. 1 hit for Yvonne Elliman, while the Bee Gees' own version was the B-side of "Stayin' Alive". Such was the popularity of Saturday Night Fever that two different versions of the song "More Than a Woman" received airplay, one by the Bee Gees, which was relegated to an album track, and another by Tavares, which was the hit. During a nine-month period beginning in the Christmas season of 1977, seven songs written by the brothers held the No. 1 position on the US charts for 27 of 37 consecutive weeks: three of their own releases, two for brother Andy Gibb, the Yvonne Elliman single, and "Grease", performed by Frankie Valli. Fuelled by the film's success, the soundtrack broke multiple industry records, becoming the highest-selling album in recording history to that point. With more than 40 million copies sold, Saturday Night Fever is among music's top five best selling soundtrack albums. , it is calculated as the fourth highest-selling album worldwide. In March 1978, the Bee Gees held the top two positions on the US charts with "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive", the first time this had happened since the Beatles. On the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 25 March 1978, five songs written by the Gibbs were in the US top 10 at the same time: "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive", "If I Can't Have You", "Emotion" and "Love Is Thicker Than Water". Such chart dominance had not been seen since April 1964, when the Beatles had all five of the top five American singles. Barry Gibb became the only songwriter to have four consecutive number-one hits in the US, breaking the John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1964 record. These songs were "Stayin' Alive", "Love Is Thicker Than Water", "Night Fever" and "If I Can't Have You". The Bee Gees won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever over two years: Album of the Year, Producer of the Year (with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson), two awards for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (one in 1978 for "How Deep Is Your Love" and one in 1979 for "Stayin' Alive"), and Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices for "Stayin' Alive". During this era, Barry and Robin also wrote "Emotion" for an old friend, Australian vocalist Samantha Sang, who made it a top 10 hit, with the Bee Gees singing backing vocals. Barry also wrote the title song to the film version of the Broadway musical Grease for Frankie Valli to perform, which went to No. 1. The Bee Gees also co-starred with Peter Frampton in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), loosely inspired by the classic 1967 album by the Beatles. The movie had been heavily promoted prior to release and was expected to enjoy great commercial success. However, it was savaged by film critics as a disjointed mess and ignored by the public. Though some of its tracks charted, the soundtrack too was a high-profile flop. The single "Oh! Darling", credited to Robin Gibb, reached No. 15 in the US. The Bee Gees' follow-up to Saturday Night Fever was the Spirits Having Flown album. It yielded three more hits: "Too Much Heaven" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Tragedy" (US No. 1, UK No. 1), and "Love You Inside Out" (US No. 1, UK No. 13). This gave the act six consecutive No. 1 singles in the US within a year and a half, equalling the Beatles and surpassed only by Whitney Houston. In January 1979, the Bee Gees performed "Too Much Heaven" as their contribution to the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly. During the summer of 1979, the Bee Gees embarked on their largest concert tour covering the US and Canada. The Spirits Having Flown tour capitalised on Bee Gees fever that was sweeping the nation, with sold-out concerts in 38 cities. The Bee Gees produced a video for the title track "Too Much Heaven", directed by Miami-based filmmaker Martin Pitts and produced by Charles Allen. With this video, Pitts and Allen began a long association with the brothers. The Bee Gees even had a country hit in 1979 with "Rest Your Love on Me", the flip side of their pop hit "Too Much Heaven", which made the top 40 on the country charts. It was also a 1981 hit for Conway Twitty, topping the country music charts. The Bee Gees' overwhelming success rose and fell with the disco bubble. By the end of 1979, disco was rapidly declining in popularity, and the backlash against disco put the Bee Gees' American career in a tailspin. Radio stations around the US began promoting "Bee Gee-Free Weekends". Following their remarkable run from 1975 to 1979, the act had only one more top 10 single in the US, and that did not come until the single "One" reached number 7 in 1989. Barry Gibb considered the success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack both a blessing and a curse: 1980–1986: Outside projects, band turmoil, solo efforts and decline Robin co-produced Jimmy Ruffin's Sunrise released in May 1980, but the songs were started in 1979; the album contains songs written by the Gibb brothers, including the single "Hold On To My Love". In March 1980, Barry Gibb worked with Barbra Streisand on her album Guilty. He co-produced, and wrote or co-wrote all nine of the album's tracks (four of them written with Robin, and the title track with both Robin and Maurice). Barry also appeared on the album's cover with Streisand and duetted with her on two tracks. The album reached No. 1 in both the US and the UK, as did the single "Woman in Love" (written by Barry and Robin), becoming Streisand's most successful single and album to date. Both of the Streisand/Gibb duets, "Guilty" and "What Kind of Fool", also reached the US Top 10. In 1981, the Bee Gees released the album Living Eyes, their last full-length album release on RSO. This album was the first CD ever played in public, when it was played to viewers of the BBC show Tomorrow's World. With the disco backlash still running strong, the album failed to make the UK or US Top 40—breaking their streak of Top 40 hits, which started in 1975 with "Jive Talkin'". Two singles from the album fared little better—"He's a Liar", which reached No. 30 in the US, and "Living Eyes", which reached No. 45. In 1982, Dionne Warwick enjoyed a UK No. 2 and US Adult Contemporary No. 1 hit with her comeback single, "Heartbreaker", taken from her eponymous album written largely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb. The album reached No. 3 in the UK and the Top 30 in the US, where it was certified Gold. A year later, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers recorded the Bee Gees-penned track "Islands in the Stream", which became a US and Australian No. 1 hit and entered the Top 10 in the UK. Rogers' 1983 album, Eyes That See in the Dark, was written entirely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry. The album was a Top 10 hit in the US and was certified Double Platinum. The Bee Gees had greater success with the soundtrack to Staying Alive in 1983, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. The soundtrack was certified platinum in the US, and included their Top 30 hit "The Woman in You". Also in 1983, the band was sued by Chicago songwriter Ronald Selle, who claimed the brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, the Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later. In August 1983, Barry signed a solo deal with MCA Records and spent much of late 1983 and 1984 writing songs for this first solo effort, Now Voyager. Robin released three solo albums in the 1980s, How Old Are You?, Secret Agent and Walls Have Eyes. Maurice released his second single to date, "Hold Her in Your Hand", the first one having been released in 1970. In 1985, Diana Ross released the album Eaten Alive, written by the Bee Gees, with the title track co-written with Michael Jackson (who also performed on the track). The album was again co-produced by Barry Gibb, and the single "Chain Reaction" gave Ross a UK and Australian No. 1 hit. 1987–1999: Comeback, return to popularity and Andy's death The Bee Gees released the album E.S.P. in 1987, which sold over 2 million copies. It was their first album in six years, and their first for Warner Bros. Records. The single "You Win Again" went to No. 1 in numerous countries, including the UK, and made the Bee Gees the first group to score a UK No. 1 hit in each of three decades: the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The single was a disappointment in the US, charting at No. 75, and the Bee Gees voiced their frustration over American radio stations not playing their new European hit single, an omission which the group felt led to poor sales of their current album in the US. The song won the Bee Gees the 1987 British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically, and in February 1988 the band received a Brit Award nomination for Best British Group. On 10 March 1988, younger brother Andy Gibb died, aged 30, as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection. The Bee Gees later got together with Eric Clapton to create a group called 'the Bunburys' to raise money for English charities. The group recorded three songs for The Bunbury Tails: "We're the Bunburys" (which eventually became the opening theme to the 1992 animated series The Bunbury Tails), "Bunbury Afternoon", and "Fight (No Matter How Long)". The last song reached No. 8 on the rock music chart and appeared on The 1988 Summer Olympics Album. The Bee Gees' next album, One (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". The album also contained their first US Top 10 hit (No. 7) in a decade, "One" (an Adult Contemporary No. 1). After the album's release, the band embarked on its first world tour in 10 years. In the UK, Polydor issued a single-disc hits collection from Tales called The Very Best of the Bee Gees, which contained their biggest UK hits. The album became one of their best-selling albums in that country, and was eventually certified Triple Platinum. Following their next album, High Civilization (1991), which contained the UK top five hit "Secret Love", the Bee Gees went on a European tour. After the tour, Barry Gibb began to battle a serious back problem, which required surgery. In addition, he suffered from arthritis which, at one point, was so severe that it was doubtful that he would be able to play guitar for much longer. Also, in the early 1990s, Maurice Gibb finally sought treatment for his alcoholism, which he had battled for many years with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. In 1993, the group returned to the Polydor label and released the album Size Isn't Everything, which contained the UK top five hit "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Success still eluded them in the US, however, as the first single released, "Paying the Price of Love", only managed to reach No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the parent album stalled at No. 153. In 1997, they released the album Still Waters, which has reached No. 2 in the UK (their highest album chart position there since 1979) and No. 11 in the US. The album's first single, "Alone", gave them another UK Top 5 hit and a top 30 hit in the US. Still Waters was the band's most successful US release of their post-RSO era. At the 1997 BRIT Awards held in Earls Court, London on 24 February, the Bee Gees received the award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. On 14 November 1997, the Bee Gees performed a live concert in Las Vegas called One Night Only. The show included a performance of "Our Love (Don't Throw It All Away)" synchronised with a vocal by their deceased brother Andy and a cameo appearance by Celine Dion singing "Immortality". The "One Night Only" name grew out of the band's declaration that, due to Barry's health issues, the Las Vegas show was to be the final live performance of their career. After the immensely positive audience response to the Vegas concert, Barry decided to continue despite the pain, and the concert expanded into their last full-blown world tour of "One Night Only" concerts. The tour included playing to 56,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium on 5 September 1998 and concluded in the newly built Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 27 March 1999 to 72,000 people. In 1998, the group's soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever was incorporated into a stage production produced first in the West End and then on Broadway. They wrote three new songs for the adaptation. Also in 1998, the brothers released "Ellan Vannin" for Manx charities, recorded the previous year. Known as the unofficial national anthem of the Isle of Man, the brothers performed the song during their world tour to reflect their pride in the place of their birth. The Bee Gees closed the century with what turned out to be their last full-sized concert, known as BG2K, on 31 December 1999. 2000–2008: This Is Where I Came In and Maurice's death In 2001, the group released what turned out to be their final album of new material, This Is Where I Came In. The album was another success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK (being certified Gold), and the Top 20 in the US. The title track was also a UK Top 20 hit single. The last concert of the Bee Gees as a trio was at the Love and Hope Ball in 2002. Maurice Gibb died unexpectedly on 12 January 2003, at age 53, from a heart attack while awaiting emergency surgery to repair a strangulated intestine. Initially, his surviving brothers announced that they intended to carry on the name "Bee Gees" in his memory, but as time passed they decided to retire the group's name, leaving it to represent the three brothers together. The same week that Maurice died, Robin's solo album Magnet was released. On 23 February 2003, the Bee Gees received the Grammy Legend Award, they also became the first recipients of that award in the 21st century. Barry and Robin accepted as well as Maurice's son, Adam, in a tearful ceremony. In late 2004, Robin embarked on a solo tour of Germany, Russia and Asia. During January 2005, Barry, Robin and several legendary rock artists recorded "Grief Never Grows Old", the official tsunami relief record for the Disasters Emergency Committee. Later that year, Barry reunited with Barbra Streisand for her top-selling album Guilty Pleasures, released as Guilty Too in the UK as a sequel album to the previous Guilty. Also in 2004, Barry recorded his song "I Cannot Give You My Love" with Cliff Richard, which became a UK top 20 hit single. In February 2006, Barry and Robin reunited on stage for a Miami charity concert to benefit the Diabetes Research Institute. It was their first public performance together since Maurice's death. The pair also played at the 30th annual Prince's Trust Concert in the UK on 20 May 2006. 2009–2012: Return to performing and Robin's death Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to severe abdominal pain. Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert on 13 February 2012 at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and, as it turned out, his final one. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. 2013–present: Looking back at a lifetime of music In September and October 2013, Barry performed his first solo tour "in honour of his brothers and a lifetime of music". In addition to the Rhino collection, The Studio Albums: 1967–1968, Warner Bros. released a box set in 2014 called The Warner Bros Years: 1987–1991 that included the studio albums E.S.P., One and High Civilization as well as extended mixes and B-sides. It also included the band's entire 1989 concert in Melbourne, Australia, available only on video as All for One prior to this release. The documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees was aired on BBC Four on 19 December 2014. On 23 March 2015, 13STAR Records released a box set 1974–1979 which included the studio albums Mr. Natural, Main Course, Children of the World and Spirits Having Flown. A fifth disc called The Miami Years includes all the tracks from Saturday Night Fever as well as B-sides. No unreleased tracks from the era were included. After a hiatus from performing, Barry Gibb returned to solo and guest singing performances. He occasionally appears with his son, Steve Gibb. In 2016, he released In the Now, his first solo effort since 1984's Now Voyager. It was the first release of new Bee Gees-related music since the posthumous release of Robin Gibb's 50 St. Catherine's Drive. Also in 2016, Capitol Records signed a new distribution deal with Barry and the estates of his brothers for the Bee Gees catalogue, bringing their music back to Universal. An as-yet-untitled biopic about the Bee Gees is in development at Paramount, with Kenneth Branagh directing and Barry Gibb serving as an executive producer. Influences The Bee Gees were influenced by the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Mills Brothers, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, the Beach Boys and Stevie Wonder. On the 2014 documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees, Barry said that the Bee Gees were also influenced by the Hollies and Otis Redding. Maurice noted that Neil Sedaka was an early influence, and later the group was "very influenced" by Linda Creed songs for the Stylistics. Legacy In his 1980 Playboy magazine interview, John Lennon praised the Bee Gees, "Try to tell the kids in the seventies who were screaming to the Bee Gees that their music was just the Beatles redone. There is nothing wrong with the Bee Gees. They do a damn good job. There was nothing else going on then." In a 2007 interview with Duane Hitchings, who co-wrote Rod Stewart's 1978 disco song "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", he noted that the song was: Kevin Parker of Tame Impala has said that listening to the Bee Gees after taking mushrooms inspired him to change the sound of the music he was making on his album Currents. The English indie rock band the Cribs was also influenced by the Bee Gees. Cribs member Ryan Jarman said: "It must have had quite a big influence on us – pop melodies is something we always revert to. I always want to get back to pop melodies and I'm sure that's due to that Bee Gees phase we went through." Following Robin's death on 20 May 2012, Beyoncé remarked: "The Bee Gees were an early inspiration for me, Kelly Rowland and Michelle. We loved their songwriting and beautiful harmonies. Recording their classic song, 'Emotion' was a special time for Destiny's Child. Sadly we lost Robin Gibb this week. My heart goes out to his brother Barry and the rest of his family." Singer Jordin Sparks remarked that her favourite Bee Gees songs are "Too Much Heaven", "Emotion" (although performed by Samantha Sang with Barry on the background vocals using his falsetto), and "Stayin' Alive". Carrie Underwood said, about discovering the Bee Gees during her childhood, "My parents listened to the Bee Gees quite a bit when I was little, so I was definitely exposed to them at an early age. They just had a sound that was all their own, obviously, [it was] never duplicated." Songwriting At one point, in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing nine of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100. In all, the Gibbs placed 13 singles onto the Hot 100 in 1978, with 12 making the Top 40. The Gibb brothers are fellows of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs. Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw spoke about the Bee Gees' influence with their own music as well as their songwriting: In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Bee Gees were announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for their role as "Influential Artists". Accolades and achievements In 1978, following the success of Saturday Night Fever, and the single "Night Fever" in particular, Reubin Askew, the governor of the US state of Florida, named the Bee Gees honorary citizens of the state, since they resided in Miami at the time. In 1979, the Bee Gees got their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They were the subjects of This Is Your Life in 1991 when they were surprised by Michael Aspel while being interviewed by disc jockey Steve Wright (DJ) on his Radio 1 programme at BBC Broadcasting House. The Bee Gees were inducted in 1994 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as Florida's Artists Hall of Fame in 1995 and the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997. Also in 1997, the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; the presenter of the award to "Britain's First Family of Harmony" was Brian Wilson, historical leader of the Beach Boys, another "family act" featuring three harmonising brothers. In 2001, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. After Maurice's death, the Bee Gees were also inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2001, London's Walk of Fame in 2006 and Musically Speaking Hall Of Fame in 2008. On 15 May 2007, the Bee Gees were named BMI Icons at the 55th annual BMI Pop Awards. Collectively, Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb have earned 109 BMI Pop, Country and Latin Awards. In October 1999, the Isle of Man Post Office unveiled a set of six stamps honouring the Bee Gees. All three brothers (including Maurice posthumously) were invested as Commanders of the Order of the British Empire in December 2001 with the ceremony taking place at Buckingham Palace on 27 May 2004. On 10 July 2009, the Isle of Man's capital bestowed the Freedom of the Borough of Douglas honour on Barry and Robin, as well as posthumously on Maurice. On 20 November 2009, the Douglas Borough Council released a limited edition commemorative DVD to mark their naming as Freemen of the Borough. On 14 February 2013, Barry Gibb unveiled a statue of the Bee Gees as well as unveiling "Bee Gees Way" (a walkway filled with photos and videos of the Bee Gees) in honour of the Bee Gees in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. On 27 June 2018, Barry Gibb, the last surviving member of the Bee Gees, was knighted by Prince Charles after being named on the Queen's New Years Honours List. The statue of the Bee Gees in Douglas, Isle of Man, was installed in 2021. In 2022, the last surviving member of the group, Barry Gibb, was made an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia which is Australia's highest national honour. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them one of the best selling artists of all time. The group are to date the most successful family and sibling band of all time, the most successful musical trio of all time, and the most successful musical act with ties to Australia. Awards and nominations Queensland Music Awards The Queensland Music Awards (previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating Queensland, Australia's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006. (wins only) |- | 2009 | themselves | Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award | |} Band members Principal members Barry Gibb – vocals, rhythm guitar (1958–2003, 2006, 2009–2012) Robin Gibb – vocals, occasional keyboards (1958–1969, 1970–2003, 2006, 2009–2012; d. 2012) Maurice Gibb – bass, rhythm and lead guitars, keyboards, vocals (1958–2003; d. 2003) Colin Petersen – drums (1967–1969) Vince Melouney – lead guitar (1967–1968) Geoff Bridgford – drums (1971–1972; touring 1970-1971) Touring musicians Alan Kendall – lead guitar (1971–1981, 1989–2003) Chris Karan – drums (1972) Dennis Bryon – drums (1973–1981) Geoff Westley – keyboards, piano (1973–1976) Blue Weaver – keyboards, synthesizers (1975–1981) Joe Lala – percussion (1976, 1979) Joey Murcia – rhythm guitar (1976, 1979) Harold Cowart – bass (1979) Tim Cansfield – lead guitar (1989) Vic Martin – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) Gary Moberly – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) George Perry – bass (1989–1993) Chester Thompson – drums (1989) Mike Murphy – drums (1989) Trevor Murrell – drums (1991–1992) Rudi Dobson – keyboards (1991–1992) Scott F. Crago – drums Ben Stivers – keyboard (1996–1999) Matt Bonelli – bass (1993–2001) Steve Rucker – drums (1993–1999) Guest musicians (studio and touring) Phil Collins – drums Lenny Castro – percussion Glenn Frey – guitar Timothy B. Schmit – bass guitar Joe Walsh – lead guitar Don Felder – lead guitar (1981) Jeff Porcaro – drums Mike Porcaro – bass guitar Steve Porcaro – keyboards Steve Lukather – guitar David Hungate – bass guitar David Paich – keyboards Greg Phillinganes – keyboards Bobby Kimball – keyboards Leland Sklar – bass guitar Reb Beach – lead guitar Gregg Bissonette – drums Ricky Lawson – drums Scott F. Crago – drums Steve Gadd – drums Steve Ferrone – drums Steve Jordan – drums Nathan East – bass guitar Steuart Smith – lead guitar Vinnie Colaiuta – drums Timeline Timeline of touring members Discography Soundtracks Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Staying Alive (1983) are not official Bee Gees albums, but contain some previously unreleased tracks. Apart from live and compilation, all their official albums are included on this list. A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants has not been included on the list because it appeared only on numerous bootlegs and was not officially released. Studio albums The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs (1965) Spicks and Specks (1966) Bee Gees' 1st (1967) Horizontal (1968) Idea (1968) Odessa (1969) Cucumber Castle (1970) 2 Years On (1970) Trafalgar (1971) To Whom It May Concern (1972) Life in a Tin Can (1973) Mr. Natural (1974) Main Course (1975) Children of the World (1976) Spirits Having Flown (1979) Living Eyes (1981) E.S.P. (1987) One (1989) High Civilization (1991) Size Isn't Everything (1993) Still Waters (1997) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Concert tours The Bee Gees' concerts in 1967 and 1968 (1967–1968) 2 Years On Tour (1971) Trafalgar Tour (1972) Mr. Natural Tour (1974) Main Course Tour (1975) Children of the World Tour (1976) Spirits Having Flown Tour (1979) One for All World Tour (1989) High Civilization World Tour (1991) One Night Only World Tour (1997–1999) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Filmography Citations General bibliography . External links Bee Gees Official website Bee Gees at Rolling Stone Bee Gees' Vocal Group Hall of Fame webpage Bee Gees at bmi.com Robin Gibb sadly passes away after losing his battle with cancer Who Do You Think You Are? – Bee Gees Family History 1958 establishments in Australia Australian pop rock groups ARIA Award winners ARIA Hall of Fame inductees Atlantic Records artists Barry Gibb Brit Award winners British disco groups British musical trios British soft rock music groups British soul musical groups Brunswick Records artists Capitol Records artists Child musical groups English expatriates in Australia English expatriates in the United States English pop music groups English rock music groups Grammy Legend Award winners Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Juno Award for International Album of the Year winners Mercury Records artists Manx musical groups Maurice Gibb Musical groups established in 1958 Musical groups disestablished in 2003 Musical groups reestablished in 2009 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 Musical groups from Manchester Queensland musical groups Philips Records artists Q150 Icons Robin Gibb RSO Records artists Sibling musical trios UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors United Artists Records artists Warner Records artists World Music Awards winners
true
[ "Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio, or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first written in 1335.\n\nThe book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales.\n\nTales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.\n\nPurpose and structure\n\nA didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem (\"Some man has made me a proposition...\" or \"I fear that such and such person intends to...\") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are \"examples\" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.\n\nEach chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: \"And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses.\" A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.\n\nOrigin of stories and influence on later literature\nMany of the stories written in the book are the first examples written in a modern European language of various stories, which many other writers would use in the proceeding centuries. Many of the stories he included were themselves derived from other stories, coming from western and Arab sources.\n\nShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew has the basic elements of Tale 35, \"What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\".\n\nTale 32, \"What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth\" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.\n\nStory 7, \"What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana\", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.\n\nTale 2, \"What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market,\" is the familiar fable The miller, his son and the donkey.\n\nIn 2016, Baroque Decay released a game under the name \"The Count Lucanor\". As well as some protagonists' names, certain events from the books inspired past events in the game.\n\nThe stories\n\nThe book opens with a prologue which introduces the characters of the Count and Patronio. The titles in the following list are those given in Keller and Keating's 1977 translation into English. James York's 1868 translation into English gives a significantly different ordering of the stories and omits the fifty-first.\n\n What Happened to a King and His Favorite \n What Happened to a Good Man and His Son \n How King Richard of England Leapt into the Sea against the Moors\n What a Genoese Said to His Soul When He Was about to Die \n What Happened to a Fox and a Crow Who Had a Piece of Cheese in His Beak\n How the Swallow Warned the Other Birds When She Saw Flax Being Sown \n What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana \n What Happened to a Man Whose Liver Had to Be Washed \n What Happened to Two Horses Which Were Thrown to the Lion \n What Happened to a Man Who on Account of Poverty and Lack of Other Food Was Eating Bitter Lentils \n What Happened to a Dean of Santiago de Compostela and Don Yllán, the Grand Master of Toledo\n What Happened to the Fox and the Rooster \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Hunting Partridges \n The Miracle of Saint Dominick When He Preached against the Usurer \n What Happened to Lorenzo Suárez at the Siege of Seville \n The Reply that count Fernán González Gave to His Relative Núño Laynes \n What Happened to a Very Hungry Man Who Was Half-heartedly Invited to Dinner \n What Happened to Pero Meléndez de Valdés When He Broke His Leg \n What Happened to the Crows and the Owls \n What Happened to a King for Whom a Man Promised to Perform Alchemy \n What Happened to a Young King and a Philosopher to Whom his Father Commended Him \n What Happened to the Lion and the Bull \n How the Ants Provide for Themselves \n What Happened to the King Who Wanted to Test His Three Sons \n What Happened to the Count of Provence and How He Was Freed from Prison by the Advice of Saladin\n What Happened to the Tree of Lies \n What Happened to an Emperor and to Don Alvarfáñez Minaya and Their Wives \n What Happened in Granada to Don Lorenzo Suárez Gallinato When He Beheaded the Renegade Chaplain \n What Happened to a Fox Who Lay down in the Street to Play Dead \n What Happened to King Abenabet of Seville and Ramayquía His Wife \n How a Cardinal Judged between the Canons of Paris and the Friars Minor \n What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth \n What Happened to Don Juan Manuel's Saker Falcon and an Eagle and a Heron \n What Happened to a Blind Man Who Was Leading Another \n What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\n What Happened to a Merchant When He Found His Son and His Wife Sleeping Together \n What Happened to Count Fernán González with His Men after He Had Won the Battle of Hacinas \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Loaded down with Precious Stones and Drowned in the River \n What Happened to a Man and a Swallow and a Sparrow \n Why the Seneschal of Carcassonne Lost His Soul \n What Happened to a King of Córdova Named Al-Haquem \n What Happened to a Woman of Sham Piety \n What Happened to Good and Evil and the Wise Man and the Madman \n What Happened to Don Pero Núñez the Loyal, to Don Ruy González de Zavallos, and to Don Gutier Roiz de Blaguiello with Don Rodrigo the Generous \n What Happened to a Man Who Became the Devil's Friend and Vassal \n What Happened to a Philosopher who by Accident Went down a Street Where Prostitutes Lived \n What Befell a Moor and His Sister Who Pretended That She Was Timid \n What Happened to a Man Who Tested His Friends \n What Happened to the Man Whom They Cast out Naked on an Island When They Took away from Him the Kingdom He Ruled \n What Happened to Saladin and a Lady, the Wife of a Knight Who Was His Vassal \n What Happened to a Christian King Who Was Very Powerful and Haughty\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Sturm, Harlan\n\n Wacks, David\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Internet Archive provides free access to the 1868 translation by James York.\nJSTOR has the to the 1977 translation by Keller and Keating.\nSelections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)\n\n14th-century books\nSpanish literature\n1335 books", "\"What Happened to Us\" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring English recording artist Jay Sean. It was written by Sean, Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim and Israel Cruz. \"What Happened to Us\" was leaked online in October 2010, and was released on 10 March 2011, as the third single from Mauboy's second studio album, Get 'Em Girls (2010). The song received positive reviews from critics.\n\nA remix of \"What Happened to Us\" made by production team OFM, was released on 11 April 2011. A different version of the song which features Stan Walker, was released on 29 May 2011. \"What Happened to Us\" charted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 14 and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). An accompanying music video was directed by Mark Alston, and reminisces on a former relationship between Mauboy and Sean.\n\nProduction and release\n\n\"What Happened to Us\" was written by Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz and Jay Sean. It was produced by Skaller, Cruz, Rohaim and Bobby Bass. The song uses C, D, and B minor chords in the chorus. \"What Happened to Us\" was sent to contemporary hit radio in Australia on 14 February 2011. The cover art for the song was revealed on 22 February on Mauboy's official Facebook page. A CD release was available for purchase via her official website on 10 March, for one week only. It was released digitally the following day.\n\nReception\nMajhid Heath from ABC Online Indigenous called the song a \"Jordin Sparks-esque duet\", and wrote that it \"has a nice innocence to it that rings true to the experience of losing a first love.\" Chris Urankar from Nine to Five wrote that it as a \"mid-tempo duet ballad\" which signifies Mauboy's strength as a global player. On 21 March 2011, \"What Happened to Us\" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number 14 the following week. The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for selling 70,000 copies. \"What Happened to Us\" spent a total of ten weeks in the ARIA top fifty.\n\nMusic video\n\nBackground\nThe music video for the song was shot in the Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney on 26 November 2010. The video was shot during Sean's visit to Australia for the Summerbeatz tour. During an interview with The Daily Telegraph while on the set of the video, Sean said \"the song is sick! ... Jessica's voice is amazing and we're shooting [the video] in this ridiculously beautiful mansion overlooking the harbour.\" The video was directed by Mark Alston, who had previously directed the video for Mauboy's single \"Let Me Be Me\" (2009). It premiered on YouTube on 10 February 2011.\n\nSynopsis and reception\nThe video begins showing Mauboy who appears to be sitting on a yellow antique couch in a mansion, wearing a purple dress. As the video progresses, scenes of memories are displayed of Mauboy and her love interest, played by Sean, spending time there previously. It then cuts to the scenes where Sean appears in the main entrance room of the mansion. The final scene shows Mauboy outdoors in a gold dress, surrounded by green grass and trees. She is later joined by Sean who appears in a black suit and a white shirt, and together they sing the chorus of the song to each other. David Lim of Feed Limmy wrote that the video is \"easily the best thing our R&B princess has committed to film – ever\" and praised the \"mansion and wondrous interior décor\". He also commended Mauboy for choosing Australian talent to direct the video instead of American directors, which she had used for her previous two music videos. Since its release, the video has received over two million views on Vevo.\n\nLive performances\nMauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" live for the first time during her YouTube Live Sessions program on 4 December 2010. She also appeared on Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight on 23 February 2011 for an interview and later performed the song. On 15 March 2011, Mauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Sunrise. She also performed the song with Stan Walker during the Australian leg of Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. Tour in April 2011. Mauboy and Walker later performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Dancing with the Stars Australia on 29 May 2011. From November 2013 to February 2014, \"What Happened to Us\" was part of the set list of the To the End of the Earth Tour, Mauboy's second headlining tour of Australia, with Nathaniel Willemse singing Sean's part.\n\nTrack listing\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Just Witness Remix) – 3:45\n\nCD single\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Album Version) – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:39\n\nDigital download – Remix\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:38\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Stan Walker – 3:20\n\nPersonnel\nSongwriting – Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz, Jay Sean\nProduction – Jeremy Skaller, Bobby Bass\nAdditional production – Israel Cruz, Khaled Rohaim\nLead vocals – Jessica Mauboy, Jay Sean\nMixing – Phil Tan\nAdditional mixing – Damien Lewis\nMastering – Tom Coyne \nSource:\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly chart\n\nYear-end chart\n\nCertification\n\nRadio dates and release history\n\nReferences\n\n2010 songs\n2011 singles\nJessica Mauboy songs\nJay Sean songs\nSongs written by Billy Steinberg\nSongs written by Jay Sean\nSongs written by Josh Alexander\nSongs written by Israel Cruz\nVocal duets\nSony Music Australia singles\nSongs written by Khaled Rohaim" ]
[ "Bee Gees", "2009-2012: Return to performing and Robin's death", "When was Robin's death?", "20 May 2012", "When did they return to performing?", "Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009", "What happened in 2009?", "appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009." ]
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What happened in 2010?
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What happened in 2010 for the Bee Gees?
Bee Gees
In an interview with Easy Mix radio host Tim Roxborough on 1 September 2009, Barry's 63rd birthday, Barry commented on future tours saying that "they will be back"; but in an agreement with Warner/Rhino they would not make an announcement at that time. On 7 September 2009, Robin disclosed to Jonathan Agnew that he had been in touch with Barry and that they had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and "perform again". Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to issues with severe abdominal pain. On 13 February 2012, Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and his final. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. With Robin's death, Barry became the last surviving Gibb brother, and the Bee Gees dissolved as a musical group. CANNOTANSWER
On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol.
The Bee Gees were a music group formed in 1958, featuring brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid- to late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies; Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid- to late 1970s and 1980s. The Bee Gees wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists and have been regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop music history. They have been referred to in the media as The Disco Kings, Britain’s First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music. Born on the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived in Chorlton, Manchester, England until the late 1950s. There, in 1955, they formed the skiffle/rock and roll group the Rattlesnakes. The family then moved to Redcliffe, in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia, later to Cribb Island. After achieving their first chart success in Australia as the Bee Gees with "Spicks and Specks" (their twelfth single), they returned to the UK in January 1967, when producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience. The Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (1977) was the turning point of their career, with both the film and soundtrack having a cultural impact throughout the world, enhancing the disco scene's mainstream appeal. They won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever, including Album of the Year. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them among the best-selling music artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; the Hall's citation says, "Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees." With nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the Bee Gees are the third-most successful band in Billboard charts history behind only the Beatles and the Supremes. Following Maurice's sudden death in January 2003 at the age of 53, Barry and Robin retired the group's name after 45 years of activity. In 2009, Robin announced that he and Barry had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and perform again. Robin died in May 2012, aged 62, after a prolonged period of failing health, leaving Barry as the only surviving member of the group. History 1955–1966: Music origins, Bee Gees formation and popularity in Australia Born on the Isle of Man during the late 1940s, the Gibb brothers moved to their father Hugh Gibb's hometown of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Greater Manchester, England in 1955. They formed a skiffle/rock-and-roll group, the Rattlesnakes, which consisted of Barry on guitar and vocals, Robin and Maurice on vocals and friends Paul Frost on drums and Kenny Horrocks on tea-chest bass. In December 1957 the boys began to sing in harmony. The story is told that they were going to lip-sync to a record in the local Gaumont cinema (as other children had done on previous weeks), but as they were running to the theatre, the fragile shellac 78-RPM record broke. The brothers had to sing live, but received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career. In May 1958 the Rattlesnakes disbanded when Frost and Horrocks left, so the Gibb brothers then formed Wee Johnny Hayes and the Blue Cats, with Barry as "Johnny Hayes". In August 1958, the Gibb family, including older sister Lesley and infant brother Andy (born in March 1958), emigrated to Australia and settled in Redcliffe, Queensland, just north-east of Brisbane. The young brothers began performing to raise pocket money. Speedway promoter and driver Bill Goode, who had hired the brothers to entertain the crowd at the Redcliffe Speedway in 1960, introduced them to Brisbane radio-presenter jockey Bill Gates. The crowd at the speedway would throw money onto the track for the boys, who generally performed during the interval of meetings (usually on the back of a truck that drove around the track) and, in a deal with Goode, any money they collected from the crowd they were allowed to keep. Gates named the group the "BGs" (later changed to "Bee Gees") after his, Goode's and Barry Gibb's initials. The name was not specifically a reference to "Brothers Gibb", despite popular belief. During the next few years, they began working regularly at resorts on the Queensland coast. Through his songwriting, Barry sparked the interest of Australian star Col Joye, who helped the brothers get a recording deal in 1963 with Festival Records subsidiary Leedon Records under the name "Bee Gees". The three released two or three singles a year, while Barry supplied additional songs to other Australian artists. In 1962 the Bee Gees were chosen as the supporting act for Chubby Checker's concert at the Sydney Stadium. From 1963 to 1966, the Gibb family lived at 171 Bunnerong Road, Maroubra, in Sydney. Just prior to his death, Robin Gibb recorded the song "Sydney" about the brothers' experience of living in that city. It was released on his posthumous album 50 St. Catherine's Drive. The house was demolished in 2016. A minor hit in 1965, "Wine and Women", led to the group's first LP, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs. By 1966 Festival Records was, however, on the verge of dropping them from the Leedon roster because of their perceived lack of commercial success. At this time the brothers met the American-born songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Nat Kipner, who had just been appointed A&R manager of a new independent label, Spin Records. Kipner briefly took over as the group's manager and successfully negotiated their transfer to Spin in exchange for granting Festival the Australian distribution-rights to the group's recordings. Through Kipner the Bee Gees met engineer-producer, Ossie Byrne, who produced (or co-produced with Kipner) many of the earlier Spin recordings, most of which were cut at his own small, self-built St Clair Studio in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Byrne gave the Gibb brothers virtually unlimited access to St Clair Studio over a period of several months in mid-1966. The group later acknowledged that this enabled them to greatly improve their skills as recording artists. During this productive time they recorded a large batch of original material—including the song that became their first major hit, "Spicks and Specks" (on which Byrne played the trumpet coda)—as well as cover versions of current hits by overseas acts such as the Beatles. They regularly collaborated with other local musicians, including members of beat band Steve & The Board, led by Steve Kipner, Nat's teenage son. Frustrated by their lack of success, the Gibbs began their return journey to England on 4 January 1967, with Ossie Byrne travelling with them. While at sea in January 1967, the Gibbs learned that Go-Set, Australia's most popular and influential music newspaper, had declared "Spicks and Specks" the "Best Single of the Year". 1967–1969: International fame and touring years Bee Gees' 1st, Horizontal and Idea Before their departure from Australia to England, Hugh Gibb sent demos to Brian Epstein, who managed the Beatles and directed NEMS, a British music store. Epstein passed the demo tapes to Robert Stigwood, who had recently joined NEMS. After an audition with Stigwood in February 1967, the Bee Gees signed a five-year contract whereby Polydor Records would release their records in the UK, and Atco Records would do so in the US. Work quickly began on the group's first international album, and Stigwood launched a promotional campaign to coincide with its release. Stigwood proclaimed that the Bee Gees were "The most significant new musical talent of 1967", thus initiating the comparison of the Bee Gees to the Beatles. Before recording the first album, the group expanded to include Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney. "New York Mining Disaster 1941," their second British single (their first-issued UK 45 rpm was "Spicks and Specks"), was issued to radio stations with a blank white label listing only the song title. Some DJs immediately assumed this was a new single by the Beatles and started playing the song in heavy rotation. This helped the song climb into the top 20 in both the UK and US. No such chicanery was needed to boost the Bee Gees' next single, "To Love Somebody", into the US Top 20. Originally written for Otis Redding, "To Love Somebody", a soulful ballad sung by Barry, has since become a pop standard covered by many artists. Another single, "Holiday", released in the US, peaked at No. 16. The parent album, Bee Gees 1st (their first internationally), peaked at No. 7 in the US and No. 8 in the UK. Bill Shepherd was credited as the arranger. After recording that album, the group recorded their first BBC session at the Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, in London, with Bill Bebb as the producer, and they performed three songs. That session is included on BBC Sessions: 1967–1973 (2008). After the release of Bee Gees' 1st, the group was first introduced in New York as "the English surprise." At that time, the band made their first British TV appearance on Top of the Pops. Maurice recalled: In late 1967, they began recording the second album. On 21 December 1967, in a live broadcast from Liverpool Anglican Cathedral for a Christmas television special called How On Earth?, they performed their own song, "Thank You For Christmas" which was written especially for the programme, as well as a medley of the traditional Christmas carols "Silent Night," "The First Noel" and "Mary's Boy Child" (the latter incorrectly noted as "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" on tape boxes and subsequent release). The songs were all pre-recorded on 1 December 1967 and the group lip-synched their performance. The recordings were eventually released on the "Horizontal" reissue bonus disc in 2008. The folk group the Settlers and Radio 1 disc-jockey, Kenny Everett, also performed on the programme which was presented by the Reverend Edward H. Patey, dean of the cathedral. January 1968 began with a promotional trip to the US. Los Angeles Police were on alert in anticipation of a Beatles-type reception, and special security arrangements were being put in place. In February, Horizontal repeated the success of their first album, featuring the group's first UK No. 1 single "Massachusetts" (a No. 11 US hit) and the No. 7 UK single "World." The sound of the album Horizontal had a more "rock" sound than their previous release, although ballads like "And the Sun Will Shine" and "Really and Sincerely" were also prominent. The Horizontal album reached No. 12 in the US and No. 16 in the UK. With the release of Horizontal, they also embarked on a Scandinavian tour with concerts in Copenhagen. Around the same time, the Bee Gees turned down an offer to write and perform the soundtrack for the film Wonderwall, according to director Joe Massot. On 27 February 1968, the band, backed by the 17-piece Massachusetts String Orchestra, began their first tour of Germany with two concerts at Hamburg Musikhalle. In March 1968, the band was supported by Procol Harum (who had a well-known hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale") on their German tour. As Robin's partner Molly Hullis recalls: "Germans were wilder than the fans in England at the heights of Beatlemania." The tour schedule took them to 11 venues in as many days with 18 concerts played, finishing with a brace of shows at the Stadthalle, Braunschweig. After that, the group was off to Switzerland. As Maurice described it: On 17 March, the band performed "Words" on The Ed Sullivan Show. The other artists who performed on that night's show were Lucille Ball, George Hamilton and Fran Jeffries. On 27 March 1968, the band performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Two more singles followed in early 1968: the ballad "Words" (No. 8 UK, No. 15 US) and the double A-sided single "Jumbo" backed with "The Singer Sang His Song". "Jumbo" only reached No. 25 in the UK and No. 57 in the US. The Bee Gees felt "The Singer Sang His Song" was the stronger of the two sides, an opinion shared by listeners in the Netherlands who made it a No. 3 hit. Further Bee Gees chart singles followed: "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", their second UK No. 1 (No. 8 US), and "I Started a Joke" (No. 6 US), both culled from the band's third album Idea. Idea reached No. 4 in the UK and was another top 20 album in the US (No. 17). After the tour and TV special to promote the album, Vince Melouney left the group, desiring to play more of a blues style music than the Gibbs were writing. Melouney did achieve one feat while with the Bee Gees: his composition "Such a Shame" (from Idea) is the only song on any Bee Gees album not written by a Gibb brother. The band were due to begin a seven-week tour of the US on 2 August 1968, but on 27 July, Robin collapsed and fell unconscious. He was admitted to a London nursing home suffering from nervous exhaustion, and the American tour was postponed. The band began recording their sixth album, which resulted in their spending a week recording at Atlantic Studios in New York. Robin, still feeling poorly, missed the New York sessions, but the rest of the band put away instrumental tracks and demos. Odessa, Cucumber Castle and break-up By 1969, Robin began to feel that Stigwood had been favouring Barry as the frontman. The Bee Gees' performances in early 1969 on the Top of the Pops and The Tom Jones Show performing "I Started a Joke" and "First of May" as a medley was one of the last live performances of the group with Robin. Their next album, which was to have been a concept album called Masterpeace, evolved into the double-album Odessa. Most rock critics felt this was the best Bee Gees album of the 1960s with its progressive rock feel on the title track, the country-flavoured "Marley Purt Drive" and "Give Your Best", and ballads such as "Melody Fair" and "First of May" (the last of which became the only single from the album and a UK # 6 hit). Feeling the flipside, "Lamplight," should have been the A-side, Robin quit the group in mid-1969 and launched a solo career. The first of many Bee Gees compilations, Best of Bee Gees, was released featuring the non-LP single "Words" plus the Australian hit "Spicks and Specks". The single "Tomorrow Tomorrow" was also released and was a moderate hit in the UK, where it reached No. 23, but it was only No. 54 in the US. The compilation reached the top 10 in both the UK and the US. While Robin pursued his solo career, Barry, Maurice and Petersen continued on as the Bee Gees recording their next album, Cucumber Castle. The band made their debut performance without Robin at Talk of the Town. They had recruited their sister, Lesley, into the group at this time. To accompany the album, they also filmed a TV special with Frankie Howerd and cameos from several other contemporary pop and rock stars, which aired on the BBC in December 1970. Petersen played drums on the tracks recorded for the album but was fired from the group after filming began (he went on to form the Humpy Bong with Jonathan Kelly). His parts were edited out of the final cut of the film and Pentangle drummer Terry Cox was recruited to complete the recording of songs for the album. After the album was released in early 1970, it seemed that the Bee Gees were finished. The leadoff single, "Don't Forget to Remember", was a big hit in the UK, reaching No. 2, but only reached No. 73 in the US. The next two singles, "I.O.I.O." and "If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else", barely scraped the charts. On 1 December 1969, Barry and Maurice parted ways professionally. Maurice started to record his first solo album, The Loner, which was not released. Meanwhile, he released the single "Railroad" and starred in the West End musical Sing a Rude Song. In February 1970, Barry recorded a solo album which never saw official release either, although "I'll Kiss Your Memory" was released as a single backed by "This Time" without much interest. Meanwhile, Robin saw success in Europe and Australia with his No. 2 hit "Saved by the Bell" and the album Robin's Reign. 1970–1974: Reformation In mid 1970, according to Barry, "Robin rang me in Spain where I was on holiday [saying] 'let's do it again'". By 21 August 1970, after they had reunited, Barry announced that the Bee Gees "are there and they will never, ever part again". Maurice said, "We just discussed it and re-formed. We want to apologise publicly to Robin for the things that have been said." Earlier, in June 1970, Robin and Maurice recorded a dozen songs before Barry joined and included two songs that were on their reunion album. Around the same time, Barry and Robin were about to publish the book On the Other Hand. They also recruited Geoff Bridgford as the group's official drummer. Bridgford had previously worked with the Groove and Tin Tin and played drums on Maurice's unreleased first solo album. In 1970, 2 Years On was released in October in the US and November in the UK. The lead single "Lonely Days" reached No. 3 in the United States, promoted by appearances on The Johnny Cash Show, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Dick Cavett Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. Their ninth album, Trafalgar, was released in late 1971. The single "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" was their first to hit No. 1 on the US charts, while "Israel" reached No. 22 in the Netherlands. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" also brought the Bee Gees their first Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Later that year, the group's songs were included in the soundtrack for the film Melody. In 1972, they hit No. 16 in the US with the non-album single "My World", backed by Maurice's composition "On Time". Another 1972 single, "Run to Me" from the LP To Whom It May Concern, returned them to the UK top 10 for the first time in three years. On 24 November 1972, the band headlined the "Woodstock of the West" Festival at the Los Angeles Coliseum (which was a West Coast answer to Woodstock in New York), which also featured Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and the Eagles. Also in 1972, the group sang "Hey Jude" with Wilson Pickett. By 1973, however, the Bee Gees were in a rut. The album Life in a Tin Can, released on Robert Stigwood's newly formed RSO Records, and its lead-off single, "Saw a New Morning", sold poorly with the single peaking at No. 94. This was followed by an unreleased album (known as A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants). A second compilation album, Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2, was released in 1973, although it did not repeat the success of Volume 1. On 6 April 1973 episode of The Midnight Special they performed "Money (That's What I Want)" with Jerry Lee Lewis. Also in 1973, they were invited by Chuck Berry to perform two songs with him onstage at The Midnight Special: "Johnny B. Goode" and "Reelin' and Rockin'". After a tour of the United States in early 1974 and a Canadian tour later in the year, the group ended up playing small clubs. As Barry joked, "We ended up in, have you ever heard of Batley's the variety club in (West Yorkshire) England?". On the advice of Ahmet Ertegun, head of their US label Atlantic Records, Stigwood arranged for the group to record with soul music producer Arif Mardin. The resulting LP, Mr. Natural, included fewer ballads and foreshadowed the R&B direction of the rest of their career. When it, too, failed to attract much interest, Mardin encouraged them to work within the soul music style. The brothers attempted to assemble a live stage band that could replicate their studio sound. Lead guitarist Alan Kendall had come on board in 1971 but did not have much to do until Mr. Natural. For that album, they added drummer Dennis Bryon, and they later added ex-Strawbs keyboard player Blue Weaver, completing the Bee Gees band that lasted through the late '70s. Maurice, who had previously performed on piano, guitar, harpsichord, electric piano, organ, mellotron and bass guitar, as well as mandolin and Moog synthesiser, by then confined himself to bass onstage. 1975–1979: Turning to disco Main Course and Children of the World At Eric Clapton's suggestion, the brothers moved to Miami, Florida, early in 1975 to record at Criteria Studios. After starting off with ballads, they eventually heeded the urging of Mardin and Stigwood, and crafted more dance-oriented disco songs, including their second US No. 1, "Jive Talkin'", along with US No. 7 "Nights on Broadway". The band liked the resulting new sound. This time the public agreed by sending the LP Main Course up the charts. This album included the first Bee Gees songs wherein Barry used falsetto, something that became a trademark of the band. This was also the first Bee Gees album to have two US top-10 singles since 1968's Idea. Main Course also became their first charting R&B album. On the Bee Gees' appearance on The Midnight Special in 1975, to promote Main Course, they sang "To Love Somebody" with Helen Reddy. Around the same time, the Bee Gees recorded three Beatles covers—"Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" with Barry providing lead vocals, and "Sun King" with Maurice providing lead vocals, for the unsuccessful musical/documentary All This and World War II. The next album, Children of the World, released in September 1976, was filled with Barry's new-found falsetto and Weaver's synthesizer disco licks. The first single from the album was "You Should Be Dancing", which features percussion work by musician Stephen Stills. The song pushed the Bee Gees to a level of stardom they had not previously achieved in the US, though their new R&B/disco sound was not as popular with some diehard fans. The pop ballad "Love So Right" reached No. 3 in the US, and "Boogie Child" reached US No. 12 in January 1977. The album peaked at No. 8 in the US. Saturday Night Fever and Spirits Having Flown Following a successful live album, Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live, the Bee Gees agreed with Stigwood to participate in the creation of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It was the turning point of their career. The cultural impact of both the film and the soundtrack was significant throughout the world, epitomizing the disco phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic. The band's involvement in the film did not begin until post-production. As John Travolta asserted, "The Bee Gees weren't even involved in the movie in the beginning ... I was dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs." Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film. The brothers wrote the songs "virtually in a single weekend" at Château d'Hérouville studio in France. Barry Gibb remembered the reaction when Stigwood and music supervisor Bill Oakes arrived and listened to the demos: Bill Oakes, who supervised the soundtrack, asserts that Saturday Night Fever did not begin the disco craze but rather prolonged it: "Disco had run its course. These days, Fever is credited with kicking off the whole disco thing—it really didn't. Truth is, it breathed new life into a genre that was actually dying." Three Bee Gees singles—"How Deep Is Your Love" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Stayin' Alive" (US No. 1, UK No. 4) and "Night Fever" (US No. 1, UK No. 1)—charted high in many countries around the world, launching the most popular period of the disco era. They also penned the song "If I Can't Have You", which became a US No. 1 hit for Yvonne Elliman, while the Bee Gees' own version was the B-side of "Stayin' Alive". Such was the popularity of Saturday Night Fever that two different versions of the song "More Than a Woman" received airplay, one by the Bee Gees, which was relegated to an album track, and another by Tavares, which was the hit. During a nine-month period beginning in the Christmas season of 1977, seven songs written by the brothers held the No. 1 position on the US charts for 27 of 37 consecutive weeks: three of their own releases, two for brother Andy Gibb, the Yvonne Elliman single, and "Grease", performed by Frankie Valli. Fuelled by the film's success, the soundtrack broke multiple industry records, becoming the highest-selling album in recording history to that point. With more than 40 million copies sold, Saturday Night Fever is among music's top five best selling soundtrack albums. , it is calculated as the fourth highest-selling album worldwide. In March 1978, the Bee Gees held the top two positions on the US charts with "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive", the first time this had happened since the Beatles. On the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 25 March 1978, five songs written by the Gibbs were in the US top 10 at the same time: "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive", "If I Can't Have You", "Emotion" and "Love Is Thicker Than Water". Such chart dominance had not been seen since April 1964, when the Beatles had all five of the top five American singles. Barry Gibb became the only songwriter to have four consecutive number-one hits in the US, breaking the John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1964 record. These songs were "Stayin' Alive", "Love Is Thicker Than Water", "Night Fever" and "If I Can't Have You". The Bee Gees won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever over two years: Album of the Year, Producer of the Year (with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson), two awards for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (one in 1978 for "How Deep Is Your Love" and one in 1979 for "Stayin' Alive"), and Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices for "Stayin' Alive". During this era, Barry and Robin also wrote "Emotion" for an old friend, Australian vocalist Samantha Sang, who made it a top 10 hit, with the Bee Gees singing backing vocals. Barry also wrote the title song to the film version of the Broadway musical Grease for Frankie Valli to perform, which went to No. 1. The Bee Gees also co-starred with Peter Frampton in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), loosely inspired by the classic 1967 album by the Beatles. The movie had been heavily promoted prior to release and was expected to enjoy great commercial success. However, it was savaged by film critics as a disjointed mess and ignored by the public. Though some of its tracks charted, the soundtrack too was a high-profile flop. The single "Oh! Darling", credited to Robin Gibb, reached No. 15 in the US. The Bee Gees' follow-up to Saturday Night Fever was the Spirits Having Flown album. It yielded three more hits: "Too Much Heaven" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Tragedy" (US No. 1, UK No. 1), and "Love You Inside Out" (US No. 1, UK No. 13). This gave the act six consecutive No. 1 singles in the US within a year and a half, equalling the Beatles and surpassed only by Whitney Houston. In January 1979, the Bee Gees performed "Too Much Heaven" as their contribution to the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly. During the summer of 1979, the Bee Gees embarked on their largest concert tour covering the US and Canada. The Spirits Having Flown tour capitalised on Bee Gees fever that was sweeping the nation, with sold-out concerts in 38 cities. The Bee Gees produced a video for the title track "Too Much Heaven", directed by Miami-based filmmaker Martin Pitts and produced by Charles Allen. With this video, Pitts and Allen began a long association with the brothers. The Bee Gees even had a country hit in 1979 with "Rest Your Love on Me", the flip side of their pop hit "Too Much Heaven", which made the top 40 on the country charts. It was also a 1981 hit for Conway Twitty, topping the country music charts. The Bee Gees' overwhelming success rose and fell with the disco bubble. By the end of 1979, disco was rapidly declining in popularity, and the backlash against disco put the Bee Gees' American career in a tailspin. Radio stations around the US began promoting "Bee Gee-Free Weekends". Following their remarkable run from 1975 to 1979, the act had only one more top 10 single in the US, and that did not come until the single "One" reached number 7 in 1989. Barry Gibb considered the success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack both a blessing and a curse: 1980–1986: Outside projects, band turmoil, solo efforts and decline Robin co-produced Jimmy Ruffin's Sunrise released in May 1980, but the songs were started in 1979; the album contains songs written by the Gibb brothers, including the single "Hold On To My Love". In March 1980, Barry Gibb worked with Barbra Streisand on her album Guilty. He co-produced, and wrote or co-wrote all nine of the album's tracks (four of them written with Robin, and the title track with both Robin and Maurice). Barry also appeared on the album's cover with Streisand and duetted with her on two tracks. The album reached No. 1 in both the US and the UK, as did the single "Woman in Love" (written by Barry and Robin), becoming Streisand's most successful single and album to date. Both of the Streisand/Gibb duets, "Guilty" and "What Kind of Fool", also reached the US Top 10. In 1981, the Bee Gees released the album Living Eyes, their last full-length album release on RSO. This album was the first CD ever played in public, when it was played to viewers of the BBC show Tomorrow's World. With the disco backlash still running strong, the album failed to make the UK or US Top 40—breaking their streak of Top 40 hits, which started in 1975 with "Jive Talkin'". Two singles from the album fared little better—"He's a Liar", which reached No. 30 in the US, and "Living Eyes", which reached No. 45. In 1982, Dionne Warwick enjoyed a UK No. 2 and US Adult Contemporary No. 1 hit with her comeback single, "Heartbreaker", taken from her eponymous album written largely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb. The album reached No. 3 in the UK and the Top 30 in the US, where it was certified Gold. A year later, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers recorded the Bee Gees-penned track "Islands in the Stream", which became a US and Australian No. 1 hit and entered the Top 10 in the UK. Rogers' 1983 album, Eyes That See in the Dark, was written entirely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry. The album was a Top 10 hit in the US and was certified Double Platinum. The Bee Gees had greater success with the soundtrack to Staying Alive in 1983, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. The soundtrack was certified platinum in the US, and included their Top 30 hit "The Woman in You". Also in 1983, the band was sued by Chicago songwriter Ronald Selle, who claimed the brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, the Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later. In August 1983, Barry signed a solo deal with MCA Records and spent much of late 1983 and 1984 writing songs for this first solo effort, Now Voyager. Robin released three solo albums in the 1980s, How Old Are You?, Secret Agent and Walls Have Eyes. Maurice released his second single to date, "Hold Her in Your Hand", the first one having been released in 1970. In 1985, Diana Ross released the album Eaten Alive, written by the Bee Gees, with the title track co-written with Michael Jackson (who also performed on the track). The album was again co-produced by Barry Gibb, and the single "Chain Reaction" gave Ross a UK and Australian No. 1 hit. 1987–1999: Comeback, return to popularity and Andy's death The Bee Gees released the album E.S.P. in 1987, which sold over 2 million copies. It was their first album in six years, and their first for Warner Bros. Records. The single "You Win Again" went to No. 1 in numerous countries, including the UK, and made the Bee Gees the first group to score a UK No. 1 hit in each of three decades: the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The single was a disappointment in the US, charting at No. 75, and the Bee Gees voiced their frustration over American radio stations not playing their new European hit single, an omission which the group felt led to poor sales of their current album in the US. The song won the Bee Gees the 1987 British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically, and in February 1988 the band received a Brit Award nomination for Best British Group. On 10 March 1988, younger brother Andy Gibb died, aged 30, as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection. The Bee Gees later got together with Eric Clapton to create a group called 'the Bunburys' to raise money for English charities. The group recorded three songs for The Bunbury Tails: "We're the Bunburys" (which eventually became the opening theme to the 1992 animated series The Bunbury Tails), "Bunbury Afternoon", and "Fight (No Matter How Long)". The last song reached No. 8 on the rock music chart and appeared on The 1988 Summer Olympics Album. The Bee Gees' next album, One (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". The album also contained their first US Top 10 hit (No. 7) in a decade, "One" (an Adult Contemporary No. 1). After the album's release, the band embarked on its first world tour in 10 years. In the UK, Polydor issued a single-disc hits collection from Tales called The Very Best of the Bee Gees, which contained their biggest UK hits. The album became one of their best-selling albums in that country, and was eventually certified Triple Platinum. Following their next album, High Civilization (1991), which contained the UK top five hit "Secret Love", the Bee Gees went on a European tour. After the tour, Barry Gibb began to battle a serious back problem, which required surgery. In addition, he suffered from arthritis which, at one point, was so severe that it was doubtful that he would be able to play guitar for much longer. Also, in the early 1990s, Maurice Gibb finally sought treatment for his alcoholism, which he had battled for many years with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. In 1993, the group returned to the Polydor label and released the album Size Isn't Everything, which contained the UK top five hit "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Success still eluded them in the US, however, as the first single released, "Paying the Price of Love", only managed to reach No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the parent album stalled at No. 153. In 1997, they released the album Still Waters, which has reached No. 2 in the UK (their highest album chart position there since 1979) and No. 11 in the US. The album's first single, "Alone", gave them another UK Top 5 hit and a top 30 hit in the US. Still Waters was the band's most successful US release of their post-RSO era. At the 1997 BRIT Awards held in Earls Court, London on 24 February, the Bee Gees received the award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. On 14 November 1997, the Bee Gees performed a live concert in Las Vegas called One Night Only. The show included a performance of "Our Love (Don't Throw It All Away)" synchronised with a vocal by their deceased brother Andy and a cameo appearance by Celine Dion singing "Immortality". The "One Night Only" name grew out of the band's declaration that, due to Barry's health issues, the Las Vegas show was to be the final live performance of their career. After the immensely positive audience response to the Vegas concert, Barry decided to continue despite the pain, and the concert expanded into their last full-blown world tour of "One Night Only" concerts. The tour included playing to 56,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium on 5 September 1998 and concluded in the newly built Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 27 March 1999 to 72,000 people. In 1998, the group's soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever was incorporated into a stage production produced first in the West End and then on Broadway. They wrote three new songs for the adaptation. Also in 1998, the brothers released "Ellan Vannin" for Manx charities, recorded the previous year. Known as the unofficial national anthem of the Isle of Man, the brothers performed the song during their world tour to reflect their pride in the place of their birth. The Bee Gees closed the century with what turned out to be their last full-sized concert, known as BG2K, on 31 December 1999. 2000–2008: This Is Where I Came In and Maurice's death In 2001, the group released what turned out to be their final album of new material, This Is Where I Came In. The album was another success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK (being certified Gold), and the Top 20 in the US. The title track was also a UK Top 20 hit single. The last concert of the Bee Gees as a trio was at the Love and Hope Ball in 2002. Maurice Gibb died unexpectedly on 12 January 2003, at age 53, from a heart attack while awaiting emergency surgery to repair a strangulated intestine. Initially, his surviving brothers announced that they intended to carry on the name "Bee Gees" in his memory, but as time passed they decided to retire the group's name, leaving it to represent the three brothers together. The same week that Maurice died, Robin's solo album Magnet was released. On 23 February 2003, the Bee Gees received the Grammy Legend Award, they also became the first recipients of that award in the 21st century. Barry and Robin accepted as well as Maurice's son, Adam, in a tearful ceremony. In late 2004, Robin embarked on a solo tour of Germany, Russia and Asia. During January 2005, Barry, Robin and several legendary rock artists recorded "Grief Never Grows Old", the official tsunami relief record for the Disasters Emergency Committee. Later that year, Barry reunited with Barbra Streisand for her top-selling album Guilty Pleasures, released as Guilty Too in the UK as a sequel album to the previous Guilty. Also in 2004, Barry recorded his song "I Cannot Give You My Love" with Cliff Richard, which became a UK top 20 hit single. In February 2006, Barry and Robin reunited on stage for a Miami charity concert to benefit the Diabetes Research Institute. It was their first public performance together since Maurice's death. The pair also played at the 30th annual Prince's Trust Concert in the UK on 20 May 2006. 2009–2012: Return to performing and Robin's death Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to severe abdominal pain. Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert on 13 February 2012 at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and, as it turned out, his final one. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. 2013–present: Looking back at a lifetime of music In September and October 2013, Barry performed his first solo tour "in honour of his brothers and a lifetime of music". In addition to the Rhino collection, The Studio Albums: 1967–1968, Warner Bros. released a box set in 2014 called The Warner Bros Years: 1987–1991 that included the studio albums E.S.P., One and High Civilization as well as extended mixes and B-sides. It also included the band's entire 1989 concert in Melbourne, Australia, available only on video as All for One prior to this release. The documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees was aired on BBC Four on 19 December 2014. On 23 March 2015, 13STAR Records released a box set 1974–1979 which included the studio albums Mr. Natural, Main Course, Children of the World and Spirits Having Flown. A fifth disc called The Miami Years includes all the tracks from Saturday Night Fever as well as B-sides. No unreleased tracks from the era were included. After a hiatus from performing, Barry Gibb returned to solo and guest singing performances. He occasionally appears with his son, Steve Gibb. In 2016, he released In the Now, his first solo effort since 1984's Now Voyager. It was the first release of new Bee Gees-related music since the posthumous release of Robin Gibb's 50 St. Catherine's Drive. Also in 2016, Capitol Records signed a new distribution deal with Barry and the estates of his brothers for the Bee Gees catalogue, bringing their music back to Universal. An as-yet-untitled biopic about the Bee Gees is in development at Paramount, with Kenneth Branagh directing and Barry Gibb serving as an executive producer. Influences The Bee Gees were influenced by the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Mills Brothers, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, the Beach Boys and Stevie Wonder. On the 2014 documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees, Barry said that the Bee Gees were also influenced by the Hollies and Otis Redding. Maurice noted that Neil Sedaka was an early influence, and later the group was "very influenced" by Linda Creed songs for the Stylistics. Legacy In his 1980 Playboy magazine interview, John Lennon praised the Bee Gees, "Try to tell the kids in the seventies who were screaming to the Bee Gees that their music was just the Beatles redone. There is nothing wrong with the Bee Gees. They do a damn good job. There was nothing else going on then." In a 2007 interview with Duane Hitchings, who co-wrote Rod Stewart's 1978 disco song "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", he noted that the song was: Kevin Parker of Tame Impala has said that listening to the Bee Gees after taking mushrooms inspired him to change the sound of the music he was making on his album Currents. The English indie rock band the Cribs was also influenced by the Bee Gees. Cribs member Ryan Jarman said: "It must have had quite a big influence on us – pop melodies is something we always revert to. I always want to get back to pop melodies and I'm sure that's due to that Bee Gees phase we went through." Following Robin's death on 20 May 2012, Beyoncé remarked: "The Bee Gees were an early inspiration for me, Kelly Rowland and Michelle. We loved their songwriting and beautiful harmonies. Recording their classic song, 'Emotion' was a special time for Destiny's Child. Sadly we lost Robin Gibb this week. My heart goes out to his brother Barry and the rest of his family." Singer Jordin Sparks remarked that her favourite Bee Gees songs are "Too Much Heaven", "Emotion" (although performed by Samantha Sang with Barry on the background vocals using his falsetto), and "Stayin' Alive". Carrie Underwood said, about discovering the Bee Gees during her childhood, "My parents listened to the Bee Gees quite a bit when I was little, so I was definitely exposed to them at an early age. They just had a sound that was all their own, obviously, [it was] never duplicated." Songwriting At one point, in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing nine of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100. In all, the Gibbs placed 13 singles onto the Hot 100 in 1978, with 12 making the Top 40. The Gibb brothers are fellows of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs. Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw spoke about the Bee Gees' influence with their own music as well as their songwriting: In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Bee Gees were announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for their role as "Influential Artists". Accolades and achievements In 1978, following the success of Saturday Night Fever, and the single "Night Fever" in particular, Reubin Askew, the governor of the US state of Florida, named the Bee Gees honorary citizens of the state, since they resided in Miami at the time. In 1979, the Bee Gees got their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They were the subjects of This Is Your Life in 1991 when they were surprised by Michael Aspel while being interviewed by disc jockey Steve Wright (DJ) on his Radio 1 programme at BBC Broadcasting House. The Bee Gees were inducted in 1994 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as Florida's Artists Hall of Fame in 1995 and the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997. Also in 1997, the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; the presenter of the award to "Britain's First Family of Harmony" was Brian Wilson, historical leader of the Beach Boys, another "family act" featuring three harmonising brothers. In 2001, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. After Maurice's death, the Bee Gees were also inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2001, London's Walk of Fame in 2006 and Musically Speaking Hall Of Fame in 2008. On 15 May 2007, the Bee Gees were named BMI Icons at the 55th annual BMI Pop Awards. Collectively, Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb have earned 109 BMI Pop, Country and Latin Awards. In October 1999, the Isle of Man Post Office unveiled a set of six stamps honouring the Bee Gees. All three brothers (including Maurice posthumously) were invested as Commanders of the Order of the British Empire in December 2001 with the ceremony taking place at Buckingham Palace on 27 May 2004. On 10 July 2009, the Isle of Man's capital bestowed the Freedom of the Borough of Douglas honour on Barry and Robin, as well as posthumously on Maurice. On 20 November 2009, the Douglas Borough Council released a limited edition commemorative DVD to mark their naming as Freemen of the Borough. On 14 February 2013, Barry Gibb unveiled a statue of the Bee Gees as well as unveiling "Bee Gees Way" (a walkway filled with photos and videos of the Bee Gees) in honour of the Bee Gees in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. On 27 June 2018, Barry Gibb, the last surviving member of the Bee Gees, was knighted by Prince Charles after being named on the Queen's New Years Honours List. The statue of the Bee Gees in Douglas, Isle of Man, was installed in 2021. In 2022, the last surviving member of the group, Barry Gibb, was made an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia which is Australia's highest national honour. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them one of the best selling artists of all time. The group are to date the most successful family and sibling band of all time, the most successful musical trio of all time, and the most successful musical act with ties to Australia. Awards and nominations Queensland Music Awards The Queensland Music Awards (previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating Queensland, Australia's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006. (wins only) |- | 2009 | themselves | Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award | |} Band members Principal members Barry Gibb – vocals, rhythm guitar (1958–2003, 2006, 2009–2012) Robin Gibb – vocals, occasional keyboards (1958–1969, 1970–2003, 2006, 2009–2012; d. 2012) Maurice Gibb – bass, rhythm and lead guitars, keyboards, vocals (1958–2003; d. 2003) Colin Petersen – drums (1967–1969) Vince Melouney – lead guitar (1967–1968) Geoff Bridgford – drums (1971–1972; touring 1970-1971) Touring musicians Alan Kendall – lead guitar (1971–1981, 1989–2003) Chris Karan – drums (1972) Dennis Bryon – drums (1973–1981) Geoff Westley – keyboards, piano (1973–1976) Blue Weaver – keyboards, synthesizers (1975–1981) Joe Lala – percussion (1976, 1979) Joey Murcia – rhythm guitar (1976, 1979) Harold Cowart – bass (1979) Tim Cansfield – lead guitar (1989) Vic Martin – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) Gary Moberly – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) George Perry – bass (1989–1993) Chester Thompson – drums (1989) Mike Murphy – drums (1989) Trevor Murrell – drums (1991–1992) Rudi Dobson – keyboards (1991–1992) Scott F. Crago – drums Ben Stivers – keyboard (1996–1999) Matt Bonelli – bass (1993–2001) Steve Rucker – drums (1993–1999) Guest musicians (studio and touring) Phil Collins – drums Lenny Castro – percussion Glenn Frey – guitar Timothy B. Schmit – bass guitar Joe Walsh – lead guitar Don Felder – lead guitar (1981) Jeff Porcaro – drums Mike Porcaro – bass guitar Steve Porcaro – keyboards Steve Lukather – guitar David Hungate – bass guitar David Paich – keyboards Greg Phillinganes – keyboards Bobby Kimball – keyboards Leland Sklar – bass guitar Reb Beach – lead guitar Gregg Bissonette – drums Ricky Lawson – drums Scott F. Crago – drums Steve Gadd – drums Steve Ferrone – drums Steve Jordan – drums Nathan East – bass guitar Steuart Smith – lead guitar Vinnie Colaiuta – drums Timeline Timeline of touring members Discography Soundtracks Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Staying Alive (1983) are not official Bee Gees albums, but contain some previously unreleased tracks. Apart from live and compilation, all their official albums are included on this list. A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants has not been included on the list because it appeared only on numerous bootlegs and was not officially released. Studio albums The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs (1965) Spicks and Specks (1966) Bee Gees' 1st (1967) Horizontal (1968) Idea (1968) Odessa (1969) Cucumber Castle (1970) 2 Years On (1970) Trafalgar (1971) To Whom It May Concern (1972) Life in a Tin Can (1973) Mr. Natural (1974) Main Course (1975) Children of the World (1976) Spirits Having Flown (1979) Living Eyes (1981) E.S.P. (1987) One (1989) High Civilization (1991) Size Isn't Everything (1993) Still Waters (1997) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Concert tours The Bee Gees' concerts in 1967 and 1968 (1967–1968) 2 Years On Tour (1971) Trafalgar Tour (1972) Mr. Natural Tour (1974) Main Course Tour (1975) Children of the World Tour (1976) Spirits Having Flown Tour (1979) One for All World Tour (1989) High Civilization World Tour (1991) One Night Only World Tour (1997–1999) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Filmography Citations General bibliography . External links Bee Gees Official website Bee Gees at Rolling Stone Bee Gees' Vocal Group Hall of Fame webpage Bee Gees at bmi.com Robin Gibb sadly passes away after losing his battle with cancer Who Do You Think You Are? – Bee Gees Family History 1958 establishments in Australia Australian pop rock groups ARIA Award winners ARIA Hall of Fame inductees Atlantic Records artists Barry Gibb Brit Award winners British disco groups British musical trios British soft rock music groups British soul musical groups Brunswick Records artists Capitol Records artists Child musical groups English expatriates in Australia English expatriates in the United States English pop music groups English rock music groups Grammy Legend Award winners Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Juno Award for International Album of the Year winners Mercury Records artists Manx musical groups Maurice Gibb Musical groups established in 1958 Musical groups disestablished in 2003 Musical groups reestablished in 2009 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 Musical groups from Manchester Queensland musical groups Philips Records artists Q150 Icons Robin Gibb RSO Records artists Sibling musical trios UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors United Artists Records artists Warner Records artists World Music Awards winners
true
[ "Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio, or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first written in 1335.\n\nThe book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales.\n\nTales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.\n\nPurpose and structure\n\nA didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem (\"Some man has made me a proposition...\" or \"I fear that such and such person intends to...\") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are \"examples\" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.\n\nEach chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: \"And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses.\" A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.\n\nOrigin of stories and influence on later literature\nMany of the stories written in the book are the first examples written in a modern European language of various stories, which many other writers would use in the proceeding centuries. Many of the stories he included were themselves derived from other stories, coming from western and Arab sources.\n\nShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew has the basic elements of Tale 35, \"What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\".\n\nTale 32, \"What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth\" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.\n\nStory 7, \"What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana\", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.\n\nTale 2, \"What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market,\" is the familiar fable The miller, his son and the donkey.\n\nIn 2016, Baroque Decay released a game under the name \"The Count Lucanor\". As well as some protagonists' names, certain events from the books inspired past events in the game.\n\nThe stories\n\nThe book opens with a prologue which introduces the characters of the Count and Patronio. The titles in the following list are those given in Keller and Keating's 1977 translation into English. James York's 1868 translation into English gives a significantly different ordering of the stories and omits the fifty-first.\n\n What Happened to a King and His Favorite \n What Happened to a Good Man and His Son \n How King Richard of England Leapt into the Sea against the Moors\n What a Genoese Said to His Soul When He Was about to Die \n What Happened to a Fox and a Crow Who Had a Piece of Cheese in His Beak\n How the Swallow Warned the Other Birds When She Saw Flax Being Sown \n What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana \n What Happened to a Man Whose Liver Had to Be Washed \n What Happened to Two Horses Which Were Thrown to the Lion \n What Happened to a Man Who on Account of Poverty and Lack of Other Food Was Eating Bitter Lentils \n What Happened to a Dean of Santiago de Compostela and Don Yllán, the Grand Master of Toledo\n What Happened to the Fox and the Rooster \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Hunting Partridges \n The Miracle of Saint Dominick When He Preached against the Usurer \n What Happened to Lorenzo Suárez at the Siege of Seville \n The Reply that count Fernán González Gave to His Relative Núño Laynes \n What Happened to a Very Hungry Man Who Was Half-heartedly Invited to Dinner \n What Happened to Pero Meléndez de Valdés When He Broke His Leg \n What Happened to the Crows and the Owls \n What Happened to a King for Whom a Man Promised to Perform Alchemy \n What Happened to a Young King and a Philosopher to Whom his Father Commended Him \n What Happened to the Lion and the Bull \n How the Ants Provide for Themselves \n What Happened to the King Who Wanted to Test His Three Sons \n What Happened to the Count of Provence and How He Was Freed from Prison by the Advice of Saladin\n What Happened to the Tree of Lies \n What Happened to an Emperor and to Don Alvarfáñez Minaya and Their Wives \n What Happened in Granada to Don Lorenzo Suárez Gallinato When He Beheaded the Renegade Chaplain \n What Happened to a Fox Who Lay down in the Street to Play Dead \n What Happened to King Abenabet of Seville and Ramayquía His Wife \n How a Cardinal Judged between the Canons of Paris and the Friars Minor \n What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth \n What Happened to Don Juan Manuel's Saker Falcon and an Eagle and a Heron \n What Happened to a Blind Man Who Was Leading Another \n What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\n What Happened to a Merchant When He Found His Son and His Wife Sleeping Together \n What Happened to Count Fernán González with His Men after He Had Won the Battle of Hacinas \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Loaded down with Precious Stones and Drowned in the River \n What Happened to a Man and a Swallow and a Sparrow \n Why the Seneschal of Carcassonne Lost His Soul \n What Happened to a King of Córdova Named Al-Haquem \n What Happened to a Woman of Sham Piety \n What Happened to Good and Evil and the Wise Man and the Madman \n What Happened to Don Pero Núñez the Loyal, to Don Ruy González de Zavallos, and to Don Gutier Roiz de Blaguiello with Don Rodrigo the Generous \n What Happened to a Man Who Became the Devil's Friend and Vassal \n What Happened to a Philosopher who by Accident Went down a Street Where Prostitutes Lived \n What Befell a Moor and His Sister Who Pretended That She Was Timid \n What Happened to a Man Who Tested His Friends \n What Happened to the Man Whom They Cast out Naked on an Island When They Took away from Him the Kingdom He Ruled \n What Happened to Saladin and a Lady, the Wife of a Knight Who Was His Vassal \n What Happened to a Christian King Who Was Very Powerful and Haughty\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Sturm, Harlan\n\n Wacks, David\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Internet Archive provides free access to the 1868 translation by James York.\nJSTOR has the to the 1977 translation by Keller and Keating.\nSelections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)\n\n14th-century books\nSpanish literature\n1335 books", "\"What Happened to Us\" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring English recording artist Jay Sean. It was written by Sean, Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim and Israel Cruz. \"What Happened to Us\" was leaked online in October 2010, and was released on 10 March 2011, as the third single from Mauboy's second studio album, Get 'Em Girls (2010). The song received positive reviews from critics.\n\nA remix of \"What Happened to Us\" made by production team OFM, was released on 11 April 2011. A different version of the song which features Stan Walker, was released on 29 May 2011. \"What Happened to Us\" charted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 14 and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). An accompanying music video was directed by Mark Alston, and reminisces on a former relationship between Mauboy and Sean.\n\nProduction and release\n\n\"What Happened to Us\" was written by Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz and Jay Sean. It was produced by Skaller, Cruz, Rohaim and Bobby Bass. The song uses C, D, and B minor chords in the chorus. \"What Happened to Us\" was sent to contemporary hit radio in Australia on 14 February 2011. The cover art for the song was revealed on 22 February on Mauboy's official Facebook page. A CD release was available for purchase via her official website on 10 March, for one week only. It was released digitally the following day.\n\nReception\nMajhid Heath from ABC Online Indigenous called the song a \"Jordin Sparks-esque duet\", and wrote that it \"has a nice innocence to it that rings true to the experience of losing a first love.\" Chris Urankar from Nine to Five wrote that it as a \"mid-tempo duet ballad\" which signifies Mauboy's strength as a global player. On 21 March 2011, \"What Happened to Us\" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number 14 the following week. The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for selling 70,000 copies. \"What Happened to Us\" spent a total of ten weeks in the ARIA top fifty.\n\nMusic video\n\nBackground\nThe music video for the song was shot in the Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney on 26 November 2010. The video was shot during Sean's visit to Australia for the Summerbeatz tour. During an interview with The Daily Telegraph while on the set of the video, Sean said \"the song is sick! ... Jessica's voice is amazing and we're shooting [the video] in this ridiculously beautiful mansion overlooking the harbour.\" The video was directed by Mark Alston, who had previously directed the video for Mauboy's single \"Let Me Be Me\" (2009). It premiered on YouTube on 10 February 2011.\n\nSynopsis and reception\nThe video begins showing Mauboy who appears to be sitting on a yellow antique couch in a mansion, wearing a purple dress. As the video progresses, scenes of memories are displayed of Mauboy and her love interest, played by Sean, spending time there previously. It then cuts to the scenes where Sean appears in the main entrance room of the mansion. The final scene shows Mauboy outdoors in a gold dress, surrounded by green grass and trees. She is later joined by Sean who appears in a black suit and a white shirt, and together they sing the chorus of the song to each other. David Lim of Feed Limmy wrote that the video is \"easily the best thing our R&B princess has committed to film – ever\" and praised the \"mansion and wondrous interior décor\". He also commended Mauboy for choosing Australian talent to direct the video instead of American directors, which she had used for her previous two music videos. Since its release, the video has received over two million views on Vevo.\n\nLive performances\nMauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" live for the first time during her YouTube Live Sessions program on 4 December 2010. She also appeared on Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight on 23 February 2011 for an interview and later performed the song. On 15 March 2011, Mauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Sunrise. She also performed the song with Stan Walker during the Australian leg of Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. Tour in April 2011. Mauboy and Walker later performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Dancing with the Stars Australia on 29 May 2011. From November 2013 to February 2014, \"What Happened to Us\" was part of the set list of the To the End of the Earth Tour, Mauboy's second headlining tour of Australia, with Nathaniel Willemse singing Sean's part.\n\nTrack listing\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Just Witness Remix) – 3:45\n\nCD single\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Album Version) – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:39\n\nDigital download – Remix\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:38\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Stan Walker – 3:20\n\nPersonnel\nSongwriting – Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz, Jay Sean\nProduction – Jeremy Skaller, Bobby Bass\nAdditional production – Israel Cruz, Khaled Rohaim\nLead vocals – Jessica Mauboy, Jay Sean\nMixing – Phil Tan\nAdditional mixing – Damien Lewis\nMastering – Tom Coyne \nSource:\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly chart\n\nYear-end chart\n\nCertification\n\nRadio dates and release history\n\nReferences\n\n2010 songs\n2011 singles\nJessica Mauboy songs\nJay Sean songs\nSongs written by Billy Steinberg\nSongs written by Jay Sean\nSongs written by Josh Alexander\nSongs written by Israel Cruz\nVocal duets\nSony Music Australia singles\nSongs written by Khaled Rohaim" ]
[ "Bee Gees", "2009-2012: Return to performing and Robin's death", "When was Robin's death?", "20 May 2012", "When did they return to performing?", "Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009", "What happened in 2009?", "appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009.", "What happened in 2010?", "On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol." ]
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What happened in 2011?
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What happened in 2011 for the Bee Gees?
Bee Gees
In an interview with Easy Mix radio host Tim Roxborough on 1 September 2009, Barry's 63rd birthday, Barry commented on future tours saying that "they will be back"; but in an agreement with Warner/Rhino they would not make an announcement at that time. On 7 September 2009, Robin disclosed to Jonathan Agnew that he had been in touch with Barry and that they had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and "perform again". Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to issues with severe abdominal pain. On 13 February 2012, Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and his final. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. With Robin's death, Barry became the last surviving Gibb brother, and the Bee Gees dissolved as a musical group. CANNOTANSWER
On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer,
The Bee Gees were a music group formed in 1958, featuring brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid- to late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies; Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid- to late 1970s and 1980s. The Bee Gees wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists and have been regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop music history. They have been referred to in the media as The Disco Kings, Britain’s First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music. Born on the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived in Chorlton, Manchester, England until the late 1950s. There, in 1955, they formed the skiffle/rock and roll group the Rattlesnakes. The family then moved to Redcliffe, in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia, later to Cribb Island. After achieving their first chart success in Australia as the Bee Gees with "Spicks and Specks" (their twelfth single), they returned to the UK in January 1967, when producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience. The Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (1977) was the turning point of their career, with both the film and soundtrack having a cultural impact throughout the world, enhancing the disco scene's mainstream appeal. They won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever, including Album of the Year. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them among the best-selling music artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; the Hall's citation says, "Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees." With nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the Bee Gees are the third-most successful band in Billboard charts history behind only the Beatles and the Supremes. Following Maurice's sudden death in January 2003 at the age of 53, Barry and Robin retired the group's name after 45 years of activity. In 2009, Robin announced that he and Barry had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and perform again. Robin died in May 2012, aged 62, after a prolonged period of failing health, leaving Barry as the only surviving member of the group. History 1955–1966: Music origins, Bee Gees formation and popularity in Australia Born on the Isle of Man during the late 1940s, the Gibb brothers moved to their father Hugh Gibb's hometown of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Greater Manchester, England in 1955. They formed a skiffle/rock-and-roll group, the Rattlesnakes, which consisted of Barry on guitar and vocals, Robin and Maurice on vocals and friends Paul Frost on drums and Kenny Horrocks on tea-chest bass. In December 1957 the boys began to sing in harmony. The story is told that they were going to lip-sync to a record in the local Gaumont cinema (as other children had done on previous weeks), but as they were running to the theatre, the fragile shellac 78-RPM record broke. The brothers had to sing live, but received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career. In May 1958 the Rattlesnakes disbanded when Frost and Horrocks left, so the Gibb brothers then formed Wee Johnny Hayes and the Blue Cats, with Barry as "Johnny Hayes". In August 1958, the Gibb family, including older sister Lesley and infant brother Andy (born in March 1958), emigrated to Australia and settled in Redcliffe, Queensland, just north-east of Brisbane. The young brothers began performing to raise pocket money. Speedway promoter and driver Bill Goode, who had hired the brothers to entertain the crowd at the Redcliffe Speedway in 1960, introduced them to Brisbane radio-presenter jockey Bill Gates. The crowd at the speedway would throw money onto the track for the boys, who generally performed during the interval of meetings (usually on the back of a truck that drove around the track) and, in a deal with Goode, any money they collected from the crowd they were allowed to keep. Gates named the group the "BGs" (later changed to "Bee Gees") after his, Goode's and Barry Gibb's initials. The name was not specifically a reference to "Brothers Gibb", despite popular belief. During the next few years, they began working regularly at resorts on the Queensland coast. Through his songwriting, Barry sparked the interest of Australian star Col Joye, who helped the brothers get a recording deal in 1963 with Festival Records subsidiary Leedon Records under the name "Bee Gees". The three released two or three singles a year, while Barry supplied additional songs to other Australian artists. In 1962 the Bee Gees were chosen as the supporting act for Chubby Checker's concert at the Sydney Stadium. From 1963 to 1966, the Gibb family lived at 171 Bunnerong Road, Maroubra, in Sydney. Just prior to his death, Robin Gibb recorded the song "Sydney" about the brothers' experience of living in that city. It was released on his posthumous album 50 St. Catherine's Drive. The house was demolished in 2016. A minor hit in 1965, "Wine and Women", led to the group's first LP, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs. By 1966 Festival Records was, however, on the verge of dropping them from the Leedon roster because of their perceived lack of commercial success. At this time the brothers met the American-born songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Nat Kipner, who had just been appointed A&R manager of a new independent label, Spin Records. Kipner briefly took over as the group's manager and successfully negotiated their transfer to Spin in exchange for granting Festival the Australian distribution-rights to the group's recordings. Through Kipner the Bee Gees met engineer-producer, Ossie Byrne, who produced (or co-produced with Kipner) many of the earlier Spin recordings, most of which were cut at his own small, self-built St Clair Studio in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Byrne gave the Gibb brothers virtually unlimited access to St Clair Studio over a period of several months in mid-1966. The group later acknowledged that this enabled them to greatly improve their skills as recording artists. During this productive time they recorded a large batch of original material—including the song that became their first major hit, "Spicks and Specks" (on which Byrne played the trumpet coda)—as well as cover versions of current hits by overseas acts such as the Beatles. They regularly collaborated with other local musicians, including members of beat band Steve & The Board, led by Steve Kipner, Nat's teenage son. Frustrated by their lack of success, the Gibbs began their return journey to England on 4 January 1967, with Ossie Byrne travelling with them. While at sea in January 1967, the Gibbs learned that Go-Set, Australia's most popular and influential music newspaper, had declared "Spicks and Specks" the "Best Single of the Year". 1967–1969: International fame and touring years Bee Gees' 1st, Horizontal and Idea Before their departure from Australia to England, Hugh Gibb sent demos to Brian Epstein, who managed the Beatles and directed NEMS, a British music store. Epstein passed the demo tapes to Robert Stigwood, who had recently joined NEMS. After an audition with Stigwood in February 1967, the Bee Gees signed a five-year contract whereby Polydor Records would release their records in the UK, and Atco Records would do so in the US. Work quickly began on the group's first international album, and Stigwood launched a promotional campaign to coincide with its release. Stigwood proclaimed that the Bee Gees were "The most significant new musical talent of 1967", thus initiating the comparison of the Bee Gees to the Beatles. Before recording the first album, the group expanded to include Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney. "New York Mining Disaster 1941," their second British single (their first-issued UK 45 rpm was "Spicks and Specks"), was issued to radio stations with a blank white label listing only the song title. Some DJs immediately assumed this was a new single by the Beatles and started playing the song in heavy rotation. This helped the song climb into the top 20 in both the UK and US. No such chicanery was needed to boost the Bee Gees' next single, "To Love Somebody", into the US Top 20. Originally written for Otis Redding, "To Love Somebody", a soulful ballad sung by Barry, has since become a pop standard covered by many artists. Another single, "Holiday", released in the US, peaked at No. 16. The parent album, Bee Gees 1st (their first internationally), peaked at No. 7 in the US and No. 8 in the UK. Bill Shepherd was credited as the arranger. After recording that album, the group recorded their first BBC session at the Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, in London, with Bill Bebb as the producer, and they performed three songs. That session is included on BBC Sessions: 1967–1973 (2008). After the release of Bee Gees' 1st, the group was first introduced in New York as "the English surprise." At that time, the band made their first British TV appearance on Top of the Pops. Maurice recalled: In late 1967, they began recording the second album. On 21 December 1967, in a live broadcast from Liverpool Anglican Cathedral for a Christmas television special called How On Earth?, they performed their own song, "Thank You For Christmas" which was written especially for the programme, as well as a medley of the traditional Christmas carols "Silent Night," "The First Noel" and "Mary's Boy Child" (the latter incorrectly noted as "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" on tape boxes and subsequent release). The songs were all pre-recorded on 1 December 1967 and the group lip-synched their performance. The recordings were eventually released on the "Horizontal" reissue bonus disc in 2008. The folk group the Settlers and Radio 1 disc-jockey, Kenny Everett, also performed on the programme which was presented by the Reverend Edward H. Patey, dean of the cathedral. January 1968 began with a promotional trip to the US. Los Angeles Police were on alert in anticipation of a Beatles-type reception, and special security arrangements were being put in place. In February, Horizontal repeated the success of their first album, featuring the group's first UK No. 1 single "Massachusetts" (a No. 11 US hit) and the No. 7 UK single "World." The sound of the album Horizontal had a more "rock" sound than their previous release, although ballads like "And the Sun Will Shine" and "Really and Sincerely" were also prominent. The Horizontal album reached No. 12 in the US and No. 16 in the UK. With the release of Horizontal, they also embarked on a Scandinavian tour with concerts in Copenhagen. Around the same time, the Bee Gees turned down an offer to write and perform the soundtrack for the film Wonderwall, according to director Joe Massot. On 27 February 1968, the band, backed by the 17-piece Massachusetts String Orchestra, began their first tour of Germany with two concerts at Hamburg Musikhalle. In March 1968, the band was supported by Procol Harum (who had a well-known hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale") on their German tour. As Robin's partner Molly Hullis recalls: "Germans were wilder than the fans in England at the heights of Beatlemania." The tour schedule took them to 11 venues in as many days with 18 concerts played, finishing with a brace of shows at the Stadthalle, Braunschweig. After that, the group was off to Switzerland. As Maurice described it: On 17 March, the band performed "Words" on The Ed Sullivan Show. The other artists who performed on that night's show were Lucille Ball, George Hamilton and Fran Jeffries. On 27 March 1968, the band performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Two more singles followed in early 1968: the ballad "Words" (No. 8 UK, No. 15 US) and the double A-sided single "Jumbo" backed with "The Singer Sang His Song". "Jumbo" only reached No. 25 in the UK and No. 57 in the US. The Bee Gees felt "The Singer Sang His Song" was the stronger of the two sides, an opinion shared by listeners in the Netherlands who made it a No. 3 hit. Further Bee Gees chart singles followed: "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", their second UK No. 1 (No. 8 US), and "I Started a Joke" (No. 6 US), both culled from the band's third album Idea. Idea reached No. 4 in the UK and was another top 20 album in the US (No. 17). After the tour and TV special to promote the album, Vince Melouney left the group, desiring to play more of a blues style music than the Gibbs were writing. Melouney did achieve one feat while with the Bee Gees: his composition "Such a Shame" (from Idea) is the only song on any Bee Gees album not written by a Gibb brother. The band were due to begin a seven-week tour of the US on 2 August 1968, but on 27 July, Robin collapsed and fell unconscious. He was admitted to a London nursing home suffering from nervous exhaustion, and the American tour was postponed. The band began recording their sixth album, which resulted in their spending a week recording at Atlantic Studios in New York. Robin, still feeling poorly, missed the New York sessions, but the rest of the band put away instrumental tracks and demos. Odessa, Cucumber Castle and break-up By 1969, Robin began to feel that Stigwood had been favouring Barry as the frontman. The Bee Gees' performances in early 1969 on the Top of the Pops and The Tom Jones Show performing "I Started a Joke" and "First of May" as a medley was one of the last live performances of the group with Robin. Their next album, which was to have been a concept album called Masterpeace, evolved into the double-album Odessa. Most rock critics felt this was the best Bee Gees album of the 1960s with its progressive rock feel on the title track, the country-flavoured "Marley Purt Drive" and "Give Your Best", and ballads such as "Melody Fair" and "First of May" (the last of which became the only single from the album and a UK # 6 hit). Feeling the flipside, "Lamplight," should have been the A-side, Robin quit the group in mid-1969 and launched a solo career. The first of many Bee Gees compilations, Best of Bee Gees, was released featuring the non-LP single "Words" plus the Australian hit "Spicks and Specks". The single "Tomorrow Tomorrow" was also released and was a moderate hit in the UK, where it reached No. 23, but it was only No. 54 in the US. The compilation reached the top 10 in both the UK and the US. While Robin pursued his solo career, Barry, Maurice and Petersen continued on as the Bee Gees recording their next album, Cucumber Castle. The band made their debut performance without Robin at Talk of the Town. They had recruited their sister, Lesley, into the group at this time. To accompany the album, they also filmed a TV special with Frankie Howerd and cameos from several other contemporary pop and rock stars, which aired on the BBC in December 1970. Petersen played drums on the tracks recorded for the album but was fired from the group after filming began (he went on to form the Humpy Bong with Jonathan Kelly). His parts were edited out of the final cut of the film and Pentangle drummer Terry Cox was recruited to complete the recording of songs for the album. After the album was released in early 1970, it seemed that the Bee Gees were finished. The leadoff single, "Don't Forget to Remember", was a big hit in the UK, reaching No. 2, but only reached No. 73 in the US. The next two singles, "I.O.I.O." and "If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else", barely scraped the charts. On 1 December 1969, Barry and Maurice parted ways professionally. Maurice started to record his first solo album, The Loner, which was not released. Meanwhile, he released the single "Railroad" and starred in the West End musical Sing a Rude Song. In February 1970, Barry recorded a solo album which never saw official release either, although "I'll Kiss Your Memory" was released as a single backed by "This Time" without much interest. Meanwhile, Robin saw success in Europe and Australia with his No. 2 hit "Saved by the Bell" and the album Robin's Reign. 1970–1974: Reformation In mid 1970, according to Barry, "Robin rang me in Spain where I was on holiday [saying] 'let's do it again'". By 21 August 1970, after they had reunited, Barry announced that the Bee Gees "are there and they will never, ever part again". Maurice said, "We just discussed it and re-formed. We want to apologise publicly to Robin for the things that have been said." Earlier, in June 1970, Robin and Maurice recorded a dozen songs before Barry joined and included two songs that were on their reunion album. Around the same time, Barry and Robin were about to publish the book On the Other Hand. They also recruited Geoff Bridgford as the group's official drummer. Bridgford had previously worked with the Groove and Tin Tin and played drums on Maurice's unreleased first solo album. In 1970, 2 Years On was released in October in the US and November in the UK. The lead single "Lonely Days" reached No. 3 in the United States, promoted by appearances on The Johnny Cash Show, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Dick Cavett Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. Their ninth album, Trafalgar, was released in late 1971. The single "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" was their first to hit No. 1 on the US charts, while "Israel" reached No. 22 in the Netherlands. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" also brought the Bee Gees their first Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Later that year, the group's songs were included in the soundtrack for the film Melody. In 1972, they hit No. 16 in the US with the non-album single "My World", backed by Maurice's composition "On Time". Another 1972 single, "Run to Me" from the LP To Whom It May Concern, returned them to the UK top 10 for the first time in three years. On 24 November 1972, the band headlined the "Woodstock of the West" Festival at the Los Angeles Coliseum (which was a West Coast answer to Woodstock in New York), which also featured Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and the Eagles. Also in 1972, the group sang "Hey Jude" with Wilson Pickett. By 1973, however, the Bee Gees were in a rut. The album Life in a Tin Can, released on Robert Stigwood's newly formed RSO Records, and its lead-off single, "Saw a New Morning", sold poorly with the single peaking at No. 94. This was followed by an unreleased album (known as A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants). A second compilation album, Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2, was released in 1973, although it did not repeat the success of Volume 1. On 6 April 1973 episode of The Midnight Special they performed "Money (That's What I Want)" with Jerry Lee Lewis. Also in 1973, they were invited by Chuck Berry to perform two songs with him onstage at The Midnight Special: "Johnny B. Goode" and "Reelin' and Rockin'". After a tour of the United States in early 1974 and a Canadian tour later in the year, the group ended up playing small clubs. As Barry joked, "We ended up in, have you ever heard of Batley's the variety club in (West Yorkshire) England?". On the advice of Ahmet Ertegun, head of their US label Atlantic Records, Stigwood arranged for the group to record with soul music producer Arif Mardin. The resulting LP, Mr. Natural, included fewer ballads and foreshadowed the R&B direction of the rest of their career. When it, too, failed to attract much interest, Mardin encouraged them to work within the soul music style. The brothers attempted to assemble a live stage band that could replicate their studio sound. Lead guitarist Alan Kendall had come on board in 1971 but did not have much to do until Mr. Natural. For that album, they added drummer Dennis Bryon, and they later added ex-Strawbs keyboard player Blue Weaver, completing the Bee Gees band that lasted through the late '70s. Maurice, who had previously performed on piano, guitar, harpsichord, electric piano, organ, mellotron and bass guitar, as well as mandolin and Moog synthesiser, by then confined himself to bass onstage. 1975–1979: Turning to disco Main Course and Children of the World At Eric Clapton's suggestion, the brothers moved to Miami, Florida, early in 1975 to record at Criteria Studios. After starting off with ballads, they eventually heeded the urging of Mardin and Stigwood, and crafted more dance-oriented disco songs, including their second US No. 1, "Jive Talkin'", along with US No. 7 "Nights on Broadway". The band liked the resulting new sound. This time the public agreed by sending the LP Main Course up the charts. This album included the first Bee Gees songs wherein Barry used falsetto, something that became a trademark of the band. This was also the first Bee Gees album to have two US top-10 singles since 1968's Idea. Main Course also became their first charting R&B album. On the Bee Gees' appearance on The Midnight Special in 1975, to promote Main Course, they sang "To Love Somebody" with Helen Reddy. Around the same time, the Bee Gees recorded three Beatles covers—"Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" with Barry providing lead vocals, and "Sun King" with Maurice providing lead vocals, for the unsuccessful musical/documentary All This and World War II. The next album, Children of the World, released in September 1976, was filled with Barry's new-found falsetto and Weaver's synthesizer disco licks. The first single from the album was "You Should Be Dancing", which features percussion work by musician Stephen Stills. The song pushed the Bee Gees to a level of stardom they had not previously achieved in the US, though their new R&B/disco sound was not as popular with some diehard fans. The pop ballad "Love So Right" reached No. 3 in the US, and "Boogie Child" reached US No. 12 in January 1977. The album peaked at No. 8 in the US. Saturday Night Fever and Spirits Having Flown Following a successful live album, Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live, the Bee Gees agreed with Stigwood to participate in the creation of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It was the turning point of their career. The cultural impact of both the film and the soundtrack was significant throughout the world, epitomizing the disco phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic. The band's involvement in the film did not begin until post-production. As John Travolta asserted, "The Bee Gees weren't even involved in the movie in the beginning ... I was dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs." Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film. The brothers wrote the songs "virtually in a single weekend" at Château d'Hérouville studio in France. Barry Gibb remembered the reaction when Stigwood and music supervisor Bill Oakes arrived and listened to the demos: Bill Oakes, who supervised the soundtrack, asserts that Saturday Night Fever did not begin the disco craze but rather prolonged it: "Disco had run its course. These days, Fever is credited with kicking off the whole disco thing—it really didn't. Truth is, it breathed new life into a genre that was actually dying." Three Bee Gees singles—"How Deep Is Your Love" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Stayin' Alive" (US No. 1, UK No. 4) and "Night Fever" (US No. 1, UK No. 1)—charted high in many countries around the world, launching the most popular period of the disco era. They also penned the song "If I Can't Have You", which became a US No. 1 hit for Yvonne Elliman, while the Bee Gees' own version was the B-side of "Stayin' Alive". Such was the popularity of Saturday Night Fever that two different versions of the song "More Than a Woman" received airplay, one by the Bee Gees, which was relegated to an album track, and another by Tavares, which was the hit. During a nine-month period beginning in the Christmas season of 1977, seven songs written by the brothers held the No. 1 position on the US charts for 27 of 37 consecutive weeks: three of their own releases, two for brother Andy Gibb, the Yvonne Elliman single, and "Grease", performed by Frankie Valli. Fuelled by the film's success, the soundtrack broke multiple industry records, becoming the highest-selling album in recording history to that point. With more than 40 million copies sold, Saturday Night Fever is among music's top five best selling soundtrack albums. , it is calculated as the fourth highest-selling album worldwide. In March 1978, the Bee Gees held the top two positions on the US charts with "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive", the first time this had happened since the Beatles. On the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 25 March 1978, five songs written by the Gibbs were in the US top 10 at the same time: "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive", "If I Can't Have You", "Emotion" and "Love Is Thicker Than Water". Such chart dominance had not been seen since April 1964, when the Beatles had all five of the top five American singles. Barry Gibb became the only songwriter to have four consecutive number-one hits in the US, breaking the John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1964 record. These songs were "Stayin' Alive", "Love Is Thicker Than Water", "Night Fever" and "If I Can't Have You". The Bee Gees won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever over two years: Album of the Year, Producer of the Year (with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson), two awards for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (one in 1978 for "How Deep Is Your Love" and one in 1979 for "Stayin' Alive"), and Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices for "Stayin' Alive". During this era, Barry and Robin also wrote "Emotion" for an old friend, Australian vocalist Samantha Sang, who made it a top 10 hit, with the Bee Gees singing backing vocals. Barry also wrote the title song to the film version of the Broadway musical Grease for Frankie Valli to perform, which went to No. 1. The Bee Gees also co-starred with Peter Frampton in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), loosely inspired by the classic 1967 album by the Beatles. The movie had been heavily promoted prior to release and was expected to enjoy great commercial success. However, it was savaged by film critics as a disjointed mess and ignored by the public. Though some of its tracks charted, the soundtrack too was a high-profile flop. The single "Oh! Darling", credited to Robin Gibb, reached No. 15 in the US. The Bee Gees' follow-up to Saturday Night Fever was the Spirits Having Flown album. It yielded three more hits: "Too Much Heaven" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Tragedy" (US No. 1, UK No. 1), and "Love You Inside Out" (US No. 1, UK No. 13). This gave the act six consecutive No. 1 singles in the US within a year and a half, equalling the Beatles and surpassed only by Whitney Houston. In January 1979, the Bee Gees performed "Too Much Heaven" as their contribution to the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly. During the summer of 1979, the Bee Gees embarked on their largest concert tour covering the US and Canada. The Spirits Having Flown tour capitalised on Bee Gees fever that was sweeping the nation, with sold-out concerts in 38 cities. The Bee Gees produced a video for the title track "Too Much Heaven", directed by Miami-based filmmaker Martin Pitts and produced by Charles Allen. With this video, Pitts and Allen began a long association with the brothers. The Bee Gees even had a country hit in 1979 with "Rest Your Love on Me", the flip side of their pop hit "Too Much Heaven", which made the top 40 on the country charts. It was also a 1981 hit for Conway Twitty, topping the country music charts. The Bee Gees' overwhelming success rose and fell with the disco bubble. By the end of 1979, disco was rapidly declining in popularity, and the backlash against disco put the Bee Gees' American career in a tailspin. Radio stations around the US began promoting "Bee Gee-Free Weekends". Following their remarkable run from 1975 to 1979, the act had only one more top 10 single in the US, and that did not come until the single "One" reached number 7 in 1989. Barry Gibb considered the success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack both a blessing and a curse: 1980–1986: Outside projects, band turmoil, solo efforts and decline Robin co-produced Jimmy Ruffin's Sunrise released in May 1980, but the songs were started in 1979; the album contains songs written by the Gibb brothers, including the single "Hold On To My Love". In March 1980, Barry Gibb worked with Barbra Streisand on her album Guilty. He co-produced, and wrote or co-wrote all nine of the album's tracks (four of them written with Robin, and the title track with both Robin and Maurice). Barry also appeared on the album's cover with Streisand and duetted with her on two tracks. The album reached No. 1 in both the US and the UK, as did the single "Woman in Love" (written by Barry and Robin), becoming Streisand's most successful single and album to date. Both of the Streisand/Gibb duets, "Guilty" and "What Kind of Fool", also reached the US Top 10. In 1981, the Bee Gees released the album Living Eyes, their last full-length album release on RSO. This album was the first CD ever played in public, when it was played to viewers of the BBC show Tomorrow's World. With the disco backlash still running strong, the album failed to make the UK or US Top 40—breaking their streak of Top 40 hits, which started in 1975 with "Jive Talkin'". Two singles from the album fared little better—"He's a Liar", which reached No. 30 in the US, and "Living Eyes", which reached No. 45. In 1982, Dionne Warwick enjoyed a UK No. 2 and US Adult Contemporary No. 1 hit with her comeback single, "Heartbreaker", taken from her eponymous album written largely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb. The album reached No. 3 in the UK and the Top 30 in the US, where it was certified Gold. A year later, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers recorded the Bee Gees-penned track "Islands in the Stream", which became a US and Australian No. 1 hit and entered the Top 10 in the UK. Rogers' 1983 album, Eyes That See in the Dark, was written entirely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry. The album was a Top 10 hit in the US and was certified Double Platinum. The Bee Gees had greater success with the soundtrack to Staying Alive in 1983, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. The soundtrack was certified platinum in the US, and included their Top 30 hit "The Woman in You". Also in 1983, the band was sued by Chicago songwriter Ronald Selle, who claimed the brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, the Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later. In August 1983, Barry signed a solo deal with MCA Records and spent much of late 1983 and 1984 writing songs for this first solo effort, Now Voyager. Robin released three solo albums in the 1980s, How Old Are You?, Secret Agent and Walls Have Eyes. Maurice released his second single to date, "Hold Her in Your Hand", the first one having been released in 1970. In 1985, Diana Ross released the album Eaten Alive, written by the Bee Gees, with the title track co-written with Michael Jackson (who also performed on the track). The album was again co-produced by Barry Gibb, and the single "Chain Reaction" gave Ross a UK and Australian No. 1 hit. 1987–1999: Comeback, return to popularity and Andy's death The Bee Gees released the album E.S.P. in 1987, which sold over 2 million copies. It was their first album in six years, and their first for Warner Bros. Records. The single "You Win Again" went to No. 1 in numerous countries, including the UK, and made the Bee Gees the first group to score a UK No. 1 hit in each of three decades: the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The single was a disappointment in the US, charting at No. 75, and the Bee Gees voiced their frustration over American radio stations not playing their new European hit single, an omission which the group felt led to poor sales of their current album in the US. The song won the Bee Gees the 1987 British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically, and in February 1988 the band received a Brit Award nomination for Best British Group. On 10 March 1988, younger brother Andy Gibb died, aged 30, as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection. The Bee Gees later got together with Eric Clapton to create a group called 'the Bunburys' to raise money for English charities. The group recorded three songs for The Bunbury Tails: "We're the Bunburys" (which eventually became the opening theme to the 1992 animated series The Bunbury Tails), "Bunbury Afternoon", and "Fight (No Matter How Long)". The last song reached No. 8 on the rock music chart and appeared on The 1988 Summer Olympics Album. The Bee Gees' next album, One (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". The album also contained their first US Top 10 hit (No. 7) in a decade, "One" (an Adult Contemporary No. 1). After the album's release, the band embarked on its first world tour in 10 years. In the UK, Polydor issued a single-disc hits collection from Tales called The Very Best of the Bee Gees, which contained their biggest UK hits. The album became one of their best-selling albums in that country, and was eventually certified Triple Platinum. Following their next album, High Civilization (1991), which contained the UK top five hit "Secret Love", the Bee Gees went on a European tour. After the tour, Barry Gibb began to battle a serious back problem, which required surgery. In addition, he suffered from arthritis which, at one point, was so severe that it was doubtful that he would be able to play guitar for much longer. Also, in the early 1990s, Maurice Gibb finally sought treatment for his alcoholism, which he had battled for many years with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. In 1993, the group returned to the Polydor label and released the album Size Isn't Everything, which contained the UK top five hit "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Success still eluded them in the US, however, as the first single released, "Paying the Price of Love", only managed to reach No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the parent album stalled at No. 153. In 1997, they released the album Still Waters, which has reached No. 2 in the UK (their highest album chart position there since 1979) and No. 11 in the US. The album's first single, "Alone", gave them another UK Top 5 hit and a top 30 hit in the US. Still Waters was the band's most successful US release of their post-RSO era. At the 1997 BRIT Awards held in Earls Court, London on 24 February, the Bee Gees received the award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. On 14 November 1997, the Bee Gees performed a live concert in Las Vegas called One Night Only. The show included a performance of "Our Love (Don't Throw It All Away)" synchronised with a vocal by their deceased brother Andy and a cameo appearance by Celine Dion singing "Immortality". The "One Night Only" name grew out of the band's declaration that, due to Barry's health issues, the Las Vegas show was to be the final live performance of their career. After the immensely positive audience response to the Vegas concert, Barry decided to continue despite the pain, and the concert expanded into their last full-blown world tour of "One Night Only" concerts. The tour included playing to 56,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium on 5 September 1998 and concluded in the newly built Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 27 March 1999 to 72,000 people. In 1998, the group's soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever was incorporated into a stage production produced first in the West End and then on Broadway. They wrote three new songs for the adaptation. Also in 1998, the brothers released "Ellan Vannin" for Manx charities, recorded the previous year. Known as the unofficial national anthem of the Isle of Man, the brothers performed the song during their world tour to reflect their pride in the place of their birth. The Bee Gees closed the century with what turned out to be their last full-sized concert, known as BG2K, on 31 December 1999. 2000–2008: This Is Where I Came In and Maurice's death In 2001, the group released what turned out to be their final album of new material, This Is Where I Came In. The album was another success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK (being certified Gold), and the Top 20 in the US. The title track was also a UK Top 20 hit single. The last concert of the Bee Gees as a trio was at the Love and Hope Ball in 2002. Maurice Gibb died unexpectedly on 12 January 2003, at age 53, from a heart attack while awaiting emergency surgery to repair a strangulated intestine. Initially, his surviving brothers announced that they intended to carry on the name "Bee Gees" in his memory, but as time passed they decided to retire the group's name, leaving it to represent the three brothers together. The same week that Maurice died, Robin's solo album Magnet was released. On 23 February 2003, the Bee Gees received the Grammy Legend Award, they also became the first recipients of that award in the 21st century. Barry and Robin accepted as well as Maurice's son, Adam, in a tearful ceremony. In late 2004, Robin embarked on a solo tour of Germany, Russia and Asia. During January 2005, Barry, Robin and several legendary rock artists recorded "Grief Never Grows Old", the official tsunami relief record for the Disasters Emergency Committee. Later that year, Barry reunited with Barbra Streisand for her top-selling album Guilty Pleasures, released as Guilty Too in the UK as a sequel album to the previous Guilty. Also in 2004, Barry recorded his song "I Cannot Give You My Love" with Cliff Richard, which became a UK top 20 hit single. In February 2006, Barry and Robin reunited on stage for a Miami charity concert to benefit the Diabetes Research Institute. It was their first public performance together since Maurice's death. The pair also played at the 30th annual Prince's Trust Concert in the UK on 20 May 2006. 2009–2012: Return to performing and Robin's death Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to severe abdominal pain. Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert on 13 February 2012 at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and, as it turned out, his final one. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. 2013–present: Looking back at a lifetime of music In September and October 2013, Barry performed his first solo tour "in honour of his brothers and a lifetime of music". In addition to the Rhino collection, The Studio Albums: 1967–1968, Warner Bros. released a box set in 2014 called The Warner Bros Years: 1987–1991 that included the studio albums E.S.P., One and High Civilization as well as extended mixes and B-sides. It also included the band's entire 1989 concert in Melbourne, Australia, available only on video as All for One prior to this release. The documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees was aired on BBC Four on 19 December 2014. On 23 March 2015, 13STAR Records released a box set 1974–1979 which included the studio albums Mr. Natural, Main Course, Children of the World and Spirits Having Flown. A fifth disc called The Miami Years includes all the tracks from Saturday Night Fever as well as B-sides. No unreleased tracks from the era were included. After a hiatus from performing, Barry Gibb returned to solo and guest singing performances. He occasionally appears with his son, Steve Gibb. In 2016, he released In the Now, his first solo effort since 1984's Now Voyager. It was the first release of new Bee Gees-related music since the posthumous release of Robin Gibb's 50 St. Catherine's Drive. Also in 2016, Capitol Records signed a new distribution deal with Barry and the estates of his brothers for the Bee Gees catalogue, bringing their music back to Universal. An as-yet-untitled biopic about the Bee Gees is in development at Paramount, with Kenneth Branagh directing and Barry Gibb serving as an executive producer. Influences The Bee Gees were influenced by the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Mills Brothers, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, the Beach Boys and Stevie Wonder. On the 2014 documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees, Barry said that the Bee Gees were also influenced by the Hollies and Otis Redding. Maurice noted that Neil Sedaka was an early influence, and later the group was "very influenced" by Linda Creed songs for the Stylistics. Legacy In his 1980 Playboy magazine interview, John Lennon praised the Bee Gees, "Try to tell the kids in the seventies who were screaming to the Bee Gees that their music was just the Beatles redone. There is nothing wrong with the Bee Gees. They do a damn good job. There was nothing else going on then." In a 2007 interview with Duane Hitchings, who co-wrote Rod Stewart's 1978 disco song "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", he noted that the song was: Kevin Parker of Tame Impala has said that listening to the Bee Gees after taking mushrooms inspired him to change the sound of the music he was making on his album Currents. The English indie rock band the Cribs was also influenced by the Bee Gees. Cribs member Ryan Jarman said: "It must have had quite a big influence on us – pop melodies is something we always revert to. I always want to get back to pop melodies and I'm sure that's due to that Bee Gees phase we went through." Following Robin's death on 20 May 2012, Beyoncé remarked: "The Bee Gees were an early inspiration for me, Kelly Rowland and Michelle. We loved their songwriting and beautiful harmonies. Recording their classic song, 'Emotion' was a special time for Destiny's Child. Sadly we lost Robin Gibb this week. My heart goes out to his brother Barry and the rest of his family." Singer Jordin Sparks remarked that her favourite Bee Gees songs are "Too Much Heaven", "Emotion" (although performed by Samantha Sang with Barry on the background vocals using his falsetto), and "Stayin' Alive". Carrie Underwood said, about discovering the Bee Gees during her childhood, "My parents listened to the Bee Gees quite a bit when I was little, so I was definitely exposed to them at an early age. They just had a sound that was all their own, obviously, [it was] never duplicated." Songwriting At one point, in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing nine of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100. In all, the Gibbs placed 13 singles onto the Hot 100 in 1978, with 12 making the Top 40. The Gibb brothers are fellows of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs. Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw spoke about the Bee Gees' influence with their own music as well as their songwriting: In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Bee Gees were announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for their role as "Influential Artists". Accolades and achievements In 1978, following the success of Saturday Night Fever, and the single "Night Fever" in particular, Reubin Askew, the governor of the US state of Florida, named the Bee Gees honorary citizens of the state, since they resided in Miami at the time. In 1979, the Bee Gees got their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They were the subjects of This Is Your Life in 1991 when they were surprised by Michael Aspel while being interviewed by disc jockey Steve Wright (DJ) on his Radio 1 programme at BBC Broadcasting House. The Bee Gees were inducted in 1994 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as Florida's Artists Hall of Fame in 1995 and the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997. Also in 1997, the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; the presenter of the award to "Britain's First Family of Harmony" was Brian Wilson, historical leader of the Beach Boys, another "family act" featuring three harmonising brothers. In 2001, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. After Maurice's death, the Bee Gees were also inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2001, London's Walk of Fame in 2006 and Musically Speaking Hall Of Fame in 2008. On 15 May 2007, the Bee Gees were named BMI Icons at the 55th annual BMI Pop Awards. Collectively, Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb have earned 109 BMI Pop, Country and Latin Awards. In October 1999, the Isle of Man Post Office unveiled a set of six stamps honouring the Bee Gees. All three brothers (including Maurice posthumously) were invested as Commanders of the Order of the British Empire in December 2001 with the ceremony taking place at Buckingham Palace on 27 May 2004. On 10 July 2009, the Isle of Man's capital bestowed the Freedom of the Borough of Douglas honour on Barry and Robin, as well as posthumously on Maurice. On 20 November 2009, the Douglas Borough Council released a limited edition commemorative DVD to mark their naming as Freemen of the Borough. On 14 February 2013, Barry Gibb unveiled a statue of the Bee Gees as well as unveiling "Bee Gees Way" (a walkway filled with photos and videos of the Bee Gees) in honour of the Bee Gees in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. On 27 June 2018, Barry Gibb, the last surviving member of the Bee Gees, was knighted by Prince Charles after being named on the Queen's New Years Honours List. The statue of the Bee Gees in Douglas, Isle of Man, was installed in 2021. In 2022, the last surviving member of the group, Barry Gibb, was made an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia which is Australia's highest national honour. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them one of the best selling artists of all time. The group are to date the most successful family and sibling band of all time, the most successful musical trio of all time, and the most successful musical act with ties to Australia. Awards and nominations Queensland Music Awards The Queensland Music Awards (previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating Queensland, Australia's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006. (wins only) |- | 2009 | themselves | Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award | |} Band members Principal members Barry Gibb – vocals, rhythm guitar (1958–2003, 2006, 2009–2012) Robin Gibb – vocals, occasional keyboards (1958–1969, 1970–2003, 2006, 2009–2012; d. 2012) Maurice Gibb – bass, rhythm and lead guitars, keyboards, vocals (1958–2003; d. 2003) Colin Petersen – drums (1967–1969) Vince Melouney – lead guitar (1967–1968) Geoff Bridgford – drums (1971–1972; touring 1970-1971) Touring musicians Alan Kendall – lead guitar (1971–1981, 1989–2003) Chris Karan – drums (1972) Dennis Bryon – drums (1973–1981) Geoff Westley – keyboards, piano (1973–1976) Blue Weaver – keyboards, synthesizers (1975–1981) Joe Lala – percussion (1976, 1979) Joey Murcia – rhythm guitar (1976, 1979) Harold Cowart – bass (1979) Tim Cansfield – lead guitar (1989) Vic Martin – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) Gary Moberly – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) George Perry – bass (1989–1993) Chester Thompson – drums (1989) Mike Murphy – drums (1989) Trevor Murrell – drums (1991–1992) Rudi Dobson – keyboards (1991–1992) Scott F. Crago – drums Ben Stivers – keyboard (1996–1999) Matt Bonelli – bass (1993–2001) Steve Rucker – drums (1993–1999) Guest musicians (studio and touring) Phil Collins – drums Lenny Castro – percussion Glenn Frey – guitar Timothy B. Schmit – bass guitar Joe Walsh – lead guitar Don Felder – lead guitar (1981) Jeff Porcaro – drums Mike Porcaro – bass guitar Steve Porcaro – keyboards Steve Lukather – guitar David Hungate – bass guitar David Paich – keyboards Greg Phillinganes – keyboards Bobby Kimball – keyboards Leland Sklar – bass guitar Reb Beach – lead guitar Gregg Bissonette – drums Ricky Lawson – drums Scott F. Crago – drums Steve Gadd – drums Steve Ferrone – drums Steve Jordan – drums Nathan East – bass guitar Steuart Smith – lead guitar Vinnie Colaiuta – drums Timeline Timeline of touring members Discography Soundtracks Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Staying Alive (1983) are not official Bee Gees albums, but contain some previously unreleased tracks. Apart from live and compilation, all their official albums are included on this list. A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants has not been included on the list because it appeared only on numerous bootlegs and was not officially released. Studio albums The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs (1965) Spicks and Specks (1966) Bee Gees' 1st (1967) Horizontal (1968) Idea (1968) Odessa (1969) Cucumber Castle (1970) 2 Years On (1970) Trafalgar (1971) To Whom It May Concern (1972) Life in a Tin Can (1973) Mr. Natural (1974) Main Course (1975) Children of the World (1976) Spirits Having Flown (1979) Living Eyes (1981) E.S.P. (1987) One (1989) High Civilization (1991) Size Isn't Everything (1993) Still Waters (1997) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Concert tours The Bee Gees' concerts in 1967 and 1968 (1967–1968) 2 Years On Tour (1971) Trafalgar Tour (1972) Mr. Natural Tour (1974) Main Course Tour (1975) Children of the World Tour (1976) Spirits Having Flown Tour (1979) One for All World Tour (1989) High Civilization World Tour (1991) One Night Only World Tour (1997–1999) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Filmography Citations General bibliography . External links Bee Gees Official website Bee Gees at Rolling Stone Bee Gees' Vocal Group Hall of Fame webpage Bee Gees at bmi.com Robin Gibb sadly passes away after losing his battle with cancer Who Do You Think You Are? – Bee Gees Family History 1958 establishments in Australia Australian pop rock groups ARIA Award winners ARIA Hall of Fame inductees Atlantic Records artists Barry Gibb Brit Award winners British disco groups British musical trios British soft rock music groups British soul musical groups Brunswick Records artists Capitol Records artists Child musical groups English expatriates in Australia English expatriates in the United States English pop music groups English rock music groups Grammy Legend Award winners Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Juno Award for International Album of the Year winners Mercury Records artists Manx musical groups Maurice Gibb Musical groups established in 1958 Musical groups disestablished in 2003 Musical groups reestablished in 2009 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 Musical groups from Manchester Queensland musical groups Philips Records artists Q150 Icons Robin Gibb RSO Records artists Sibling musical trios UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors United Artists Records artists Warner Records artists World Music Awards winners
true
[ "Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio, or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first written in 1335.\n\nThe book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales.\n\nTales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.\n\nPurpose and structure\n\nA didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem (\"Some man has made me a proposition...\" or \"I fear that such and such person intends to...\") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are \"examples\" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.\n\nEach chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: \"And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses.\" A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.\n\nOrigin of stories and influence on later literature\nMany of the stories written in the book are the first examples written in a modern European language of various stories, which many other writers would use in the proceeding centuries. Many of the stories he included were themselves derived from other stories, coming from western and Arab sources.\n\nShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew has the basic elements of Tale 35, \"What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\".\n\nTale 32, \"What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth\" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.\n\nStory 7, \"What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana\", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.\n\nTale 2, \"What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market,\" is the familiar fable The miller, his son and the donkey.\n\nIn 2016, Baroque Decay released a game under the name \"The Count Lucanor\". As well as some protagonists' names, certain events from the books inspired past events in the game.\n\nThe stories\n\nThe book opens with a prologue which introduces the characters of the Count and Patronio. The titles in the following list are those given in Keller and Keating's 1977 translation into English. James York's 1868 translation into English gives a significantly different ordering of the stories and omits the fifty-first.\n\n What Happened to a King and His Favorite \n What Happened to a Good Man and His Son \n How King Richard of England Leapt into the Sea against the Moors\n What a Genoese Said to His Soul When He Was about to Die \n What Happened to a Fox and a Crow Who Had a Piece of Cheese in His Beak\n How the Swallow Warned the Other Birds When She Saw Flax Being Sown \n What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana \n What Happened to a Man Whose Liver Had to Be Washed \n What Happened to Two Horses Which Were Thrown to the Lion \n What Happened to a Man Who on Account of Poverty and Lack of Other Food Was Eating Bitter Lentils \n What Happened to a Dean of Santiago de Compostela and Don Yllán, the Grand Master of Toledo\n What Happened to the Fox and the Rooster \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Hunting Partridges \n The Miracle of Saint Dominick When He Preached against the Usurer \n What Happened to Lorenzo Suárez at the Siege of Seville \n The Reply that count Fernán González Gave to His Relative Núño Laynes \n What Happened to a Very Hungry Man Who Was Half-heartedly Invited to Dinner \n What Happened to Pero Meléndez de Valdés When He Broke His Leg \n What Happened to the Crows and the Owls \n What Happened to a King for Whom a Man Promised to Perform Alchemy \n What Happened to a Young King and a Philosopher to Whom his Father Commended Him \n What Happened to the Lion and the Bull \n How the Ants Provide for Themselves \n What Happened to the King Who Wanted to Test His Three Sons \n What Happened to the Count of Provence and How He Was Freed from Prison by the Advice of Saladin\n What Happened to the Tree of Lies \n What Happened to an Emperor and to Don Alvarfáñez Minaya and Their Wives \n What Happened in Granada to Don Lorenzo Suárez Gallinato When He Beheaded the Renegade Chaplain \n What Happened to a Fox Who Lay down in the Street to Play Dead \n What Happened to King Abenabet of Seville and Ramayquía His Wife \n How a Cardinal Judged between the Canons of Paris and the Friars Minor \n What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth \n What Happened to Don Juan Manuel's Saker Falcon and an Eagle and a Heron \n What Happened to a Blind Man Who Was Leading Another \n What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\n What Happened to a Merchant When He Found His Son and His Wife Sleeping Together \n What Happened to Count Fernán González with His Men after He Had Won the Battle of Hacinas \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Loaded down with Precious Stones and Drowned in the River \n What Happened to a Man and a Swallow and a Sparrow \n Why the Seneschal of Carcassonne Lost His Soul \n What Happened to a King of Córdova Named Al-Haquem \n What Happened to a Woman of Sham Piety \n What Happened to Good and Evil and the Wise Man and the Madman \n What Happened to Don Pero Núñez the Loyal, to Don Ruy González de Zavallos, and to Don Gutier Roiz de Blaguiello with Don Rodrigo the Generous \n What Happened to a Man Who Became the Devil's Friend and Vassal \n What Happened to a Philosopher who by Accident Went down a Street Where Prostitutes Lived \n What Befell a Moor and His Sister Who Pretended That She Was Timid \n What Happened to a Man Who Tested His Friends \n What Happened to the Man Whom They Cast out Naked on an Island When They Took away from Him the Kingdom He Ruled \n What Happened to Saladin and a Lady, the Wife of a Knight Who Was His Vassal \n What Happened to a Christian King Who Was Very Powerful and Haughty\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Sturm, Harlan\n\n Wacks, David\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Internet Archive provides free access to the 1868 translation by James York.\nJSTOR has the to the 1977 translation by Keller and Keating.\nSelections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)\n\n14th-century books\nSpanish literature\n1335 books", "\"What Happened to Us\" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring English recording artist Jay Sean. It was written by Sean, Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim and Israel Cruz. \"What Happened to Us\" was leaked online in October 2010, and was released on 10 March 2011, as the third single from Mauboy's second studio album, Get 'Em Girls (2010). The song received positive reviews from critics.\n\nA remix of \"What Happened to Us\" made by production team OFM, was released on 11 April 2011. A different version of the song which features Stan Walker, was released on 29 May 2011. \"What Happened to Us\" charted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 14 and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). An accompanying music video was directed by Mark Alston, and reminisces on a former relationship between Mauboy and Sean.\n\nProduction and release\n\n\"What Happened to Us\" was written by Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz and Jay Sean. It was produced by Skaller, Cruz, Rohaim and Bobby Bass. The song uses C, D, and B minor chords in the chorus. \"What Happened to Us\" was sent to contemporary hit radio in Australia on 14 February 2011. The cover art for the song was revealed on 22 February on Mauboy's official Facebook page. A CD release was available for purchase via her official website on 10 March, for one week only. It was released digitally the following day.\n\nReception\nMajhid Heath from ABC Online Indigenous called the song a \"Jordin Sparks-esque duet\", and wrote that it \"has a nice innocence to it that rings true to the experience of losing a first love.\" Chris Urankar from Nine to Five wrote that it as a \"mid-tempo duet ballad\" which signifies Mauboy's strength as a global player. On 21 March 2011, \"What Happened to Us\" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number 14 the following week. The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for selling 70,000 copies. \"What Happened to Us\" spent a total of ten weeks in the ARIA top fifty.\n\nMusic video\n\nBackground\nThe music video for the song was shot in the Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney on 26 November 2010. The video was shot during Sean's visit to Australia for the Summerbeatz tour. During an interview with The Daily Telegraph while on the set of the video, Sean said \"the song is sick! ... Jessica's voice is amazing and we're shooting [the video] in this ridiculously beautiful mansion overlooking the harbour.\" The video was directed by Mark Alston, who had previously directed the video for Mauboy's single \"Let Me Be Me\" (2009). It premiered on YouTube on 10 February 2011.\n\nSynopsis and reception\nThe video begins showing Mauboy who appears to be sitting on a yellow antique couch in a mansion, wearing a purple dress. As the video progresses, scenes of memories are displayed of Mauboy and her love interest, played by Sean, spending time there previously. It then cuts to the scenes where Sean appears in the main entrance room of the mansion. The final scene shows Mauboy outdoors in a gold dress, surrounded by green grass and trees. She is later joined by Sean who appears in a black suit and a white shirt, and together they sing the chorus of the song to each other. David Lim of Feed Limmy wrote that the video is \"easily the best thing our R&B princess has committed to film – ever\" and praised the \"mansion and wondrous interior décor\". He also commended Mauboy for choosing Australian talent to direct the video instead of American directors, which she had used for her previous two music videos. Since its release, the video has received over two million views on Vevo.\n\nLive performances\nMauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" live for the first time during her YouTube Live Sessions program on 4 December 2010. She also appeared on Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight on 23 February 2011 for an interview and later performed the song. On 15 March 2011, Mauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Sunrise. She also performed the song with Stan Walker during the Australian leg of Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. Tour in April 2011. Mauboy and Walker later performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Dancing with the Stars Australia on 29 May 2011. From November 2013 to February 2014, \"What Happened to Us\" was part of the set list of the To the End of the Earth Tour, Mauboy's second headlining tour of Australia, with Nathaniel Willemse singing Sean's part.\n\nTrack listing\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Just Witness Remix) – 3:45\n\nCD single\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Album Version) – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:39\n\nDigital download – Remix\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:38\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Stan Walker – 3:20\n\nPersonnel\nSongwriting – Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz, Jay Sean\nProduction – Jeremy Skaller, Bobby Bass\nAdditional production – Israel Cruz, Khaled Rohaim\nLead vocals – Jessica Mauboy, Jay Sean\nMixing – Phil Tan\nAdditional mixing – Damien Lewis\nMastering – Tom Coyne \nSource:\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly chart\n\nYear-end chart\n\nCertification\n\nRadio dates and release history\n\nReferences\n\n2010 songs\n2011 singles\nJessica Mauboy songs\nJay Sean songs\nSongs written by Billy Steinberg\nSongs written by Jay Sean\nSongs written by Josh Alexander\nSongs written by Israel Cruz\nVocal duets\nSony Music Australia singles\nSongs written by Khaled Rohaim" ]
[ "Bee Gees", "2009-2012: Return to performing and Robin's death", "When was Robin's death?", "20 May 2012", "When did they return to performing?", "Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009", "What happened in 2009?", "appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009.", "What happened in 2010?", "On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol.", "What happened in 2011?", "On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer," ]
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What happened in 2012?
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What happened in 2012 for the Bee Gees?
Bee Gees
In an interview with Easy Mix radio host Tim Roxborough on 1 September 2009, Barry's 63rd birthday, Barry commented on future tours saying that "they will be back"; but in an agreement with Warner/Rhino they would not make an announcement at that time. On 7 September 2009, Robin disclosed to Jonathan Agnew that he had been in touch with Barry and that they had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and "perform again". Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to issues with severe abdominal pain. On 13 February 2012, Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and his final. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. With Robin's death, Barry became the last surviving Gibb brother, and the Bee Gees dissolved as a musical group. CANNOTANSWER
Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen.
The Bee Gees were a music group formed in 1958, featuring brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid- to late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies; Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid- to late 1970s and 1980s. The Bee Gees wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists and have been regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop music history. They have been referred to in the media as The Disco Kings, Britain’s First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music. Born on the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived in Chorlton, Manchester, England until the late 1950s. There, in 1955, they formed the skiffle/rock and roll group the Rattlesnakes. The family then moved to Redcliffe, in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia, later to Cribb Island. After achieving their first chart success in Australia as the Bee Gees with "Spicks and Specks" (their twelfth single), they returned to the UK in January 1967, when producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience. The Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (1977) was the turning point of their career, with both the film and soundtrack having a cultural impact throughout the world, enhancing the disco scene's mainstream appeal. They won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever, including Album of the Year. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them among the best-selling music artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; the Hall's citation says, "Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees." With nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the Bee Gees are the third-most successful band in Billboard charts history behind only the Beatles and the Supremes. Following Maurice's sudden death in January 2003 at the age of 53, Barry and Robin retired the group's name after 45 years of activity. In 2009, Robin announced that he and Barry had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and perform again. Robin died in May 2012, aged 62, after a prolonged period of failing health, leaving Barry as the only surviving member of the group. History 1955–1966: Music origins, Bee Gees formation and popularity in Australia Born on the Isle of Man during the late 1940s, the Gibb brothers moved to their father Hugh Gibb's hometown of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Greater Manchester, England in 1955. They formed a skiffle/rock-and-roll group, the Rattlesnakes, which consisted of Barry on guitar and vocals, Robin and Maurice on vocals and friends Paul Frost on drums and Kenny Horrocks on tea-chest bass. In December 1957 the boys began to sing in harmony. The story is told that they were going to lip-sync to a record in the local Gaumont cinema (as other children had done on previous weeks), but as they were running to the theatre, the fragile shellac 78-RPM record broke. The brothers had to sing live, but received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career. In May 1958 the Rattlesnakes disbanded when Frost and Horrocks left, so the Gibb brothers then formed Wee Johnny Hayes and the Blue Cats, with Barry as "Johnny Hayes". In August 1958, the Gibb family, including older sister Lesley and infant brother Andy (born in March 1958), emigrated to Australia and settled in Redcliffe, Queensland, just north-east of Brisbane. The young brothers began performing to raise pocket money. Speedway promoter and driver Bill Goode, who had hired the brothers to entertain the crowd at the Redcliffe Speedway in 1960, introduced them to Brisbane radio-presenter jockey Bill Gates. The crowd at the speedway would throw money onto the track for the boys, who generally performed during the interval of meetings (usually on the back of a truck that drove around the track) and, in a deal with Goode, any money they collected from the crowd they were allowed to keep. Gates named the group the "BGs" (later changed to "Bee Gees") after his, Goode's and Barry Gibb's initials. The name was not specifically a reference to "Brothers Gibb", despite popular belief. During the next few years, they began working regularly at resorts on the Queensland coast. Through his songwriting, Barry sparked the interest of Australian star Col Joye, who helped the brothers get a recording deal in 1963 with Festival Records subsidiary Leedon Records under the name "Bee Gees". The three released two or three singles a year, while Barry supplied additional songs to other Australian artists. In 1962 the Bee Gees were chosen as the supporting act for Chubby Checker's concert at the Sydney Stadium. From 1963 to 1966, the Gibb family lived at 171 Bunnerong Road, Maroubra, in Sydney. Just prior to his death, Robin Gibb recorded the song "Sydney" about the brothers' experience of living in that city. It was released on his posthumous album 50 St. Catherine's Drive. The house was demolished in 2016. A minor hit in 1965, "Wine and Women", led to the group's first LP, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs. By 1966 Festival Records was, however, on the verge of dropping them from the Leedon roster because of their perceived lack of commercial success. At this time the brothers met the American-born songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Nat Kipner, who had just been appointed A&R manager of a new independent label, Spin Records. Kipner briefly took over as the group's manager and successfully negotiated their transfer to Spin in exchange for granting Festival the Australian distribution-rights to the group's recordings. Through Kipner the Bee Gees met engineer-producer, Ossie Byrne, who produced (or co-produced with Kipner) many of the earlier Spin recordings, most of which were cut at his own small, self-built St Clair Studio in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Byrne gave the Gibb brothers virtually unlimited access to St Clair Studio over a period of several months in mid-1966. The group later acknowledged that this enabled them to greatly improve their skills as recording artists. During this productive time they recorded a large batch of original material—including the song that became their first major hit, "Spicks and Specks" (on which Byrne played the trumpet coda)—as well as cover versions of current hits by overseas acts such as the Beatles. They regularly collaborated with other local musicians, including members of beat band Steve & The Board, led by Steve Kipner, Nat's teenage son. Frustrated by their lack of success, the Gibbs began their return journey to England on 4 January 1967, with Ossie Byrne travelling with them. While at sea in January 1967, the Gibbs learned that Go-Set, Australia's most popular and influential music newspaper, had declared "Spicks and Specks" the "Best Single of the Year". 1967–1969: International fame and touring years Bee Gees' 1st, Horizontal and Idea Before their departure from Australia to England, Hugh Gibb sent demos to Brian Epstein, who managed the Beatles and directed NEMS, a British music store. Epstein passed the demo tapes to Robert Stigwood, who had recently joined NEMS. After an audition with Stigwood in February 1967, the Bee Gees signed a five-year contract whereby Polydor Records would release their records in the UK, and Atco Records would do so in the US. Work quickly began on the group's first international album, and Stigwood launched a promotional campaign to coincide with its release. Stigwood proclaimed that the Bee Gees were "The most significant new musical talent of 1967", thus initiating the comparison of the Bee Gees to the Beatles. Before recording the first album, the group expanded to include Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney. "New York Mining Disaster 1941," their second British single (their first-issued UK 45 rpm was "Spicks and Specks"), was issued to radio stations with a blank white label listing only the song title. Some DJs immediately assumed this was a new single by the Beatles and started playing the song in heavy rotation. This helped the song climb into the top 20 in both the UK and US. No such chicanery was needed to boost the Bee Gees' next single, "To Love Somebody", into the US Top 20. Originally written for Otis Redding, "To Love Somebody", a soulful ballad sung by Barry, has since become a pop standard covered by many artists. Another single, "Holiday", released in the US, peaked at No. 16. The parent album, Bee Gees 1st (their first internationally), peaked at No. 7 in the US and No. 8 in the UK. Bill Shepherd was credited as the arranger. After recording that album, the group recorded their first BBC session at the Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, in London, with Bill Bebb as the producer, and they performed three songs. That session is included on BBC Sessions: 1967–1973 (2008). After the release of Bee Gees' 1st, the group was first introduced in New York as "the English surprise." At that time, the band made their first British TV appearance on Top of the Pops. Maurice recalled: In late 1967, they began recording the second album. On 21 December 1967, in a live broadcast from Liverpool Anglican Cathedral for a Christmas television special called How On Earth?, they performed their own song, "Thank You For Christmas" which was written especially for the programme, as well as a medley of the traditional Christmas carols "Silent Night," "The First Noel" and "Mary's Boy Child" (the latter incorrectly noted as "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" on tape boxes and subsequent release). The songs were all pre-recorded on 1 December 1967 and the group lip-synched their performance. The recordings were eventually released on the "Horizontal" reissue bonus disc in 2008. The folk group the Settlers and Radio 1 disc-jockey, Kenny Everett, also performed on the programme which was presented by the Reverend Edward H. Patey, dean of the cathedral. January 1968 began with a promotional trip to the US. Los Angeles Police were on alert in anticipation of a Beatles-type reception, and special security arrangements were being put in place. In February, Horizontal repeated the success of their first album, featuring the group's first UK No. 1 single "Massachusetts" (a No. 11 US hit) and the No. 7 UK single "World." The sound of the album Horizontal had a more "rock" sound than their previous release, although ballads like "And the Sun Will Shine" and "Really and Sincerely" were also prominent. The Horizontal album reached No. 12 in the US and No. 16 in the UK. With the release of Horizontal, they also embarked on a Scandinavian tour with concerts in Copenhagen. Around the same time, the Bee Gees turned down an offer to write and perform the soundtrack for the film Wonderwall, according to director Joe Massot. On 27 February 1968, the band, backed by the 17-piece Massachusetts String Orchestra, began their first tour of Germany with two concerts at Hamburg Musikhalle. In March 1968, the band was supported by Procol Harum (who had a well-known hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale") on their German tour. As Robin's partner Molly Hullis recalls: "Germans were wilder than the fans in England at the heights of Beatlemania." The tour schedule took them to 11 venues in as many days with 18 concerts played, finishing with a brace of shows at the Stadthalle, Braunschweig. After that, the group was off to Switzerland. As Maurice described it: On 17 March, the band performed "Words" on The Ed Sullivan Show. The other artists who performed on that night's show were Lucille Ball, George Hamilton and Fran Jeffries. On 27 March 1968, the band performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Two more singles followed in early 1968: the ballad "Words" (No. 8 UK, No. 15 US) and the double A-sided single "Jumbo" backed with "The Singer Sang His Song". "Jumbo" only reached No. 25 in the UK and No. 57 in the US. The Bee Gees felt "The Singer Sang His Song" was the stronger of the two sides, an opinion shared by listeners in the Netherlands who made it a No. 3 hit. Further Bee Gees chart singles followed: "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", their second UK No. 1 (No. 8 US), and "I Started a Joke" (No. 6 US), both culled from the band's third album Idea. Idea reached No. 4 in the UK and was another top 20 album in the US (No. 17). After the tour and TV special to promote the album, Vince Melouney left the group, desiring to play more of a blues style music than the Gibbs were writing. Melouney did achieve one feat while with the Bee Gees: his composition "Such a Shame" (from Idea) is the only song on any Bee Gees album not written by a Gibb brother. The band were due to begin a seven-week tour of the US on 2 August 1968, but on 27 July, Robin collapsed and fell unconscious. He was admitted to a London nursing home suffering from nervous exhaustion, and the American tour was postponed. The band began recording their sixth album, which resulted in their spending a week recording at Atlantic Studios in New York. Robin, still feeling poorly, missed the New York sessions, but the rest of the band put away instrumental tracks and demos. Odessa, Cucumber Castle and break-up By 1969, Robin began to feel that Stigwood had been favouring Barry as the frontman. The Bee Gees' performances in early 1969 on the Top of the Pops and The Tom Jones Show performing "I Started a Joke" and "First of May" as a medley was one of the last live performances of the group with Robin. Their next album, which was to have been a concept album called Masterpeace, evolved into the double-album Odessa. Most rock critics felt this was the best Bee Gees album of the 1960s with its progressive rock feel on the title track, the country-flavoured "Marley Purt Drive" and "Give Your Best", and ballads such as "Melody Fair" and "First of May" (the last of which became the only single from the album and a UK # 6 hit). Feeling the flipside, "Lamplight," should have been the A-side, Robin quit the group in mid-1969 and launched a solo career. The first of many Bee Gees compilations, Best of Bee Gees, was released featuring the non-LP single "Words" plus the Australian hit "Spicks and Specks". The single "Tomorrow Tomorrow" was also released and was a moderate hit in the UK, where it reached No. 23, but it was only No. 54 in the US. The compilation reached the top 10 in both the UK and the US. While Robin pursued his solo career, Barry, Maurice and Petersen continued on as the Bee Gees recording their next album, Cucumber Castle. The band made their debut performance without Robin at Talk of the Town. They had recruited their sister, Lesley, into the group at this time. To accompany the album, they also filmed a TV special with Frankie Howerd and cameos from several other contemporary pop and rock stars, which aired on the BBC in December 1970. Petersen played drums on the tracks recorded for the album but was fired from the group after filming began (he went on to form the Humpy Bong with Jonathan Kelly). His parts were edited out of the final cut of the film and Pentangle drummer Terry Cox was recruited to complete the recording of songs for the album. After the album was released in early 1970, it seemed that the Bee Gees were finished. The leadoff single, "Don't Forget to Remember", was a big hit in the UK, reaching No. 2, but only reached No. 73 in the US. The next two singles, "I.O.I.O." and "If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else", barely scraped the charts. On 1 December 1969, Barry and Maurice parted ways professionally. Maurice started to record his first solo album, The Loner, which was not released. Meanwhile, he released the single "Railroad" and starred in the West End musical Sing a Rude Song. In February 1970, Barry recorded a solo album which never saw official release either, although "I'll Kiss Your Memory" was released as a single backed by "This Time" without much interest. Meanwhile, Robin saw success in Europe and Australia with his No. 2 hit "Saved by the Bell" and the album Robin's Reign. 1970–1974: Reformation In mid 1970, according to Barry, "Robin rang me in Spain where I was on holiday [saying] 'let's do it again'". By 21 August 1970, after they had reunited, Barry announced that the Bee Gees "are there and they will never, ever part again". Maurice said, "We just discussed it and re-formed. We want to apologise publicly to Robin for the things that have been said." Earlier, in June 1970, Robin and Maurice recorded a dozen songs before Barry joined and included two songs that were on their reunion album. Around the same time, Barry and Robin were about to publish the book On the Other Hand. They also recruited Geoff Bridgford as the group's official drummer. Bridgford had previously worked with the Groove and Tin Tin and played drums on Maurice's unreleased first solo album. In 1970, 2 Years On was released in October in the US and November in the UK. The lead single "Lonely Days" reached No. 3 in the United States, promoted by appearances on The Johnny Cash Show, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Dick Cavett Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. Their ninth album, Trafalgar, was released in late 1971. The single "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" was their first to hit No. 1 on the US charts, while "Israel" reached No. 22 in the Netherlands. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" also brought the Bee Gees their first Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Later that year, the group's songs were included in the soundtrack for the film Melody. In 1972, they hit No. 16 in the US with the non-album single "My World", backed by Maurice's composition "On Time". Another 1972 single, "Run to Me" from the LP To Whom It May Concern, returned them to the UK top 10 for the first time in three years. On 24 November 1972, the band headlined the "Woodstock of the West" Festival at the Los Angeles Coliseum (which was a West Coast answer to Woodstock in New York), which also featured Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and the Eagles. Also in 1972, the group sang "Hey Jude" with Wilson Pickett. By 1973, however, the Bee Gees were in a rut. The album Life in a Tin Can, released on Robert Stigwood's newly formed RSO Records, and its lead-off single, "Saw a New Morning", sold poorly with the single peaking at No. 94. This was followed by an unreleased album (known as A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants). A second compilation album, Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2, was released in 1973, although it did not repeat the success of Volume 1. On 6 April 1973 episode of The Midnight Special they performed "Money (That's What I Want)" with Jerry Lee Lewis. Also in 1973, they were invited by Chuck Berry to perform two songs with him onstage at The Midnight Special: "Johnny B. Goode" and "Reelin' and Rockin'". After a tour of the United States in early 1974 and a Canadian tour later in the year, the group ended up playing small clubs. As Barry joked, "We ended up in, have you ever heard of Batley's the variety club in (West Yorkshire) England?". On the advice of Ahmet Ertegun, head of their US label Atlantic Records, Stigwood arranged for the group to record with soul music producer Arif Mardin. The resulting LP, Mr. Natural, included fewer ballads and foreshadowed the R&B direction of the rest of their career. When it, too, failed to attract much interest, Mardin encouraged them to work within the soul music style. The brothers attempted to assemble a live stage band that could replicate their studio sound. Lead guitarist Alan Kendall had come on board in 1971 but did not have much to do until Mr. Natural. For that album, they added drummer Dennis Bryon, and they later added ex-Strawbs keyboard player Blue Weaver, completing the Bee Gees band that lasted through the late '70s. Maurice, who had previously performed on piano, guitar, harpsichord, electric piano, organ, mellotron and bass guitar, as well as mandolin and Moog synthesiser, by then confined himself to bass onstage. 1975–1979: Turning to disco Main Course and Children of the World At Eric Clapton's suggestion, the brothers moved to Miami, Florida, early in 1975 to record at Criteria Studios. After starting off with ballads, they eventually heeded the urging of Mardin and Stigwood, and crafted more dance-oriented disco songs, including their second US No. 1, "Jive Talkin'", along with US No. 7 "Nights on Broadway". The band liked the resulting new sound. This time the public agreed by sending the LP Main Course up the charts. This album included the first Bee Gees songs wherein Barry used falsetto, something that became a trademark of the band. This was also the first Bee Gees album to have two US top-10 singles since 1968's Idea. Main Course also became their first charting R&B album. On the Bee Gees' appearance on The Midnight Special in 1975, to promote Main Course, they sang "To Love Somebody" with Helen Reddy. Around the same time, the Bee Gees recorded three Beatles covers—"Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" with Barry providing lead vocals, and "Sun King" with Maurice providing lead vocals, for the unsuccessful musical/documentary All This and World War II. The next album, Children of the World, released in September 1976, was filled with Barry's new-found falsetto and Weaver's synthesizer disco licks. The first single from the album was "You Should Be Dancing", which features percussion work by musician Stephen Stills. The song pushed the Bee Gees to a level of stardom they had not previously achieved in the US, though their new R&B/disco sound was not as popular with some diehard fans. The pop ballad "Love So Right" reached No. 3 in the US, and "Boogie Child" reached US No. 12 in January 1977. The album peaked at No. 8 in the US. Saturday Night Fever and Spirits Having Flown Following a successful live album, Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live, the Bee Gees agreed with Stigwood to participate in the creation of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It was the turning point of their career. The cultural impact of both the film and the soundtrack was significant throughout the world, epitomizing the disco phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic. The band's involvement in the film did not begin until post-production. As John Travolta asserted, "The Bee Gees weren't even involved in the movie in the beginning ... I was dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs." Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film. The brothers wrote the songs "virtually in a single weekend" at Château d'Hérouville studio in France. Barry Gibb remembered the reaction when Stigwood and music supervisor Bill Oakes arrived and listened to the demos: Bill Oakes, who supervised the soundtrack, asserts that Saturday Night Fever did not begin the disco craze but rather prolonged it: "Disco had run its course. These days, Fever is credited with kicking off the whole disco thing—it really didn't. Truth is, it breathed new life into a genre that was actually dying." Three Bee Gees singles—"How Deep Is Your Love" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Stayin' Alive" (US No. 1, UK No. 4) and "Night Fever" (US No. 1, UK No. 1)—charted high in many countries around the world, launching the most popular period of the disco era. They also penned the song "If I Can't Have You", which became a US No. 1 hit for Yvonne Elliman, while the Bee Gees' own version was the B-side of "Stayin' Alive". Such was the popularity of Saturday Night Fever that two different versions of the song "More Than a Woman" received airplay, one by the Bee Gees, which was relegated to an album track, and another by Tavares, which was the hit. During a nine-month period beginning in the Christmas season of 1977, seven songs written by the brothers held the No. 1 position on the US charts for 27 of 37 consecutive weeks: three of their own releases, two for brother Andy Gibb, the Yvonne Elliman single, and "Grease", performed by Frankie Valli. Fuelled by the film's success, the soundtrack broke multiple industry records, becoming the highest-selling album in recording history to that point. With more than 40 million copies sold, Saturday Night Fever is among music's top five best selling soundtrack albums. , it is calculated as the fourth highest-selling album worldwide. In March 1978, the Bee Gees held the top two positions on the US charts with "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive", the first time this had happened since the Beatles. On the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 25 March 1978, five songs written by the Gibbs were in the US top 10 at the same time: "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive", "If I Can't Have You", "Emotion" and "Love Is Thicker Than Water". Such chart dominance had not been seen since April 1964, when the Beatles had all five of the top five American singles. Barry Gibb became the only songwriter to have four consecutive number-one hits in the US, breaking the John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1964 record. These songs were "Stayin' Alive", "Love Is Thicker Than Water", "Night Fever" and "If I Can't Have You". The Bee Gees won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever over two years: Album of the Year, Producer of the Year (with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson), two awards for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (one in 1978 for "How Deep Is Your Love" and one in 1979 for "Stayin' Alive"), and Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices for "Stayin' Alive". During this era, Barry and Robin also wrote "Emotion" for an old friend, Australian vocalist Samantha Sang, who made it a top 10 hit, with the Bee Gees singing backing vocals. Barry also wrote the title song to the film version of the Broadway musical Grease for Frankie Valli to perform, which went to No. 1. The Bee Gees also co-starred with Peter Frampton in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), loosely inspired by the classic 1967 album by the Beatles. The movie had been heavily promoted prior to release and was expected to enjoy great commercial success. However, it was savaged by film critics as a disjointed mess and ignored by the public. Though some of its tracks charted, the soundtrack too was a high-profile flop. The single "Oh! Darling", credited to Robin Gibb, reached No. 15 in the US. The Bee Gees' follow-up to Saturday Night Fever was the Spirits Having Flown album. It yielded three more hits: "Too Much Heaven" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Tragedy" (US No. 1, UK No. 1), and "Love You Inside Out" (US No. 1, UK No. 13). This gave the act six consecutive No. 1 singles in the US within a year and a half, equalling the Beatles and surpassed only by Whitney Houston. In January 1979, the Bee Gees performed "Too Much Heaven" as their contribution to the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly. During the summer of 1979, the Bee Gees embarked on their largest concert tour covering the US and Canada. The Spirits Having Flown tour capitalised on Bee Gees fever that was sweeping the nation, with sold-out concerts in 38 cities. The Bee Gees produced a video for the title track "Too Much Heaven", directed by Miami-based filmmaker Martin Pitts and produced by Charles Allen. With this video, Pitts and Allen began a long association with the brothers. The Bee Gees even had a country hit in 1979 with "Rest Your Love on Me", the flip side of their pop hit "Too Much Heaven", which made the top 40 on the country charts. It was also a 1981 hit for Conway Twitty, topping the country music charts. The Bee Gees' overwhelming success rose and fell with the disco bubble. By the end of 1979, disco was rapidly declining in popularity, and the backlash against disco put the Bee Gees' American career in a tailspin. Radio stations around the US began promoting "Bee Gee-Free Weekends". Following their remarkable run from 1975 to 1979, the act had only one more top 10 single in the US, and that did not come until the single "One" reached number 7 in 1989. Barry Gibb considered the success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack both a blessing and a curse: 1980–1986: Outside projects, band turmoil, solo efforts and decline Robin co-produced Jimmy Ruffin's Sunrise released in May 1980, but the songs were started in 1979; the album contains songs written by the Gibb brothers, including the single "Hold On To My Love". In March 1980, Barry Gibb worked with Barbra Streisand on her album Guilty. He co-produced, and wrote or co-wrote all nine of the album's tracks (four of them written with Robin, and the title track with both Robin and Maurice). Barry also appeared on the album's cover with Streisand and duetted with her on two tracks. The album reached No. 1 in both the US and the UK, as did the single "Woman in Love" (written by Barry and Robin), becoming Streisand's most successful single and album to date. Both of the Streisand/Gibb duets, "Guilty" and "What Kind of Fool", also reached the US Top 10. In 1981, the Bee Gees released the album Living Eyes, their last full-length album release on RSO. This album was the first CD ever played in public, when it was played to viewers of the BBC show Tomorrow's World. With the disco backlash still running strong, the album failed to make the UK or US Top 40—breaking their streak of Top 40 hits, which started in 1975 with "Jive Talkin'". Two singles from the album fared little better—"He's a Liar", which reached No. 30 in the US, and "Living Eyes", which reached No. 45. In 1982, Dionne Warwick enjoyed a UK No. 2 and US Adult Contemporary No. 1 hit with her comeback single, "Heartbreaker", taken from her eponymous album written largely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb. The album reached No. 3 in the UK and the Top 30 in the US, where it was certified Gold. A year later, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers recorded the Bee Gees-penned track "Islands in the Stream", which became a US and Australian No. 1 hit and entered the Top 10 in the UK. Rogers' 1983 album, Eyes That See in the Dark, was written entirely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry. The album was a Top 10 hit in the US and was certified Double Platinum. The Bee Gees had greater success with the soundtrack to Staying Alive in 1983, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. The soundtrack was certified platinum in the US, and included their Top 30 hit "The Woman in You". Also in 1983, the band was sued by Chicago songwriter Ronald Selle, who claimed the brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, the Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later. In August 1983, Barry signed a solo deal with MCA Records and spent much of late 1983 and 1984 writing songs for this first solo effort, Now Voyager. Robin released three solo albums in the 1980s, How Old Are You?, Secret Agent and Walls Have Eyes. Maurice released his second single to date, "Hold Her in Your Hand", the first one having been released in 1970. In 1985, Diana Ross released the album Eaten Alive, written by the Bee Gees, with the title track co-written with Michael Jackson (who also performed on the track). The album was again co-produced by Barry Gibb, and the single "Chain Reaction" gave Ross a UK and Australian No. 1 hit. 1987–1999: Comeback, return to popularity and Andy's death The Bee Gees released the album E.S.P. in 1987, which sold over 2 million copies. It was their first album in six years, and their first for Warner Bros. Records. The single "You Win Again" went to No. 1 in numerous countries, including the UK, and made the Bee Gees the first group to score a UK No. 1 hit in each of three decades: the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The single was a disappointment in the US, charting at No. 75, and the Bee Gees voiced their frustration over American radio stations not playing their new European hit single, an omission which the group felt led to poor sales of their current album in the US. The song won the Bee Gees the 1987 British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically, and in February 1988 the band received a Brit Award nomination for Best British Group. On 10 March 1988, younger brother Andy Gibb died, aged 30, as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection. The Bee Gees later got together with Eric Clapton to create a group called 'the Bunburys' to raise money for English charities. The group recorded three songs for The Bunbury Tails: "We're the Bunburys" (which eventually became the opening theme to the 1992 animated series The Bunbury Tails), "Bunbury Afternoon", and "Fight (No Matter How Long)". The last song reached No. 8 on the rock music chart and appeared on The 1988 Summer Olympics Album. The Bee Gees' next album, One (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". The album also contained their first US Top 10 hit (No. 7) in a decade, "One" (an Adult Contemporary No. 1). After the album's release, the band embarked on its first world tour in 10 years. In the UK, Polydor issued a single-disc hits collection from Tales called The Very Best of the Bee Gees, which contained their biggest UK hits. The album became one of their best-selling albums in that country, and was eventually certified Triple Platinum. Following their next album, High Civilization (1991), which contained the UK top five hit "Secret Love", the Bee Gees went on a European tour. After the tour, Barry Gibb began to battle a serious back problem, which required surgery. In addition, he suffered from arthritis which, at one point, was so severe that it was doubtful that he would be able to play guitar for much longer. Also, in the early 1990s, Maurice Gibb finally sought treatment for his alcoholism, which he had battled for many years with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. In 1993, the group returned to the Polydor label and released the album Size Isn't Everything, which contained the UK top five hit "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Success still eluded them in the US, however, as the first single released, "Paying the Price of Love", only managed to reach No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the parent album stalled at No. 153. In 1997, they released the album Still Waters, which has reached No. 2 in the UK (their highest album chart position there since 1979) and No. 11 in the US. The album's first single, "Alone", gave them another UK Top 5 hit and a top 30 hit in the US. Still Waters was the band's most successful US release of their post-RSO era. At the 1997 BRIT Awards held in Earls Court, London on 24 February, the Bee Gees received the award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. On 14 November 1997, the Bee Gees performed a live concert in Las Vegas called One Night Only. The show included a performance of "Our Love (Don't Throw It All Away)" synchronised with a vocal by their deceased brother Andy and a cameo appearance by Celine Dion singing "Immortality". The "One Night Only" name grew out of the band's declaration that, due to Barry's health issues, the Las Vegas show was to be the final live performance of their career. After the immensely positive audience response to the Vegas concert, Barry decided to continue despite the pain, and the concert expanded into their last full-blown world tour of "One Night Only" concerts. The tour included playing to 56,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium on 5 September 1998 and concluded in the newly built Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 27 March 1999 to 72,000 people. In 1998, the group's soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever was incorporated into a stage production produced first in the West End and then on Broadway. They wrote three new songs for the adaptation. Also in 1998, the brothers released "Ellan Vannin" for Manx charities, recorded the previous year. Known as the unofficial national anthem of the Isle of Man, the brothers performed the song during their world tour to reflect their pride in the place of their birth. The Bee Gees closed the century with what turned out to be their last full-sized concert, known as BG2K, on 31 December 1999. 2000–2008: This Is Where I Came In and Maurice's death In 2001, the group released what turned out to be their final album of new material, This Is Where I Came In. The album was another success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK (being certified Gold), and the Top 20 in the US. The title track was also a UK Top 20 hit single. The last concert of the Bee Gees as a trio was at the Love and Hope Ball in 2002. Maurice Gibb died unexpectedly on 12 January 2003, at age 53, from a heart attack while awaiting emergency surgery to repair a strangulated intestine. Initially, his surviving brothers announced that they intended to carry on the name "Bee Gees" in his memory, but as time passed they decided to retire the group's name, leaving it to represent the three brothers together. The same week that Maurice died, Robin's solo album Magnet was released. On 23 February 2003, the Bee Gees received the Grammy Legend Award, they also became the first recipients of that award in the 21st century. Barry and Robin accepted as well as Maurice's son, Adam, in a tearful ceremony. In late 2004, Robin embarked on a solo tour of Germany, Russia and Asia. During January 2005, Barry, Robin and several legendary rock artists recorded "Grief Never Grows Old", the official tsunami relief record for the Disasters Emergency Committee. Later that year, Barry reunited with Barbra Streisand for her top-selling album Guilty Pleasures, released as Guilty Too in the UK as a sequel album to the previous Guilty. Also in 2004, Barry recorded his song "I Cannot Give You My Love" with Cliff Richard, which became a UK top 20 hit single. In February 2006, Barry and Robin reunited on stage for a Miami charity concert to benefit the Diabetes Research Institute. It was their first public performance together since Maurice's death. The pair also played at the 30th annual Prince's Trust Concert in the UK on 20 May 2006. 2009–2012: Return to performing and Robin's death Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to severe abdominal pain. Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert on 13 February 2012 at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and, as it turned out, his final one. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. 2013–present: Looking back at a lifetime of music In September and October 2013, Barry performed his first solo tour "in honour of his brothers and a lifetime of music". In addition to the Rhino collection, The Studio Albums: 1967–1968, Warner Bros. released a box set in 2014 called The Warner Bros Years: 1987–1991 that included the studio albums E.S.P., One and High Civilization as well as extended mixes and B-sides. It also included the band's entire 1989 concert in Melbourne, Australia, available only on video as All for One prior to this release. The documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees was aired on BBC Four on 19 December 2014. On 23 March 2015, 13STAR Records released a box set 1974–1979 which included the studio albums Mr. Natural, Main Course, Children of the World and Spirits Having Flown. A fifth disc called The Miami Years includes all the tracks from Saturday Night Fever as well as B-sides. No unreleased tracks from the era were included. After a hiatus from performing, Barry Gibb returned to solo and guest singing performances. He occasionally appears with his son, Steve Gibb. In 2016, he released In the Now, his first solo effort since 1984's Now Voyager. It was the first release of new Bee Gees-related music since the posthumous release of Robin Gibb's 50 St. Catherine's Drive. Also in 2016, Capitol Records signed a new distribution deal with Barry and the estates of his brothers for the Bee Gees catalogue, bringing their music back to Universal. An as-yet-untitled biopic about the Bee Gees is in development at Paramount, with Kenneth Branagh directing and Barry Gibb serving as an executive producer. Influences The Bee Gees were influenced by the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Mills Brothers, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, the Beach Boys and Stevie Wonder. On the 2014 documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees, Barry said that the Bee Gees were also influenced by the Hollies and Otis Redding. Maurice noted that Neil Sedaka was an early influence, and later the group was "very influenced" by Linda Creed songs for the Stylistics. Legacy In his 1980 Playboy magazine interview, John Lennon praised the Bee Gees, "Try to tell the kids in the seventies who were screaming to the Bee Gees that their music was just the Beatles redone. There is nothing wrong with the Bee Gees. They do a damn good job. There was nothing else going on then." In a 2007 interview with Duane Hitchings, who co-wrote Rod Stewart's 1978 disco song "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", he noted that the song was: Kevin Parker of Tame Impala has said that listening to the Bee Gees after taking mushrooms inspired him to change the sound of the music he was making on his album Currents. The English indie rock band the Cribs was also influenced by the Bee Gees. Cribs member Ryan Jarman said: "It must have had quite a big influence on us – pop melodies is something we always revert to. I always want to get back to pop melodies and I'm sure that's due to that Bee Gees phase we went through." Following Robin's death on 20 May 2012, Beyoncé remarked: "The Bee Gees were an early inspiration for me, Kelly Rowland and Michelle. We loved their songwriting and beautiful harmonies. Recording their classic song, 'Emotion' was a special time for Destiny's Child. Sadly we lost Robin Gibb this week. My heart goes out to his brother Barry and the rest of his family." Singer Jordin Sparks remarked that her favourite Bee Gees songs are "Too Much Heaven", "Emotion" (although performed by Samantha Sang with Barry on the background vocals using his falsetto), and "Stayin' Alive". Carrie Underwood said, about discovering the Bee Gees during her childhood, "My parents listened to the Bee Gees quite a bit when I was little, so I was definitely exposed to them at an early age. They just had a sound that was all their own, obviously, [it was] never duplicated." Songwriting At one point, in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing nine of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100. In all, the Gibbs placed 13 singles onto the Hot 100 in 1978, with 12 making the Top 40. The Gibb brothers are fellows of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs. Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw spoke about the Bee Gees' influence with their own music as well as their songwriting: In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Bee Gees were announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for their role as "Influential Artists". Accolades and achievements In 1978, following the success of Saturday Night Fever, and the single "Night Fever" in particular, Reubin Askew, the governor of the US state of Florida, named the Bee Gees honorary citizens of the state, since they resided in Miami at the time. In 1979, the Bee Gees got their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They were the subjects of This Is Your Life in 1991 when they were surprised by Michael Aspel while being interviewed by disc jockey Steve Wright (DJ) on his Radio 1 programme at BBC Broadcasting House. The Bee Gees were inducted in 1994 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as Florida's Artists Hall of Fame in 1995 and the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997. Also in 1997, the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; the presenter of the award to "Britain's First Family of Harmony" was Brian Wilson, historical leader of the Beach Boys, another "family act" featuring three harmonising brothers. In 2001, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. After Maurice's death, the Bee Gees were also inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2001, London's Walk of Fame in 2006 and Musically Speaking Hall Of Fame in 2008. On 15 May 2007, the Bee Gees were named BMI Icons at the 55th annual BMI Pop Awards. Collectively, Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb have earned 109 BMI Pop, Country and Latin Awards. In October 1999, the Isle of Man Post Office unveiled a set of six stamps honouring the Bee Gees. All three brothers (including Maurice posthumously) were invested as Commanders of the Order of the British Empire in December 2001 with the ceremony taking place at Buckingham Palace on 27 May 2004. On 10 July 2009, the Isle of Man's capital bestowed the Freedom of the Borough of Douglas honour on Barry and Robin, as well as posthumously on Maurice. On 20 November 2009, the Douglas Borough Council released a limited edition commemorative DVD to mark their naming as Freemen of the Borough. On 14 February 2013, Barry Gibb unveiled a statue of the Bee Gees as well as unveiling "Bee Gees Way" (a walkway filled with photos and videos of the Bee Gees) in honour of the Bee Gees in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. On 27 June 2018, Barry Gibb, the last surviving member of the Bee Gees, was knighted by Prince Charles after being named on the Queen's New Years Honours List. The statue of the Bee Gees in Douglas, Isle of Man, was installed in 2021. In 2022, the last surviving member of the group, Barry Gibb, was made an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia which is Australia's highest national honour. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them one of the best selling artists of all time. The group are to date the most successful family and sibling band of all time, the most successful musical trio of all time, and the most successful musical act with ties to Australia. Awards and nominations Queensland Music Awards The Queensland Music Awards (previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating Queensland, Australia's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006. (wins only) |- | 2009 | themselves | Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award | |} Band members Principal members Barry Gibb – vocals, rhythm guitar (1958–2003, 2006, 2009–2012) Robin Gibb – vocals, occasional keyboards (1958–1969, 1970–2003, 2006, 2009–2012; d. 2012) Maurice Gibb – bass, rhythm and lead guitars, keyboards, vocals (1958–2003; d. 2003) Colin Petersen – drums (1967–1969) Vince Melouney – lead guitar (1967–1968) Geoff Bridgford – drums (1971–1972; touring 1970-1971) Touring musicians Alan Kendall – lead guitar (1971–1981, 1989–2003) Chris Karan – drums (1972) Dennis Bryon – drums (1973–1981) Geoff Westley – keyboards, piano (1973–1976) Blue Weaver – keyboards, synthesizers (1975–1981) Joe Lala – percussion (1976, 1979) Joey Murcia – rhythm guitar (1976, 1979) Harold Cowart – bass (1979) Tim Cansfield – lead guitar (1989) Vic Martin – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) Gary Moberly – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) George Perry – bass (1989–1993) Chester Thompson – drums (1989) Mike Murphy – drums (1989) Trevor Murrell – drums (1991–1992) Rudi Dobson – keyboards (1991–1992) Scott F. Crago – drums Ben Stivers – keyboard (1996–1999) Matt Bonelli – bass (1993–2001) Steve Rucker – drums (1993–1999) Guest musicians (studio and touring) Phil Collins – drums Lenny Castro – percussion Glenn Frey – guitar Timothy B. Schmit – bass guitar Joe Walsh – lead guitar Don Felder – lead guitar (1981) Jeff Porcaro – drums Mike Porcaro – bass guitar Steve Porcaro – keyboards Steve Lukather – guitar David Hungate – bass guitar David Paich – keyboards Greg Phillinganes – keyboards Bobby Kimball – keyboards Leland Sklar – bass guitar Reb Beach – lead guitar Gregg Bissonette – drums Ricky Lawson – drums Scott F. Crago – drums Steve Gadd – drums Steve Ferrone – drums Steve Jordan – drums Nathan East – bass guitar Steuart Smith – lead guitar Vinnie Colaiuta – drums Timeline Timeline of touring members Discography Soundtracks Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Staying Alive (1983) are not official Bee Gees albums, but contain some previously unreleased tracks. Apart from live and compilation, all their official albums are included on this list. A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants has not been included on the list because it appeared only on numerous bootlegs and was not officially released. Studio albums The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs (1965) Spicks and Specks (1966) Bee Gees' 1st (1967) Horizontal (1968) Idea (1968) Odessa (1969) Cucumber Castle (1970) 2 Years On (1970) Trafalgar (1971) To Whom It May Concern (1972) Life in a Tin Can (1973) Mr. Natural (1974) Main Course (1975) Children of the World (1976) Spirits Having Flown (1979) Living Eyes (1981) E.S.P. (1987) One (1989) High Civilization (1991) Size Isn't Everything (1993) Still Waters (1997) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Concert tours The Bee Gees' concerts in 1967 and 1968 (1967–1968) 2 Years On Tour (1971) Trafalgar Tour (1972) Mr. Natural Tour (1974) Main Course Tour (1975) Children of the World Tour (1976) Spirits Having Flown Tour (1979) One for All World Tour (1989) High Civilization World Tour (1991) One Night Only World Tour (1997–1999) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Filmography Citations General bibliography . External links Bee Gees Official website Bee Gees at Rolling Stone Bee Gees' Vocal Group Hall of Fame webpage Bee Gees at bmi.com Robin Gibb sadly passes away after losing his battle with cancer Who Do You Think You Are? – Bee Gees Family History 1958 establishments in Australia Australian pop rock groups ARIA Award winners ARIA Hall of Fame inductees Atlantic Records artists Barry Gibb Brit Award winners British disco groups British musical trios British soft rock music groups British soul musical groups Brunswick Records artists Capitol Records artists Child musical groups English expatriates in Australia English expatriates in the United States English pop music groups English rock music groups Grammy Legend Award winners Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Juno Award for International Album of the Year winners Mercury Records artists Manx musical groups Maurice Gibb Musical groups established in 1958 Musical groups disestablished in 2003 Musical groups reestablished in 2009 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 Musical groups from Manchester Queensland musical groups Philips Records artists Q150 Icons Robin Gibb RSO Records artists Sibling musical trios UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors United Artists Records artists Warner Records artists World Music Awards winners
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[ "Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio, or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first written in 1335.\n\nThe book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales.\n\nTales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.\n\nPurpose and structure\n\nA didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem (\"Some man has made me a proposition...\" or \"I fear that such and such person intends to...\") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are \"examples\" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.\n\nEach chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: \"And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses.\" A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.\n\nOrigin of stories and influence on later literature\nMany of the stories written in the book are the first examples written in a modern European language of various stories, which many other writers would use in the proceeding centuries. Many of the stories he included were themselves derived from other stories, coming from western and Arab sources.\n\nShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew has the basic elements of Tale 35, \"What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\".\n\nTale 32, \"What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth\" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.\n\nStory 7, \"What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana\", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.\n\nTale 2, \"What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market,\" is the familiar fable The miller, his son and the donkey.\n\nIn 2016, Baroque Decay released a game under the name \"The Count Lucanor\". As well as some protagonists' names, certain events from the books inspired past events in the game.\n\nThe stories\n\nThe book opens with a prologue which introduces the characters of the Count and Patronio. The titles in the following list are those given in Keller and Keating's 1977 translation into English. James York's 1868 translation into English gives a significantly different ordering of the stories and omits the fifty-first.\n\n What Happened to a King and His Favorite \n What Happened to a Good Man and His Son \n How King Richard of England Leapt into the Sea against the Moors\n What a Genoese Said to His Soul When He Was about to Die \n What Happened to a Fox and a Crow Who Had a Piece of Cheese in His Beak\n How the Swallow Warned the Other Birds When She Saw Flax Being Sown \n What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana \n What Happened to a Man Whose Liver Had to Be Washed \n What Happened to Two Horses Which Were Thrown to the Lion \n What Happened to a Man Who on Account of Poverty and Lack of Other Food Was Eating Bitter Lentils \n What Happened to a Dean of Santiago de Compostela and Don Yllán, the Grand Master of Toledo\n What Happened to the Fox and the Rooster \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Hunting Partridges \n The Miracle of Saint Dominick When He Preached against the Usurer \n What Happened to Lorenzo Suárez at the Siege of Seville \n The Reply that count Fernán González Gave to His Relative Núño Laynes \n What Happened to a Very Hungry Man Who Was Half-heartedly Invited to Dinner \n What Happened to Pero Meléndez de Valdés When He Broke His Leg \n What Happened to the Crows and the Owls \n What Happened to a King for Whom a Man Promised to Perform Alchemy \n What Happened to a Young King and a Philosopher to Whom his Father Commended Him \n What Happened to the Lion and the Bull \n How the Ants Provide for Themselves \n What Happened to the King Who Wanted to Test His Three Sons \n What Happened to the Count of Provence and How He Was Freed from Prison by the Advice of Saladin\n What Happened to the Tree of Lies \n What Happened to an Emperor and to Don Alvarfáñez Minaya and Their Wives \n What Happened in Granada to Don Lorenzo Suárez Gallinato When He Beheaded the Renegade Chaplain \n What Happened to a Fox Who Lay down in the Street to Play Dead \n What Happened to King Abenabet of Seville and Ramayquía His Wife \n How a Cardinal Judged between the Canons of Paris and the Friars Minor \n What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth \n What Happened to Don Juan Manuel's Saker Falcon and an Eagle and a Heron \n What Happened to a Blind Man Who Was Leading Another \n What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\n What Happened to a Merchant When He Found His Son and His Wife Sleeping Together \n What Happened to Count Fernán González with His Men after He Had Won the Battle of Hacinas \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Loaded down with Precious Stones and Drowned in the River \n What Happened to a Man and a Swallow and a Sparrow \n Why the Seneschal of Carcassonne Lost His Soul \n What Happened to a King of Córdova Named Al-Haquem \n What Happened to a Woman of Sham Piety \n What Happened to Good and Evil and the Wise Man and the Madman \n What Happened to Don Pero Núñez the Loyal, to Don Ruy González de Zavallos, and to Don Gutier Roiz de Blaguiello with Don Rodrigo the Generous \n What Happened to a Man Who Became the Devil's Friend and Vassal \n What Happened to a Philosopher who by Accident Went down a Street Where Prostitutes Lived \n What Befell a Moor and His Sister Who Pretended That She Was Timid \n What Happened to a Man Who Tested His Friends \n What Happened to the Man Whom They Cast out Naked on an Island When They Took away from Him the Kingdom He Ruled \n What Happened to Saladin and a Lady, the Wife of a Knight Who Was His Vassal \n What Happened to a Christian King Who Was Very Powerful and Haughty\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Sturm, Harlan\n\n Wacks, David\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Internet Archive provides free access to the 1868 translation by James York.\nJSTOR has the to the 1977 translation by Keller and Keating.\nSelections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)\n\n14th-century books\nSpanish literature\n1335 books", "\"What Happened to Us\" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring English recording artist Jay Sean. It was written by Sean, Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim and Israel Cruz. \"What Happened to Us\" was leaked online in October 2010, and was released on 10 March 2011, as the third single from Mauboy's second studio album, Get 'Em Girls (2010). The song received positive reviews from critics.\n\nA remix of \"What Happened to Us\" made by production team OFM, was released on 11 April 2011. A different version of the song which features Stan Walker, was released on 29 May 2011. \"What Happened to Us\" charted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 14 and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). An accompanying music video was directed by Mark Alston, and reminisces on a former relationship between Mauboy and Sean.\n\nProduction and release\n\n\"What Happened to Us\" was written by Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz and Jay Sean. It was produced by Skaller, Cruz, Rohaim and Bobby Bass. The song uses C, D, and B minor chords in the chorus. \"What Happened to Us\" was sent to contemporary hit radio in Australia on 14 February 2011. The cover art for the song was revealed on 22 February on Mauboy's official Facebook page. A CD release was available for purchase via her official website on 10 March, for one week only. It was released digitally the following day.\n\nReception\nMajhid Heath from ABC Online Indigenous called the song a \"Jordin Sparks-esque duet\", and wrote that it \"has a nice innocence to it that rings true to the experience of losing a first love.\" Chris Urankar from Nine to Five wrote that it as a \"mid-tempo duet ballad\" which signifies Mauboy's strength as a global player. On 21 March 2011, \"What Happened to Us\" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number 14 the following week. The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for selling 70,000 copies. \"What Happened to Us\" spent a total of ten weeks in the ARIA top fifty.\n\nMusic video\n\nBackground\nThe music video for the song was shot in the Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney on 26 November 2010. The video was shot during Sean's visit to Australia for the Summerbeatz tour. During an interview with The Daily Telegraph while on the set of the video, Sean said \"the song is sick! ... Jessica's voice is amazing and we're shooting [the video] in this ridiculously beautiful mansion overlooking the harbour.\" The video was directed by Mark Alston, who had previously directed the video for Mauboy's single \"Let Me Be Me\" (2009). It premiered on YouTube on 10 February 2011.\n\nSynopsis and reception\nThe video begins showing Mauboy who appears to be sitting on a yellow antique couch in a mansion, wearing a purple dress. As the video progresses, scenes of memories are displayed of Mauboy and her love interest, played by Sean, spending time there previously. It then cuts to the scenes where Sean appears in the main entrance room of the mansion. The final scene shows Mauboy outdoors in a gold dress, surrounded by green grass and trees. She is later joined by Sean who appears in a black suit and a white shirt, and together they sing the chorus of the song to each other. David Lim of Feed Limmy wrote that the video is \"easily the best thing our R&B princess has committed to film – ever\" and praised the \"mansion and wondrous interior décor\". He also commended Mauboy for choosing Australian talent to direct the video instead of American directors, which she had used for her previous two music videos. Since its release, the video has received over two million views on Vevo.\n\nLive performances\nMauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" live for the first time during her YouTube Live Sessions program on 4 December 2010. She also appeared on Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight on 23 February 2011 for an interview and later performed the song. On 15 March 2011, Mauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Sunrise. She also performed the song with Stan Walker during the Australian leg of Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. Tour in April 2011. Mauboy and Walker later performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Dancing with the Stars Australia on 29 May 2011. From November 2013 to February 2014, \"What Happened to Us\" was part of the set list of the To the End of the Earth Tour, Mauboy's second headlining tour of Australia, with Nathaniel Willemse singing Sean's part.\n\nTrack listing\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Just Witness Remix) – 3:45\n\nCD single\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Album Version) – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:39\n\nDigital download – Remix\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:38\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Stan Walker – 3:20\n\nPersonnel\nSongwriting – Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz, Jay Sean\nProduction – Jeremy Skaller, Bobby Bass\nAdditional production – Israel Cruz, Khaled Rohaim\nLead vocals – Jessica Mauboy, Jay Sean\nMixing – Phil Tan\nAdditional mixing – Damien Lewis\nMastering – Tom Coyne \nSource:\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly chart\n\nYear-end chart\n\nCertification\n\nRadio dates and release history\n\nReferences\n\n2010 songs\n2011 singles\nJessica Mauboy songs\nJay Sean songs\nSongs written by Billy Steinberg\nSongs written by Jay Sean\nSongs written by Josh Alexander\nSongs written by Israel Cruz\nVocal duets\nSony Music Australia singles\nSongs written by Khaled Rohaim" ]
[ "Bee Gees", "2009-2012: Return to performing and Robin's death", "When was Robin's death?", "20 May 2012", "When did they return to performing?", "Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009", "What happened in 2009?", "appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009.", "What happened in 2010?", "On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol.", "What happened in 2011?", "On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer,", "What happened in 2012?", "Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen." ]
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In an interview with Easy Mix radio host Tim Roxborough on 1 September 2009, Barry's 63rd birthday, Barry commented on future tours saying that "they will be back"; but in an agreement with Warner/Rhino they would not make an announcement at that time. On 7 September 2009, Robin disclosed to Jonathan Agnew that he had been in touch with Barry and that they had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and "perform again". Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to issues with severe abdominal pain. On 13 February 2012, Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and his final. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. With Robin's death, Barry became the last surviving Gibb brother, and the Bee Gees dissolved as a musical group. CANNOTANSWER
With Robin's death, Barry became the last surviving Gibb brother, and the Bee Gees dissolved as a musical group.
The Bee Gees were a music group formed in 1958, featuring brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid- to late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies; Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid- to late 1970s and 1980s. The Bee Gees wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists and have been regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop music history. They have been referred to in the media as The Disco Kings, Britain’s First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music. Born on the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived in Chorlton, Manchester, England until the late 1950s. There, in 1955, they formed the skiffle/rock and roll group the Rattlesnakes. The family then moved to Redcliffe, in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia, later to Cribb Island. After achieving their first chart success in Australia as the Bee Gees with "Spicks and Specks" (their twelfth single), they returned to the UK in January 1967, when producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience. The Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (1977) was the turning point of their career, with both the film and soundtrack having a cultural impact throughout the world, enhancing the disco scene's mainstream appeal. They won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever, including Album of the Year. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them among the best-selling music artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; the Hall's citation says, "Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees." With nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the Bee Gees are the third-most successful band in Billboard charts history behind only the Beatles and the Supremes. Following Maurice's sudden death in January 2003 at the age of 53, Barry and Robin retired the group's name after 45 years of activity. In 2009, Robin announced that he and Barry had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and perform again. Robin died in May 2012, aged 62, after a prolonged period of failing health, leaving Barry as the only surviving member of the group. History 1955–1966: Music origins, Bee Gees formation and popularity in Australia Born on the Isle of Man during the late 1940s, the Gibb brothers moved to their father Hugh Gibb's hometown of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Greater Manchester, England in 1955. They formed a skiffle/rock-and-roll group, the Rattlesnakes, which consisted of Barry on guitar and vocals, Robin and Maurice on vocals and friends Paul Frost on drums and Kenny Horrocks on tea-chest bass. In December 1957 the boys began to sing in harmony. The story is told that they were going to lip-sync to a record in the local Gaumont cinema (as other children had done on previous weeks), but as they were running to the theatre, the fragile shellac 78-RPM record broke. The brothers had to sing live, but received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career. In May 1958 the Rattlesnakes disbanded when Frost and Horrocks left, so the Gibb brothers then formed Wee Johnny Hayes and the Blue Cats, with Barry as "Johnny Hayes". In August 1958, the Gibb family, including older sister Lesley and infant brother Andy (born in March 1958), emigrated to Australia and settled in Redcliffe, Queensland, just north-east of Brisbane. The young brothers began performing to raise pocket money. Speedway promoter and driver Bill Goode, who had hired the brothers to entertain the crowd at the Redcliffe Speedway in 1960, introduced them to Brisbane radio-presenter jockey Bill Gates. The crowd at the speedway would throw money onto the track for the boys, who generally performed during the interval of meetings (usually on the back of a truck that drove around the track) and, in a deal with Goode, any money they collected from the crowd they were allowed to keep. Gates named the group the "BGs" (later changed to "Bee Gees") after his, Goode's and Barry Gibb's initials. The name was not specifically a reference to "Brothers Gibb", despite popular belief. During the next few years, they began working regularly at resorts on the Queensland coast. Through his songwriting, Barry sparked the interest of Australian star Col Joye, who helped the brothers get a recording deal in 1963 with Festival Records subsidiary Leedon Records under the name "Bee Gees". The three released two or three singles a year, while Barry supplied additional songs to other Australian artists. In 1962 the Bee Gees were chosen as the supporting act for Chubby Checker's concert at the Sydney Stadium. From 1963 to 1966, the Gibb family lived at 171 Bunnerong Road, Maroubra, in Sydney. Just prior to his death, Robin Gibb recorded the song "Sydney" about the brothers' experience of living in that city. It was released on his posthumous album 50 St. Catherine's Drive. The house was demolished in 2016. A minor hit in 1965, "Wine and Women", led to the group's first LP, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs. By 1966 Festival Records was, however, on the verge of dropping them from the Leedon roster because of their perceived lack of commercial success. At this time the brothers met the American-born songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Nat Kipner, who had just been appointed A&R manager of a new independent label, Spin Records. Kipner briefly took over as the group's manager and successfully negotiated their transfer to Spin in exchange for granting Festival the Australian distribution-rights to the group's recordings. Through Kipner the Bee Gees met engineer-producer, Ossie Byrne, who produced (or co-produced with Kipner) many of the earlier Spin recordings, most of which were cut at his own small, self-built St Clair Studio in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Byrne gave the Gibb brothers virtually unlimited access to St Clair Studio over a period of several months in mid-1966. The group later acknowledged that this enabled them to greatly improve their skills as recording artists. During this productive time they recorded a large batch of original material—including the song that became their first major hit, "Spicks and Specks" (on which Byrne played the trumpet coda)—as well as cover versions of current hits by overseas acts such as the Beatles. They regularly collaborated with other local musicians, including members of beat band Steve & The Board, led by Steve Kipner, Nat's teenage son. Frustrated by their lack of success, the Gibbs began their return journey to England on 4 January 1967, with Ossie Byrne travelling with them. While at sea in January 1967, the Gibbs learned that Go-Set, Australia's most popular and influential music newspaper, had declared "Spicks and Specks" the "Best Single of the Year". 1967–1969: International fame and touring years Bee Gees' 1st, Horizontal and Idea Before their departure from Australia to England, Hugh Gibb sent demos to Brian Epstein, who managed the Beatles and directed NEMS, a British music store. Epstein passed the demo tapes to Robert Stigwood, who had recently joined NEMS. After an audition with Stigwood in February 1967, the Bee Gees signed a five-year contract whereby Polydor Records would release their records in the UK, and Atco Records would do so in the US. Work quickly began on the group's first international album, and Stigwood launched a promotional campaign to coincide with its release. Stigwood proclaimed that the Bee Gees were "The most significant new musical talent of 1967", thus initiating the comparison of the Bee Gees to the Beatles. Before recording the first album, the group expanded to include Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney. "New York Mining Disaster 1941," their second British single (their first-issued UK 45 rpm was "Spicks and Specks"), was issued to radio stations with a blank white label listing only the song title. Some DJs immediately assumed this was a new single by the Beatles and started playing the song in heavy rotation. This helped the song climb into the top 20 in both the UK and US. No such chicanery was needed to boost the Bee Gees' next single, "To Love Somebody", into the US Top 20. Originally written for Otis Redding, "To Love Somebody", a soulful ballad sung by Barry, has since become a pop standard covered by many artists. Another single, "Holiday", released in the US, peaked at No. 16. The parent album, Bee Gees 1st (their first internationally), peaked at No. 7 in the US and No. 8 in the UK. Bill Shepherd was credited as the arranger. After recording that album, the group recorded their first BBC session at the Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, in London, with Bill Bebb as the producer, and they performed three songs. That session is included on BBC Sessions: 1967–1973 (2008). After the release of Bee Gees' 1st, the group was first introduced in New York as "the English surprise." At that time, the band made their first British TV appearance on Top of the Pops. Maurice recalled: In late 1967, they began recording the second album. On 21 December 1967, in a live broadcast from Liverpool Anglican Cathedral for a Christmas television special called How On Earth?, they performed their own song, "Thank You For Christmas" which was written especially for the programme, as well as a medley of the traditional Christmas carols "Silent Night," "The First Noel" and "Mary's Boy Child" (the latter incorrectly noted as "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" on tape boxes and subsequent release). The songs were all pre-recorded on 1 December 1967 and the group lip-synched their performance. The recordings were eventually released on the "Horizontal" reissue bonus disc in 2008. The folk group the Settlers and Radio 1 disc-jockey, Kenny Everett, also performed on the programme which was presented by the Reverend Edward H. Patey, dean of the cathedral. January 1968 began with a promotional trip to the US. Los Angeles Police were on alert in anticipation of a Beatles-type reception, and special security arrangements were being put in place. In February, Horizontal repeated the success of their first album, featuring the group's first UK No. 1 single "Massachusetts" (a No. 11 US hit) and the No. 7 UK single "World." The sound of the album Horizontal had a more "rock" sound than their previous release, although ballads like "And the Sun Will Shine" and "Really and Sincerely" were also prominent. The Horizontal album reached No. 12 in the US and No. 16 in the UK. With the release of Horizontal, they also embarked on a Scandinavian tour with concerts in Copenhagen. Around the same time, the Bee Gees turned down an offer to write and perform the soundtrack for the film Wonderwall, according to director Joe Massot. On 27 February 1968, the band, backed by the 17-piece Massachusetts String Orchestra, began their first tour of Germany with two concerts at Hamburg Musikhalle. In March 1968, the band was supported by Procol Harum (who had a well-known hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale") on their German tour. As Robin's partner Molly Hullis recalls: "Germans were wilder than the fans in England at the heights of Beatlemania." The tour schedule took them to 11 venues in as many days with 18 concerts played, finishing with a brace of shows at the Stadthalle, Braunschweig. After that, the group was off to Switzerland. As Maurice described it: On 17 March, the band performed "Words" on The Ed Sullivan Show. The other artists who performed on that night's show were Lucille Ball, George Hamilton and Fran Jeffries. On 27 March 1968, the band performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Two more singles followed in early 1968: the ballad "Words" (No. 8 UK, No. 15 US) and the double A-sided single "Jumbo" backed with "The Singer Sang His Song". "Jumbo" only reached No. 25 in the UK and No. 57 in the US. The Bee Gees felt "The Singer Sang His Song" was the stronger of the two sides, an opinion shared by listeners in the Netherlands who made it a No. 3 hit. Further Bee Gees chart singles followed: "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", their second UK No. 1 (No. 8 US), and "I Started a Joke" (No. 6 US), both culled from the band's third album Idea. Idea reached No. 4 in the UK and was another top 20 album in the US (No. 17). After the tour and TV special to promote the album, Vince Melouney left the group, desiring to play more of a blues style music than the Gibbs were writing. Melouney did achieve one feat while with the Bee Gees: his composition "Such a Shame" (from Idea) is the only song on any Bee Gees album not written by a Gibb brother. The band were due to begin a seven-week tour of the US on 2 August 1968, but on 27 July, Robin collapsed and fell unconscious. He was admitted to a London nursing home suffering from nervous exhaustion, and the American tour was postponed. The band began recording their sixth album, which resulted in their spending a week recording at Atlantic Studios in New York. Robin, still feeling poorly, missed the New York sessions, but the rest of the band put away instrumental tracks and demos. Odessa, Cucumber Castle and break-up By 1969, Robin began to feel that Stigwood had been favouring Barry as the frontman. The Bee Gees' performances in early 1969 on the Top of the Pops and The Tom Jones Show performing "I Started a Joke" and "First of May" as a medley was one of the last live performances of the group with Robin. Their next album, which was to have been a concept album called Masterpeace, evolved into the double-album Odessa. Most rock critics felt this was the best Bee Gees album of the 1960s with its progressive rock feel on the title track, the country-flavoured "Marley Purt Drive" and "Give Your Best", and ballads such as "Melody Fair" and "First of May" (the last of which became the only single from the album and a UK # 6 hit). Feeling the flipside, "Lamplight," should have been the A-side, Robin quit the group in mid-1969 and launched a solo career. The first of many Bee Gees compilations, Best of Bee Gees, was released featuring the non-LP single "Words" plus the Australian hit "Spicks and Specks". The single "Tomorrow Tomorrow" was also released and was a moderate hit in the UK, where it reached No. 23, but it was only No. 54 in the US. The compilation reached the top 10 in both the UK and the US. While Robin pursued his solo career, Barry, Maurice and Petersen continued on as the Bee Gees recording their next album, Cucumber Castle. The band made their debut performance without Robin at Talk of the Town. They had recruited their sister, Lesley, into the group at this time. To accompany the album, they also filmed a TV special with Frankie Howerd and cameos from several other contemporary pop and rock stars, which aired on the BBC in December 1970. Petersen played drums on the tracks recorded for the album but was fired from the group after filming began (he went on to form the Humpy Bong with Jonathan Kelly). His parts were edited out of the final cut of the film and Pentangle drummer Terry Cox was recruited to complete the recording of songs for the album. After the album was released in early 1970, it seemed that the Bee Gees were finished. The leadoff single, "Don't Forget to Remember", was a big hit in the UK, reaching No. 2, but only reached No. 73 in the US. The next two singles, "I.O.I.O." and "If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else", barely scraped the charts. On 1 December 1969, Barry and Maurice parted ways professionally. Maurice started to record his first solo album, The Loner, which was not released. Meanwhile, he released the single "Railroad" and starred in the West End musical Sing a Rude Song. In February 1970, Barry recorded a solo album which never saw official release either, although "I'll Kiss Your Memory" was released as a single backed by "This Time" without much interest. Meanwhile, Robin saw success in Europe and Australia with his No. 2 hit "Saved by the Bell" and the album Robin's Reign. 1970–1974: Reformation In mid 1970, according to Barry, "Robin rang me in Spain where I was on holiday [saying] 'let's do it again'". By 21 August 1970, after they had reunited, Barry announced that the Bee Gees "are there and they will never, ever part again". Maurice said, "We just discussed it and re-formed. We want to apologise publicly to Robin for the things that have been said." Earlier, in June 1970, Robin and Maurice recorded a dozen songs before Barry joined and included two songs that were on their reunion album. Around the same time, Barry and Robin were about to publish the book On the Other Hand. They also recruited Geoff Bridgford as the group's official drummer. Bridgford had previously worked with the Groove and Tin Tin and played drums on Maurice's unreleased first solo album. In 1970, 2 Years On was released in October in the US and November in the UK. The lead single "Lonely Days" reached No. 3 in the United States, promoted by appearances on The Johnny Cash Show, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Dick Cavett Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. Their ninth album, Trafalgar, was released in late 1971. The single "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" was their first to hit No. 1 on the US charts, while "Israel" reached No. 22 in the Netherlands. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" also brought the Bee Gees their first Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Later that year, the group's songs were included in the soundtrack for the film Melody. In 1972, they hit No. 16 in the US with the non-album single "My World", backed by Maurice's composition "On Time". Another 1972 single, "Run to Me" from the LP To Whom It May Concern, returned them to the UK top 10 for the first time in three years. On 24 November 1972, the band headlined the "Woodstock of the West" Festival at the Los Angeles Coliseum (which was a West Coast answer to Woodstock in New York), which also featured Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and the Eagles. Also in 1972, the group sang "Hey Jude" with Wilson Pickett. By 1973, however, the Bee Gees were in a rut. The album Life in a Tin Can, released on Robert Stigwood's newly formed RSO Records, and its lead-off single, "Saw a New Morning", sold poorly with the single peaking at No. 94. This was followed by an unreleased album (known as A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants). A second compilation album, Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2, was released in 1973, although it did not repeat the success of Volume 1. On 6 April 1973 episode of The Midnight Special they performed "Money (That's What I Want)" with Jerry Lee Lewis. Also in 1973, they were invited by Chuck Berry to perform two songs with him onstage at The Midnight Special: "Johnny B. Goode" and "Reelin' and Rockin'". After a tour of the United States in early 1974 and a Canadian tour later in the year, the group ended up playing small clubs. As Barry joked, "We ended up in, have you ever heard of Batley's the variety club in (West Yorkshire) England?". On the advice of Ahmet Ertegun, head of their US label Atlantic Records, Stigwood arranged for the group to record with soul music producer Arif Mardin. The resulting LP, Mr. Natural, included fewer ballads and foreshadowed the R&B direction of the rest of their career. When it, too, failed to attract much interest, Mardin encouraged them to work within the soul music style. The brothers attempted to assemble a live stage band that could replicate their studio sound. Lead guitarist Alan Kendall had come on board in 1971 but did not have much to do until Mr. Natural. For that album, they added drummer Dennis Bryon, and they later added ex-Strawbs keyboard player Blue Weaver, completing the Bee Gees band that lasted through the late '70s. Maurice, who had previously performed on piano, guitar, harpsichord, electric piano, organ, mellotron and bass guitar, as well as mandolin and Moog synthesiser, by then confined himself to bass onstage. 1975–1979: Turning to disco Main Course and Children of the World At Eric Clapton's suggestion, the brothers moved to Miami, Florida, early in 1975 to record at Criteria Studios. After starting off with ballads, they eventually heeded the urging of Mardin and Stigwood, and crafted more dance-oriented disco songs, including their second US No. 1, "Jive Talkin'", along with US No. 7 "Nights on Broadway". The band liked the resulting new sound. This time the public agreed by sending the LP Main Course up the charts. This album included the first Bee Gees songs wherein Barry used falsetto, something that became a trademark of the band. This was also the first Bee Gees album to have two US top-10 singles since 1968's Idea. Main Course also became their first charting R&B album. On the Bee Gees' appearance on The Midnight Special in 1975, to promote Main Course, they sang "To Love Somebody" with Helen Reddy. Around the same time, the Bee Gees recorded three Beatles covers—"Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" with Barry providing lead vocals, and "Sun King" with Maurice providing lead vocals, for the unsuccessful musical/documentary All This and World War II. The next album, Children of the World, released in September 1976, was filled with Barry's new-found falsetto and Weaver's synthesizer disco licks. The first single from the album was "You Should Be Dancing", which features percussion work by musician Stephen Stills. The song pushed the Bee Gees to a level of stardom they had not previously achieved in the US, though their new R&B/disco sound was not as popular with some diehard fans. The pop ballad "Love So Right" reached No. 3 in the US, and "Boogie Child" reached US No. 12 in January 1977. The album peaked at No. 8 in the US. Saturday Night Fever and Spirits Having Flown Following a successful live album, Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live, the Bee Gees agreed with Stigwood to participate in the creation of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It was the turning point of their career. The cultural impact of both the film and the soundtrack was significant throughout the world, epitomizing the disco phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic. The band's involvement in the film did not begin until post-production. As John Travolta asserted, "The Bee Gees weren't even involved in the movie in the beginning ... I was dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs." Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film. The brothers wrote the songs "virtually in a single weekend" at Château d'Hérouville studio in France. Barry Gibb remembered the reaction when Stigwood and music supervisor Bill Oakes arrived and listened to the demos: Bill Oakes, who supervised the soundtrack, asserts that Saturday Night Fever did not begin the disco craze but rather prolonged it: "Disco had run its course. These days, Fever is credited with kicking off the whole disco thing—it really didn't. Truth is, it breathed new life into a genre that was actually dying." Three Bee Gees singles—"How Deep Is Your Love" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Stayin' Alive" (US No. 1, UK No. 4) and "Night Fever" (US No. 1, UK No. 1)—charted high in many countries around the world, launching the most popular period of the disco era. They also penned the song "If I Can't Have You", which became a US No. 1 hit for Yvonne Elliman, while the Bee Gees' own version was the B-side of "Stayin' Alive". Such was the popularity of Saturday Night Fever that two different versions of the song "More Than a Woman" received airplay, one by the Bee Gees, which was relegated to an album track, and another by Tavares, which was the hit. During a nine-month period beginning in the Christmas season of 1977, seven songs written by the brothers held the No. 1 position on the US charts for 27 of 37 consecutive weeks: three of their own releases, two for brother Andy Gibb, the Yvonne Elliman single, and "Grease", performed by Frankie Valli. Fuelled by the film's success, the soundtrack broke multiple industry records, becoming the highest-selling album in recording history to that point. With more than 40 million copies sold, Saturday Night Fever is among music's top five best selling soundtrack albums. , it is calculated as the fourth highest-selling album worldwide. In March 1978, the Bee Gees held the top two positions on the US charts with "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive", the first time this had happened since the Beatles. On the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 25 March 1978, five songs written by the Gibbs were in the US top 10 at the same time: "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive", "If I Can't Have You", "Emotion" and "Love Is Thicker Than Water". Such chart dominance had not been seen since April 1964, when the Beatles had all five of the top five American singles. Barry Gibb became the only songwriter to have four consecutive number-one hits in the US, breaking the John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1964 record. These songs were "Stayin' Alive", "Love Is Thicker Than Water", "Night Fever" and "If I Can't Have You". The Bee Gees won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever over two years: Album of the Year, Producer of the Year (with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson), two awards for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (one in 1978 for "How Deep Is Your Love" and one in 1979 for "Stayin' Alive"), and Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices for "Stayin' Alive". During this era, Barry and Robin also wrote "Emotion" for an old friend, Australian vocalist Samantha Sang, who made it a top 10 hit, with the Bee Gees singing backing vocals. Barry also wrote the title song to the film version of the Broadway musical Grease for Frankie Valli to perform, which went to No. 1. The Bee Gees also co-starred with Peter Frampton in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), loosely inspired by the classic 1967 album by the Beatles. The movie had been heavily promoted prior to release and was expected to enjoy great commercial success. However, it was savaged by film critics as a disjointed mess and ignored by the public. Though some of its tracks charted, the soundtrack too was a high-profile flop. The single "Oh! Darling", credited to Robin Gibb, reached No. 15 in the US. The Bee Gees' follow-up to Saturday Night Fever was the Spirits Having Flown album. It yielded three more hits: "Too Much Heaven" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Tragedy" (US No. 1, UK No. 1), and "Love You Inside Out" (US No. 1, UK No. 13). This gave the act six consecutive No. 1 singles in the US within a year and a half, equalling the Beatles and surpassed only by Whitney Houston. In January 1979, the Bee Gees performed "Too Much Heaven" as their contribution to the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly. During the summer of 1979, the Bee Gees embarked on their largest concert tour covering the US and Canada. The Spirits Having Flown tour capitalised on Bee Gees fever that was sweeping the nation, with sold-out concerts in 38 cities. The Bee Gees produced a video for the title track "Too Much Heaven", directed by Miami-based filmmaker Martin Pitts and produced by Charles Allen. With this video, Pitts and Allen began a long association with the brothers. The Bee Gees even had a country hit in 1979 with "Rest Your Love on Me", the flip side of their pop hit "Too Much Heaven", which made the top 40 on the country charts. It was also a 1981 hit for Conway Twitty, topping the country music charts. The Bee Gees' overwhelming success rose and fell with the disco bubble. By the end of 1979, disco was rapidly declining in popularity, and the backlash against disco put the Bee Gees' American career in a tailspin. Radio stations around the US began promoting "Bee Gee-Free Weekends". Following their remarkable run from 1975 to 1979, the act had only one more top 10 single in the US, and that did not come until the single "One" reached number 7 in 1989. Barry Gibb considered the success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack both a blessing and a curse: 1980–1986: Outside projects, band turmoil, solo efforts and decline Robin co-produced Jimmy Ruffin's Sunrise released in May 1980, but the songs were started in 1979; the album contains songs written by the Gibb brothers, including the single "Hold On To My Love". In March 1980, Barry Gibb worked with Barbra Streisand on her album Guilty. He co-produced, and wrote or co-wrote all nine of the album's tracks (four of them written with Robin, and the title track with both Robin and Maurice). Barry also appeared on the album's cover with Streisand and duetted with her on two tracks. The album reached No. 1 in both the US and the UK, as did the single "Woman in Love" (written by Barry and Robin), becoming Streisand's most successful single and album to date. Both of the Streisand/Gibb duets, "Guilty" and "What Kind of Fool", also reached the US Top 10. In 1981, the Bee Gees released the album Living Eyes, their last full-length album release on RSO. This album was the first CD ever played in public, when it was played to viewers of the BBC show Tomorrow's World. With the disco backlash still running strong, the album failed to make the UK or US Top 40—breaking their streak of Top 40 hits, which started in 1975 with "Jive Talkin'". Two singles from the album fared little better—"He's a Liar", which reached No. 30 in the US, and "Living Eyes", which reached No. 45. In 1982, Dionne Warwick enjoyed a UK No. 2 and US Adult Contemporary No. 1 hit with her comeback single, "Heartbreaker", taken from her eponymous album written largely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb. The album reached No. 3 in the UK and the Top 30 in the US, where it was certified Gold. A year later, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers recorded the Bee Gees-penned track "Islands in the Stream", which became a US and Australian No. 1 hit and entered the Top 10 in the UK. Rogers' 1983 album, Eyes That See in the Dark, was written entirely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry. The album was a Top 10 hit in the US and was certified Double Platinum. The Bee Gees had greater success with the soundtrack to Staying Alive in 1983, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. The soundtrack was certified platinum in the US, and included their Top 30 hit "The Woman in You". Also in 1983, the band was sued by Chicago songwriter Ronald Selle, who claimed the brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, the Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later. In August 1983, Barry signed a solo deal with MCA Records and spent much of late 1983 and 1984 writing songs for this first solo effort, Now Voyager. Robin released three solo albums in the 1980s, How Old Are You?, Secret Agent and Walls Have Eyes. Maurice released his second single to date, "Hold Her in Your Hand", the first one having been released in 1970. In 1985, Diana Ross released the album Eaten Alive, written by the Bee Gees, with the title track co-written with Michael Jackson (who also performed on the track). The album was again co-produced by Barry Gibb, and the single "Chain Reaction" gave Ross a UK and Australian No. 1 hit. 1987–1999: Comeback, return to popularity and Andy's death The Bee Gees released the album E.S.P. in 1987, which sold over 2 million copies. It was their first album in six years, and their first for Warner Bros. Records. The single "You Win Again" went to No. 1 in numerous countries, including the UK, and made the Bee Gees the first group to score a UK No. 1 hit in each of three decades: the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The single was a disappointment in the US, charting at No. 75, and the Bee Gees voiced their frustration over American radio stations not playing their new European hit single, an omission which the group felt led to poor sales of their current album in the US. The song won the Bee Gees the 1987 British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically, and in February 1988 the band received a Brit Award nomination for Best British Group. On 10 March 1988, younger brother Andy Gibb died, aged 30, as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection. The Bee Gees later got together with Eric Clapton to create a group called 'the Bunburys' to raise money for English charities. The group recorded three songs for The Bunbury Tails: "We're the Bunburys" (which eventually became the opening theme to the 1992 animated series The Bunbury Tails), "Bunbury Afternoon", and "Fight (No Matter How Long)". The last song reached No. 8 on the rock music chart and appeared on The 1988 Summer Olympics Album. The Bee Gees' next album, One (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". The album also contained their first US Top 10 hit (No. 7) in a decade, "One" (an Adult Contemporary No. 1). After the album's release, the band embarked on its first world tour in 10 years. In the UK, Polydor issued a single-disc hits collection from Tales called The Very Best of the Bee Gees, which contained their biggest UK hits. The album became one of their best-selling albums in that country, and was eventually certified Triple Platinum. Following their next album, High Civilization (1991), which contained the UK top five hit "Secret Love", the Bee Gees went on a European tour. After the tour, Barry Gibb began to battle a serious back problem, which required surgery. In addition, he suffered from arthritis which, at one point, was so severe that it was doubtful that he would be able to play guitar for much longer. Also, in the early 1990s, Maurice Gibb finally sought treatment for his alcoholism, which he had battled for many years with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. In 1993, the group returned to the Polydor label and released the album Size Isn't Everything, which contained the UK top five hit "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Success still eluded them in the US, however, as the first single released, "Paying the Price of Love", only managed to reach No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the parent album stalled at No. 153. In 1997, they released the album Still Waters, which has reached No. 2 in the UK (their highest album chart position there since 1979) and No. 11 in the US. The album's first single, "Alone", gave them another UK Top 5 hit and a top 30 hit in the US. Still Waters was the band's most successful US release of their post-RSO era. At the 1997 BRIT Awards held in Earls Court, London on 24 February, the Bee Gees received the award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. On 14 November 1997, the Bee Gees performed a live concert in Las Vegas called One Night Only. The show included a performance of "Our Love (Don't Throw It All Away)" synchronised with a vocal by their deceased brother Andy and a cameo appearance by Celine Dion singing "Immortality". The "One Night Only" name grew out of the band's declaration that, due to Barry's health issues, the Las Vegas show was to be the final live performance of their career. After the immensely positive audience response to the Vegas concert, Barry decided to continue despite the pain, and the concert expanded into their last full-blown world tour of "One Night Only" concerts. The tour included playing to 56,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium on 5 September 1998 and concluded in the newly built Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 27 March 1999 to 72,000 people. In 1998, the group's soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever was incorporated into a stage production produced first in the West End and then on Broadway. They wrote three new songs for the adaptation. Also in 1998, the brothers released "Ellan Vannin" for Manx charities, recorded the previous year. Known as the unofficial national anthem of the Isle of Man, the brothers performed the song during their world tour to reflect their pride in the place of their birth. The Bee Gees closed the century with what turned out to be their last full-sized concert, known as BG2K, on 31 December 1999. 2000–2008: This Is Where I Came In and Maurice's death In 2001, the group released what turned out to be their final album of new material, This Is Where I Came In. The album was another success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK (being certified Gold), and the Top 20 in the US. The title track was also a UK Top 20 hit single. The last concert of the Bee Gees as a trio was at the Love and Hope Ball in 2002. Maurice Gibb died unexpectedly on 12 January 2003, at age 53, from a heart attack while awaiting emergency surgery to repair a strangulated intestine. Initially, his surviving brothers announced that they intended to carry on the name "Bee Gees" in his memory, but as time passed they decided to retire the group's name, leaving it to represent the three brothers together. The same week that Maurice died, Robin's solo album Magnet was released. On 23 February 2003, the Bee Gees received the Grammy Legend Award, they also became the first recipients of that award in the 21st century. Barry and Robin accepted as well as Maurice's son, Adam, in a tearful ceremony. In late 2004, Robin embarked on a solo tour of Germany, Russia and Asia. During January 2005, Barry, Robin and several legendary rock artists recorded "Grief Never Grows Old", the official tsunami relief record for the Disasters Emergency Committee. Later that year, Barry reunited with Barbra Streisand for her top-selling album Guilty Pleasures, released as Guilty Too in the UK as a sequel album to the previous Guilty. Also in 2004, Barry recorded his song "I Cannot Give You My Love" with Cliff Richard, which became a UK top 20 hit single. In February 2006, Barry and Robin reunited on stage for a Miami charity concert to benefit the Diabetes Research Institute. It was their first public performance together since Maurice's death. The pair also played at the 30th annual Prince's Trust Concert in the UK on 20 May 2006. 2009–2012: Return to performing and Robin's death Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to severe abdominal pain. Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert on 13 February 2012 at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and, as it turned out, his final one. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. 2013–present: Looking back at a lifetime of music In September and October 2013, Barry performed his first solo tour "in honour of his brothers and a lifetime of music". In addition to the Rhino collection, The Studio Albums: 1967–1968, Warner Bros. released a box set in 2014 called The Warner Bros Years: 1987–1991 that included the studio albums E.S.P., One and High Civilization as well as extended mixes and B-sides. It also included the band's entire 1989 concert in Melbourne, Australia, available only on video as All for One prior to this release. The documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees was aired on BBC Four on 19 December 2014. On 23 March 2015, 13STAR Records released a box set 1974–1979 which included the studio albums Mr. Natural, Main Course, Children of the World and Spirits Having Flown. A fifth disc called The Miami Years includes all the tracks from Saturday Night Fever as well as B-sides. No unreleased tracks from the era were included. After a hiatus from performing, Barry Gibb returned to solo and guest singing performances. He occasionally appears with his son, Steve Gibb. In 2016, he released In the Now, his first solo effort since 1984's Now Voyager. It was the first release of new Bee Gees-related music since the posthumous release of Robin Gibb's 50 St. Catherine's Drive. Also in 2016, Capitol Records signed a new distribution deal with Barry and the estates of his brothers for the Bee Gees catalogue, bringing their music back to Universal. An as-yet-untitled biopic about the Bee Gees is in development at Paramount, with Kenneth Branagh directing and Barry Gibb serving as an executive producer. Influences The Bee Gees were influenced by the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Mills Brothers, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, the Beach Boys and Stevie Wonder. On the 2014 documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees, Barry said that the Bee Gees were also influenced by the Hollies and Otis Redding. Maurice noted that Neil Sedaka was an early influence, and later the group was "very influenced" by Linda Creed songs for the Stylistics. Legacy In his 1980 Playboy magazine interview, John Lennon praised the Bee Gees, "Try to tell the kids in the seventies who were screaming to the Bee Gees that their music was just the Beatles redone. There is nothing wrong with the Bee Gees. They do a damn good job. There was nothing else going on then." In a 2007 interview with Duane Hitchings, who co-wrote Rod Stewart's 1978 disco song "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", he noted that the song was: Kevin Parker of Tame Impala has said that listening to the Bee Gees after taking mushrooms inspired him to change the sound of the music he was making on his album Currents. The English indie rock band the Cribs was also influenced by the Bee Gees. Cribs member Ryan Jarman said: "It must have had quite a big influence on us – pop melodies is something we always revert to. I always want to get back to pop melodies and I'm sure that's due to that Bee Gees phase we went through." Following Robin's death on 20 May 2012, Beyoncé remarked: "The Bee Gees were an early inspiration for me, Kelly Rowland and Michelle. We loved their songwriting and beautiful harmonies. Recording their classic song, 'Emotion' was a special time for Destiny's Child. Sadly we lost Robin Gibb this week. My heart goes out to his brother Barry and the rest of his family." Singer Jordin Sparks remarked that her favourite Bee Gees songs are "Too Much Heaven", "Emotion" (although performed by Samantha Sang with Barry on the background vocals using his falsetto), and "Stayin' Alive". Carrie Underwood said, about discovering the Bee Gees during her childhood, "My parents listened to the Bee Gees quite a bit when I was little, so I was definitely exposed to them at an early age. They just had a sound that was all their own, obviously, [it was] never duplicated." Songwriting At one point, in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing nine of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100. In all, the Gibbs placed 13 singles onto the Hot 100 in 1978, with 12 making the Top 40. The Gibb brothers are fellows of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs. Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw spoke about the Bee Gees' influence with their own music as well as their songwriting: In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Bee Gees were announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for their role as "Influential Artists". Accolades and achievements In 1978, following the success of Saturday Night Fever, and the single "Night Fever" in particular, Reubin Askew, the governor of the US state of Florida, named the Bee Gees honorary citizens of the state, since they resided in Miami at the time. In 1979, the Bee Gees got their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They were the subjects of This Is Your Life in 1991 when they were surprised by Michael Aspel while being interviewed by disc jockey Steve Wright (DJ) on his Radio 1 programme at BBC Broadcasting House. The Bee Gees were inducted in 1994 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as Florida's Artists Hall of Fame in 1995 and the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997. Also in 1997, the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; the presenter of the award to "Britain's First Family of Harmony" was Brian Wilson, historical leader of the Beach Boys, another "family act" featuring three harmonising brothers. In 2001, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. After Maurice's death, the Bee Gees were also inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2001, London's Walk of Fame in 2006 and Musically Speaking Hall Of Fame in 2008. On 15 May 2007, the Bee Gees were named BMI Icons at the 55th annual BMI Pop Awards. Collectively, Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb have earned 109 BMI Pop, Country and Latin Awards. In October 1999, the Isle of Man Post Office unveiled a set of six stamps honouring the Bee Gees. All three brothers (including Maurice posthumously) were invested as Commanders of the Order of the British Empire in December 2001 with the ceremony taking place at Buckingham Palace on 27 May 2004. On 10 July 2009, the Isle of Man's capital bestowed the Freedom of the Borough of Douglas honour on Barry and Robin, as well as posthumously on Maurice. On 20 November 2009, the Douglas Borough Council released a limited edition commemorative DVD to mark their naming as Freemen of the Borough. On 14 February 2013, Barry Gibb unveiled a statue of the Bee Gees as well as unveiling "Bee Gees Way" (a walkway filled with photos and videos of the Bee Gees) in honour of the Bee Gees in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. On 27 June 2018, Barry Gibb, the last surviving member of the Bee Gees, was knighted by Prince Charles after being named on the Queen's New Years Honours List. The statue of the Bee Gees in Douglas, Isle of Man, was installed in 2021. In 2022, the last surviving member of the group, Barry Gibb, was made an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia which is Australia's highest national honour. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them one of the best selling artists of all time. The group are to date the most successful family and sibling band of all time, the most successful musical trio of all time, and the most successful musical act with ties to Australia. Awards and nominations Queensland Music Awards The Queensland Music Awards (previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating Queensland, Australia's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006. (wins only) |- | 2009 | themselves | Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award | |} Band members Principal members Barry Gibb – vocals, rhythm guitar (1958–2003, 2006, 2009–2012) Robin Gibb – vocals, occasional keyboards (1958–1969, 1970–2003, 2006, 2009–2012; d. 2012) Maurice Gibb – bass, rhythm and lead guitars, keyboards, vocals (1958–2003; d. 2003) Colin Petersen – drums (1967–1969) Vince Melouney – lead guitar (1967–1968) Geoff Bridgford – drums (1971–1972; touring 1970-1971) Touring musicians Alan Kendall – lead guitar (1971–1981, 1989–2003) Chris Karan – drums (1972) Dennis Bryon – drums (1973–1981) Geoff Westley – keyboards, piano (1973–1976) Blue Weaver – keyboards, synthesizers (1975–1981) Joe Lala – percussion (1976, 1979) Joey Murcia – rhythm guitar (1976, 1979) Harold Cowart – bass (1979) Tim Cansfield – lead guitar (1989) Vic Martin – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) Gary Moberly – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) George Perry – bass (1989–1993) Chester Thompson – drums (1989) Mike Murphy – drums (1989) Trevor Murrell – drums (1991–1992) Rudi Dobson – keyboards (1991–1992) Scott F. Crago – drums Ben Stivers – keyboard (1996–1999) Matt Bonelli – bass (1993–2001) Steve Rucker – drums (1993–1999) Guest musicians (studio and touring) Phil Collins – drums Lenny Castro – percussion Glenn Frey – guitar Timothy B. Schmit – bass guitar Joe Walsh – lead guitar Don Felder – lead guitar (1981) Jeff Porcaro – drums Mike Porcaro – bass guitar Steve Porcaro – keyboards Steve Lukather – guitar David Hungate – bass guitar David Paich – keyboards Greg Phillinganes – keyboards Bobby Kimball – keyboards Leland Sklar – bass guitar Reb Beach – lead guitar Gregg Bissonette – drums Ricky Lawson – drums Scott F. Crago – drums Steve Gadd – drums Steve Ferrone – drums Steve Jordan – drums Nathan East – bass guitar Steuart Smith – lead guitar Vinnie Colaiuta – drums Timeline Timeline of touring members Discography Soundtracks Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Staying Alive (1983) are not official Bee Gees albums, but contain some previously unreleased tracks. Apart from live and compilation, all their official albums are included on this list. A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants has not been included on the list because it appeared only on numerous bootlegs and was not officially released. Studio albums The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs (1965) Spicks and Specks (1966) Bee Gees' 1st (1967) Horizontal (1968) Idea (1968) Odessa (1969) Cucumber Castle (1970) 2 Years On (1970) Trafalgar (1971) To Whom It May Concern (1972) Life in a Tin Can (1973) Mr. Natural (1974) Main Course (1975) Children of the World (1976) Spirits Having Flown (1979) Living Eyes (1981) E.S.P. (1987) One (1989) High Civilization (1991) Size Isn't Everything (1993) Still Waters (1997) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Concert tours The Bee Gees' concerts in 1967 and 1968 (1967–1968) 2 Years On Tour (1971) Trafalgar Tour (1972) Mr. Natural Tour (1974) Main Course Tour (1975) Children of the World Tour (1976) Spirits Having Flown Tour (1979) One for All World Tour (1989) High Civilization World Tour (1991) One Night Only World Tour (1997–1999) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Filmography Citations General bibliography . External links Bee Gees Official website Bee Gees at Rolling Stone Bee Gees' Vocal Group Hall of Fame webpage Bee Gees at bmi.com Robin Gibb sadly passes away after losing his battle with cancer Who Do You Think You Are? – Bee Gees Family History 1958 establishments in Australia Australian pop rock groups ARIA Award winners ARIA Hall of Fame inductees Atlantic Records artists Barry Gibb Brit Award winners British disco groups British musical trios British soft rock music groups British soul musical groups Brunswick Records artists Capitol Records artists Child musical groups English expatriates in Australia English expatriates in the United States English pop music groups English rock music groups Grammy Legend Award winners Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Juno Award for International Album of the Year winners Mercury Records artists Manx musical groups Maurice Gibb Musical groups established in 1958 Musical groups disestablished in 2003 Musical groups reestablished in 2009 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 Musical groups from Manchester Queensland musical groups Philips Records artists Q150 Icons Robin Gibb RSO Records artists Sibling musical trios UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors United Artists Records artists Warner Records artists World Music Awards winners
false
[ "Beyond the Tesseract is a text-based adventure game developed in 1983 by Canadian author David Lo for the TRS-80. The game was notable for its unique take on the genre and approach to mathematical entities and abstract concepts.\nIn one section the player must navigate a text adventure game, inside the text adventure game. In another the player, while asleep, derives a proof using physical representations of various symbolic logic components.\n\nThe game is intentionally vague using a VERB NOUN gameplay mechanic with a vocabulary of just 200.\n\nIn 1988 the game was ported to Atari ST, MS-DOS and Solaris environments and, in 2003, to interactive fiction standard of machine-independent Z-code.\n\nOriginal release notes \n\nScenario:\n\"You have reached the final part of your mission. You have\ngained access to the complex, and all but the last procedure has\nbeen performed. Now comes a time of waiting, in which you must\nsearch for the hidden 12-word message that will aid you at the\nfinal step. But what choice will you make when that time comes?\"\n\nThe scenario for the adventure is meant to be vague. Once the\nadventure has been completed, the scenario will hopefully become\nclear.\n\nInstructions:\nThis adventure recognizes the standard commands for moving\n(N, E, S, W), taking inventory (I), manipulating objects (GET,\nDROP, LOOK), and saving games (SAVE, LOAD), as well as many\nothers. Use 2-word 'verb noun' commands, such as 'use stack' or\n'get all'. Only the first four letters of each word are\nsignificant. The adventure recognizes about 200 words, so if\none word does not work, try another.\n\nNotes:\n\"The \"stack\" is an acronym for Space Time Activated Continuum\nKey. You will find this object very useful. Try the command\n\"use stack\".\"\n\nThis adventure is abstract and a bit on the technical side.\nBasic knowledge of the names of interesting mathematical objects\nwould be a definite asset in solving the puzzles. However,\ndetailed knowledge of the technical background is not necessary,\nalthough it will make the adventure more enjoyable and reduce\nthe amount of comments of the form \"Was that supposed to be funny\nor what? I don't get it.\"\n\nThere is no carry limit, no death traps, and over 200 words in\nthe program's vocabulary, so the player can hopefully concentrate on\nsolving the adventure instead of solving the program. The map\nof the adventure can be draw on a grid. All it takes is a\nlittle experimenting to put all the subsets of locations\ntogether \"logically\".\n\nHistory:\nThe idea of a mathematically abstract adventure came about\nduring the summer of 1983, when I was reading the book \"Godel,\nEscher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid\". I had just read an\narticle on writing adventures, and I thought about doing my own\narticle on adventure writing. I did start on the article, and\none of the examples of how varied puzzles can be is a\nmathematical adventure where the player has to \"use a\nprobability function to cross a field of improbability to get to\na vortex.\" Sadly the article was never finished, although\nremnants of it can be found in the ADV.DOC file. I started\nthinking more and more about a mathematically abstract\nadventure, and Tesseract was born!\n\nThe very first adventure that I wrote was in 1982, titled \"Hall\nof the Mountain King\" (find the Crystal of Light). Tesseract\nVersion 1.0 was the second of the three TRS-80 BASIC adventures\nthat I wrote in a two-month adventure-frenzy during the summer\nof 1983. The first was \"Project Triad\" (defuse the bomb on the\nspace station), and the third was \"Codename Intrepid\" (deliver a\npackage to another agent).\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n Various versions of the game are available for free legal download\n\n1980s interactive fiction\n1983 video games\nAtari ST games\nDOS games\nTRS-80 games\nVideo games about video games\nVideo games developed in Canada", "a TEN Talk (originally 10Talk) is a short presentation on a topic of the speaker's choosing given at a BarCamp type conference. It derives from a TED Talk and originated at the 2012 RefreshCache v4 developer conference (now defunct) in Gilbert, Arizona during the open floor demo time with a description of \"Fast paced 10 minute presentations by the you and the other leaders among us.\" Since the term was still somewhat new at the time, a \"What is a Ten-Talk?\" page was created on the RefreshCache site with the following abbreviated description so potential Ten-Talk presenters would know exactly what was expected of them:\n \n A Ten-Talk is a fast-paced, ten minute POLISHED presentation on an interesting topic that you think will appeal to the Church IT / Web Developer audiences.\n \n Here are some examples of Ten-Talk topics:\n (1) Have you implemented something at your church that has been a radical success or epic failure? We can learn from either of these!\n (2) Do you have an inspirational message that can lead others to action? Even better if you can share how this message inspired you to action and then show us what you did.\n (3) Have you spent time researching and understanding something in the world of ministry software or Church IT? Maybe you are an expert in [redacted]. Present this to the Church IT Network /RefreshCache community and share what you know. Your research may help another church find the solution to a problem they are facing, or save them the trouble of doing all the research you just did by realizing it won't work for them.\n\nIt was later adopted at the national Church IT Round Table conference held in February 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona when the two events began to intermingle and used again in 2014 at the Peoria, Illinois event where it was re-described as \"10Talks (or TEN-Talks) are 10 minute, fast paced talks on a topic. These are perfect sessions for raising awareness about a topic, tool, or idea that you think your peers should know.\"\n\nIts use outside of CITRT conferences is thought to begin with the WLAN professionals summit in February 2014.\n\nReferences\n\nPresentation" ]
[ "Bee Gees", "2009-2012: Return to performing and Robin's death", "When was Robin's death?", "20 May 2012", "When did they return to performing?", "Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009", "What happened in 2009?", "appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009.", "What happened in 2010?", "On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol.", "What happened in 2011?", "On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer,", "What happened in 2012?", "Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen.", "What aspect did you find interesting about the article?", "With Robin's death, Barry became the last surviving Gibb brother, and the Bee Gees dissolved as a musical group." ]
C_6cca1f87ae8e46bd949e4e2bdf8ac2d4_0
When was the last time they performed?
8
When was the last time Bee Gees performed?
Bee Gees
In an interview with Easy Mix radio host Tim Roxborough on 1 September 2009, Barry's 63rd birthday, Barry commented on future tours saying that "they will be back"; but in an agreement with Warner/Rhino they would not make an announcement at that time. On 7 September 2009, Robin disclosed to Jonathan Agnew that he had been in touch with Barry and that they had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and "perform again". Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to issues with severe abdominal pain. On 13 February 2012, Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and his final. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. With Robin's death, Barry became the last surviving Gibb brother, and the Bee Gees dissolved as a musical group. CANNOTANSWER
On 13 February 2012, Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium,
The Bee Gees were a music group formed in 1958, featuring brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid- to late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies; Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid- to late 1970s and 1980s. The Bee Gees wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists and have been regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop music history. They have been referred to in the media as The Disco Kings, Britain’s First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music. Born on the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived in Chorlton, Manchester, England until the late 1950s. There, in 1955, they formed the skiffle/rock and roll group the Rattlesnakes. The family then moved to Redcliffe, in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia, later to Cribb Island. After achieving their first chart success in Australia as the Bee Gees with "Spicks and Specks" (their twelfth single), they returned to the UK in January 1967, when producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience. The Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (1977) was the turning point of their career, with both the film and soundtrack having a cultural impact throughout the world, enhancing the disco scene's mainstream appeal. They won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever, including Album of the Year. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them among the best-selling music artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; the Hall's citation says, "Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees." With nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the Bee Gees are the third-most successful band in Billboard charts history behind only the Beatles and the Supremes. Following Maurice's sudden death in January 2003 at the age of 53, Barry and Robin retired the group's name after 45 years of activity. In 2009, Robin announced that he and Barry had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and perform again. Robin died in May 2012, aged 62, after a prolonged period of failing health, leaving Barry as the only surviving member of the group. History 1955–1966: Music origins, Bee Gees formation and popularity in Australia Born on the Isle of Man during the late 1940s, the Gibb brothers moved to their father Hugh Gibb's hometown of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Greater Manchester, England in 1955. They formed a skiffle/rock-and-roll group, the Rattlesnakes, which consisted of Barry on guitar and vocals, Robin and Maurice on vocals and friends Paul Frost on drums and Kenny Horrocks on tea-chest bass. In December 1957 the boys began to sing in harmony. The story is told that they were going to lip-sync to a record in the local Gaumont cinema (as other children had done on previous weeks), but as they were running to the theatre, the fragile shellac 78-RPM record broke. The brothers had to sing live, but received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career. In May 1958 the Rattlesnakes disbanded when Frost and Horrocks left, so the Gibb brothers then formed Wee Johnny Hayes and the Blue Cats, with Barry as "Johnny Hayes". In August 1958, the Gibb family, including older sister Lesley and infant brother Andy (born in March 1958), emigrated to Australia and settled in Redcliffe, Queensland, just north-east of Brisbane. The young brothers began performing to raise pocket money. Speedway promoter and driver Bill Goode, who had hired the brothers to entertain the crowd at the Redcliffe Speedway in 1960, introduced them to Brisbane radio-presenter jockey Bill Gates. The crowd at the speedway would throw money onto the track for the boys, who generally performed during the interval of meetings (usually on the back of a truck that drove around the track) and, in a deal with Goode, any money they collected from the crowd they were allowed to keep. Gates named the group the "BGs" (later changed to "Bee Gees") after his, Goode's and Barry Gibb's initials. The name was not specifically a reference to "Brothers Gibb", despite popular belief. During the next few years, they began working regularly at resorts on the Queensland coast. Through his songwriting, Barry sparked the interest of Australian star Col Joye, who helped the brothers get a recording deal in 1963 with Festival Records subsidiary Leedon Records under the name "Bee Gees". The three released two or three singles a year, while Barry supplied additional songs to other Australian artists. In 1962 the Bee Gees were chosen as the supporting act for Chubby Checker's concert at the Sydney Stadium. From 1963 to 1966, the Gibb family lived at 171 Bunnerong Road, Maroubra, in Sydney. Just prior to his death, Robin Gibb recorded the song "Sydney" about the brothers' experience of living in that city. It was released on his posthumous album 50 St. Catherine's Drive. The house was demolished in 2016. A minor hit in 1965, "Wine and Women", led to the group's first LP, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs. By 1966 Festival Records was, however, on the verge of dropping them from the Leedon roster because of their perceived lack of commercial success. At this time the brothers met the American-born songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Nat Kipner, who had just been appointed A&R manager of a new independent label, Spin Records. Kipner briefly took over as the group's manager and successfully negotiated their transfer to Spin in exchange for granting Festival the Australian distribution-rights to the group's recordings. Through Kipner the Bee Gees met engineer-producer, Ossie Byrne, who produced (or co-produced with Kipner) many of the earlier Spin recordings, most of which were cut at his own small, self-built St Clair Studio in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Byrne gave the Gibb brothers virtually unlimited access to St Clair Studio over a period of several months in mid-1966. The group later acknowledged that this enabled them to greatly improve their skills as recording artists. During this productive time they recorded a large batch of original material—including the song that became their first major hit, "Spicks and Specks" (on which Byrne played the trumpet coda)—as well as cover versions of current hits by overseas acts such as the Beatles. They regularly collaborated with other local musicians, including members of beat band Steve & The Board, led by Steve Kipner, Nat's teenage son. Frustrated by their lack of success, the Gibbs began their return journey to England on 4 January 1967, with Ossie Byrne travelling with them. While at sea in January 1967, the Gibbs learned that Go-Set, Australia's most popular and influential music newspaper, had declared "Spicks and Specks" the "Best Single of the Year". 1967–1969: International fame and touring years Bee Gees' 1st, Horizontal and Idea Before their departure from Australia to England, Hugh Gibb sent demos to Brian Epstein, who managed the Beatles and directed NEMS, a British music store. Epstein passed the demo tapes to Robert Stigwood, who had recently joined NEMS. After an audition with Stigwood in February 1967, the Bee Gees signed a five-year contract whereby Polydor Records would release their records in the UK, and Atco Records would do so in the US. Work quickly began on the group's first international album, and Stigwood launched a promotional campaign to coincide with its release. Stigwood proclaimed that the Bee Gees were "The most significant new musical talent of 1967", thus initiating the comparison of the Bee Gees to the Beatles. Before recording the first album, the group expanded to include Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney. "New York Mining Disaster 1941," their second British single (their first-issued UK 45 rpm was "Spicks and Specks"), was issued to radio stations with a blank white label listing only the song title. Some DJs immediately assumed this was a new single by the Beatles and started playing the song in heavy rotation. This helped the song climb into the top 20 in both the UK and US. No such chicanery was needed to boost the Bee Gees' next single, "To Love Somebody", into the US Top 20. Originally written for Otis Redding, "To Love Somebody", a soulful ballad sung by Barry, has since become a pop standard covered by many artists. Another single, "Holiday", released in the US, peaked at No. 16. The parent album, Bee Gees 1st (their first internationally), peaked at No. 7 in the US and No. 8 in the UK. Bill Shepherd was credited as the arranger. After recording that album, the group recorded their first BBC session at the Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, in London, with Bill Bebb as the producer, and they performed three songs. That session is included on BBC Sessions: 1967–1973 (2008). After the release of Bee Gees' 1st, the group was first introduced in New York as "the English surprise." At that time, the band made their first British TV appearance on Top of the Pops. Maurice recalled: In late 1967, they began recording the second album. On 21 December 1967, in a live broadcast from Liverpool Anglican Cathedral for a Christmas television special called How On Earth?, they performed their own song, "Thank You For Christmas" which was written especially for the programme, as well as a medley of the traditional Christmas carols "Silent Night," "The First Noel" and "Mary's Boy Child" (the latter incorrectly noted as "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" on tape boxes and subsequent release). The songs were all pre-recorded on 1 December 1967 and the group lip-synched their performance. The recordings were eventually released on the "Horizontal" reissue bonus disc in 2008. The folk group the Settlers and Radio 1 disc-jockey, Kenny Everett, also performed on the programme which was presented by the Reverend Edward H. Patey, dean of the cathedral. January 1968 began with a promotional trip to the US. Los Angeles Police were on alert in anticipation of a Beatles-type reception, and special security arrangements were being put in place. In February, Horizontal repeated the success of their first album, featuring the group's first UK No. 1 single "Massachusetts" (a No. 11 US hit) and the No. 7 UK single "World." The sound of the album Horizontal had a more "rock" sound than their previous release, although ballads like "And the Sun Will Shine" and "Really and Sincerely" were also prominent. The Horizontal album reached No. 12 in the US and No. 16 in the UK. With the release of Horizontal, they also embarked on a Scandinavian tour with concerts in Copenhagen. Around the same time, the Bee Gees turned down an offer to write and perform the soundtrack for the film Wonderwall, according to director Joe Massot. On 27 February 1968, the band, backed by the 17-piece Massachusetts String Orchestra, began their first tour of Germany with two concerts at Hamburg Musikhalle. In March 1968, the band was supported by Procol Harum (who had a well-known hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale") on their German tour. As Robin's partner Molly Hullis recalls: "Germans were wilder than the fans in England at the heights of Beatlemania." The tour schedule took them to 11 venues in as many days with 18 concerts played, finishing with a brace of shows at the Stadthalle, Braunschweig. After that, the group was off to Switzerland. As Maurice described it: On 17 March, the band performed "Words" on The Ed Sullivan Show. The other artists who performed on that night's show were Lucille Ball, George Hamilton and Fran Jeffries. On 27 March 1968, the band performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Two more singles followed in early 1968: the ballad "Words" (No. 8 UK, No. 15 US) and the double A-sided single "Jumbo" backed with "The Singer Sang His Song". "Jumbo" only reached No. 25 in the UK and No. 57 in the US. The Bee Gees felt "The Singer Sang His Song" was the stronger of the two sides, an opinion shared by listeners in the Netherlands who made it a No. 3 hit. Further Bee Gees chart singles followed: "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", their second UK No. 1 (No. 8 US), and "I Started a Joke" (No. 6 US), both culled from the band's third album Idea. Idea reached No. 4 in the UK and was another top 20 album in the US (No. 17). After the tour and TV special to promote the album, Vince Melouney left the group, desiring to play more of a blues style music than the Gibbs were writing. Melouney did achieve one feat while with the Bee Gees: his composition "Such a Shame" (from Idea) is the only song on any Bee Gees album not written by a Gibb brother. The band were due to begin a seven-week tour of the US on 2 August 1968, but on 27 July, Robin collapsed and fell unconscious. He was admitted to a London nursing home suffering from nervous exhaustion, and the American tour was postponed. The band began recording their sixth album, which resulted in their spending a week recording at Atlantic Studios in New York. Robin, still feeling poorly, missed the New York sessions, but the rest of the band put away instrumental tracks and demos. Odessa, Cucumber Castle and break-up By 1969, Robin began to feel that Stigwood had been favouring Barry as the frontman. The Bee Gees' performances in early 1969 on the Top of the Pops and The Tom Jones Show performing "I Started a Joke" and "First of May" as a medley was one of the last live performances of the group with Robin. Their next album, which was to have been a concept album called Masterpeace, evolved into the double-album Odessa. Most rock critics felt this was the best Bee Gees album of the 1960s with its progressive rock feel on the title track, the country-flavoured "Marley Purt Drive" and "Give Your Best", and ballads such as "Melody Fair" and "First of May" (the last of which became the only single from the album and a UK # 6 hit). Feeling the flipside, "Lamplight," should have been the A-side, Robin quit the group in mid-1969 and launched a solo career. The first of many Bee Gees compilations, Best of Bee Gees, was released featuring the non-LP single "Words" plus the Australian hit "Spicks and Specks". The single "Tomorrow Tomorrow" was also released and was a moderate hit in the UK, where it reached No. 23, but it was only No. 54 in the US. The compilation reached the top 10 in both the UK and the US. While Robin pursued his solo career, Barry, Maurice and Petersen continued on as the Bee Gees recording their next album, Cucumber Castle. The band made their debut performance without Robin at Talk of the Town. They had recruited their sister, Lesley, into the group at this time. To accompany the album, they also filmed a TV special with Frankie Howerd and cameos from several other contemporary pop and rock stars, which aired on the BBC in December 1970. Petersen played drums on the tracks recorded for the album but was fired from the group after filming began (he went on to form the Humpy Bong with Jonathan Kelly). His parts were edited out of the final cut of the film and Pentangle drummer Terry Cox was recruited to complete the recording of songs for the album. After the album was released in early 1970, it seemed that the Bee Gees were finished. The leadoff single, "Don't Forget to Remember", was a big hit in the UK, reaching No. 2, but only reached No. 73 in the US. The next two singles, "I.O.I.O." and "If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else", barely scraped the charts. On 1 December 1969, Barry and Maurice parted ways professionally. Maurice started to record his first solo album, The Loner, which was not released. Meanwhile, he released the single "Railroad" and starred in the West End musical Sing a Rude Song. In February 1970, Barry recorded a solo album which never saw official release either, although "I'll Kiss Your Memory" was released as a single backed by "This Time" without much interest. Meanwhile, Robin saw success in Europe and Australia with his No. 2 hit "Saved by the Bell" and the album Robin's Reign. 1970–1974: Reformation In mid 1970, according to Barry, "Robin rang me in Spain where I was on holiday [saying] 'let's do it again'". By 21 August 1970, after they had reunited, Barry announced that the Bee Gees "are there and they will never, ever part again". Maurice said, "We just discussed it and re-formed. We want to apologise publicly to Robin for the things that have been said." Earlier, in June 1970, Robin and Maurice recorded a dozen songs before Barry joined and included two songs that were on their reunion album. Around the same time, Barry and Robin were about to publish the book On the Other Hand. They also recruited Geoff Bridgford as the group's official drummer. Bridgford had previously worked with the Groove and Tin Tin and played drums on Maurice's unreleased first solo album. In 1970, 2 Years On was released in October in the US and November in the UK. The lead single "Lonely Days" reached No. 3 in the United States, promoted by appearances on The Johnny Cash Show, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Dick Cavett Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. Their ninth album, Trafalgar, was released in late 1971. The single "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" was their first to hit No. 1 on the US charts, while "Israel" reached No. 22 in the Netherlands. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" also brought the Bee Gees their first Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Later that year, the group's songs were included in the soundtrack for the film Melody. In 1972, they hit No. 16 in the US with the non-album single "My World", backed by Maurice's composition "On Time". Another 1972 single, "Run to Me" from the LP To Whom It May Concern, returned them to the UK top 10 for the first time in three years. On 24 November 1972, the band headlined the "Woodstock of the West" Festival at the Los Angeles Coliseum (which was a West Coast answer to Woodstock in New York), which also featured Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and the Eagles. Also in 1972, the group sang "Hey Jude" with Wilson Pickett. By 1973, however, the Bee Gees were in a rut. The album Life in a Tin Can, released on Robert Stigwood's newly formed RSO Records, and its lead-off single, "Saw a New Morning", sold poorly with the single peaking at No. 94. This was followed by an unreleased album (known as A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants). A second compilation album, Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2, was released in 1973, although it did not repeat the success of Volume 1. On 6 April 1973 episode of The Midnight Special they performed "Money (That's What I Want)" with Jerry Lee Lewis. Also in 1973, they were invited by Chuck Berry to perform two songs with him onstage at The Midnight Special: "Johnny B. Goode" and "Reelin' and Rockin'". After a tour of the United States in early 1974 and a Canadian tour later in the year, the group ended up playing small clubs. As Barry joked, "We ended up in, have you ever heard of Batley's the variety club in (West Yorkshire) England?". On the advice of Ahmet Ertegun, head of their US label Atlantic Records, Stigwood arranged for the group to record with soul music producer Arif Mardin. The resulting LP, Mr. Natural, included fewer ballads and foreshadowed the R&B direction of the rest of their career. When it, too, failed to attract much interest, Mardin encouraged them to work within the soul music style. The brothers attempted to assemble a live stage band that could replicate their studio sound. Lead guitarist Alan Kendall had come on board in 1971 but did not have much to do until Mr. Natural. For that album, they added drummer Dennis Bryon, and they later added ex-Strawbs keyboard player Blue Weaver, completing the Bee Gees band that lasted through the late '70s. Maurice, who had previously performed on piano, guitar, harpsichord, electric piano, organ, mellotron and bass guitar, as well as mandolin and Moog synthesiser, by then confined himself to bass onstage. 1975–1979: Turning to disco Main Course and Children of the World At Eric Clapton's suggestion, the brothers moved to Miami, Florida, early in 1975 to record at Criteria Studios. After starting off with ballads, they eventually heeded the urging of Mardin and Stigwood, and crafted more dance-oriented disco songs, including their second US No. 1, "Jive Talkin'", along with US No. 7 "Nights on Broadway". The band liked the resulting new sound. This time the public agreed by sending the LP Main Course up the charts. This album included the first Bee Gees songs wherein Barry used falsetto, something that became a trademark of the band. This was also the first Bee Gees album to have two US top-10 singles since 1968's Idea. Main Course also became their first charting R&B album. On the Bee Gees' appearance on The Midnight Special in 1975, to promote Main Course, they sang "To Love Somebody" with Helen Reddy. Around the same time, the Bee Gees recorded three Beatles covers—"Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" with Barry providing lead vocals, and "Sun King" with Maurice providing lead vocals, for the unsuccessful musical/documentary All This and World War II. The next album, Children of the World, released in September 1976, was filled with Barry's new-found falsetto and Weaver's synthesizer disco licks. The first single from the album was "You Should Be Dancing", which features percussion work by musician Stephen Stills. The song pushed the Bee Gees to a level of stardom they had not previously achieved in the US, though their new R&B/disco sound was not as popular with some diehard fans. The pop ballad "Love So Right" reached No. 3 in the US, and "Boogie Child" reached US No. 12 in January 1977. The album peaked at No. 8 in the US. Saturday Night Fever and Spirits Having Flown Following a successful live album, Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live, the Bee Gees agreed with Stigwood to participate in the creation of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It was the turning point of their career. The cultural impact of both the film and the soundtrack was significant throughout the world, epitomizing the disco phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic. The band's involvement in the film did not begin until post-production. As John Travolta asserted, "The Bee Gees weren't even involved in the movie in the beginning ... I was dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs." Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film. The brothers wrote the songs "virtually in a single weekend" at Château d'Hérouville studio in France. Barry Gibb remembered the reaction when Stigwood and music supervisor Bill Oakes arrived and listened to the demos: Bill Oakes, who supervised the soundtrack, asserts that Saturday Night Fever did not begin the disco craze but rather prolonged it: "Disco had run its course. These days, Fever is credited with kicking off the whole disco thing—it really didn't. Truth is, it breathed new life into a genre that was actually dying." Three Bee Gees singles—"How Deep Is Your Love" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Stayin' Alive" (US No. 1, UK No. 4) and "Night Fever" (US No. 1, UK No. 1)—charted high in many countries around the world, launching the most popular period of the disco era. They also penned the song "If I Can't Have You", which became a US No. 1 hit for Yvonne Elliman, while the Bee Gees' own version was the B-side of "Stayin' Alive". Such was the popularity of Saturday Night Fever that two different versions of the song "More Than a Woman" received airplay, one by the Bee Gees, which was relegated to an album track, and another by Tavares, which was the hit. During a nine-month period beginning in the Christmas season of 1977, seven songs written by the brothers held the No. 1 position on the US charts for 27 of 37 consecutive weeks: three of their own releases, two for brother Andy Gibb, the Yvonne Elliman single, and "Grease", performed by Frankie Valli. Fuelled by the film's success, the soundtrack broke multiple industry records, becoming the highest-selling album in recording history to that point. With more than 40 million copies sold, Saturday Night Fever is among music's top five best selling soundtrack albums. , it is calculated as the fourth highest-selling album worldwide. In March 1978, the Bee Gees held the top two positions on the US charts with "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive", the first time this had happened since the Beatles. On the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 25 March 1978, five songs written by the Gibbs were in the US top 10 at the same time: "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive", "If I Can't Have You", "Emotion" and "Love Is Thicker Than Water". Such chart dominance had not been seen since April 1964, when the Beatles had all five of the top five American singles. Barry Gibb became the only songwriter to have four consecutive number-one hits in the US, breaking the John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1964 record. These songs were "Stayin' Alive", "Love Is Thicker Than Water", "Night Fever" and "If I Can't Have You". The Bee Gees won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever over two years: Album of the Year, Producer of the Year (with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson), two awards for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (one in 1978 for "How Deep Is Your Love" and one in 1979 for "Stayin' Alive"), and Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices for "Stayin' Alive". During this era, Barry and Robin also wrote "Emotion" for an old friend, Australian vocalist Samantha Sang, who made it a top 10 hit, with the Bee Gees singing backing vocals. Barry also wrote the title song to the film version of the Broadway musical Grease for Frankie Valli to perform, which went to No. 1. The Bee Gees also co-starred with Peter Frampton in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), loosely inspired by the classic 1967 album by the Beatles. The movie had been heavily promoted prior to release and was expected to enjoy great commercial success. However, it was savaged by film critics as a disjointed mess and ignored by the public. Though some of its tracks charted, the soundtrack too was a high-profile flop. The single "Oh! Darling", credited to Robin Gibb, reached No. 15 in the US. The Bee Gees' follow-up to Saturday Night Fever was the Spirits Having Flown album. It yielded three more hits: "Too Much Heaven" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Tragedy" (US No. 1, UK No. 1), and "Love You Inside Out" (US No. 1, UK No. 13). This gave the act six consecutive No. 1 singles in the US within a year and a half, equalling the Beatles and surpassed only by Whitney Houston. In January 1979, the Bee Gees performed "Too Much Heaven" as their contribution to the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly. During the summer of 1979, the Bee Gees embarked on their largest concert tour covering the US and Canada. The Spirits Having Flown tour capitalised on Bee Gees fever that was sweeping the nation, with sold-out concerts in 38 cities. The Bee Gees produced a video for the title track "Too Much Heaven", directed by Miami-based filmmaker Martin Pitts and produced by Charles Allen. With this video, Pitts and Allen began a long association with the brothers. The Bee Gees even had a country hit in 1979 with "Rest Your Love on Me", the flip side of their pop hit "Too Much Heaven", which made the top 40 on the country charts. It was also a 1981 hit for Conway Twitty, topping the country music charts. The Bee Gees' overwhelming success rose and fell with the disco bubble. By the end of 1979, disco was rapidly declining in popularity, and the backlash against disco put the Bee Gees' American career in a tailspin. Radio stations around the US began promoting "Bee Gee-Free Weekends". Following their remarkable run from 1975 to 1979, the act had only one more top 10 single in the US, and that did not come until the single "One" reached number 7 in 1989. Barry Gibb considered the success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack both a blessing and a curse: 1980–1986: Outside projects, band turmoil, solo efforts and decline Robin co-produced Jimmy Ruffin's Sunrise released in May 1980, but the songs were started in 1979; the album contains songs written by the Gibb brothers, including the single "Hold On To My Love". In March 1980, Barry Gibb worked with Barbra Streisand on her album Guilty. He co-produced, and wrote or co-wrote all nine of the album's tracks (four of them written with Robin, and the title track with both Robin and Maurice). Barry also appeared on the album's cover with Streisand and duetted with her on two tracks. The album reached No. 1 in both the US and the UK, as did the single "Woman in Love" (written by Barry and Robin), becoming Streisand's most successful single and album to date. Both of the Streisand/Gibb duets, "Guilty" and "What Kind of Fool", also reached the US Top 10. In 1981, the Bee Gees released the album Living Eyes, their last full-length album release on RSO. This album was the first CD ever played in public, when it was played to viewers of the BBC show Tomorrow's World. With the disco backlash still running strong, the album failed to make the UK or US Top 40—breaking their streak of Top 40 hits, which started in 1975 with "Jive Talkin'". Two singles from the album fared little better—"He's a Liar", which reached No. 30 in the US, and "Living Eyes", which reached No. 45. In 1982, Dionne Warwick enjoyed a UK No. 2 and US Adult Contemporary No. 1 hit with her comeback single, "Heartbreaker", taken from her eponymous album written largely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb. The album reached No. 3 in the UK and the Top 30 in the US, where it was certified Gold. A year later, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers recorded the Bee Gees-penned track "Islands in the Stream", which became a US and Australian No. 1 hit and entered the Top 10 in the UK. Rogers' 1983 album, Eyes That See in the Dark, was written entirely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry. The album was a Top 10 hit in the US and was certified Double Platinum. The Bee Gees had greater success with the soundtrack to Staying Alive in 1983, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. The soundtrack was certified platinum in the US, and included their Top 30 hit "The Woman in You". Also in 1983, the band was sued by Chicago songwriter Ronald Selle, who claimed the brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, the Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later. In August 1983, Barry signed a solo deal with MCA Records and spent much of late 1983 and 1984 writing songs for this first solo effort, Now Voyager. Robin released three solo albums in the 1980s, How Old Are You?, Secret Agent and Walls Have Eyes. Maurice released his second single to date, "Hold Her in Your Hand", the first one having been released in 1970. In 1985, Diana Ross released the album Eaten Alive, written by the Bee Gees, with the title track co-written with Michael Jackson (who also performed on the track). The album was again co-produced by Barry Gibb, and the single "Chain Reaction" gave Ross a UK and Australian No. 1 hit. 1987–1999: Comeback, return to popularity and Andy's death The Bee Gees released the album E.S.P. in 1987, which sold over 2 million copies. It was their first album in six years, and their first for Warner Bros. Records. The single "You Win Again" went to No. 1 in numerous countries, including the UK, and made the Bee Gees the first group to score a UK No. 1 hit in each of three decades: the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The single was a disappointment in the US, charting at No. 75, and the Bee Gees voiced their frustration over American radio stations not playing their new European hit single, an omission which the group felt led to poor sales of their current album in the US. The song won the Bee Gees the 1987 British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically, and in February 1988 the band received a Brit Award nomination for Best British Group. On 10 March 1988, younger brother Andy Gibb died, aged 30, as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection. The Bee Gees later got together with Eric Clapton to create a group called 'the Bunburys' to raise money for English charities. The group recorded three songs for The Bunbury Tails: "We're the Bunburys" (which eventually became the opening theme to the 1992 animated series The Bunbury Tails), "Bunbury Afternoon", and "Fight (No Matter How Long)". The last song reached No. 8 on the rock music chart and appeared on The 1988 Summer Olympics Album. The Bee Gees' next album, One (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". The album also contained their first US Top 10 hit (No. 7) in a decade, "One" (an Adult Contemporary No. 1). After the album's release, the band embarked on its first world tour in 10 years. In the UK, Polydor issued a single-disc hits collection from Tales called The Very Best of the Bee Gees, which contained their biggest UK hits. The album became one of their best-selling albums in that country, and was eventually certified Triple Platinum. Following their next album, High Civilization (1991), which contained the UK top five hit "Secret Love", the Bee Gees went on a European tour. After the tour, Barry Gibb began to battle a serious back problem, which required surgery. In addition, he suffered from arthritis which, at one point, was so severe that it was doubtful that he would be able to play guitar for much longer. Also, in the early 1990s, Maurice Gibb finally sought treatment for his alcoholism, which he had battled for many years with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. In 1993, the group returned to the Polydor label and released the album Size Isn't Everything, which contained the UK top five hit "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Success still eluded them in the US, however, as the first single released, "Paying the Price of Love", only managed to reach No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the parent album stalled at No. 153. In 1997, they released the album Still Waters, which has reached No. 2 in the UK (their highest album chart position there since 1979) and No. 11 in the US. The album's first single, "Alone", gave them another UK Top 5 hit and a top 30 hit in the US. Still Waters was the band's most successful US release of their post-RSO era. At the 1997 BRIT Awards held in Earls Court, London on 24 February, the Bee Gees received the award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. On 14 November 1997, the Bee Gees performed a live concert in Las Vegas called One Night Only. The show included a performance of "Our Love (Don't Throw It All Away)" synchronised with a vocal by their deceased brother Andy and a cameo appearance by Celine Dion singing "Immortality". The "One Night Only" name grew out of the band's declaration that, due to Barry's health issues, the Las Vegas show was to be the final live performance of their career. After the immensely positive audience response to the Vegas concert, Barry decided to continue despite the pain, and the concert expanded into their last full-blown world tour of "One Night Only" concerts. The tour included playing to 56,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium on 5 September 1998 and concluded in the newly built Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 27 March 1999 to 72,000 people. In 1998, the group's soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever was incorporated into a stage production produced first in the West End and then on Broadway. They wrote three new songs for the adaptation. Also in 1998, the brothers released "Ellan Vannin" for Manx charities, recorded the previous year. Known as the unofficial national anthem of the Isle of Man, the brothers performed the song during their world tour to reflect their pride in the place of their birth. The Bee Gees closed the century with what turned out to be their last full-sized concert, known as BG2K, on 31 December 1999. 2000–2008: This Is Where I Came In and Maurice's death In 2001, the group released what turned out to be their final album of new material, This Is Where I Came In. The album was another success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK (being certified Gold), and the Top 20 in the US. The title track was also a UK Top 20 hit single. The last concert of the Bee Gees as a trio was at the Love and Hope Ball in 2002. Maurice Gibb died unexpectedly on 12 January 2003, at age 53, from a heart attack while awaiting emergency surgery to repair a strangulated intestine. Initially, his surviving brothers announced that they intended to carry on the name "Bee Gees" in his memory, but as time passed they decided to retire the group's name, leaving it to represent the three brothers together. The same week that Maurice died, Robin's solo album Magnet was released. On 23 February 2003, the Bee Gees received the Grammy Legend Award, they also became the first recipients of that award in the 21st century. Barry and Robin accepted as well as Maurice's son, Adam, in a tearful ceremony. In late 2004, Robin embarked on a solo tour of Germany, Russia and Asia. During January 2005, Barry, Robin and several legendary rock artists recorded "Grief Never Grows Old", the official tsunami relief record for the Disasters Emergency Committee. Later that year, Barry reunited with Barbra Streisand for her top-selling album Guilty Pleasures, released as Guilty Too in the UK as a sequel album to the previous Guilty. Also in 2004, Barry recorded his song "I Cannot Give You My Love" with Cliff Richard, which became a UK top 20 hit single. In February 2006, Barry and Robin reunited on stage for a Miami charity concert to benefit the Diabetes Research Institute. It was their first public performance together since Maurice's death. The pair also played at the 30th annual Prince's Trust Concert in the UK on 20 May 2006. 2009–2012: Return to performing and Robin's death Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to severe abdominal pain. Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert on 13 February 2012 at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and, as it turned out, his final one. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. 2013–present: Looking back at a lifetime of music In September and October 2013, Barry performed his first solo tour "in honour of his brothers and a lifetime of music". In addition to the Rhino collection, The Studio Albums: 1967–1968, Warner Bros. released a box set in 2014 called The Warner Bros Years: 1987–1991 that included the studio albums E.S.P., One and High Civilization as well as extended mixes and B-sides. It also included the band's entire 1989 concert in Melbourne, Australia, available only on video as All for One prior to this release. The documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees was aired on BBC Four on 19 December 2014. On 23 March 2015, 13STAR Records released a box set 1974–1979 which included the studio albums Mr. Natural, Main Course, Children of the World and Spirits Having Flown. A fifth disc called The Miami Years includes all the tracks from Saturday Night Fever as well as B-sides. No unreleased tracks from the era were included. After a hiatus from performing, Barry Gibb returned to solo and guest singing performances. He occasionally appears with his son, Steve Gibb. In 2016, he released In the Now, his first solo effort since 1984's Now Voyager. It was the first release of new Bee Gees-related music since the posthumous release of Robin Gibb's 50 St. Catherine's Drive. Also in 2016, Capitol Records signed a new distribution deal with Barry and the estates of his brothers for the Bee Gees catalogue, bringing their music back to Universal. An as-yet-untitled biopic about the Bee Gees is in development at Paramount, with Kenneth Branagh directing and Barry Gibb serving as an executive producer. Influences The Bee Gees were influenced by the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Mills Brothers, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, the Beach Boys and Stevie Wonder. On the 2014 documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees, Barry said that the Bee Gees were also influenced by the Hollies and Otis Redding. Maurice noted that Neil Sedaka was an early influence, and later the group was "very influenced" by Linda Creed songs for the Stylistics. Legacy In his 1980 Playboy magazine interview, John Lennon praised the Bee Gees, "Try to tell the kids in the seventies who were screaming to the Bee Gees that their music was just the Beatles redone. There is nothing wrong with the Bee Gees. They do a damn good job. There was nothing else going on then." In a 2007 interview with Duane Hitchings, who co-wrote Rod Stewart's 1978 disco song "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", he noted that the song was: Kevin Parker of Tame Impala has said that listening to the Bee Gees after taking mushrooms inspired him to change the sound of the music he was making on his album Currents. The English indie rock band the Cribs was also influenced by the Bee Gees. Cribs member Ryan Jarman said: "It must have had quite a big influence on us – pop melodies is something we always revert to. I always want to get back to pop melodies and I'm sure that's due to that Bee Gees phase we went through." Following Robin's death on 20 May 2012, Beyoncé remarked: "The Bee Gees were an early inspiration for me, Kelly Rowland and Michelle. We loved their songwriting and beautiful harmonies. Recording their classic song, 'Emotion' was a special time for Destiny's Child. Sadly we lost Robin Gibb this week. My heart goes out to his brother Barry and the rest of his family." Singer Jordin Sparks remarked that her favourite Bee Gees songs are "Too Much Heaven", "Emotion" (although performed by Samantha Sang with Barry on the background vocals using his falsetto), and "Stayin' Alive". Carrie Underwood said, about discovering the Bee Gees during her childhood, "My parents listened to the Bee Gees quite a bit when I was little, so I was definitely exposed to them at an early age. They just had a sound that was all their own, obviously, [it was] never duplicated." Songwriting At one point, in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing nine of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100. In all, the Gibbs placed 13 singles onto the Hot 100 in 1978, with 12 making the Top 40. The Gibb brothers are fellows of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs. Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw spoke about the Bee Gees' influence with their own music as well as their songwriting: In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Bee Gees were announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for their role as "Influential Artists". Accolades and achievements In 1978, following the success of Saturday Night Fever, and the single "Night Fever" in particular, Reubin Askew, the governor of the US state of Florida, named the Bee Gees honorary citizens of the state, since they resided in Miami at the time. In 1979, the Bee Gees got their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They were the subjects of This Is Your Life in 1991 when they were surprised by Michael Aspel while being interviewed by disc jockey Steve Wright (DJ) on his Radio 1 programme at BBC Broadcasting House. The Bee Gees were inducted in 1994 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as Florida's Artists Hall of Fame in 1995 and the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997. Also in 1997, the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; the presenter of the award to "Britain's First Family of Harmony" was Brian Wilson, historical leader of the Beach Boys, another "family act" featuring three harmonising brothers. In 2001, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. After Maurice's death, the Bee Gees were also inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2001, London's Walk of Fame in 2006 and Musically Speaking Hall Of Fame in 2008. On 15 May 2007, the Bee Gees were named BMI Icons at the 55th annual BMI Pop Awards. Collectively, Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb have earned 109 BMI Pop, Country and Latin Awards. In October 1999, the Isle of Man Post Office unveiled a set of six stamps honouring the Bee Gees. All three brothers (including Maurice posthumously) were invested as Commanders of the Order of the British Empire in December 2001 with the ceremony taking place at Buckingham Palace on 27 May 2004. On 10 July 2009, the Isle of Man's capital bestowed the Freedom of the Borough of Douglas honour on Barry and Robin, as well as posthumously on Maurice. On 20 November 2009, the Douglas Borough Council released a limited edition commemorative DVD to mark their naming as Freemen of the Borough. On 14 February 2013, Barry Gibb unveiled a statue of the Bee Gees as well as unveiling "Bee Gees Way" (a walkway filled with photos and videos of the Bee Gees) in honour of the Bee Gees in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. On 27 June 2018, Barry Gibb, the last surviving member of the Bee Gees, was knighted by Prince Charles after being named on the Queen's New Years Honours List. The statue of the Bee Gees in Douglas, Isle of Man, was installed in 2021. In 2022, the last surviving member of the group, Barry Gibb, was made an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia which is Australia's highest national honour. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them one of the best selling artists of all time. The group are to date the most successful family and sibling band of all time, the most successful musical trio of all time, and the most successful musical act with ties to Australia. Awards and nominations Queensland Music Awards The Queensland Music Awards (previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating Queensland, Australia's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006. (wins only) |- | 2009 | themselves | Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award | |} Band members Principal members Barry Gibb – vocals, rhythm guitar (1958–2003, 2006, 2009–2012) Robin Gibb – vocals, occasional keyboards (1958–1969, 1970–2003, 2006, 2009–2012; d. 2012) Maurice Gibb – bass, rhythm and lead guitars, keyboards, vocals (1958–2003; d. 2003) Colin Petersen – drums (1967–1969) Vince Melouney – lead guitar (1967–1968) Geoff Bridgford – drums (1971–1972; touring 1970-1971) Touring musicians Alan Kendall – lead guitar (1971–1981, 1989–2003) Chris Karan – drums (1972) Dennis Bryon – drums (1973–1981) Geoff Westley – keyboards, piano (1973–1976) Blue Weaver – keyboards, synthesizers (1975–1981) Joe Lala – percussion (1976, 1979) Joey Murcia – rhythm guitar (1976, 1979) Harold Cowart – bass (1979) Tim Cansfield – lead guitar (1989) Vic Martin – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) Gary Moberly – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) George Perry – bass (1989–1993) Chester Thompson – drums (1989) Mike Murphy – drums (1989) Trevor Murrell – drums (1991–1992) Rudi Dobson – keyboards (1991–1992) Scott F. Crago – drums Ben Stivers – keyboard (1996–1999) Matt Bonelli – bass (1993–2001) Steve Rucker – drums (1993–1999) Guest musicians (studio and touring) Phil Collins – drums Lenny Castro – percussion Glenn Frey – guitar Timothy B. Schmit – bass guitar Joe Walsh – lead guitar Don Felder – lead guitar (1981) Jeff Porcaro – drums Mike Porcaro – bass guitar Steve Porcaro – keyboards Steve Lukather – guitar David Hungate – bass guitar David Paich – keyboards Greg Phillinganes – keyboards Bobby Kimball – keyboards Leland Sklar – bass guitar Reb Beach – lead guitar Gregg Bissonette – drums Ricky Lawson – drums Scott F. Crago – drums Steve Gadd – drums Steve Ferrone – drums Steve Jordan – drums Nathan East – bass guitar Steuart Smith – lead guitar Vinnie Colaiuta – drums Timeline Timeline of touring members Discography Soundtracks Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Staying Alive (1983) are not official Bee Gees albums, but contain some previously unreleased tracks. Apart from live and compilation, all their official albums are included on this list. A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants has not been included on the list because it appeared only on numerous bootlegs and was not officially released. Studio albums The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs (1965) Spicks and Specks (1966) Bee Gees' 1st (1967) Horizontal (1968) Idea (1968) Odessa (1969) Cucumber Castle (1970) 2 Years On (1970) Trafalgar (1971) To Whom It May Concern (1972) Life in a Tin Can (1973) Mr. Natural (1974) Main Course (1975) Children of the World (1976) Spirits Having Flown (1979) Living Eyes (1981) E.S.P. (1987) One (1989) High Civilization (1991) Size Isn't Everything (1993) Still Waters (1997) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Concert tours The Bee Gees' concerts in 1967 and 1968 (1967–1968) 2 Years On Tour (1971) Trafalgar Tour (1972) Mr. Natural Tour (1974) Main Course Tour (1975) Children of the World Tour (1976) Spirits Having Flown Tour (1979) One for All World Tour (1989) High Civilization World Tour (1991) One Night Only World Tour (1997–1999) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Filmography Citations General bibliography . External links Bee Gees Official website Bee Gees at Rolling Stone Bee Gees' Vocal Group Hall of Fame webpage Bee Gees at bmi.com Robin Gibb sadly passes away after losing his battle with cancer Who Do You Think You Are? – Bee Gees Family History 1958 establishments in Australia Australian pop rock groups ARIA Award winners ARIA Hall of Fame inductees Atlantic Records artists Barry Gibb Brit Award winners British disco groups British musical trios British soft rock music groups British soul musical groups Brunswick Records artists Capitol Records artists Child musical groups English expatriates in Australia English expatriates in the United States English pop music groups English rock music groups Grammy Legend Award winners Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Juno Award for International Album of the Year winners Mercury Records artists Manx musical groups Maurice Gibb Musical groups established in 1958 Musical groups disestablished in 2003 Musical groups reestablished in 2009 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 Musical groups from Manchester Queensland musical groups Philips Records artists Q150 Icons Robin Gibb RSO Records artists Sibling musical trios UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors United Artists Records artists Warner Records artists World Music Awards winners
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[ "\"Last Time Around\" was one of the songs of which a preview was leaked online before the album release on February 2, 2010.\n\nBackground and composition\n\nAccording to M Magazine Selena Gomez was the inspiration for the song. \n\nAccording to Popstar magazine the song is about Selena Gomez or Miley Cyrus.\nNick told Popstar magazine:\n\nOn May 11, 2010, the song was used on the live album: Nick Jonas & The Administration Live at the Wiltern January 28th, 2010.\n\nVersions\n \"Last Time Around\" (Album Version) - 4:07 \n \"Last Time Around\" (Live) - 7:16 \n \"Last Time Around\" (Video Version) - 4:27\n\nMusic video\n\nOn the Limited Edition DVD there was a video of Nick Jonas & The Administration (shot in black & white) performing the song.\n\nLive performances\nNick Jonas performed the song live for the first time on January 2 during the Who I Am Tour with the Administration.\nNick performed with Sonny Thompson acoustic versions of the songs \"Last Time Around\", \"Who I Am\", \"Tonight\" during Radio Disney Total Access; \n \nOn September 18, 2010, Nick performed two songs: \"Who I Am\" and \"Last Time Around\" during a concert in Mountain View, CA as part of the Jonas Brothers Live In Concert.\n\nOn February 23, 2011, Nick performed the song during an acoustic set, accompanied by Jonas Brothers guitarist John Taylor.\nHe performed an acoustic version the song on August 6, during the promotion of the Quaker Chewy Live Launch \n\nAlong With Sonny Thompson Nick performed at the Military Event in Columbus, Ohio on April 14, 2011. He played the songs Last Time Around and Who I Am.\n\nThey opened their performance with the song on July 16, during the Ottawa Blues fest.\nOn August 13, 2011, he performed the song at Musikfest.\nThe song was also performed during the concerts in South America as part of the Nick Jonas 2011 Tour.\n\nOn December 13, 2011, a video of Nick performing Last Time Around was posted online as part of a new internet serie Fandrop. The video shows some lucky fans seeing Nick Jonas & the administration rehearse for the Nick jonas 2011 Tour.\n\nOn May 20, 2012, Nick performed an acoustic version of the song in between two shows of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.\n\nThe song was performed during all of the Jonas Brothers World Tour 2012/2013. It was also performed during the 2013 National School Choice Week's official Kickoff Celebration in Phoenix, Arizona.\nThey performed the song again on June 1 during the Acapulco Festival in Mexico.\nThe song \"Last Time Around\" was performed again during the Jonas Brothers Live Tour.\n\nPersonnel\nNick Jonas - Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar, Composer\nTommy Barbarella - Keyboards\nMichael Bland - Drums, Vibraphone, Vocals\nSonny Thompson -Guitars, Vocals (on DVD Who I Am, and live performances)\nJohn Fields - Bass, Guitars, Percussion, Vibraphone, Producer\nDavid Ryan Harris - Guitars, Vocals (on CD Who I Am)\nGreg Garbowsky - Composer\nP.J Bianco - Composer\nDave McNair - Mastering\nJon Lind - A&R\nDavid Snow - Creative Director\nPaul David Hager - Mixing\nPhilip McIntyre - Management\nJohnny Wright - Management\nKevin Jonas SR. - Management\n\nRelease History\n\nReferences\n\n2010 songs\nNick Jonas & the Administration songs\nSongs written by Nick Jonas\nSongs written by Greg Garbowsky\nSong recordings produced by John Fields (record producer)\nSongs written by PJ Bianco", "was the twelfth single by the Japanese band The Blue Hearts and reached #29 on the Oricon charts in 1992.\n\nDetails\nToo Much Pain was released as part of The Blue Hearts' fifth album, High Kicks, which had been released on December 21, 1991, but the song itself was from the band's amateur days many years prior. They had planned on including it in the independent release with Blue Hearts Theme and Chernobyl, but the song Sha La La was thought to be a better fit.\n\nUp until 1987, the song was performed regularly, with nothing more than Mashima's guitar and Hiroto Kōmoto's vocals. After that, they only played the song on special occasions. The last time that the two of them performed the song live by themselves was on May 31, 1989, on the last day of their On Tour tour in Yoyogi Park. The two chose to perform that day because they had once seen Bruce Springsteen perform at a concert there and sang it as a tribute.\n\nThe B-side track, , was also written by Mashima. It is still occasionally performed by The Blue Hearts' supporting member Mikio Shirai when he plays with his new band, The Big Hip.\n\nReferences\n\n1992 singles\nThe Blue Hearts songs\nSongs written by Masatoshi Mashima\n1992 songs\nEast West Records singles" ]
[ "Bee Gees", "2009-2012: Return to performing and Robin's death", "When was Robin's death?", "20 May 2012", "When did they return to performing?", "Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009", "What happened in 2009?", "appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009.", "What happened in 2010?", "On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol.", "What happened in 2011?", "On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer,", "What happened in 2012?", "Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen.", "What aspect did you find interesting about the article?", "With Robin's death, Barry became the last surviving Gibb brother, and the Bee Gees dissolved as a musical group.", "When was the last time they performed?", "On 13 February 2012, Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium," ]
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Where did they perform for the last time?
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Where did Bee Gees perform for the last time?
Bee Gees
In an interview with Easy Mix radio host Tim Roxborough on 1 September 2009, Barry's 63rd birthday, Barry commented on future tours saying that "they will be back"; but in an agreement with Warner/Rhino they would not make an announcement at that time. On 7 September 2009, Robin disclosed to Jonathan Agnew that he had been in touch with Barry and that they had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and "perform again". Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to issues with severe abdominal pain. On 13 February 2012, Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and his final. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. With Robin's death, Barry became the last surviving Gibb brother, and the Bee Gees dissolved as a musical group. CANNOTANSWER
British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen.
The Bee Gees were a music group formed in 1958, featuring brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid- to late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies; Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid- to late 1970s and 1980s. The Bee Gees wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists and have been regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop music history. They have been referred to in the media as The Disco Kings, Britain’s First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music. Born on the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived in Chorlton, Manchester, England until the late 1950s. There, in 1955, they formed the skiffle/rock and roll group the Rattlesnakes. The family then moved to Redcliffe, in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia, later to Cribb Island. After achieving their first chart success in Australia as the Bee Gees with "Spicks and Specks" (their twelfth single), they returned to the UK in January 1967, when producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience. The Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (1977) was the turning point of their career, with both the film and soundtrack having a cultural impact throughout the world, enhancing the disco scene's mainstream appeal. They won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever, including Album of the Year. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them among the best-selling music artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; the Hall's citation says, "Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees." With nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the Bee Gees are the third-most successful band in Billboard charts history behind only the Beatles and the Supremes. Following Maurice's sudden death in January 2003 at the age of 53, Barry and Robin retired the group's name after 45 years of activity. In 2009, Robin announced that he and Barry had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and perform again. Robin died in May 2012, aged 62, after a prolonged period of failing health, leaving Barry as the only surviving member of the group. History 1955–1966: Music origins, Bee Gees formation and popularity in Australia Born on the Isle of Man during the late 1940s, the Gibb brothers moved to their father Hugh Gibb's hometown of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Greater Manchester, England in 1955. They formed a skiffle/rock-and-roll group, the Rattlesnakes, which consisted of Barry on guitar and vocals, Robin and Maurice on vocals and friends Paul Frost on drums and Kenny Horrocks on tea-chest bass. In December 1957 the boys began to sing in harmony. The story is told that they were going to lip-sync to a record in the local Gaumont cinema (as other children had done on previous weeks), but as they were running to the theatre, the fragile shellac 78-RPM record broke. The brothers had to sing live, but received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career. In May 1958 the Rattlesnakes disbanded when Frost and Horrocks left, so the Gibb brothers then formed Wee Johnny Hayes and the Blue Cats, with Barry as "Johnny Hayes". In August 1958, the Gibb family, including older sister Lesley and infant brother Andy (born in March 1958), emigrated to Australia and settled in Redcliffe, Queensland, just north-east of Brisbane. The young brothers began performing to raise pocket money. Speedway promoter and driver Bill Goode, who had hired the brothers to entertain the crowd at the Redcliffe Speedway in 1960, introduced them to Brisbane radio-presenter jockey Bill Gates. The crowd at the speedway would throw money onto the track for the boys, who generally performed during the interval of meetings (usually on the back of a truck that drove around the track) and, in a deal with Goode, any money they collected from the crowd they were allowed to keep. Gates named the group the "BGs" (later changed to "Bee Gees") after his, Goode's and Barry Gibb's initials. The name was not specifically a reference to "Brothers Gibb", despite popular belief. During the next few years, they began working regularly at resorts on the Queensland coast. Through his songwriting, Barry sparked the interest of Australian star Col Joye, who helped the brothers get a recording deal in 1963 with Festival Records subsidiary Leedon Records under the name "Bee Gees". The three released two or three singles a year, while Barry supplied additional songs to other Australian artists. In 1962 the Bee Gees were chosen as the supporting act for Chubby Checker's concert at the Sydney Stadium. From 1963 to 1966, the Gibb family lived at 171 Bunnerong Road, Maroubra, in Sydney. Just prior to his death, Robin Gibb recorded the song "Sydney" about the brothers' experience of living in that city. It was released on his posthumous album 50 St. Catherine's Drive. The house was demolished in 2016. A minor hit in 1965, "Wine and Women", led to the group's first LP, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs. By 1966 Festival Records was, however, on the verge of dropping them from the Leedon roster because of their perceived lack of commercial success. At this time the brothers met the American-born songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Nat Kipner, who had just been appointed A&R manager of a new independent label, Spin Records. Kipner briefly took over as the group's manager and successfully negotiated their transfer to Spin in exchange for granting Festival the Australian distribution-rights to the group's recordings. Through Kipner the Bee Gees met engineer-producer, Ossie Byrne, who produced (or co-produced with Kipner) many of the earlier Spin recordings, most of which were cut at his own small, self-built St Clair Studio in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Byrne gave the Gibb brothers virtually unlimited access to St Clair Studio over a period of several months in mid-1966. The group later acknowledged that this enabled them to greatly improve their skills as recording artists. During this productive time they recorded a large batch of original material—including the song that became their first major hit, "Spicks and Specks" (on which Byrne played the trumpet coda)—as well as cover versions of current hits by overseas acts such as the Beatles. They regularly collaborated with other local musicians, including members of beat band Steve & The Board, led by Steve Kipner, Nat's teenage son. Frustrated by their lack of success, the Gibbs began their return journey to England on 4 January 1967, with Ossie Byrne travelling with them. While at sea in January 1967, the Gibbs learned that Go-Set, Australia's most popular and influential music newspaper, had declared "Spicks and Specks" the "Best Single of the Year". 1967–1969: International fame and touring years Bee Gees' 1st, Horizontal and Idea Before their departure from Australia to England, Hugh Gibb sent demos to Brian Epstein, who managed the Beatles and directed NEMS, a British music store. Epstein passed the demo tapes to Robert Stigwood, who had recently joined NEMS. After an audition with Stigwood in February 1967, the Bee Gees signed a five-year contract whereby Polydor Records would release their records in the UK, and Atco Records would do so in the US. Work quickly began on the group's first international album, and Stigwood launched a promotional campaign to coincide with its release. Stigwood proclaimed that the Bee Gees were "The most significant new musical talent of 1967", thus initiating the comparison of the Bee Gees to the Beatles. Before recording the first album, the group expanded to include Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney. "New York Mining Disaster 1941," their second British single (their first-issued UK 45 rpm was "Spicks and Specks"), was issued to radio stations with a blank white label listing only the song title. Some DJs immediately assumed this was a new single by the Beatles and started playing the song in heavy rotation. This helped the song climb into the top 20 in both the UK and US. No such chicanery was needed to boost the Bee Gees' next single, "To Love Somebody", into the US Top 20. Originally written for Otis Redding, "To Love Somebody", a soulful ballad sung by Barry, has since become a pop standard covered by many artists. Another single, "Holiday", released in the US, peaked at No. 16. The parent album, Bee Gees 1st (their first internationally), peaked at No. 7 in the US and No. 8 in the UK. Bill Shepherd was credited as the arranger. After recording that album, the group recorded their first BBC session at the Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, in London, with Bill Bebb as the producer, and they performed three songs. That session is included on BBC Sessions: 1967–1973 (2008). After the release of Bee Gees' 1st, the group was first introduced in New York as "the English surprise." At that time, the band made their first British TV appearance on Top of the Pops. Maurice recalled: In late 1967, they began recording the second album. On 21 December 1967, in a live broadcast from Liverpool Anglican Cathedral for a Christmas television special called How On Earth?, they performed their own song, "Thank You For Christmas" which was written especially for the programme, as well as a medley of the traditional Christmas carols "Silent Night," "The First Noel" and "Mary's Boy Child" (the latter incorrectly noted as "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" on tape boxes and subsequent release). The songs were all pre-recorded on 1 December 1967 and the group lip-synched their performance. The recordings were eventually released on the "Horizontal" reissue bonus disc in 2008. The folk group the Settlers and Radio 1 disc-jockey, Kenny Everett, also performed on the programme which was presented by the Reverend Edward H. Patey, dean of the cathedral. January 1968 began with a promotional trip to the US. Los Angeles Police were on alert in anticipation of a Beatles-type reception, and special security arrangements were being put in place. In February, Horizontal repeated the success of their first album, featuring the group's first UK No. 1 single "Massachusetts" (a No. 11 US hit) and the No. 7 UK single "World." The sound of the album Horizontal had a more "rock" sound than their previous release, although ballads like "And the Sun Will Shine" and "Really and Sincerely" were also prominent. The Horizontal album reached No. 12 in the US and No. 16 in the UK. With the release of Horizontal, they also embarked on a Scandinavian tour with concerts in Copenhagen. Around the same time, the Bee Gees turned down an offer to write and perform the soundtrack for the film Wonderwall, according to director Joe Massot. On 27 February 1968, the band, backed by the 17-piece Massachusetts String Orchestra, began their first tour of Germany with two concerts at Hamburg Musikhalle. In March 1968, the band was supported by Procol Harum (who had a well-known hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale") on their German tour. As Robin's partner Molly Hullis recalls: "Germans were wilder than the fans in England at the heights of Beatlemania." The tour schedule took them to 11 venues in as many days with 18 concerts played, finishing with a brace of shows at the Stadthalle, Braunschweig. After that, the group was off to Switzerland. As Maurice described it: On 17 March, the band performed "Words" on The Ed Sullivan Show. The other artists who performed on that night's show were Lucille Ball, George Hamilton and Fran Jeffries. On 27 March 1968, the band performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Two more singles followed in early 1968: the ballad "Words" (No. 8 UK, No. 15 US) and the double A-sided single "Jumbo" backed with "The Singer Sang His Song". "Jumbo" only reached No. 25 in the UK and No. 57 in the US. The Bee Gees felt "The Singer Sang His Song" was the stronger of the two sides, an opinion shared by listeners in the Netherlands who made it a No. 3 hit. Further Bee Gees chart singles followed: "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", their second UK No. 1 (No. 8 US), and "I Started a Joke" (No. 6 US), both culled from the band's third album Idea. Idea reached No. 4 in the UK and was another top 20 album in the US (No. 17). After the tour and TV special to promote the album, Vince Melouney left the group, desiring to play more of a blues style music than the Gibbs were writing. Melouney did achieve one feat while with the Bee Gees: his composition "Such a Shame" (from Idea) is the only song on any Bee Gees album not written by a Gibb brother. The band were due to begin a seven-week tour of the US on 2 August 1968, but on 27 July, Robin collapsed and fell unconscious. He was admitted to a London nursing home suffering from nervous exhaustion, and the American tour was postponed. The band began recording their sixth album, which resulted in their spending a week recording at Atlantic Studios in New York. Robin, still feeling poorly, missed the New York sessions, but the rest of the band put away instrumental tracks and demos. Odessa, Cucumber Castle and break-up By 1969, Robin began to feel that Stigwood had been favouring Barry as the frontman. The Bee Gees' performances in early 1969 on the Top of the Pops and The Tom Jones Show performing "I Started a Joke" and "First of May" as a medley was one of the last live performances of the group with Robin. Their next album, which was to have been a concept album called Masterpeace, evolved into the double-album Odessa. Most rock critics felt this was the best Bee Gees album of the 1960s with its progressive rock feel on the title track, the country-flavoured "Marley Purt Drive" and "Give Your Best", and ballads such as "Melody Fair" and "First of May" (the last of which became the only single from the album and a UK # 6 hit). Feeling the flipside, "Lamplight," should have been the A-side, Robin quit the group in mid-1969 and launched a solo career. The first of many Bee Gees compilations, Best of Bee Gees, was released featuring the non-LP single "Words" plus the Australian hit "Spicks and Specks". The single "Tomorrow Tomorrow" was also released and was a moderate hit in the UK, where it reached No. 23, but it was only No. 54 in the US. The compilation reached the top 10 in both the UK and the US. While Robin pursued his solo career, Barry, Maurice and Petersen continued on as the Bee Gees recording their next album, Cucumber Castle. The band made their debut performance without Robin at Talk of the Town. They had recruited their sister, Lesley, into the group at this time. To accompany the album, they also filmed a TV special with Frankie Howerd and cameos from several other contemporary pop and rock stars, which aired on the BBC in December 1970. Petersen played drums on the tracks recorded for the album but was fired from the group after filming began (he went on to form the Humpy Bong with Jonathan Kelly). His parts were edited out of the final cut of the film and Pentangle drummer Terry Cox was recruited to complete the recording of songs for the album. After the album was released in early 1970, it seemed that the Bee Gees were finished. The leadoff single, "Don't Forget to Remember", was a big hit in the UK, reaching No. 2, but only reached No. 73 in the US. The next two singles, "I.O.I.O." and "If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else", barely scraped the charts. On 1 December 1969, Barry and Maurice parted ways professionally. Maurice started to record his first solo album, The Loner, which was not released. Meanwhile, he released the single "Railroad" and starred in the West End musical Sing a Rude Song. In February 1970, Barry recorded a solo album which never saw official release either, although "I'll Kiss Your Memory" was released as a single backed by "This Time" without much interest. Meanwhile, Robin saw success in Europe and Australia with his No. 2 hit "Saved by the Bell" and the album Robin's Reign. 1970–1974: Reformation In mid 1970, according to Barry, "Robin rang me in Spain where I was on holiday [saying] 'let's do it again'". By 21 August 1970, after they had reunited, Barry announced that the Bee Gees "are there and they will never, ever part again". Maurice said, "We just discussed it and re-formed. We want to apologise publicly to Robin for the things that have been said." Earlier, in June 1970, Robin and Maurice recorded a dozen songs before Barry joined and included two songs that were on their reunion album. Around the same time, Barry and Robin were about to publish the book On the Other Hand. They also recruited Geoff Bridgford as the group's official drummer. Bridgford had previously worked with the Groove and Tin Tin and played drums on Maurice's unreleased first solo album. In 1970, 2 Years On was released in October in the US and November in the UK. The lead single "Lonely Days" reached No. 3 in the United States, promoted by appearances on The Johnny Cash Show, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Dick Cavett Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. Their ninth album, Trafalgar, was released in late 1971. The single "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" was their first to hit No. 1 on the US charts, while "Israel" reached No. 22 in the Netherlands. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" also brought the Bee Gees their first Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Later that year, the group's songs were included in the soundtrack for the film Melody. In 1972, they hit No. 16 in the US with the non-album single "My World", backed by Maurice's composition "On Time". Another 1972 single, "Run to Me" from the LP To Whom It May Concern, returned them to the UK top 10 for the first time in three years. On 24 November 1972, the band headlined the "Woodstock of the West" Festival at the Los Angeles Coliseum (which was a West Coast answer to Woodstock in New York), which also featured Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and the Eagles. Also in 1972, the group sang "Hey Jude" with Wilson Pickett. By 1973, however, the Bee Gees were in a rut. The album Life in a Tin Can, released on Robert Stigwood's newly formed RSO Records, and its lead-off single, "Saw a New Morning", sold poorly with the single peaking at No. 94. This was followed by an unreleased album (known as A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants). A second compilation album, Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2, was released in 1973, although it did not repeat the success of Volume 1. On 6 April 1973 episode of The Midnight Special they performed "Money (That's What I Want)" with Jerry Lee Lewis. Also in 1973, they were invited by Chuck Berry to perform two songs with him onstage at The Midnight Special: "Johnny B. Goode" and "Reelin' and Rockin'". After a tour of the United States in early 1974 and a Canadian tour later in the year, the group ended up playing small clubs. As Barry joked, "We ended up in, have you ever heard of Batley's the variety club in (West Yorkshire) England?". On the advice of Ahmet Ertegun, head of their US label Atlantic Records, Stigwood arranged for the group to record with soul music producer Arif Mardin. The resulting LP, Mr. Natural, included fewer ballads and foreshadowed the R&B direction of the rest of their career. When it, too, failed to attract much interest, Mardin encouraged them to work within the soul music style. The brothers attempted to assemble a live stage band that could replicate their studio sound. Lead guitarist Alan Kendall had come on board in 1971 but did not have much to do until Mr. Natural. For that album, they added drummer Dennis Bryon, and they later added ex-Strawbs keyboard player Blue Weaver, completing the Bee Gees band that lasted through the late '70s. Maurice, who had previously performed on piano, guitar, harpsichord, electric piano, organ, mellotron and bass guitar, as well as mandolin and Moog synthesiser, by then confined himself to bass onstage. 1975–1979: Turning to disco Main Course and Children of the World At Eric Clapton's suggestion, the brothers moved to Miami, Florida, early in 1975 to record at Criteria Studios. After starting off with ballads, they eventually heeded the urging of Mardin and Stigwood, and crafted more dance-oriented disco songs, including their second US No. 1, "Jive Talkin'", along with US No. 7 "Nights on Broadway". The band liked the resulting new sound. This time the public agreed by sending the LP Main Course up the charts. This album included the first Bee Gees songs wherein Barry used falsetto, something that became a trademark of the band. This was also the first Bee Gees album to have two US top-10 singles since 1968's Idea. Main Course also became their first charting R&B album. On the Bee Gees' appearance on The Midnight Special in 1975, to promote Main Course, they sang "To Love Somebody" with Helen Reddy. Around the same time, the Bee Gees recorded three Beatles covers—"Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" with Barry providing lead vocals, and "Sun King" with Maurice providing lead vocals, for the unsuccessful musical/documentary All This and World War II. The next album, Children of the World, released in September 1976, was filled with Barry's new-found falsetto and Weaver's synthesizer disco licks. The first single from the album was "You Should Be Dancing", which features percussion work by musician Stephen Stills. The song pushed the Bee Gees to a level of stardom they had not previously achieved in the US, though their new R&B/disco sound was not as popular with some diehard fans. The pop ballad "Love So Right" reached No. 3 in the US, and "Boogie Child" reached US No. 12 in January 1977. The album peaked at No. 8 in the US. Saturday Night Fever and Spirits Having Flown Following a successful live album, Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live, the Bee Gees agreed with Stigwood to participate in the creation of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It was the turning point of their career. The cultural impact of both the film and the soundtrack was significant throughout the world, epitomizing the disco phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic. The band's involvement in the film did not begin until post-production. As John Travolta asserted, "The Bee Gees weren't even involved in the movie in the beginning ... I was dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs." Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film. The brothers wrote the songs "virtually in a single weekend" at Château d'Hérouville studio in France. Barry Gibb remembered the reaction when Stigwood and music supervisor Bill Oakes arrived and listened to the demos: Bill Oakes, who supervised the soundtrack, asserts that Saturday Night Fever did not begin the disco craze but rather prolonged it: "Disco had run its course. These days, Fever is credited with kicking off the whole disco thing—it really didn't. Truth is, it breathed new life into a genre that was actually dying." Three Bee Gees singles—"How Deep Is Your Love" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Stayin' Alive" (US No. 1, UK No. 4) and "Night Fever" (US No. 1, UK No. 1)—charted high in many countries around the world, launching the most popular period of the disco era. They also penned the song "If I Can't Have You", which became a US No. 1 hit for Yvonne Elliman, while the Bee Gees' own version was the B-side of "Stayin' Alive". Such was the popularity of Saturday Night Fever that two different versions of the song "More Than a Woman" received airplay, one by the Bee Gees, which was relegated to an album track, and another by Tavares, which was the hit. During a nine-month period beginning in the Christmas season of 1977, seven songs written by the brothers held the No. 1 position on the US charts for 27 of 37 consecutive weeks: three of their own releases, two for brother Andy Gibb, the Yvonne Elliman single, and "Grease", performed by Frankie Valli. Fuelled by the film's success, the soundtrack broke multiple industry records, becoming the highest-selling album in recording history to that point. With more than 40 million copies sold, Saturday Night Fever is among music's top five best selling soundtrack albums. , it is calculated as the fourth highest-selling album worldwide. In March 1978, the Bee Gees held the top two positions on the US charts with "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive", the first time this had happened since the Beatles. On the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 25 March 1978, five songs written by the Gibbs were in the US top 10 at the same time: "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive", "If I Can't Have You", "Emotion" and "Love Is Thicker Than Water". Such chart dominance had not been seen since April 1964, when the Beatles had all five of the top five American singles. Barry Gibb became the only songwriter to have four consecutive number-one hits in the US, breaking the John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1964 record. These songs were "Stayin' Alive", "Love Is Thicker Than Water", "Night Fever" and "If I Can't Have You". The Bee Gees won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever over two years: Album of the Year, Producer of the Year (with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson), two awards for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (one in 1978 for "How Deep Is Your Love" and one in 1979 for "Stayin' Alive"), and Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices for "Stayin' Alive". During this era, Barry and Robin also wrote "Emotion" for an old friend, Australian vocalist Samantha Sang, who made it a top 10 hit, with the Bee Gees singing backing vocals. Barry also wrote the title song to the film version of the Broadway musical Grease for Frankie Valli to perform, which went to No. 1. The Bee Gees also co-starred with Peter Frampton in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), loosely inspired by the classic 1967 album by the Beatles. The movie had been heavily promoted prior to release and was expected to enjoy great commercial success. However, it was savaged by film critics as a disjointed mess and ignored by the public. Though some of its tracks charted, the soundtrack too was a high-profile flop. The single "Oh! Darling", credited to Robin Gibb, reached No. 15 in the US. The Bee Gees' follow-up to Saturday Night Fever was the Spirits Having Flown album. It yielded three more hits: "Too Much Heaven" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Tragedy" (US No. 1, UK No. 1), and "Love You Inside Out" (US No. 1, UK No. 13). This gave the act six consecutive No. 1 singles in the US within a year and a half, equalling the Beatles and surpassed only by Whitney Houston. In January 1979, the Bee Gees performed "Too Much Heaven" as their contribution to the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly. During the summer of 1979, the Bee Gees embarked on their largest concert tour covering the US and Canada. The Spirits Having Flown tour capitalised on Bee Gees fever that was sweeping the nation, with sold-out concerts in 38 cities. The Bee Gees produced a video for the title track "Too Much Heaven", directed by Miami-based filmmaker Martin Pitts and produced by Charles Allen. With this video, Pitts and Allen began a long association with the brothers. The Bee Gees even had a country hit in 1979 with "Rest Your Love on Me", the flip side of their pop hit "Too Much Heaven", which made the top 40 on the country charts. It was also a 1981 hit for Conway Twitty, topping the country music charts. The Bee Gees' overwhelming success rose and fell with the disco bubble. By the end of 1979, disco was rapidly declining in popularity, and the backlash against disco put the Bee Gees' American career in a tailspin. Radio stations around the US began promoting "Bee Gee-Free Weekends". Following their remarkable run from 1975 to 1979, the act had only one more top 10 single in the US, and that did not come until the single "One" reached number 7 in 1989. Barry Gibb considered the success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack both a blessing and a curse: 1980–1986: Outside projects, band turmoil, solo efforts and decline Robin co-produced Jimmy Ruffin's Sunrise released in May 1980, but the songs were started in 1979; the album contains songs written by the Gibb brothers, including the single "Hold On To My Love". In March 1980, Barry Gibb worked with Barbra Streisand on her album Guilty. He co-produced, and wrote or co-wrote all nine of the album's tracks (four of them written with Robin, and the title track with both Robin and Maurice). Barry also appeared on the album's cover with Streisand and duetted with her on two tracks. The album reached No. 1 in both the US and the UK, as did the single "Woman in Love" (written by Barry and Robin), becoming Streisand's most successful single and album to date. Both of the Streisand/Gibb duets, "Guilty" and "What Kind of Fool", also reached the US Top 10. In 1981, the Bee Gees released the album Living Eyes, their last full-length album release on RSO. This album was the first CD ever played in public, when it was played to viewers of the BBC show Tomorrow's World. With the disco backlash still running strong, the album failed to make the UK or US Top 40—breaking their streak of Top 40 hits, which started in 1975 with "Jive Talkin'". Two singles from the album fared little better—"He's a Liar", which reached No. 30 in the US, and "Living Eyes", which reached No. 45. In 1982, Dionne Warwick enjoyed a UK No. 2 and US Adult Contemporary No. 1 hit with her comeback single, "Heartbreaker", taken from her eponymous album written largely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb. The album reached No. 3 in the UK and the Top 30 in the US, where it was certified Gold. A year later, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers recorded the Bee Gees-penned track "Islands in the Stream", which became a US and Australian No. 1 hit and entered the Top 10 in the UK. Rogers' 1983 album, Eyes That See in the Dark, was written entirely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry. The album was a Top 10 hit in the US and was certified Double Platinum. The Bee Gees had greater success with the soundtrack to Staying Alive in 1983, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. The soundtrack was certified platinum in the US, and included their Top 30 hit "The Woman in You". Also in 1983, the band was sued by Chicago songwriter Ronald Selle, who claimed the brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, the Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later. In August 1983, Barry signed a solo deal with MCA Records and spent much of late 1983 and 1984 writing songs for this first solo effort, Now Voyager. Robin released three solo albums in the 1980s, How Old Are You?, Secret Agent and Walls Have Eyes. Maurice released his second single to date, "Hold Her in Your Hand", the first one having been released in 1970. In 1985, Diana Ross released the album Eaten Alive, written by the Bee Gees, with the title track co-written with Michael Jackson (who also performed on the track). The album was again co-produced by Barry Gibb, and the single "Chain Reaction" gave Ross a UK and Australian No. 1 hit. 1987–1999: Comeback, return to popularity and Andy's death The Bee Gees released the album E.S.P. in 1987, which sold over 2 million copies. It was their first album in six years, and their first for Warner Bros. Records. The single "You Win Again" went to No. 1 in numerous countries, including the UK, and made the Bee Gees the first group to score a UK No. 1 hit in each of three decades: the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The single was a disappointment in the US, charting at No. 75, and the Bee Gees voiced their frustration over American radio stations not playing their new European hit single, an omission which the group felt led to poor sales of their current album in the US. The song won the Bee Gees the 1987 British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically, and in February 1988 the band received a Brit Award nomination for Best British Group. On 10 March 1988, younger brother Andy Gibb died, aged 30, as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection. The Bee Gees later got together with Eric Clapton to create a group called 'the Bunburys' to raise money for English charities. The group recorded three songs for The Bunbury Tails: "We're the Bunburys" (which eventually became the opening theme to the 1992 animated series The Bunbury Tails), "Bunbury Afternoon", and "Fight (No Matter How Long)". The last song reached No. 8 on the rock music chart and appeared on The 1988 Summer Olympics Album. The Bee Gees' next album, One (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". The album also contained their first US Top 10 hit (No. 7) in a decade, "One" (an Adult Contemporary No. 1). After the album's release, the band embarked on its first world tour in 10 years. In the UK, Polydor issued a single-disc hits collection from Tales called The Very Best of the Bee Gees, which contained their biggest UK hits. The album became one of their best-selling albums in that country, and was eventually certified Triple Platinum. Following their next album, High Civilization (1991), which contained the UK top five hit "Secret Love", the Bee Gees went on a European tour. After the tour, Barry Gibb began to battle a serious back problem, which required surgery. In addition, he suffered from arthritis which, at one point, was so severe that it was doubtful that he would be able to play guitar for much longer. Also, in the early 1990s, Maurice Gibb finally sought treatment for his alcoholism, which he had battled for many years with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. In 1993, the group returned to the Polydor label and released the album Size Isn't Everything, which contained the UK top five hit "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Success still eluded them in the US, however, as the first single released, "Paying the Price of Love", only managed to reach No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the parent album stalled at No. 153. In 1997, they released the album Still Waters, which has reached No. 2 in the UK (their highest album chart position there since 1979) and No. 11 in the US. The album's first single, "Alone", gave them another UK Top 5 hit and a top 30 hit in the US. Still Waters was the band's most successful US release of their post-RSO era. At the 1997 BRIT Awards held in Earls Court, London on 24 February, the Bee Gees received the award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. On 14 November 1997, the Bee Gees performed a live concert in Las Vegas called One Night Only. The show included a performance of "Our Love (Don't Throw It All Away)" synchronised with a vocal by their deceased brother Andy and a cameo appearance by Celine Dion singing "Immortality". The "One Night Only" name grew out of the band's declaration that, due to Barry's health issues, the Las Vegas show was to be the final live performance of their career. After the immensely positive audience response to the Vegas concert, Barry decided to continue despite the pain, and the concert expanded into their last full-blown world tour of "One Night Only" concerts. The tour included playing to 56,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium on 5 September 1998 and concluded in the newly built Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 27 March 1999 to 72,000 people. In 1998, the group's soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever was incorporated into a stage production produced first in the West End and then on Broadway. They wrote three new songs for the adaptation. Also in 1998, the brothers released "Ellan Vannin" for Manx charities, recorded the previous year. Known as the unofficial national anthem of the Isle of Man, the brothers performed the song during their world tour to reflect their pride in the place of their birth. The Bee Gees closed the century with what turned out to be their last full-sized concert, known as BG2K, on 31 December 1999. 2000–2008: This Is Where I Came In and Maurice's death In 2001, the group released what turned out to be their final album of new material, This Is Where I Came In. The album was another success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK (being certified Gold), and the Top 20 in the US. The title track was also a UK Top 20 hit single. The last concert of the Bee Gees as a trio was at the Love and Hope Ball in 2002. Maurice Gibb died unexpectedly on 12 January 2003, at age 53, from a heart attack while awaiting emergency surgery to repair a strangulated intestine. Initially, his surviving brothers announced that they intended to carry on the name "Bee Gees" in his memory, but as time passed they decided to retire the group's name, leaving it to represent the three brothers together. The same week that Maurice died, Robin's solo album Magnet was released. On 23 February 2003, the Bee Gees received the Grammy Legend Award, they also became the first recipients of that award in the 21st century. Barry and Robin accepted as well as Maurice's son, Adam, in a tearful ceremony. In late 2004, Robin embarked on a solo tour of Germany, Russia and Asia. During January 2005, Barry, Robin and several legendary rock artists recorded "Grief Never Grows Old", the official tsunami relief record for the Disasters Emergency Committee. Later that year, Barry reunited with Barbra Streisand for her top-selling album Guilty Pleasures, released as Guilty Too in the UK as a sequel album to the previous Guilty. Also in 2004, Barry recorded his song "I Cannot Give You My Love" with Cliff Richard, which became a UK top 20 hit single. In February 2006, Barry and Robin reunited on stage for a Miami charity concert to benefit the Diabetes Research Institute. It was their first public performance together since Maurice's death. The pair also played at the 30th annual Prince's Trust Concert in the UK on 20 May 2006. 2009–2012: Return to performing and Robin's death Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009. On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol. On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to severe abdominal pain. Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert on 13 February 2012 at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and, as it turned out, his final one. On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma. Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure. 2013–present: Looking back at a lifetime of music In September and October 2013, Barry performed his first solo tour "in honour of his brothers and a lifetime of music". In addition to the Rhino collection, The Studio Albums: 1967–1968, Warner Bros. released a box set in 2014 called The Warner Bros Years: 1987–1991 that included the studio albums E.S.P., One and High Civilization as well as extended mixes and B-sides. It also included the band's entire 1989 concert in Melbourne, Australia, available only on video as All for One prior to this release. The documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees was aired on BBC Four on 19 December 2014. On 23 March 2015, 13STAR Records released a box set 1974–1979 which included the studio albums Mr. Natural, Main Course, Children of the World and Spirits Having Flown. A fifth disc called The Miami Years includes all the tracks from Saturday Night Fever as well as B-sides. No unreleased tracks from the era were included. After a hiatus from performing, Barry Gibb returned to solo and guest singing performances. He occasionally appears with his son, Steve Gibb. In 2016, he released In the Now, his first solo effort since 1984's Now Voyager. It was the first release of new Bee Gees-related music since the posthumous release of Robin Gibb's 50 St. Catherine's Drive. Also in 2016, Capitol Records signed a new distribution deal with Barry and the estates of his brothers for the Bee Gees catalogue, bringing their music back to Universal. An as-yet-untitled biopic about the Bee Gees is in development at Paramount, with Kenneth Branagh directing and Barry Gibb serving as an executive producer. Influences The Bee Gees were influenced by the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Mills Brothers, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, the Beach Boys and Stevie Wonder. On the 2014 documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees, Barry said that the Bee Gees were also influenced by the Hollies and Otis Redding. Maurice noted that Neil Sedaka was an early influence, and later the group was "very influenced" by Linda Creed songs for the Stylistics. Legacy In his 1980 Playboy magazine interview, John Lennon praised the Bee Gees, "Try to tell the kids in the seventies who were screaming to the Bee Gees that their music was just the Beatles redone. There is nothing wrong with the Bee Gees. They do a damn good job. There was nothing else going on then." In a 2007 interview with Duane Hitchings, who co-wrote Rod Stewart's 1978 disco song "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", he noted that the song was: Kevin Parker of Tame Impala has said that listening to the Bee Gees after taking mushrooms inspired him to change the sound of the music he was making on his album Currents. The English indie rock band the Cribs was also influenced by the Bee Gees. Cribs member Ryan Jarman said: "It must have had quite a big influence on us – pop melodies is something we always revert to. I always want to get back to pop melodies and I'm sure that's due to that Bee Gees phase we went through." Following Robin's death on 20 May 2012, Beyoncé remarked: "The Bee Gees were an early inspiration for me, Kelly Rowland and Michelle. We loved their songwriting and beautiful harmonies. Recording their classic song, 'Emotion' was a special time for Destiny's Child. Sadly we lost Robin Gibb this week. My heart goes out to his brother Barry and the rest of his family." Singer Jordin Sparks remarked that her favourite Bee Gees songs are "Too Much Heaven", "Emotion" (although performed by Samantha Sang with Barry on the background vocals using his falsetto), and "Stayin' Alive". Carrie Underwood said, about discovering the Bee Gees during her childhood, "My parents listened to the Bee Gees quite a bit when I was little, so I was definitely exposed to them at an early age. They just had a sound that was all their own, obviously, [it was] never duplicated." Songwriting At one point, in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing nine of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100. In all, the Gibbs placed 13 singles onto the Hot 100 in 1978, with 12 making the Top 40. The Gibb brothers are fellows of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs. Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw spoke about the Bee Gees' influence with their own music as well as their songwriting: In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Bee Gees were announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for their role as "Influential Artists". Accolades and achievements In 1978, following the success of Saturday Night Fever, and the single "Night Fever" in particular, Reubin Askew, the governor of the US state of Florida, named the Bee Gees honorary citizens of the state, since they resided in Miami at the time. In 1979, the Bee Gees got their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They were the subjects of This Is Your Life in 1991 when they were surprised by Michael Aspel while being interviewed by disc jockey Steve Wright (DJ) on his Radio 1 programme at BBC Broadcasting House. The Bee Gees were inducted in 1994 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as Florida's Artists Hall of Fame in 1995 and the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997. Also in 1997, the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; the presenter of the award to "Britain's First Family of Harmony" was Brian Wilson, historical leader of the Beach Boys, another "family act" featuring three harmonising brothers. In 2001, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. After Maurice's death, the Bee Gees were also inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2001, London's Walk of Fame in 2006 and Musically Speaking Hall Of Fame in 2008. On 15 May 2007, the Bee Gees were named BMI Icons at the 55th annual BMI Pop Awards. Collectively, Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb have earned 109 BMI Pop, Country and Latin Awards. In October 1999, the Isle of Man Post Office unveiled a set of six stamps honouring the Bee Gees. All three brothers (including Maurice posthumously) were invested as Commanders of the Order of the British Empire in December 2001 with the ceremony taking place at Buckingham Palace on 27 May 2004. On 10 July 2009, the Isle of Man's capital bestowed the Freedom of the Borough of Douglas honour on Barry and Robin, as well as posthumously on Maurice. On 20 November 2009, the Douglas Borough Council released a limited edition commemorative DVD to mark their naming as Freemen of the Borough. On 14 February 2013, Barry Gibb unveiled a statue of the Bee Gees as well as unveiling "Bee Gees Way" (a walkway filled with photos and videos of the Bee Gees) in honour of the Bee Gees in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. On 27 June 2018, Barry Gibb, the last surviving member of the Bee Gees, was knighted by Prince Charles after being named on the Queen's New Years Honours List. The statue of the Bee Gees in Douglas, Isle of Man, was installed in 2021. In 2022, the last surviving member of the group, Barry Gibb, was made an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia which is Australia's highest national honour. The Bee Gees have sold over 220 million records worldwide, making them one of the best selling artists of all time. The group are to date the most successful family and sibling band of all time, the most successful musical trio of all time, and the most successful musical act with ties to Australia. Awards and nominations Queensland Music Awards The Queensland Music Awards (previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating Queensland, Australia's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006. (wins only) |- | 2009 | themselves | Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award | |} Band members Principal members Barry Gibb – vocals, rhythm guitar (1958–2003, 2006, 2009–2012) Robin Gibb – vocals, occasional keyboards (1958–1969, 1970–2003, 2006, 2009–2012; d. 2012) Maurice Gibb – bass, rhythm and lead guitars, keyboards, vocals (1958–2003; d. 2003) Colin Petersen – drums (1967–1969) Vince Melouney – lead guitar (1967–1968) Geoff Bridgford – drums (1971–1972; touring 1970-1971) Touring musicians Alan Kendall – lead guitar (1971–1981, 1989–2003) Chris Karan – drums (1972) Dennis Bryon – drums (1973–1981) Geoff Westley – keyboards, piano (1973–1976) Blue Weaver – keyboards, synthesizers (1975–1981) Joe Lala – percussion (1976, 1979) Joey Murcia – rhythm guitar (1976, 1979) Harold Cowart – bass (1979) Tim Cansfield – lead guitar (1989) Vic Martin – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) Gary Moberly – keyboard, synthesizer (1989) George Perry – bass (1989–1993) Chester Thompson – drums (1989) Mike Murphy – drums (1989) Trevor Murrell – drums (1991–1992) Rudi Dobson – keyboards (1991–1992) Scott F. Crago – drums Ben Stivers – keyboard (1996–1999) Matt Bonelli – bass (1993–2001) Steve Rucker – drums (1993–1999) Guest musicians (studio and touring) Phil Collins – drums Lenny Castro – percussion Glenn Frey – guitar Timothy B. Schmit – bass guitar Joe Walsh – lead guitar Don Felder – lead guitar (1981) Jeff Porcaro – drums Mike Porcaro – bass guitar Steve Porcaro – keyboards Steve Lukather – guitar David Hungate – bass guitar David Paich – keyboards Greg Phillinganes – keyboards Bobby Kimball – keyboards Leland Sklar – bass guitar Reb Beach – lead guitar Gregg Bissonette – drums Ricky Lawson – drums Scott F. Crago – drums Steve Gadd – drums Steve Ferrone – drums Steve Jordan – drums Nathan East – bass guitar Steuart Smith – lead guitar Vinnie Colaiuta – drums Timeline Timeline of touring members Discography Soundtracks Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Staying Alive (1983) are not official Bee Gees albums, but contain some previously unreleased tracks. Apart from live and compilation, all their official albums are included on this list. A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants has not been included on the list because it appeared only on numerous bootlegs and was not officially released. Studio albums The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs (1965) Spicks and Specks (1966) Bee Gees' 1st (1967) Horizontal (1968) Idea (1968) Odessa (1969) Cucumber Castle (1970) 2 Years On (1970) Trafalgar (1971) To Whom It May Concern (1972) Life in a Tin Can (1973) Mr. Natural (1974) Main Course (1975) Children of the World (1976) Spirits Having Flown (1979) Living Eyes (1981) E.S.P. (1987) One (1989) High Civilization (1991) Size Isn't Everything (1993) Still Waters (1997) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Concert tours The Bee Gees' concerts in 1967 and 1968 (1967–1968) 2 Years On Tour (1971) Trafalgar Tour (1972) Mr. Natural Tour (1974) Main Course Tour (1975) Children of the World Tour (1976) Spirits Having Flown Tour (1979) One for All World Tour (1989) High Civilization World Tour (1991) One Night Only World Tour (1997–1999) This Is Where I Came In (2001) Filmography Citations General bibliography . External links Bee Gees Official website Bee Gees at Rolling Stone Bee Gees' Vocal Group Hall of Fame webpage Bee Gees at bmi.com Robin Gibb sadly passes away after losing his battle with cancer Who Do You Think You Are? – Bee Gees Family History 1958 establishments in Australia Australian pop rock groups ARIA Award winners ARIA Hall of Fame inductees Atlantic Records artists Barry Gibb Brit Award winners British disco groups British musical trios British soft rock music groups British soul musical groups Brunswick Records artists Capitol Records artists Child musical groups English expatriates in Australia English expatriates in the United States English pop music groups English rock music groups Grammy Legend Award winners Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Juno Award for International Album of the Year winners Mercury Records artists Manx musical groups Maurice Gibb Musical groups established in 1958 Musical groups disestablished in 2003 Musical groups reestablished in 2009 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 Musical groups from Manchester Queensland musical groups Philips Records artists Q150 Icons Robin Gibb RSO Records artists Sibling musical trios UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors United Artists Records artists Warner Records artists World Music Awards winners
false
[ "The No Sound Without Silence Tour is the third arena tour by Irish pop rock band The Script. Launched in support of their fourth studio album No Sound Without Silence (2014), the tour began in Tokyo on 16 January 2015 and visited Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. The opening acts were American singer Phillip Phillips for the South African dates, and English singer Tinie Tempah for the European dates. Pharrell Williams served as a co-headliner for the Croke Park concert on 20 June 2015.\n\nOpening acts\nColton Avery (Europe, North America, Australia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia)\nMary Lambert (North America)\nPhillip Phillips (South Africa)\nSilent Sanctuary (Philippines)\nTinie Tempah (Europe)\nPharrell Williams (Dublin)\nThe Wailers (Dublin)\nThe Sam Willows (Singapore)\nKensington (Band) (Europe)\n\nSetlist\nThis setlist is based on previous performances of the tour.\n\n \"Paint the Town Green\"\n \"Hail Rain or Sunshine\"\n \"Breakeven\"\n \"Before the Worst\"\n \"Superheroes\"\n \"We Cry\"\n \"If You Could See Me Now\"\n \"Man on a Wire\"\n \"Nothing\"\n \"Good Ol' Days\"\n \"Never Seen Anything (Quite Like You)\"\n \"The Man Who Can't Be Moved\"\n \"You Won't Feel A Thing\"\n \"It's Not Right For You\"\n \"Six Degrees of Separation\"\n \"The Energy Never Dies\"\n \"For the First Time\"\n \"No Good in Goodbye\"\n \"Hall of Fame\"\n\nAdditional information\nDuring the performance in Sheffield, The Script didn't perform \"We Cry\" due to a fan collapsing. Danny called for Paramedic to check on her, she was fine and they carried on.\n\nDuring the performance in Barcelona, The Script didn't perform \"The End Where I Begin\" or \"Nothing\". They also did not perform \"Six Degrees Of Separation\" and \"It's Not Right For You\".\n\nDuring the performance in Oakland, The Script didn't perform \"The End Where I Begin\", \"We Cry\", or \"Six Degrees of Separation\".\n\nDuring the performance in Toronto, The Script did not perform \"The End Where I Begin\" and \"Six Degrees of Separation\".\n\nDuring the performance im Hamburg, The Script did not perform \"Nothing\" and \"Never Seen Anything (Quite Like You)\".\n\nTour dates\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\n2015 concert tours\nThe Script concert tours", "For the Last Time is a British music show where long-running established bands perform one last time before saying goodbye to their most loved fans as they split up for good. Episodes were presented by Christine Bleakley. Since the show has aired, both bands have reunited: Simply Red in 2015, and Westlife in 2018.\n\nEpisodes\n\nReferences\n\n2010s British music television series\n2010 British television series debuts\n2011 British television series endings\nBritish music television shows\nEnglish-language television shows\nITV (TV network) original programming\nMusic television specials\nTelevision series by ITV Studios" ]
[ "Kumar Sangakkara", "As vice-captain" ]
C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_1
Who was he vice captain under?
1
Who was Kumar Sangakkara vice captain under?
Kumar Sangakkara
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highset partnership in Test cricket--624 runs--in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. CANNOTANSWER
regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain.
Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket. As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket. Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016. He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title. In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan. Early life Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents. Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin. Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year. Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University. His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983. International career Early career At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians. He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart. Vice-captaincy When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. Captaincy In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Post-captaincy Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests. Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI. Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan. On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI. Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere. His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament. Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996. Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup. His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil. On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark. On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match. On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history. During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds. Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC. Retirement During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015. On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement. On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series. The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements. After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK". In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade. Cowdrey Lecture Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history". Beyond playing cricket Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015. On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence. In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities." Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield. Domestic cricket Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s. County cricket Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017. Indian Premier League Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL. In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021. Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ] In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches. Caribbean Premier League On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League. Pakistan Super League In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans. Return to county cricket Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket. Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire. On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire. MCC On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5. Cricket All-Stars Series Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series. Masters Champion League Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties. Selection committee On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma. On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling. Coaching career He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021. Personal life Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara. Playing style Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him. He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging: Commentary career Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019. Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England. Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE International records NOTE: World records are bold Tests Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40 Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman. Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches. Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers. Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list. First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches. Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings) Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings) Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings) Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings) Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings) Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09 Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37) Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679) One-Day Internationals Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list. First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs. Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list. Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches. Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51 First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup. Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance. Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals. T20I records He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket) He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014) Aggregate records Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is) Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs. Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678). World Cups Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015. Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition Player statistics Centuries Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs. Awards Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012 ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012 ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013 ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014 ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015 Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014 Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012 LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012 Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards. CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015 Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015 See also Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy References External links Official Website Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket 1977 births Living people ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers ICC World XI One Day International cricketers Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricket captains Punjab Kings cricketers Sri Lankan terrorism victims Sinhalese sportspeople Sri Lankan Buddhists Alumni of the University of Colombo Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy Kandurata cricketers Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World Wisden Cricketers of the Year Cricketers from Kandy Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers Durham cricketers Surrey cricketers Quetta Gladiators cricketers Karachi Kings cricketers Deccan Chargers cricketers Dhaka Dynamites cricketers Hobart Hurricanes cricketers Multan Sultans cricketers Sri Lankan cricket commentators Wicket-keepers
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[ "The 22 Under 22 team (stylised as 22under22) is an honorary representative Australian rules football team created by the AFL Players' Association that seeks to recognise the best young talent in the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) competitions each year. To be eligible for selection, players must be aged 22 or under for the entire season (including finals). An initial squad of 40 is selected by the AFL Players' Board, before fans select a final team of 22 by voting via social media.\n\nSelection process\nThe 22 Under 22 team is the only AFL award decided by fans. Supporters were asked to pick their best teams via Facebook, or vote for individual players via Twitter.\n\nThe concept proved to be popular amongst AFL players, with many high-profile footballers voting and sharing their teams on social media. Current stars Gary Ablett, Drew Petrie, Brad Sewell, Luke Ball, Andrew Swallow and Isaac Smith all selected sides, as did former players Cameron Mooney, Daniel Harford and Warwick Capper.\n\nSeveral AFL journalists, including Mick Warner and Warwick Green, also voted and shared their teams.\n\nAFL teams\n\n2012\nIn the lead-up to the first 22 Under 22 team being announced, the AFL Players' Association selected a retrospective side from the 2012 season. Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield was named captain, while young stars Trent Cotchin, Dayne Beams and Nic Naitanui were amongst those selected.\n\n2013\nThe inaugural 22 Under 22 team was announced at the 2013 \"Be the Influence\" AFL Players' MVP Awards on 10 September. Essendon midfielder Dyson Heppell was named as the side's captain, with North Melbourne's Jack Ziebell selected as the vice-captain.\n\nGold Coast had the most players selected of any club, with five Suns being picked in the final team – Jaeger O'Meara, Dion Prestia, Rory Thompson, Tom Nicholls and Trent McKenzie.\n\nRather than being awarded a medal or trophy, each player selected was presented with a New Era 22 Under 22 cap, designed by former North Melbourne player Daniel Pratt.\n\n2014\nThe 2014 22 Under 22 team was announced at the 2014 AFL Players Association awards on 9 September. midfielder Dyson Heppell was named as the side's captain for the second year in a row, with forward Jack Gunston selected as the vice-captain.\n\n had the most players represented in the side, for the second year in a row, with six representatives – Harley Bennell, Kade Kolodjashnij, Steven May, Trent McKenzie, Dion Prestia, and David Swallow.\n\n2015\nThe 2015 22 Under 22 team was announced at the 2015 AFL Players Association awards on 15 September. forward Jake Stringer was named as the side's captain, with midfielder Luke Parker selected as the vice-captain.\n\n had the most players represented in the side, with four selections – Jeremy Cameron, Dylan Shiel, Devon Smith, and Adam Treloar.\n\n2016\nThe 2016 22 Under 22 team was announced on 13 September. midfielder Marcus Bontempelli was named as the side's captain, with midfielder Zach Merrett selected as the vice-captain.\n\n2017\nThe 2017 22 Under 22 team was announced on 12 September. midfielder Marcus Bontempelli was named as the side's captain for the second consecutive season, with midfielder Zach Merrett selected as the vice-captain also for the second consecutive season.\n\n2018\nThe 2018 22 Under 22 team was announced on 30 August. midfielder Marcus Bontempelli was named as the side's captain for the third consecutive season, with midfielder Clayton Oliver selected as the vice-captain.\n\n2019\nThe 2019 22 Under 22 team was announced on 29 August. key defender Harris Andrews was named as the side's captain, with midfielder Josh Dunkley selected as the vice-captain.\n\n2020\nThe 2020 22 Under 22 team was announced on 22 September. midfielder Andrew McGrath was named as the side's captain, with key defender Jacob Weitering selected as the vice-captain.\n\n2021\nThe 2021 22 Under 22 team was announced on 26 August. midfielder Sam Walsh was named as the side's captain, with midfielder Andrew Brayshaw selected as the vice-captain.\n\nAFLW teams\n\n2017–2019\nNo AFLW 22 Under 22 teams were awarded in the 2017 to 2019 seasons. On March 24 the AFLPA announced a retrospective team covering those three seasons.\n\n2020\nThe 2020 AFLW 22 Under 22 team was announced on 20 April. defender Chloe Molloy was named as the side's captain, with midfielder Madison Prespakis selected as the vice-captain.\n\n2021\nThe 2021 AFLW 22 Under 22 team was announced on 20 April. defender Chloe Molloy was named as the side's captain for the second consecutive year, with midfielder Madison Prespakis once more selected as the vice-captain.\n\nReferences\n\nAustralian rules football awards\nAwards established in 2013\n2013 establishments in Australia", "Sir Thomas Wyndham of Felbrigg (c.1466 – c.1522) was an English sea captain and Vice-Admiral of England.\n\nHe was born in Bolton, Yorkshire, the son of Sir John Wyndham and Margaret, daughter of Sir John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk.\n\nCareer\nHe became a counsellor to King Henry VIII, who in 1512 appointed him Captain of the Mary Rose, pride of the King's fleet, under his cousin Admiral Edward Howard. When war broke out in May 1512 Wyndham took part under Howard in the seaborne raid at Crozon on the Brittany Coast and was afterwards knighted by Howard. He accompanied King Henry as a Knight of the Body at the sieges of Thérouanne and Tournay later in the year.\n\nHe was next made captain of the John Baptist in 1513 and Fleet Treasurer. He was promoted Vice-Admiral of England the same year and the following year made captain of the Henry Grace à Dieu.\n\nPrivate life\nHe married twice; firstly Eleanor, daughter of Sir Richard Le Scrope. Eleanor Wyndham was appointed to wait on Catherine of Aragon in October 1501. They had several sons and daughters, including Sir John Wyndham of Orchard Wyndham, and secondly Elizabeth Wentworth, with whom he had several more children, including Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Wyndham.\n\nThey lived at Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk. He was laid to rest in the Lady Chapel at Norwich Cathedral,\nbut later moved to the Jesus Chapel.\n\nReferences\n\n1460s births\n1520s deaths\nEnglish navy officers\nKnights Bachelor" ]
[ "Kumar Sangakkara", "As vice-captain", "Who was he vice captain under?", "regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain." ]
C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_1
What team did he play on?
2
What team did vice captain Kumar Sangakkara play on?
Kumar Sangakkara
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highset partnership in Test cricket--624 runs--in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. CANNOTANSWER
Sri Lanka
Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket. As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket. Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016. He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title. In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan. Early life Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents. Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin. Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year. Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University. His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983. International career Early career At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians. He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart. Vice-captaincy When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. Captaincy In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Post-captaincy Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests. Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI. Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan. On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI. Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere. His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament. Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996. Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup. His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil. On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark. On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match. On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history. During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds. Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC. Retirement During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015. On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement. On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series. The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements. After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK". In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade. Cowdrey Lecture Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history". Beyond playing cricket Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015. On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence. In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities." Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield. Domestic cricket Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s. County cricket Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017. Indian Premier League Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL. In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021. Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ] In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches. Caribbean Premier League On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League. Pakistan Super League In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans. Return to county cricket Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket. Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire. On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire. MCC On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5. Cricket All-Stars Series Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series. Masters Champion League Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties. Selection committee On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma. On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling. Coaching career He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021. Personal life Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara. Playing style Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him. He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging: Commentary career Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019. Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England. Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE International records NOTE: World records are bold Tests Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40 Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman. Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches. Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers. Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list. First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches. Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings) Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings) Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings) Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings) Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings) Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09 Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37) Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679) One-Day Internationals Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list. First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs. Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list. Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches. Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51 First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup. Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance. Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals. T20I records He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket) He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014) Aggregate records Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is) Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs. Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678). World Cups Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015. Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition Player statistics Centuries Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs. Awards Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012 ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012 ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013 ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014 ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015 Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014 Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012 LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012 Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards. CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015 Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015 See also Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy References External links Official Website Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket 1977 births Living people ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers ICC World XI One Day International cricketers Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricket captains Punjab Kings cricketers Sri Lankan terrorism victims Sinhalese sportspeople Sri Lankan Buddhists Alumni of the University of Colombo Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy Kandurata cricketers Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World Wisden Cricketers of the Year Cricketers from Kandy Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers Durham cricketers Surrey cricketers Quetta Gladiators cricketers Karachi Kings cricketers Deccan Chargers cricketers Dhaka Dynamites cricketers Hobart Hurricanes cricketers Multan Sultans cricketers Sri Lankan cricket commentators Wicket-keepers
true
[ "John Stirk (born 5 September 1955) is an English former footballer. His primary position was as a right back. During his career he played for Ipswich Town, Watford, Chesterfield and North Shields. He also made two appearances for England at youth level.\n\nCareer \n\nBorn in Consett, Stirk played youth football for local non-league team Consett A.F.C. He joined Ipswich Town on schoolboy terms in 1971, and after making two appearances for the England youth team, turned professional in 1973. During his time at Ipswich he was largely a reserve. He made his first-team debut on 5 November 1977, in a Football League First Division match against Manchester City at Portman Road. His manager at the time was Bobby Robson, who later went on to manage the England national football team. Ipswich won the FA Cup in 1978, in what proved to be Stirk's final season at the club. However, Stirk himself did not play in the final, nor did he play in any of the rounds en route to the final.\n\nAnother future England manager, Watford's Graham Taylor, signed Stirk for a transfer fee of £30,000 at the end of the 1977–78 season. Stirk went on to play every Watford league game in the 1978–79 season, as Watford gained promotion to the Second Division. However, Stirk did not play for Watford in the Second Division. Two months before the end of the 1979–80 season, Stirk was sold to Third Division side Chesterfield, at a profit to Watford of £10,000. After making 56 league appearances over two and a half seasons, Stirk left Chesterfield in 1983 moving on to Blyth Spartans then Tow Law Town, and finished his career at non-league North Shields.\n\nReferences \n\n1955 births\nLiving people\nConsett A.F.C. players\nIpswich Town F.C. players\nWatford F.C. players\nChesterfield F.C. players\nEnglish Football League players\nNorth Shields F.C. players\nSportspeople from Consett\nAssociation football fullbacks\nEnglish footballers", "Dean Brown (born in Saint Boniface, Manitoba on November 3, 1961) is a Canadian hockey commentator. He is known for being the main play-by-play announcer for the National Hockey League's Ottawa Senators since the team's inaugural season, at first on Ottawa's talk-radio station 580 CFRA in the franchise's first years, and since 1998 on TSN 1200 radio.\n\nEarly career\nPrior to becoming the voice of the Senators, Brown was a news anchor at CFRW in Winnipeg, Manitoba and at CKSL in London. Before moving into sports and moving to 580 CFRA in Ottawa in 1983. Brown later became the station's morning sports anchor, sports director and play-by-play voice of the now defunct Canadian Football League's Ottawa Rough Riders franchise.\n\nBrown was the radio play-by-play voice of the 1989 Grey Cup and was the youngest broadcaster ever selected to perform those duties on the national and international broadcast of the CFL's championship game.\n\nOttawa Senators\nBrown currently does play-by-play of Senators games on TSN Radio 1200 alongside analyst Gord Wilson. Brown previously did games on Sportsnet East alongside former New York Islanders defenceman Denis Potvin. In April 2014, Brown signed a 7-year contract with TSN to do play-by-play of all Senators games on TSN 1200.\n\nHe was previously paired with former goaltender Greg Millen until the 2002–03 season during Senators games on both A-Channel and Sportsnet.\n\nHe is known for his distinctive way of yelling, \"Scores!\", as well as for his commonly used phrases such as \"Scramble!\", \"Winds, fires\" \"Oh what a save by (goaltender)!\", \"Oh my heavens!\", \"(certain player) blows a tire\", and calling the trapezoidal area behind the net where goaltenders may not play the puck, the \"forbidden zone\". Not to mention, he came up with the clever \"sudden victory overtime\" phrase. The reason for this is that the losing team still gets a point, therefore it is no longer \"sudden death\".\n\nNational broadcasting assignments\nFrom November 1998 until Rogers Media acquired the NHL rights in 2014, Brown also did play-by-play on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, usually on telecasts from Ottawa. Brown also occasionally worked as a football play-by-play broadcaster for the CFL on CBC and was a part-time general sports reporter for TSN and the now defunct Canadian Football Network.\n\nReferences\n\n1961 births\nLiving people\nOttawa Senators announcers\nCanadian television sportscasters\nNational Hockey League broadcasters\nCanadian Football League announcers\nCanadian radio sportscasters" ]
[ "Kumar Sangakkara", "As vice-captain", "Who was he vice captain under?", "regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain.", "What team did he play on?", "Sri Lanka" ]
C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_1
hoe did his season go?
3
how did Kumar Sangakkara's season as vice captain of Sri Lanka go?
Kumar Sangakkara
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highset partnership in Test cricket--624 runs--in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. CANNOTANSWER
In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highset partnership in Test cricket--624 runs--in this match.
Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket. As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket. Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016. He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title. In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan. Early life Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents. Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin. Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year. Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University. His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983. International career Early career At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians. He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart. Vice-captaincy When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. Captaincy In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Post-captaincy Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests. Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI. Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan. On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI. Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere. His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament. Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996. Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup. His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil. On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark. On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match. On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history. During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds. Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC. Retirement During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015. On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement. On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series. The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements. After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK". In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade. Cowdrey Lecture Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history". Beyond playing cricket Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015. On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence. In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities." Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield. Domestic cricket Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s. County cricket Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017. Indian Premier League Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL. In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021. Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ] In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches. Caribbean Premier League On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League. Pakistan Super League In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans. Return to county cricket Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket. Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire. On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire. MCC On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5. Cricket All-Stars Series Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series. Masters Champion League Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties. Selection committee On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma. On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling. Coaching career He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021. Personal life Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara. Playing style Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him. He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging: Commentary career Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019. Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England. Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE International records NOTE: World records are bold Tests Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40 Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman. Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches. Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers. Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list. First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches. Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings) Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings) Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings) Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings) Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings) Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09 Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37) Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679) One-Day Internationals Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list. First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs. Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list. Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches. Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51 First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup. Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance. Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals. T20I records He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket) He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014) Aggregate records Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is) Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs. Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678). World Cups Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015. Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition Player statistics Centuries Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs. Awards Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012 ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012 ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013 ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014 ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015 Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014 Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012 LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012 Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards. CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015 Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015 See also Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy References External links Official Website Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket 1977 births Living people ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers ICC World XI One Day International cricketers Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricket captains Punjab Kings cricketers Sri Lankan terrorism victims Sinhalese sportspeople Sri Lankan Buddhists Alumni of the University of Colombo Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy Kandurata cricketers Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World Wisden Cricketers of the Year Cricketers from Kandy Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers Durham cricketers Surrey cricketers Quetta Gladiators cricketers Karachi Kings cricketers Deccan Chargers cricketers Dhaka Dynamites cricketers Hobart Hurricanes cricketers Multan Sultans cricketers Sri Lankan cricket commentators Wicket-keepers
false
[ "Chee Wan Hoe (born 9 December 1971) is a Malaysian former footballer. He formerly played with Perak FA and Penang FA.\nHe also the former member of Malaysia Olympic Team (Malaysia U-23) in 1991.\n\nCareer\nWan Hoe is one of the longest serving player for Penang FA. He help the team to win the 1998 and 2001 Malaysia Premier League I. In 2002, he helped Penang to win their first Malaysia FA Cup title by beating his former team Perak. On the next season, he clinch the Charity Shield with Penang.\n\nWan Hoe retired from professional football after the 2007 season ended. He was the longest serving team captain for Penang FA.\n\nHonours\n\nPenang FA\n Malaysia Premier 1 League: 1998, 2001\n Malaysia FA Cup: 2002\n Malaysia Charity Shield: 2003\n\nReferences\n\nMalaysian footballers\nMalaysian people of Chinese descent\nLiving people\n1971 births\nPenang FA players\nPerak F.C. players\n\nAssociation football defenders", "Richard March Hoe (middle name spelled in some 1920s records as \"Marsh\") (September 12, 1812 – June 7, 1886) was an American inventor from New York City who designed a rotary printing press and related advancements, including the \"Hoe web perfecting press\" in 1871; it used a continuous roll of paper and revolutionized newspaper publishing.\n\nBiography\nRichard March Hoe was born in New York City, the son of Robert Hoe (1784–1833), an English-born American mechanic from Leicestershire. His brothers were Peter Smith Hoe and Robert Hoe II.\n\nHis father, with brothers-in-law Peter and Matthew Smith, established a steam-powered manufactory of printing presses in New York City. At the age of fifteen, Richard joined their enterprise. Several years later in 1833, he became a senior member of his father's firm R. Hoe & Company. After his father's death that year, Hoe became head of the company. He was joined later by his younger brother Robert Hoe II (1815-1884).\n\nRichard Hoe married and had a family, eventually living in a manor house on 53 acres in the Bronx. Hoe died on June 7, 1886, in Florence, Italy.\n\nInventions\nEarly on, Hoe added the production of steel saws to his business and introduced improvements to their manufacture. In 1837, he visited England and obtained a patent for a better process of grinding saws. In connection with his factory, Hoe established an apprentice's school where free instruction was given.\n\nHe is most well known for his invention in 1843 of a rotary printing press: type was placed on a revolving cylinder, a design that could print much faster than the old flatbed printing press. It received in 1847, and was placed in commercial use the same year. Arunah Shepherdson Abell, publisher of The Sun in Baltimore, was among the first to buy it and put it into use. In its early days, it was variously called the \"Hoe lightning press,\" and \"Hoe's Cylindrical-Bed Press.\" \n\nIn 1870 Hoe developed a rotary press that printed both sides of a page in a single operation, what he called the \"Hoe web perfecting press.\" Hoe's press used a continuous roll of paper five miles long, which was put through the machine at the rate of a minute. As the roll emerged, it passed over a knife which cut pages apart; they were next run through an apparatus which folded the pages for the mail or for carriers. These completely printed and folded newspapers were delivered as quickly as the eye could follow them. It produced 18,000 papers an hour and was used the first time by the New York Tribune.\n\nHoe was a Freemason. He died while traveling in 1886 in Florence, Italy. His nephew, Robert Hoe (1839–1909), wrote a notable Short History of the Printing Press (1902). He also made further improvements in printing.\n\nAlthough Hoe was known for his rotary printing press, he also had much practice before, since he took on his fathers work after he retired, he perfected many cylinder presses, and he continued to improve, eventually creating his prize invention, the hoe lightning press.\n\nBrightside estate\nHoe lived with his wife, Mary, and children on a estate, called Brightside, in the Morrisania/Hunts Point section of the Bronx. Richard's brother, Peter Smith Hoe, also had a house (Sunnyslope) on the same estate. This building still stands at the corner of Faile Street and Lafayette Avenue and houses the Bright Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church. His family sold the estate in 1904 to developers speculating on the subway extension into the Bronx.\n\nSeveral streets in the area are named after historical figures in the printing industry. Aldus Street was named after Aldo Manuzio. Guttenberg Street (with two t's) was named after Johannes Gutenberg; it was renamed East 165th Street in 1911.  Hoe Avenue runs north from what is now Bruckner Boulevard.\n\nPrinter's Park is located at the former site of his mansion, at the corner on Aldus Street and Hoe Avenue in the Bronx. The newly reconstructed park re-opened in April 2010, equipped with a play structure inspired by the rotary printing press.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n An illustration of the Hoe web perfecting press.\n \n \n \n\"Old House on the Property of West Farms, Residence of R.M. Hoe\", watercolor by D.J. Kennedy, Historical Society of Pennsylvania\n\n1812 births\n1886 deaths\n19th-century American inventors\nMorrisania, Bronx\nPeople from the Bronx\nHunts Point, Bronx\nAmerican people of English descent" ]
[ "Kumar Sangakkara", "As vice-captain", "Who was he vice captain under?", "regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain.", "What team did he play on?", "Sri Lanka", "hoe did his season go?", "In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highset partnership in Test cricket--624 runs--in this match." ]
C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_1
What notable wins did he have?
4
What notable wins did Kumar Sangakkara have?
Kumar Sangakkara
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highset partnership in Test cricket--624 runs--in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. CANNOTANSWER
On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938,
Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket. As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket. Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016. He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title. In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan. Early life Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents. Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin. Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year. Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University. His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983. International career Early career At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians. He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart. Vice-captaincy When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. Captaincy In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Post-captaincy Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests. Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI. Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan. On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI. Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere. His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament. Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996. Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup. His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil. On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark. On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match. On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history. During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds. Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC. Retirement During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015. On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement. On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series. The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements. After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK". In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade. Cowdrey Lecture Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history". Beyond playing cricket Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015. On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence. In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities." Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield. Domestic cricket Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s. County cricket Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017. Indian Premier League Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL. In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021. Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ] In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches. Caribbean Premier League On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League. Pakistan Super League In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans. Return to county cricket Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket. Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire. On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire. MCC On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5. Cricket All-Stars Series Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series. Masters Champion League Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties. Selection committee On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma. On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling. Coaching career He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021. Personal life Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara. Playing style Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him. He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging: Commentary career Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019. Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England. Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE International records NOTE: World records are bold Tests Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40 Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman. Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches. Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers. Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list. First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches. Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings) Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings) Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings) Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings) Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings) Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09 Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37) Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679) One-Day Internationals Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list. First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs. Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list. Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches. Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51 First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup. Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance. Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals. T20I records He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket) He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014) Aggregate records Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is) Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs. Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678). World Cups Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015. Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition Player statistics Centuries Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs. Awards Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012 ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012 ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013 ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014 ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015 Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014 Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012 LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012 Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards. CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015 Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015 See also Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy References External links Official Website Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket 1977 births Living people ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers ICC World XI One Day International cricketers Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricket captains Punjab Kings cricketers Sri Lankan terrorism victims Sinhalese sportspeople Sri Lankan Buddhists Alumni of the University of Colombo Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy Kandurata cricketers Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World Wisden Cricketers of the Year Cricketers from Kandy Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers Durham cricketers Surrey cricketers Quetta Gladiators cricketers Karachi Kings cricketers Deccan Chargers cricketers Dhaka Dynamites cricketers Hobart Hurricanes cricketers Multan Sultans cricketers Sri Lankan cricket commentators Wicket-keepers
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[ "The Canadian Horse of the Year is a thoroughbred horse racing honour given annually since 1951 by the Jockey Club of Canada. It is the most prestigious honour in Canadian thoroughbred horse racing.\n\nPart of the Sovereign Awards program since 1975, it is similar to the Eclipse Award for American Horse of the Year honours given in the United States.\n\nThe original eligibility rules stipulated that the winner be a Canadian-bred horse that did its \"best running\" in Canada. In 1964, the rule was altered for Northern Dancer, who was a Canadian-bred but whose most notable wins came in the United States when he won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. Eventually the requirement that the horse be a Canadian-bred was also dropped. The current rules simply require that the horse have raced at least three times in Canada during the given year (two times for two-year-olds).\n\nRecords\nMost wins:\n 2 - L'Enjoleur (1974, 1975)\n 2 - Overskate (1978, 1979)\n 2 - Chief Bearhart (1997, 1998)\n\nMost wins by a trainer:\n 6 - Gordon J. McCann (1951, 1952, 1954, 1958, 1963, 1968)\n\nMost wins by an owner:\n 8 - Sam-Son Farm (1984, 1985, 1986, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004)\n\nHonourees\n\nReferences\n\n Sovereign Awards at The Jockey Club of Canada\n\nHorse racing awards\nHorse racing in Canada", "This is a list of seasons completed by the BYU Cougars men's basketball team since the team's formation in 1902. They have been conference regular season champions 30 times and conference tournament champions 3 times. They have also appeared in 29 NCAA basketball tournaments, reaching the Elite Eight 3 times.\n\nSeasons\n\n Adjusted record is 1–10 (25 wins and 1 loss vacated) and 0–5 (11 wins vacated) in conference. One win was not vacated; Nick Emery (the player who was ruled ineligible) did not play in one of BYU's wins.\n Adjusted record is 0–11 (22 wins and 1 loss vacated) and 0–6 (12 wins vacated) in conference.\n\nReferences\n\n \nByu" ]
[ "Kumar Sangakkara", "As vice-captain", "Who was he vice captain under?", "regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain.", "What team did he play on?", "Sri Lanka", "hoe did his season go?", "In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highset partnership in Test cricket--624 runs--in this match.", "What notable wins did he have?", "On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938," ]
C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_1
Did he receive any awards?
5
Did Kumar Sangakkara receive any awards during his cricket career?
Kumar Sangakkara
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highset partnership in Test cricket--624 runs--in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. CANNOTANSWER
Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team.
Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket. As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket. Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016. He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title. In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan. Early life Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents. Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin. Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year. Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University. His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983. International career Early career At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians. He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart. Vice-captaincy When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. Captaincy In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Post-captaincy Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests. Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI. Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan. On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI. Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere. His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament. Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996. Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup. His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil. On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark. On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match. On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history. During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds. Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC. Retirement During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015. On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement. On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series. The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements. After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK". In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade. Cowdrey Lecture Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history". Beyond playing cricket Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015. On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence. In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities." Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield. Domestic cricket Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s. County cricket Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017. Indian Premier League Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL. In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021. Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ] In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches. Caribbean Premier League On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League. Pakistan Super League In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans. Return to county cricket Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket. Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire. On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire. MCC On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5. Cricket All-Stars Series Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series. Masters Champion League Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties. Selection committee On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma. On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling. Coaching career He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021. Personal life Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara. Playing style Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him. He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging: Commentary career Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019. Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England. Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE International records NOTE: World records are bold Tests Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40 Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman. Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches. Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers. Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list. First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches. Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings) Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings) Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings) Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings) Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings) Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09 Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37) Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679) One-Day Internationals Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list. First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs. Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list. Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches. Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51 First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup. Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance. Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals. T20I records He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket) He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014) Aggregate records Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is) Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs. Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678). World Cups Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015. Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition Player statistics Centuries Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs. Awards Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012 ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012 ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013 ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014 ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015 Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014 Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012 LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012 Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards. CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015 Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015 See also Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy References External links Official Website Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket 1977 births Living people ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers ICC World XI One Day International cricketers Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricket captains Punjab Kings cricketers Sri Lankan terrorism victims Sinhalese sportspeople Sri Lankan Buddhists Alumni of the University of Colombo Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy Kandurata cricketers Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World Wisden Cricketers of the Year Cricketers from Kandy Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers Durham cricketers Surrey cricketers Quetta Gladiators cricketers Karachi Kings cricketers Deccan Chargers cricketers Dhaka Dynamites cricketers Hobart Hurricanes cricketers Multan Sultans cricketers Sri Lankan cricket commentators Wicket-keepers
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[ "Below is a list of awards received by Twins since they were formed in 2001 as a cantopop girl group. They average to receive about 2-3 awards in each Hong Kong music awards. Their major accomplishment is in 2007 when they received the Asia Pacific Most Popular Female Artist Award from Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards.\n\nBecause of the Edison Chen photo scandal in 2008, Gillian took a short leave from the group. And thus the group did not record any songs or receive any awards between March 2008 to 2009.\n\nCommercial Radio Hong Kong Ultimate Song Chart Awards\nThe Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation (叱咤樂壇流行榜頒獎典禮) is a cantopop award ceremony from one of the famous channel in Commercial Radio Hong Kong known as Ultimate 903 (FM 90.3). Unlike other cantopop award ceremonies, this one is judged based on the popularity of the song/artist on the actual radio show.\n\nGlobal Chinese Music Awards\n\nIFPI Hong Kong Sales Awards\nIFPI Awards is given to artists base on the sales in Hong Kong at the end of the year.\n\nJade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards\nThe Jade Solid Gold Songs Awards Ceremony(十大勁歌金曲頒獎典禮) is held annually in Hong Kong since 1984. The awards are based on Jade Solid Gold show on TVB.\n\nMetro Radio Mandarin Music Awards\n\nMetro Showbiz Hit Awards\nThe Metro Showbiz Hit Awards (新城勁爆頒獎禮) is held in Hong Kong annually by Metro Showbiz radio station. It focus mostly in cantopop music.\n\nRTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards\nThe RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards Ceremony(十大中文金曲頒獎音樂會) is held annually in Hong Kong since 1978. The awards are determined by Radio and Television Hong Kong based on the work of all Asian artists (mostly cantopop) for the previous year.\n\nSprite Music Awards\nThe Sprite Music Awards Ceremony is an annual event given by Sprite China for work artists performed in previous years; awards received on 2008 are actually for the work and accomplishment for 2007.\n\nReferences\n\nTwins\nCantopop", "The Drama-Logue Award was an American theater award established in 1977, given by the publishers of Drama-Logue newspaper, a weekly west-coast theater trade publication. Winners were selected by the publication's theater critics, and would receive a certificate at an annual awards ceremony hosted by Drama-Logue founder Bill Bordy. The awards did not require any voting or agreement among critics; each critic could select as many award winners as they wished. As a result, many awards were issued each year. In some years, the number of winners was larger than the seating capacity of the venue where the ceremony was conducted.\n\nThe award categories included Production, Direction, Musical Direction, Choreography, Writing, Performance, Ensemble Performance, Scenic Design, Sound Design, Lighting Design, Costume Design and Hair & Makeup Design.\n\nAcquisition \nIn May 1998, Backstage West bought the Drama-Logue publication, and the two publications merged. The Drama-Logue Awards were subsequently retired and replaced by the Back Stage West Garland Awards.\n\nReferences\n\nAmerican theater awards\nAwards established in 1977\nAwards disestablished in 1998" ]
[ "Kumar Sangakkara", "As vice-captain", "Who was he vice captain under?", "regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain.", "What team did he play on?", "Sri Lanka", "hoe did his season go?", "In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highset partnership in Test cricket--624 runs--in this match.", "What notable wins did he have?", "On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938,", "Did he receive any awards?", "Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team." ]
C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_1
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
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Are there any other interesting aspects about this article other than Kumar Sangakkara's career in cricket?
Kumar Sangakkara
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highset partnership in Test cricket--624 runs--in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. CANNOTANSWER
On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara.
Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket. As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket. Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016. He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title. In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan. Early life Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents. Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin. Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year. Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University. His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983. International career Early career At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians. He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart. Vice-captaincy When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. Captaincy In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Post-captaincy Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests. Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI. Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan. On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI. Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere. His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament. Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996. Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup. His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil. On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark. On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match. On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history. During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds. Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC. Retirement During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015. On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement. On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series. The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements. After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK". In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade. Cowdrey Lecture Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history". Beyond playing cricket Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015. On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence. In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities." Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield. Domestic cricket Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s. County cricket Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017. Indian Premier League Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL. In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021. Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ] In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches. Caribbean Premier League On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League. Pakistan Super League In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans. Return to county cricket Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket. Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire. On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire. MCC On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5. Cricket All-Stars Series Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series. Masters Champion League Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties. Selection committee On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma. On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling. Coaching career He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021. Personal life Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara. Playing style Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him. He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging: Commentary career Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019. Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England. Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE International records NOTE: World records are bold Tests Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40 Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman. Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches. Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers. Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list. First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches. Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings) Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings) Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings) Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings) Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings) Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09 Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37) Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679) One-Day Internationals Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list. First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs. Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list. Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches. Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51 First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup. Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance. Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals. T20I records He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket) He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014) Aggregate records Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is) Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs. Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678). World Cups Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015. Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition Player statistics Centuries Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs. Awards Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012 ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012 ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013 ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014 ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015 Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014 Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012 LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012 Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards. CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015 Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015 See also Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy References External links Official Website Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket 1977 births Living people ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers ICC World XI One Day International cricketers Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricket captains Punjab Kings cricketers Sri Lankan terrorism victims Sinhalese sportspeople Sri Lankan Buddhists Alumni of the University of Colombo Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy Kandurata cricketers Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World Wisden Cricketers of the Year Cricketers from Kandy Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers Durham cricketers Surrey cricketers Quetta Gladiators cricketers Karachi Kings cricketers Deccan Chargers cricketers Dhaka Dynamites cricketers Hobart Hurricanes cricketers Multan Sultans cricketers Sri Lankan cricket commentators Wicket-keepers
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" ]
[ "Kumar Sangakkara", "As vice-captain", "Who was he vice captain under?", "regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain.", "What team did he play on?", "Sri Lanka", "hoe did his season go?", "In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highset partnership in Test cricket--624 runs--in this match.", "What notable wins did he have?", "On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938,", "Did he receive any awards?", "Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team.", "Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?", "On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara." ]
C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_1
Did this affect the teams ability to play?
7
Did the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team affect the teams ability to play?
Kumar Sangakkara
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highset partnership in Test cricket--624 runs--in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. CANNOTANSWER
Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team.
Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket. As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket. Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016. He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title. In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan. Early life Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents. Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin. Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year. Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University. His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983. International career Early career At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians. He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart. Vice-captaincy When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match. On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010. Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so. Captaincy In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Post-captaincy Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests. Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI. Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan. On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI. Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere. His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament. Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996. Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup. His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil. On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark. On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match. On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history. During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds. Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC. Retirement During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015. On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement. On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series. The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements. After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK". In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade. Cowdrey Lecture Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history". Beyond playing cricket Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015. On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence. In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities." Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield. Domestic cricket Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s. County cricket Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017. Indian Premier League Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL. In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021. Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ] In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches. Caribbean Premier League On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League. Pakistan Super League In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans. Return to county cricket Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket. Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire. On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire. MCC On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5. Cricket All-Stars Series Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series. Masters Champion League Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties. Selection committee On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma. On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling. Coaching career He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021. Personal life Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara. Playing style Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him. He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging: Commentary career Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019. Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England. Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE International records NOTE: World records are bold Tests Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40 Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman. Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches. Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers. Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list. First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches. Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings) Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings) Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings) Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings) Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings) Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09 Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37) Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679) One-Day Internationals Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list. First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs. Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list. Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches. Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara. Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51 First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup. Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance. Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals. T20I records He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket) He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014) Aggregate records Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is) Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs. Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678). World Cups Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015. Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition Player statistics Centuries Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs. Awards Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012 ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012 ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013 ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014 ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015 Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014 Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012 LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012 Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards. CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015 Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015 See also Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy References External links Official Website Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket 1977 births Living people ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers ICC World XI One Day International cricketers Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricket captains Punjab Kings cricketers Sri Lankan terrorism victims Sinhalese sportspeople Sri Lankan Buddhists Alumni of the University of Colombo Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy Kandurata cricketers Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World Wisden Cricketers of the Year Cricketers from Kandy Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers Durham cricketers Surrey cricketers Quetta Gladiators cricketers Karachi Kings cricketers Deccan Chargers cricketers Dhaka Dynamites cricketers Hobart Hurricanes cricketers Multan Sultans cricketers Sri Lankan cricket commentators Wicket-keepers
true
[ "Manners v. Morosco, 252 U.S. 317 (1920), was a United States Supreme Court case with two principal holdings. First, the copyright transfer contract in question was not limited to five years because the agreement dealt in minimum requirements. Secondly, the transfer of the copyright for the production of a play on stage did not grant the ability to make a motion picture based on the play. However, a grant of exclusivity implies a negative guarantee that the original creator will not do anything that may adversely affect that exclusivity, meaning the author forfeited their own ability to authorize a motion picture production. The Court enjoined both parties from making a film version.\n\nThe case concerned Peg o' My Heart by J. Hartley Manners. A film version of the play was created in 1919 directed by William C. deMille and starring Wanda Hawley, but it was never released due to the legal issues raised by this case. Manners did produce a 1922 version starring his wife Laurette Taylor, and a 1933 version emerged later.\n\nJustices John Hessin Clarke and Mahlon Pitney dissented because they saw nothing in the original or revised contract indicating that either party expected the agreement to last longer than five years.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\n1920 in United States case law\nUnited States copyright case law\nUnited States Supreme Court cases\nUnited States Supreme Court cases of the White Court", "The 2012–13 Welsh Premier League, known as the Corbett Sports Welsh Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 21st season of the Welsh Premier League, the highest football league within Wales since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 17 August 2012.\n\nThe New Saints successfully defended their title.\n\nTeams\nFollowing a decision by UEFA not to allow Neath F.C. a license to compete both domestically and in continental competitions, it was ruled that they would be relegated no matter where in the league they finished. Bottom club Newtown were spared relegation.\n\nGap Connah's Quay finished first in the 2011–12 Cymru Alliance to return to the Welsh Premier League after a two-year absence.\n\nStadia and locations\n\nLeague table\n\nLlanelli A.F.C.\nOn 22 April 2013, Llanelli A.F.C. were liquidated by HM Revenue and Customs at the High court in London with debts of £21,000; this did not affect the final league table as the club had already played all their league fixtures prior to the ruling.\n\nResults\nTeams will play each other twice on a home and away basis, before the league is split into two groups at the end of January 2013 - the top six and the bottom six.\nClubs in these groups will play each other twice again to bring the total fixture count to 32.\n\nMatches 1–22\n\nMatches 23–32\n\nTop six\n\nBottom six\n\nUEFA Europa League play-offs\nTeams who finished in positions third through eighth at the end of the regular season will play-off to determine the second participant for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League.\n\nQuarter-finals\n\nSemi-finals\n\nFinal\n\nTop goalscorers\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nCymru Premier seasons\n1" ]
[ "Thomas Mitchell (explorer)", "Fourth expedition" ]
C_31fec604f00d47fca55b1bf8097cb058_0
What was Mitchell exploring during his fourth expedition?
1
What was Thomas Mitchell exploring during his fourth expedition?
Thomas Mitchell (explorer)
Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, this being the main thrust of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree (Buree in Mitchell's journal) with a large party including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). He struck the Darling River above Fort Bourke then continued to the Narran River, the Balonne, and the Culgoa. On 12 April 1846 he came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St.George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to a magnificent pastoral district in the midst of which stood a solitary hill that he named Mount Abundance. He then crossed a low watershed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa and discovered the Warrago River. Keeping north over the watershed, he traversed the Claude and Nogoa rivers, then reached the Belyando River, an upper reach of the Burdekin River. This had already been discovered by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington on 2 April 1845. Intensely mortified to find that he was on a tributary of the Burdekin River, and approaching the ground already trodden by Leichhardt, he returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, after dividing his party and forming a stationary camp. He continued west, making a new discovery which he was certain was the fabled north-west river. In honour of the sovereign of the time he decided to call it Victoria River. Having run out of time, he turned back towards the main party. It was here that Mitchell first noticed the well known grass that bears his name. On the homeward journey he trekked along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later that year, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aborigines. CANNOTANSWER
Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria,
Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (15 June 1792 – 5 October 1855), surveyor and explorer of Southeastern Australia, was born at Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, Scotland. In 1827 he took up an appointment as Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales. The following year he became Surveyor General and remained in this position until his death. Mitchell was knighted in 1839 for his contribution to the surveying of Australia. Early life Born in Scotland on 15 June 1792, he was son of John Mitchell of Carron Works and was brought up from childhood by his uncle, Thomas Livingstone of Parkhall, Stirlingshire. Peninsular War On the death of his uncle, he joined the British army in Portugal as a volunteer in the Peninsular War, at the age of sixteen. On 24 June 1811, at the age of nineteen, he received his first commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion 95th Rifles (later the Rifle Brigade / Royal Green Jackets). Utilising his skills as a draughtsman of outstanding ability, he was occasionally employed in the Quartermaster-General's department under Sir George Murray. He was present at the storming of the fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos and San Sebastian as well as the battles of Salamanca and the Pyrenees. Subsequently, he would receive the Military General Service Medal with bars for each of these engagements. When the war was over, Mitchell was selected to reside in Spain and Portugal for four years to complete sketches of the battlefields for the Military Depot. His duties also included conducting several other important surveys which had been impossible to finish whilst operations were in progress in the field. On 10 June 1818, during this posting, Mitchell married Mary Blunt (daughter of General Richard Blunt) in Lisbon and gained promotion to a company in the 54th Regiment. In the summer of 1819, he returned to Britain where he devoted himself to finishing the drawings, but with the cessation of the government allowances he had to stop this work. The reductions in the military establishment which followed the withdrawing of the Army of Occupation from France forced Mitchell on to half-pay. It was not until much later, while Mitchell was in London between 1838 and 1840, that the work was completed. The finished drawings were published by the London geographer James Wyld in 1841 under the title Atlas containing the principle battles, sieges and affairs of the Peninsular War. Of high quality, the drawings are the prime source for the topography of the war. New South Wales In 1827, with the support of Sir George Murray, Mitchell became Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales with the right to succeed John Oxley. Oxley died the following year, and on 27 May 1828, Mitchell became Surveyor General. In this post he did much to improve the quality and accuracy of surveying – a vital task in a colony where huge tracts of land were being opened up and sold to new settlers. One of the first roads surveyed under his leadership was the Great North Road, built by convict labour between 1826 and 1836 linking Sydney to the Hunter Region. The Great South Road (now replaced by the Hume Highway), also convict-built, linked Sydney and Goulburn. He kept a record of his 'Progress in roads and Public Works in New South Wales to 1855', including sketches and plans of Sydney, Emu Plains, the Blue Mountains, Victoria Pass, roads to Bathurst, Wiseman's Ferry, and indigenous Australians. As Surveyor General, Mitchell also completed maps and plans of Sydney, including Darling Point, Point Piper, the city, and Port Jackson. In 1834 he was commissioned to survey a map of the Nineteen Counties. The map he produced was done with such skill and accuracy that he was awarded a knighthood. Around this time, a portrait of Mitchell was painted showing him in the uniform of Major of the 1st Rifle Brigade of the 95th Regiment, complete with whistle used to direct the movement of troops. During his tenure in New South Wales, Mitchell led four extensive and historically significant surveying expeditions into the interior of eastern Australia. First expedition In 1831, a runaway convict named George "The Barber" Clarke (monument around Barbers Lagoon, Boggabri NSW), who had lived with the Kamilaroi people in the area for several years, claimed that a large river called Kindur flowed north-west from the Liverpool Ranges in New South Wales to the sea. Charles Sturt believed that the Murray-Darling system formed the main river system of New South Wales and Mitchell wanted to prove Sturt wrong. Mitchell formed an expedition consisting of himself, assistant surveyor George Boyle White and 15 convicts who were promised remission for good conduct. Mitchell took 20 bullocks, three heavy drays, three light carts and nine horses to carry supplies, and set out on 24 November 1831 to investigate the claim. On reaching Wollombi in the Hunter Valley, the local assistant surveyor, Heneage Finch, expressed a desire to join the expedition which Mitchell approved, provided he first obtain extra provisions and rendezvous later. The expedition continued northward, and having climbed the Liverpool Range on 5 December, they found an Aboriginal tribe who had fled from their home in the Hunter Valley and were suffering from what appeared to be smallpox. On 8 December they arrived at Quirindi and by 11 December the expedition had reached Wallamoul Station near Tamworth, the northern extent of white settlement at the time. Mitchell continued his northward push into uncolonised territory, guided by a local Gamilaraay man named "Mr. Brown". In mid-December, near to where Boggabri now stands, they located the remains of a stockyard and huts built by George Clarke and his Aboriginal colleagues. By early January 1832 Mitchell's group was travelling along the Namoi River, by which stage Mr Brown had left them. Mitchell's party then headed north unguided but managed to reach the Gwydir River in mid-January where they found a small Aboriginal village of conical-roofed huts. They followed the Gwydir west and made it to the Barwon River by the end of the month. Mitchell came to the correct conclusion that the Barwon flowed into the Darling River and decided not to proceed any further. At this stage, Finch had finally caught up with the main group. Finch conveyed the news that the provisions he had obtained had been ransacked by Aboriginal people at Gorolei. Two men he had left to guard the supplies had also been killed. The immediate effect was that Mitchell decided to abandon the expedition and return south. The party retraced their path having tense but peaceful interactions with large groups of Gamilaraay people along the way. They reached Gorolei on 18 February where Mitchell buried the bodies of the two killed men and salvaged some equipment. Aboriginal people approached the group laying down their spears and offering females to Mitchell's men in an apparent attempt at appeasement for the killings. Mitchell refused the offer but accepted their guidance on an easy way back to the Namoi River. Once back at Wallamoul, Mitchell placed White in charge of the main party, while he returned hastily to Sydney. He was satisfied that there was no truth about the river Kindur claimed by Clarke. Fourteen years later, Mitchell revealed that the convicts had indulged in sexual relations with Aboriginal women. Second expedition Mitchell's next expedition was in 1835. The purpose was to explore the course of the Darling River from where Sturt had turned back in 1829, to where it joined the Murray River. There were 24 men in the party including Mitchell, James Larmer (assistant surveyor) as second in command, Richard Cunningham (colonial botanist) and 21 other men. The main party under Larmer left Parramatta on 9 March and rendezvoused with Mitchell at Boree near the township of Orange. From there, the expedition was guided through the Goobang Ranges by local Wiradjuri people toward the Bogan River. On 17 April 1835, Richard Cunningham wandered away from the party while looking for botanical specimens and went missing. The party, with the assistance of various local Aboriginal people, searched for him until 5 May, following Cunningham's tracks around the headwaters of the Bogan until they disappeared. Cunningham's dead horse, saddle, glove and fragments of his coat and map were all they found. Months later, a search party of military mounted police commanded by Lieutenant Henry Zouch of the first division, discovered that Cunningham had been killed by four Wiradjuri men and his bones were found and buried at Currindine. After the fruitless search for Cunningham, Mitchell decided to continue the expedition. He was assisted by a local unnamed elder who provided a guide called Tackijally. This man led Mitchell downstream along the waterholes adjacent to the Bogan River as far as Nyngan. Tackijally left them at this point and the group was soon involved in a brief confrontation after they startled an Aboriginal man at a waterhole. The man, who was shot in the hand, had his wounds dressed by the group and later departed. They proceeded down the Bogan, encountering several gatherings of people to which Mitchell gave tomahawks and pieces of an old sword. On 25 May the junction with the Darling River was reached. Here, on a high point of land which bore many Aboriginal grave sites, Mitchell decided to build a fort as he realised that they "had not asked permission to come there" and he needed a stockade for "stout resistance against any number of natives." He named it Fort Bourke in honour of the Governor, Richard Bourke. Two whale boats had been transported the whole distance on bullock drays and on 1 June Mitchell launched the boats on the Darling to transport the party downriver. However, the Darling became shallower and unnavigable resulting in the expedition resorting once again to overland progress. They encountered many tribes as they headed south, with Mitchell documenting the agricultural practices of some, such as the harvesting of Panicum decompositum, and the large permanent dwellings of others. One clan appeared more hostile than others, kicking up dust and spitting at party members. Mitchell acknowledged that his group were "rather unceremonious invaders of their country" but inflamed tensions by firing a pistol at a tree. Mitchell wrote that "the more they saw of our superior weapons...the more they shewed their hatred and tokens of defiance." The party continued downriver, meeting with friendlier locals, passing through villages and noting the construction of their tomb-sites. Just north of the Menindee Lakes, the expedition came across a large congregation of several tribes and Mitchell decided that continuing the exploration would be too dangerous. On 11 July, just as Mitchell had resolved to return to Sydney, shots were heard from a forage party up the river. Mitchell sent a further three armed men to the scene of the shooting and the firing continued. After more than an hour, some members of the group returned reporting that a skirmish had occurred over the possession of a kettle and at least three Aboriginal people had been shot dead, including a woman and her child. One of Mitchell's men had been knocked unconscious. The party then commenced their return via the outbound route with Mitchell deciding to avoid contact with the various tribes as much as possible. The "spitting tribe" attempted to burn down their camp on this return journey which resulted in Mitchell ordering shots to be fired over their heads. They arrived at Fort Bourke on 10 August and continued back along the Bogan River. Near Nyngan they met again with members of Tackijally's tribe who allowed Mitchell to walk through their cemetery at Milmeridien. Mitchell soon tired of the clan asking for food and ordered some of his men to march at them with bayonets. On 9 September they came to the upper reaches of the Bogan where they found a cattle-station had already been formed along their route by William Lee. The expedition arrived back at their starting point of Boree on 14 September. While Mitchell did not trace the Darling River to its junction with the Murray River, the course and terrain of the Bogan River and much of the Darling River had been charted. The places where this and other Mitchell expeditions were most assailed by Aboriginal Australians, including the location of Cunningham's killing, are marked on an 1836 map produced by Mitchell. Third expedition The goal of Mitchell's third expedition was to explore and survey the lower part of the Darling River, with instructions to head up the Murray River and then return to the settled areas around Yass. Second in command was assistant surveyor Granville Stapylton. A Wiradjuri man named John Piper was also recruited and 23 convicts and ticket of leave men made up the rest of the party. The group set out from a valley near Mount Canobolas on 17 March 1836, and made their way to Boree and the Bogan River as on previous journeys, then veered south to the Kalare or Lachlan River to approach the Darling from its southern end where it joined the Murray. The party was guided by various Aboriginal people such as "Barney" along the Lachlan, passing Lake Cargelligo, as John Oxley did in 1817. At this place they met with a large clan from which a number of people joined the expedition and gave vital information about waterholes, as the Lachlan was drying out. Piper also obtained a "good, strong woman" from this tribe. On 2 May they arrived at Combedyega where an Aboriginal widow named Turandurey with her four-year-old daughter Ballandella also joined the expedition as a guide. She remembered Oxley from nineteen years earlier and Sturt as well, and knew the lower Lachlan. The Murrumbidgee River was reached on 12 May, but at a point downstream from the junction with the Lachlan. Mount Dispersion massacre They continued down the Murrumbidgee until 21 May when they were close to the junction with the Murray River. A depot was established at this point, and Mitchell left Staplyton with eight men to guard the stock, while he ventured downstream with the rest of the group. According to the account given to a later enquiry by William Muirhead (bullock-driver and sergeant), Alexander Burnett (overseer) and Jemmy Piper (Aboriginal man accompanying the party): on 24 May Mitchell noticed that Barkindji tribesmen from the Darling River were gathering in large numbers, and by 27 May the hostile intentions of these men became known, when local Murray River people told Piper that the Barkindji were planning to kill Mitchell and his men. Mitchell had to decide whether to wait for an attack, or plan a pre-emptive manoeuvre. His numbers were reduced, as Staplyton and eight men were still at the depot. He split his party again, leaving half the men to hide in the scrub in ambush, while he continued ahead with the carts. When the armed Barkindji warriors approached, the convict Charles King, who was involved in the earlier killings, fired first without waiting for orders. The tribesmen fled into the river and Mitchell's two groups reunited on the shore and continued to shoot at the people for up to 15 minutes. Around 75 shots were fired with Piper later being told that seven Barkindji were killed and four wounded. Mitchell wrote about the loss of life in his journal, describing the Barkindji as "treacherous savages", and detailing how his men had chased them away, "pursuing and shooting as many as they could". This section was withheld from Mitchell's report when it was released to the public in Sydney. Mitchell named the hill near to where the mass-shooting occurred Mount Dispersion and in May 2020 it was heritage-listed as the Mount Dispersion Massacre Site Aboriginal Place. Onwards The expedition continued down the Murray River, encountering a major Aboriginal grave-site at Red Cliffs. On 31 May they arrived close to the junction of the Murray with a "green and stagnant" waterway. Local people advised Piper that this was the Darling River. Mitchell did not believe it, and only when he travelled upstream for some distance, coming across the same type of burial mounds that he had seen in 1835, did he acknowledge that "this hopeless river" was the Darling. He turned back and headed upstream on the Murray to rejoin Stapylton at the depot. The reunited expedition now travelled south-east following the Murray. They passed Swan Hill on 21 June and encountered a group of native inhabitants at Lake Boga. These people were angry at Piper for "bringing whitefellows" to their country and threw spears at him. Piper shot one of them dead. Mitchell noted the local people's practice of making large nets that spanned above the river to catch waterfowl and also came across unusual animals such as the now extinct Southern pig-footed bandicoot. At the end of June, Mitchell chose to leave the Murray to investigate better looking lands to the south-west. Mitchell was so impressed with the country he saw, he named it Australia Felix. In early July the party crossed the Loddon River, and made their way in a south-westerly direction which brought them to the Grampians and the Wimmera River. Confrontation with people in this region resulted in an Indigenous man being shot in the arm. They were guided by a local Aboriginal woman along part of the Nangeela (Glenelg River) with Mitchell constructing a fortified base on its banks which he named Fort O'Hare. From here Mitchell led part of the group in boats down the Glenelg to where it discharged into the ocean at a bay which Mitchell named Discovery Bay. Mitchell then returned to Fort O'Hare and altered direction towards Portland Bay to the east. When this was reached on 29 August, Mitchell was surprised to find an established farm and whaling station operated by the Henty brothers. The expedition continued north-east with Mitchell spending a night in a "snug old hut of the natives" at Narrawong. On 17 September, in order to speed his return, Mitchell split the party in two, taking 14 men with him and leaving the remainder with Stapylton to follow with the bullocks and drays. The young girl Ballandella went with Mitchell, while her mother Turandurey remained behind. On the plains around the Hopkins River, Mitchell came across a community of Aboriginal people who cultivated and harvested murnong tubers with specialised tools. Mitchell was wary and when forty of them approached his camp, he ordered his men to charge at them. On 30 September, Mitchell climbed and named Mount Macedon, from the summit of which he had a view of Port Phillip. Progress was slowed due a member of the group, James "Tally-ho" Taylor, drowning while crossing the Broken River. Their return to the frontier of British colonisation on the Murrumbidgee was not completed until 24 October. Enquiry When Mitchell arrived in Sydney in early November he was received with great joy. However, when the remainder of his party arrived two weeks later, rumours circulated about the mass killing on the Murray. He subsequently faced a Legislative Council Inquiry in December 1836, receiving an official rebuke. Ballandella joined Mitchell's family of eight other children and learnt to read and write, but was left by Mitchell when he returned to England. Ballandella later married and raised a family at Sackville where she died around the age of thirty. Fourth expedition Mitchell's fourth expedition was into northern interior of the colony (a region now part of Queensland) in 1845–46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, and finding this river was the main focus of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree near Orange with a large party of 32 people including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). The Wiradjuri man named Piper from his previous expedition was also a member. Yuranigh (also Wiradjuri) and a ten year old boy from the lower Bogan River named "Dicky" were also assigned as guides. The party travelled north along the Bogan where a war between the British and the Indigenous inhabitants was at that time occurring. Mitchell noted areas where the British had been pushed back, abandoning their farmhouses which were subsequently burnt down by the local people. Mitchell stated "All I could learn about the rest of the tribe was, that the men were almost all dead, and that their wives were chiefly servants at stock stations along the Macquarie." In January 1846, they left the Bogan and started following the Macquarie River where Mitchell was informed of Pipers' intention to leave the expedition. Mitchell ordered him back to Bathurst, accompanied by Corporal Graham. Near the Macquarie Marshes the harvesting of native millet by Aboriginal people to make bread was recorded and a local man named Yulliyally guided the group to the Barwon River. From here two brothers from a nearby clan led Mitchell to vital waterholes near the Narran River. Mitchell "blushed inwardly for our pallid race" knowing that "white man's cattle would soon trample these holes into a quagmire of mud." More bundles of harvested millet lay for miles along their journey up the Narran. Mitchell then received a message from his son, Roderick Mitchell, a Crown Lands Commissioner who had previously been to the area, which recommended following the Balonne and the Culgoa rivers north. They encountered many Indigenous people who guided the group along the way. On 12 April 1846 Mitchell came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St. George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to an area with an "abundance of good pasturage" in which stood a solitary double topped hill that he named Mount Abundance, on which grew a species of bottle tree. He then crossed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy, who had trouble with local inhabitants trying to burn down his camp, rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa, on one occasion discharging his rifle over the heads of the Indigenous people to gain "peaceful occupation of the ground." He sighted the headwaters of the Warrego and Nogoa Rivers, then came across the upper reaches of the Belyando River which they followed for a considerable distance. This river's name was given to Mitchell by Indigenous residents before the expedition's dogs chased them away, biting at their legs. Being a tributary of the Burdekin River, a waterway already visited by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington in 1845, Mitchell was dismayed to find that he was approaching ground already explored by Europeans. He returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, meeting with a tribe who caught emus with nets. He encountered a river which he was certain was the fabled waterway that would flow north-west to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He followed it until he came across a large clan of Aboriginal people living in permanent huts on the banks of a lagoon. He called this place Yuranigh Pond after his Wiradjuri guide and decided to return home. In honour of the British sovereign of the time, he named the waterway, Victoria River. On the homeward journey Mitchell noticed the well known grass that bears his name. They trekked back along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later in 1847, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria in fact did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aboriginal people. Later career In 1837, Mitchell sought 18 months leave from his position and in May he left Sydney for London. During his leave, he published an account of his explorations called Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia: with descriptions of the recently explored region of Australia Felix, and of the present colony of New South Wales. Mitchell sought additional periods of leave and finally arrived back in Australia in 1841. Mitchell left Sydney again in March 1847 on another period of leave. By the time he arrived back in mid-1848, he had published his Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia, in search of a route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mitchell's journals proved a rich source for historians and anthropologists, with their close and sympathetic observations of the Aboriginal peoples he had encountered. These publications made him the most celebrated Australian explorer of his day. But he was a difficult man to get on with, made evident by this passage made by Governor Charles Augustus FitzRoy: "It is notorious that Sir Thomas Mitchell's unfortunate impracticability of temper and spirit of opposition of those in authority over him misled him into frequent collision with my predecessors." In a by-election for the Electoral district of Port Phillip in April 1844, Mitchell was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council. He found it difficult to separate his roles of government employee and elected member of the legislature, and after only five months he resigned from the Legislative Council. Duel Mitchell is also remembered as the last person in Australia to challenge anyone to a duel. In September 1851, Mitchell issued a challenge to Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson (later Premier of New South Wales) because Donaldson had publicly criticised excessive spending by the Surveyor General's Department. The duel took place in Sydney on 27 September, with both duellists missing their marks; only Donaldson's hat was damaged. The French 50 calibre pistols used in the duel are in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. Ophir gold fields In 1851, Mitchell was instructed by Governor FitzRoy to make a report on, and survey of, 'the extent and productiveness of the goldfield reported to have been discovered in the County of Bathurst.' He travelled west during winter to visit the Ophir gold diggings, accompanied by his son, Roderick, and Samuel Stutchbury the government geologist. In June 1851 Mitchell selected the site for the township of Ophir. W.R. Davidson plotted a survey of the ground and Mitchell planned the streets and allotments for the town. Mitchell returned with a collection of specimens from the diggings, mostly quartz, with 48 of these stored in a wooden chest. His report of the goldfields was presented to the Legislative Council in February 1852. Story of the "bomerang" propeller The search for a method of screw propulsion of ships intrigued many inventors during the latter half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. An Englishman, K. P. Smith, patented a screw propeller in 1836, and shortly afterwards Captain John Ericsson, formerly an officer of the Swedish army, patented another. On his travels, Mitchell must have been evolving the idea of his boomerang propeller—he spelled it "bomerang", while newspapers used "bomarang" and "boomerang." The first test was made in the Sydney Harbour in May 1852, an iron propeller being fitted to the "screw-steamer" Keera. The results of this trial were considered satisfactory, the ship's progress being calculated on two runs at 10 and a little over 12 knots, and Sir Thomas Mitchell took his Invention to England. In 1853 the propeller was fitted to the Genova, and a trial was conducted on the Mersey. Then the Admiralty gave it a test on . The Genova ran at 9.5 knots as against 8.5 with a screw propeller, and the Conflict 9.25 knots as against the screw propeller 8.75, and at a lower engine speed. The "boomerang" propeller can be simply described as a "screw" propeller with much of the blades close to the shaft, which contribute little to propulsion but much to drag, cut away, a principle which is well understood today. Family life Thomas Mitchell and Mary had twelve children: Livingstone, Roderick, Murray, Campbell, Thomas, Richard, Georgina, Maria, Emily, Camilla, Alicia, Blanche. Georgina and Maria died young, and Murray before 1847. Roderick became a Commissioner of Crown Lands and head of the Border Police in the Liverpool Plains district. Roderick was drowned and Campbell died during the last years of Mitchell's life. His family enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and Blanche Mitchell, his youngest daughter, recorded her daily activities and social life in childhood diaries and notebooks. Her sister Emily married George Edward Thicknesse-Touchet, 21st Baron Audley. In 1841, Mitchell completed his new Gothic home, Carthona, on the water's edge in Darling Point, Sydney. Following Mitchell's death, his family moved to Craigend Terrace in Woolloomooloo. Death In July 1855 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the New South Wales Survey Department, but Mitchell did not live to see the report. While surveying the line of road between Nelligen and Braidwood, he developed a chill which led to a severe attack of bronchitis. He died a few days later at Carthona at Darling Point at 5:15 pm 5 October 1855. Newspapers of the day commented:"For a period of twenty-eight years Sir Thomas Mitchell had served the Colony, much of that service having been exceedingly arduous and difficult. Among the early explorers of Australia his name will occupy an honoured place in the estimation of posterity." He is buried at Camperdown Cemetery, Newtown, with his grave being maintained by the Seniors Group of Surveyors. Naming Some of the places Mitchell named on his expeditions were: the Avoca River, Balonne River, Belyando River, Campaspe River, Cogoon River, Discovery Bay, Glenelg River, Grampians, Maranoa River, Mount Arapiles, Mount King, Mount Macedon, Mount Napier, Mount William, Nyngan, Pyramid Hill, St George, Swan Hill and Wimmera River. Commemoration Because of his contributions in the surveying and exploration of Australia, Mitchell is commemorated by having numerous localities or objects across Australia being named after him. These include: The town of Mitchell in Queensland The Mitchell River in Queensland The Canberra suburb of Mitchell The electorate of Mitchell The Mitchell Highway The Major Mitchell's cockatoo, a species of cockatoo Mitchellstown in Victoria. A local government area in Victoria, Shire of Mitchell Steam locomotive number S 301 Sir Thomas Mitchell, a member of the Victorian Railways S class locomotives. In turn, Mitchell House at Seymour Technical High School, the town with the loco depot which serviced the famous four locos. Later, the name was carried by the diesel S301. Mitchell grass, common name of the small genus of grass species dominant across much of the arid areas of the continent Mitchell's hopping mouse, an Australian native rodent-like animal Countless roadside locations in Victoria have a memorial erected 'Major Mitchell passed here'. Sir Thomas Mitchell Road Villawood NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell road in Bondi NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell Drive Bowenfels (Lithgow) linking the Great Western Highway with the Cox River at a fitting memorial to colonial road builders. Mitchell is also the namesake in the highest honor of the New South Wales Surveyors Awards, the Sir Thomas Mitchell Excellence in Surveying Award. A map of the expedition of Major Sir Thomas Mitchell into the country between the Maranoa and Mount Mudge and the River Victoria, 1848 was ranked #38 in the ‘Top 150: Documenting Queensland’ exhibition when it toured to venues around Queensland from February 2009 to April 2010. The exhibition was part of Queensland State Archives’ events and exhibition program which contributed to the state’s Q150 celebrations, marking the 150th anniversary of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales. Manuscript Collections See also :Category:Taxa named by Thomas Mitchell (explorer) Charles Sturt Great North Road (Australia) History of New South Wales New South Wales gold rush Nineteen Counties Surveyor General of New South Wales References External links Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1, Volume 2 The Great North Road – Convict Trail Project 1792 births 1855 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Explorers of Australia Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia Scottish explorers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Scottish surveyors Royal Engineers officers People from Grangemouth Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Rifle Brigade officers Surveyors General of New South Wales 19th-century Australian politicians Pre-Separation Queensland Australian duellists
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[ "Henry Eld (June 2, 1814—March 12, 1850) was a United States Navy officer, geographer, and Antarctic explorer.\n\nBiography\nEld was born in Cedar Hill, New Haven, Connecticut, on June 2, 1814, and lived in the area now known as View Street, but when it started becoming more populated he removed his house and relocated.\n\nEld served as a geographer on the ship Peacock, on the ship Vincennes at Fiji, and joined Lieutenant George Emmons's overland journey through Oregon and California (while in California he was involved in the Mexican War). He produced 43 maps and 42 pencil sketches of the land between the Columbia River and the Sacramento Valley.\n\nPassed Midshipman Eld was one of the officers of the United States Exploring Expedition under Capt. Charles Wilkes in 1838 and 1842 in search of the Antarctic continent, which Eld first descried and called out land from the crosstree of the sloop Peacock on January 16, 1840. From this the United States dates the first discovery of the Antarctic continent, and Capt. Wilkes named the highest mountain peak Eld Peak (which is part of what was later named the Lazarev Mountains). They proved that the Antarctic was a continent (Eld was the first to see the Antarctic mountains at a crucial stage of their survey of the ice fields). On January 10, 1840 Eld was part of a two-man landing party to investigate Macquarie Island, one of the first men to do so. Splitting with his quarter-master, he explored a penguin rookery alone, and was surprised by resistance the birds gave him. Eld kept journals and sketch books of the Wilkes Expedition, accompanied by letters, reports and orders, documenting his personal and professional life.\n\nSpecimens were collected during the expedition - fifty thousand plants, and over 7 thousand mineral specimens, 3 thousand insects, innumerable shells, fish, reptiles, mammals, and hundreds of tribal artifacts- all these became scientific treasure.\n\nAlso, Eld Inlet of Puget Sound in Washington state was named after Eld by Capt. Wilkes during the United States Exploring Expedition, to honor him.\n\nHenry Eld died at sea on board U. S. ship of war Ohio on March 12, 1850, bound home from Rio de Janeiro after a three and a half years' cruise.\n\nTributes\nA Sailor's Poem written in memory of Henry Eld's passing in 1854:\n\n\"...thrice had weary sickness laid him low\nUpon the troubled couch of feverish pain —\nAnd days and nights of anguish measured slow\nTheir length upon the prostrate sufferer's chain;\nYet oft bright visions to his heart would come...\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Photos of some sketches by Henry Eld\n Narrative of the United States' exploring expedition, during the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842 (1845), Wilkes, Charles (1798–1877)\n\nUnited States Navy officers\nAmerican geographers\nExplorers of Antarctica\nMilitary personnel from New Haven, Connecticut\n1814 births\n1850 deaths\nPeople of the United States Exploring Expedition", "Major William Rich (1800–1864) was an American botanist and explorer who was part of the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842.\n\nBiography \nWilliam Rich was the youngest son of Captain Obadiah Rich (1758–1805) who commanded the brig Intrepid in the American Revolutionary War, and his first wife Salome Lombard (1761–1807). In 1825, he co-founded the Botanic Club of Washington, and served as a joint editor of the American Botanical Register, 1825–30. Rich spent several years in Spain with his older brother, the bibliographer Obadiah Rich. He joined the Scientific Corps of the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838 as botanist, and was in the 1841 overland party headed by George F. Emmons that traveled south from the Oregon Territory along the Siskiyou Trail to upper California, before rejoining the expedition's ships in San Francisco.\n\nRich \"found escape from having to report on the expedition's botanical collections\" in the outbreak of the Mexican–American War. In November, 1846, he was appointed paymaster, with the rank of major, to the troop of United States volunteers sent to subdue California. He was accompanied by his nephews, the surveyor and artist William Rich Hutton and his younger brother James D. Hutton, also a surveyor and artist.\n\nThe volunteer troops were disbanded when the war ended in 1848, but Rich continued to serve as paymaster until his honorable discharge on October 31, 1849. Rich collected botanical specimens for the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey in 1848 and the Pacific Railroad Surveys in 1853. He served briefly as secretary to the United States legation in Mexico.\n\nRich Passage, a tidal strait in Puget Sound, was named in his honor by Charles Wilkes, leader of the Exploring Expedition.\n\nReferences\n\nBotanists active in North America\nBotanists active in the Pacific\nAmerican explorers\nAmerican geographers\nAmerican explorers of the Pacific\nExplorers of Oregon\nUnited States Army officers\n1800 births\n1864 deaths\nPeople of the United States Exploring Expedition" ]
[ "Thomas Mitchell (explorer)", "Fourth expedition", "What was Mitchell exploring during his fourth expedition?", "Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria," ]
C_31fec604f00d47fca55b1bf8097cb058_0
Was he correct?
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Was Thomas Mitchell correct that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria?
Thomas Mitchell (explorer)
Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, this being the main thrust of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree (Buree in Mitchell's journal) with a large party including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). He struck the Darling River above Fort Bourke then continued to the Narran River, the Balonne, and the Culgoa. On 12 April 1846 he came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St.George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to a magnificent pastoral district in the midst of which stood a solitary hill that he named Mount Abundance. He then crossed a low watershed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa and discovered the Warrago River. Keeping north over the watershed, he traversed the Claude and Nogoa rivers, then reached the Belyando River, an upper reach of the Burdekin River. This had already been discovered by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington on 2 April 1845. Intensely mortified to find that he was on a tributary of the Burdekin River, and approaching the ground already trodden by Leichhardt, he returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, after dividing his party and forming a stationary camp. He continued west, making a new discovery which he was certain was the fabled north-west river. In honour of the sovereign of the time he decided to call it Victoria River. Having run out of time, he turned back towards the main party. It was here that Mitchell first noticed the well known grass that bears his name. On the homeward journey he trekked along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later that year, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aborigines. CANNOTANSWER
Later that year, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek.
Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (15 June 1792 – 5 October 1855), surveyor and explorer of Southeastern Australia, was born at Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, Scotland. In 1827 he took up an appointment as Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales. The following year he became Surveyor General and remained in this position until his death. Mitchell was knighted in 1839 for his contribution to the surveying of Australia. Early life Born in Scotland on 15 June 1792, he was son of John Mitchell of Carron Works and was brought up from childhood by his uncle, Thomas Livingstone of Parkhall, Stirlingshire. Peninsular War On the death of his uncle, he joined the British army in Portugal as a volunteer in the Peninsular War, at the age of sixteen. On 24 June 1811, at the age of nineteen, he received his first commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion 95th Rifles (later the Rifle Brigade / Royal Green Jackets). Utilising his skills as a draughtsman of outstanding ability, he was occasionally employed in the Quartermaster-General's department under Sir George Murray. He was present at the storming of the fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos and San Sebastian as well as the battles of Salamanca and the Pyrenees. Subsequently, he would receive the Military General Service Medal with bars for each of these engagements. When the war was over, Mitchell was selected to reside in Spain and Portugal for four years to complete sketches of the battlefields for the Military Depot. His duties also included conducting several other important surveys which had been impossible to finish whilst operations were in progress in the field. On 10 June 1818, during this posting, Mitchell married Mary Blunt (daughter of General Richard Blunt) in Lisbon and gained promotion to a company in the 54th Regiment. In the summer of 1819, he returned to Britain where he devoted himself to finishing the drawings, but with the cessation of the government allowances he had to stop this work. The reductions in the military establishment which followed the withdrawing of the Army of Occupation from France forced Mitchell on to half-pay. It was not until much later, while Mitchell was in London between 1838 and 1840, that the work was completed. The finished drawings were published by the London geographer James Wyld in 1841 under the title Atlas containing the principle battles, sieges and affairs of the Peninsular War. Of high quality, the drawings are the prime source for the topography of the war. New South Wales In 1827, with the support of Sir George Murray, Mitchell became Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales with the right to succeed John Oxley. Oxley died the following year, and on 27 May 1828, Mitchell became Surveyor General. In this post he did much to improve the quality and accuracy of surveying – a vital task in a colony where huge tracts of land were being opened up and sold to new settlers. One of the first roads surveyed under his leadership was the Great North Road, built by convict labour between 1826 and 1836 linking Sydney to the Hunter Region. The Great South Road (now replaced by the Hume Highway), also convict-built, linked Sydney and Goulburn. He kept a record of his 'Progress in roads and Public Works in New South Wales to 1855', including sketches and plans of Sydney, Emu Plains, the Blue Mountains, Victoria Pass, roads to Bathurst, Wiseman's Ferry, and indigenous Australians. As Surveyor General, Mitchell also completed maps and plans of Sydney, including Darling Point, Point Piper, the city, and Port Jackson. In 1834 he was commissioned to survey a map of the Nineteen Counties. The map he produced was done with such skill and accuracy that he was awarded a knighthood. Around this time, a portrait of Mitchell was painted showing him in the uniform of Major of the 1st Rifle Brigade of the 95th Regiment, complete with whistle used to direct the movement of troops. During his tenure in New South Wales, Mitchell led four extensive and historically significant surveying expeditions into the interior of eastern Australia. First expedition In 1831, a runaway convict named George "The Barber" Clarke (monument around Barbers Lagoon, Boggabri NSW), who had lived with the Kamilaroi people in the area for several years, claimed that a large river called Kindur flowed north-west from the Liverpool Ranges in New South Wales to the sea. Charles Sturt believed that the Murray-Darling system formed the main river system of New South Wales and Mitchell wanted to prove Sturt wrong. Mitchell formed an expedition consisting of himself, assistant surveyor George Boyle White and 15 convicts who were promised remission for good conduct. Mitchell took 20 bullocks, three heavy drays, three light carts and nine horses to carry supplies, and set out on 24 November 1831 to investigate the claim. On reaching Wollombi in the Hunter Valley, the local assistant surveyor, Heneage Finch, expressed a desire to join the expedition which Mitchell approved, provided he first obtain extra provisions and rendezvous later. The expedition continued northward, and having climbed the Liverpool Range on 5 December, they found an Aboriginal tribe who had fled from their home in the Hunter Valley and were suffering from what appeared to be smallpox. On 8 December they arrived at Quirindi and by 11 December the expedition had reached Wallamoul Station near Tamworth, the northern extent of white settlement at the time. Mitchell continued his northward push into uncolonised territory, guided by a local Gamilaraay man named "Mr. Brown". In mid-December, near to where Boggabri now stands, they located the remains of a stockyard and huts built by George Clarke and his Aboriginal colleagues. By early January 1832 Mitchell's group was travelling along the Namoi River, by which stage Mr Brown had left them. Mitchell's party then headed north unguided but managed to reach the Gwydir River in mid-January where they found a small Aboriginal village of conical-roofed huts. They followed the Gwydir west and made it to the Barwon River by the end of the month. Mitchell came to the correct conclusion that the Barwon flowed into the Darling River and decided not to proceed any further. At this stage, Finch had finally caught up with the main group. Finch conveyed the news that the provisions he had obtained had been ransacked by Aboriginal people at Gorolei. Two men he had left to guard the supplies had also been killed. The immediate effect was that Mitchell decided to abandon the expedition and return south. The party retraced their path having tense but peaceful interactions with large groups of Gamilaraay people along the way. They reached Gorolei on 18 February where Mitchell buried the bodies of the two killed men and salvaged some equipment. Aboriginal people approached the group laying down their spears and offering females to Mitchell's men in an apparent attempt at appeasement for the killings. Mitchell refused the offer but accepted their guidance on an easy way back to the Namoi River. Once back at Wallamoul, Mitchell placed White in charge of the main party, while he returned hastily to Sydney. He was satisfied that there was no truth about the river Kindur claimed by Clarke. Fourteen years later, Mitchell revealed that the convicts had indulged in sexual relations with Aboriginal women. Second expedition Mitchell's next expedition was in 1835. The purpose was to explore the course of the Darling River from where Sturt had turned back in 1829, to where it joined the Murray River. There were 24 men in the party including Mitchell, James Larmer (assistant surveyor) as second in command, Richard Cunningham (colonial botanist) and 21 other men. The main party under Larmer left Parramatta on 9 March and rendezvoused with Mitchell at Boree near the township of Orange. From there, the expedition was guided through the Goobang Ranges by local Wiradjuri people toward the Bogan River. On 17 April 1835, Richard Cunningham wandered away from the party while looking for botanical specimens and went missing. The party, with the assistance of various local Aboriginal people, searched for him until 5 May, following Cunningham's tracks around the headwaters of the Bogan until they disappeared. Cunningham's dead horse, saddle, glove and fragments of his coat and map were all they found. Months later, a search party of military mounted police commanded by Lieutenant Henry Zouch of the first division, discovered that Cunningham had been killed by four Wiradjuri men and his bones were found and buried at Currindine. After the fruitless search for Cunningham, Mitchell decided to continue the expedition. He was assisted by a local unnamed elder who provided a guide called Tackijally. This man led Mitchell downstream along the waterholes adjacent to the Bogan River as far as Nyngan. Tackijally left them at this point and the group was soon involved in a brief confrontation after they startled an Aboriginal man at a waterhole. The man, who was shot in the hand, had his wounds dressed by the group and later departed. They proceeded down the Bogan, encountering several gatherings of people to which Mitchell gave tomahawks and pieces of an old sword. On 25 May the junction with the Darling River was reached. Here, on a high point of land which bore many Aboriginal grave sites, Mitchell decided to build a fort as he realised that they "had not asked permission to come there" and he needed a stockade for "stout resistance against any number of natives." He named it Fort Bourke in honour of the Governor, Richard Bourke. Two whale boats had been transported the whole distance on bullock drays and on 1 June Mitchell launched the boats on the Darling to transport the party downriver. However, the Darling became shallower and unnavigable resulting in the expedition resorting once again to overland progress. They encountered many tribes as they headed south, with Mitchell documenting the agricultural practices of some, such as the harvesting of Panicum decompositum, and the large permanent dwellings of others. One clan appeared more hostile than others, kicking up dust and spitting at party members. Mitchell acknowledged that his group were "rather unceremonious invaders of their country" but inflamed tensions by firing a pistol at a tree. Mitchell wrote that "the more they saw of our superior weapons...the more they shewed their hatred and tokens of defiance." The party continued downriver, meeting with friendlier locals, passing through villages and noting the construction of their tomb-sites. Just north of the Menindee Lakes, the expedition came across a large congregation of several tribes and Mitchell decided that continuing the exploration would be too dangerous. On 11 July, just as Mitchell had resolved to return to Sydney, shots were heard from a forage party up the river. Mitchell sent a further three armed men to the scene of the shooting and the firing continued. After more than an hour, some members of the group returned reporting that a skirmish had occurred over the possession of a kettle and at least three Aboriginal people had been shot dead, including a woman and her child. One of Mitchell's men had been knocked unconscious. The party then commenced their return via the outbound route with Mitchell deciding to avoid contact with the various tribes as much as possible. The "spitting tribe" attempted to burn down their camp on this return journey which resulted in Mitchell ordering shots to be fired over their heads. They arrived at Fort Bourke on 10 August and continued back along the Bogan River. Near Nyngan they met again with members of Tackijally's tribe who allowed Mitchell to walk through their cemetery at Milmeridien. Mitchell soon tired of the clan asking for food and ordered some of his men to march at them with bayonets. On 9 September they came to the upper reaches of the Bogan where they found a cattle-station had already been formed along their route by William Lee. The expedition arrived back at their starting point of Boree on 14 September. While Mitchell did not trace the Darling River to its junction with the Murray River, the course and terrain of the Bogan River and much of the Darling River had been charted. The places where this and other Mitchell expeditions were most assailed by Aboriginal Australians, including the location of Cunningham's killing, are marked on an 1836 map produced by Mitchell. Third expedition The goal of Mitchell's third expedition was to explore and survey the lower part of the Darling River, with instructions to head up the Murray River and then return to the settled areas around Yass. Second in command was assistant surveyor Granville Stapylton. A Wiradjuri man named John Piper was also recruited and 23 convicts and ticket of leave men made up the rest of the party. The group set out from a valley near Mount Canobolas on 17 March 1836, and made their way to Boree and the Bogan River as on previous journeys, then veered south to the Kalare or Lachlan River to approach the Darling from its southern end where it joined the Murray. The party was guided by various Aboriginal people such as "Barney" along the Lachlan, passing Lake Cargelligo, as John Oxley did in 1817. At this place they met with a large clan from which a number of people joined the expedition and gave vital information about waterholes, as the Lachlan was drying out. Piper also obtained a "good, strong woman" from this tribe. On 2 May they arrived at Combedyega where an Aboriginal widow named Turandurey with her four-year-old daughter Ballandella also joined the expedition as a guide. She remembered Oxley from nineteen years earlier and Sturt as well, and knew the lower Lachlan. The Murrumbidgee River was reached on 12 May, but at a point downstream from the junction with the Lachlan. Mount Dispersion massacre They continued down the Murrumbidgee until 21 May when they were close to the junction with the Murray River. A depot was established at this point, and Mitchell left Staplyton with eight men to guard the stock, while he ventured downstream with the rest of the group. According to the account given to a later enquiry by William Muirhead (bullock-driver and sergeant), Alexander Burnett (overseer) and Jemmy Piper (Aboriginal man accompanying the party): on 24 May Mitchell noticed that Barkindji tribesmen from the Darling River were gathering in large numbers, and by 27 May the hostile intentions of these men became known, when local Murray River people told Piper that the Barkindji were planning to kill Mitchell and his men. Mitchell had to decide whether to wait for an attack, or plan a pre-emptive manoeuvre. His numbers were reduced, as Staplyton and eight men were still at the depot. He split his party again, leaving half the men to hide in the scrub in ambush, while he continued ahead with the carts. When the armed Barkindji warriors approached, the convict Charles King, who was involved in the earlier killings, fired first without waiting for orders. The tribesmen fled into the river and Mitchell's two groups reunited on the shore and continued to shoot at the people for up to 15 minutes. Around 75 shots were fired with Piper later being told that seven Barkindji were killed and four wounded. Mitchell wrote about the loss of life in his journal, describing the Barkindji as "treacherous savages", and detailing how his men had chased them away, "pursuing and shooting as many as they could". This section was withheld from Mitchell's report when it was released to the public in Sydney. Mitchell named the hill near to where the mass-shooting occurred Mount Dispersion and in May 2020 it was heritage-listed as the Mount Dispersion Massacre Site Aboriginal Place. Onwards The expedition continued down the Murray River, encountering a major Aboriginal grave-site at Red Cliffs. On 31 May they arrived close to the junction of the Murray with a "green and stagnant" waterway. Local people advised Piper that this was the Darling River. Mitchell did not believe it, and only when he travelled upstream for some distance, coming across the same type of burial mounds that he had seen in 1835, did he acknowledge that "this hopeless river" was the Darling. He turned back and headed upstream on the Murray to rejoin Stapylton at the depot. The reunited expedition now travelled south-east following the Murray. They passed Swan Hill on 21 June and encountered a group of native inhabitants at Lake Boga. These people were angry at Piper for "bringing whitefellows" to their country and threw spears at him. Piper shot one of them dead. Mitchell noted the local people's practice of making large nets that spanned above the river to catch waterfowl and also came across unusual animals such as the now extinct Southern pig-footed bandicoot. At the end of June, Mitchell chose to leave the Murray to investigate better looking lands to the south-west. Mitchell was so impressed with the country he saw, he named it Australia Felix. In early July the party crossed the Loddon River, and made their way in a south-westerly direction which brought them to the Grampians and the Wimmera River. Confrontation with people in this region resulted in an Indigenous man being shot in the arm. They were guided by a local Aboriginal woman along part of the Nangeela (Glenelg River) with Mitchell constructing a fortified base on its banks which he named Fort O'Hare. From here Mitchell led part of the group in boats down the Glenelg to where it discharged into the ocean at a bay which Mitchell named Discovery Bay. Mitchell then returned to Fort O'Hare and altered direction towards Portland Bay to the east. When this was reached on 29 August, Mitchell was surprised to find an established farm and whaling station operated by the Henty brothers. The expedition continued north-east with Mitchell spending a night in a "snug old hut of the natives" at Narrawong. On 17 September, in order to speed his return, Mitchell split the party in two, taking 14 men with him and leaving the remainder with Stapylton to follow with the bullocks and drays. The young girl Ballandella went with Mitchell, while her mother Turandurey remained behind. On the plains around the Hopkins River, Mitchell came across a community of Aboriginal people who cultivated and harvested murnong tubers with specialised tools. Mitchell was wary and when forty of them approached his camp, he ordered his men to charge at them. On 30 September, Mitchell climbed and named Mount Macedon, from the summit of which he had a view of Port Phillip. Progress was slowed due a member of the group, James "Tally-ho" Taylor, drowning while crossing the Broken River. Their return to the frontier of British colonisation on the Murrumbidgee was not completed until 24 October. Enquiry When Mitchell arrived in Sydney in early November he was received with great joy. However, when the remainder of his party arrived two weeks later, rumours circulated about the mass killing on the Murray. He subsequently faced a Legislative Council Inquiry in December 1836, receiving an official rebuke. Ballandella joined Mitchell's family of eight other children and learnt to read and write, but was left by Mitchell when he returned to England. Ballandella later married and raised a family at Sackville where she died around the age of thirty. Fourth expedition Mitchell's fourth expedition was into northern interior of the colony (a region now part of Queensland) in 1845–46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, and finding this river was the main focus of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree near Orange with a large party of 32 people including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). The Wiradjuri man named Piper from his previous expedition was also a member. Yuranigh (also Wiradjuri) and a ten year old boy from the lower Bogan River named "Dicky" were also assigned as guides. The party travelled north along the Bogan where a war between the British and the Indigenous inhabitants was at that time occurring. Mitchell noted areas where the British had been pushed back, abandoning their farmhouses which were subsequently burnt down by the local people. Mitchell stated "All I could learn about the rest of the tribe was, that the men were almost all dead, and that their wives were chiefly servants at stock stations along the Macquarie." In January 1846, they left the Bogan and started following the Macquarie River where Mitchell was informed of Pipers' intention to leave the expedition. Mitchell ordered him back to Bathurst, accompanied by Corporal Graham. Near the Macquarie Marshes the harvesting of native millet by Aboriginal people to make bread was recorded and a local man named Yulliyally guided the group to the Barwon River. From here two brothers from a nearby clan led Mitchell to vital waterholes near the Narran River. Mitchell "blushed inwardly for our pallid race" knowing that "white man's cattle would soon trample these holes into a quagmire of mud." More bundles of harvested millet lay for miles along their journey up the Narran. Mitchell then received a message from his son, Roderick Mitchell, a Crown Lands Commissioner who had previously been to the area, which recommended following the Balonne and the Culgoa rivers north. They encountered many Indigenous people who guided the group along the way. On 12 April 1846 Mitchell came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St. George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to an area with an "abundance of good pasturage" in which stood a solitary double topped hill that he named Mount Abundance, on which grew a species of bottle tree. He then crossed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy, who had trouble with local inhabitants trying to burn down his camp, rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa, on one occasion discharging his rifle over the heads of the Indigenous people to gain "peaceful occupation of the ground." He sighted the headwaters of the Warrego and Nogoa Rivers, then came across the upper reaches of the Belyando River which they followed for a considerable distance. This river's name was given to Mitchell by Indigenous residents before the expedition's dogs chased them away, biting at their legs. Being a tributary of the Burdekin River, a waterway already visited by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington in 1845, Mitchell was dismayed to find that he was approaching ground already explored by Europeans. He returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, meeting with a tribe who caught emus with nets. He encountered a river which he was certain was the fabled waterway that would flow north-west to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He followed it until he came across a large clan of Aboriginal people living in permanent huts on the banks of a lagoon. He called this place Yuranigh Pond after his Wiradjuri guide and decided to return home. In honour of the British sovereign of the time, he named the waterway, Victoria River. On the homeward journey Mitchell noticed the well known grass that bears his name. They trekked back along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later in 1847, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria in fact did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aboriginal people. Later career In 1837, Mitchell sought 18 months leave from his position and in May he left Sydney for London. During his leave, he published an account of his explorations called Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia: with descriptions of the recently explored region of Australia Felix, and of the present colony of New South Wales. Mitchell sought additional periods of leave and finally arrived back in Australia in 1841. Mitchell left Sydney again in March 1847 on another period of leave. By the time he arrived back in mid-1848, he had published his Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia, in search of a route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mitchell's journals proved a rich source for historians and anthropologists, with their close and sympathetic observations of the Aboriginal peoples he had encountered. These publications made him the most celebrated Australian explorer of his day. But he was a difficult man to get on with, made evident by this passage made by Governor Charles Augustus FitzRoy: "It is notorious that Sir Thomas Mitchell's unfortunate impracticability of temper and spirit of opposition of those in authority over him misled him into frequent collision with my predecessors." In a by-election for the Electoral district of Port Phillip in April 1844, Mitchell was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council. He found it difficult to separate his roles of government employee and elected member of the legislature, and after only five months he resigned from the Legislative Council. Duel Mitchell is also remembered as the last person in Australia to challenge anyone to a duel. In September 1851, Mitchell issued a challenge to Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson (later Premier of New South Wales) because Donaldson had publicly criticised excessive spending by the Surveyor General's Department. The duel took place in Sydney on 27 September, with both duellists missing their marks; only Donaldson's hat was damaged. The French 50 calibre pistols used in the duel are in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. Ophir gold fields In 1851, Mitchell was instructed by Governor FitzRoy to make a report on, and survey of, 'the extent and productiveness of the goldfield reported to have been discovered in the County of Bathurst.' He travelled west during winter to visit the Ophir gold diggings, accompanied by his son, Roderick, and Samuel Stutchbury the government geologist. In June 1851 Mitchell selected the site for the township of Ophir. W.R. Davidson plotted a survey of the ground and Mitchell planned the streets and allotments for the town. Mitchell returned with a collection of specimens from the diggings, mostly quartz, with 48 of these stored in a wooden chest. His report of the goldfields was presented to the Legislative Council in February 1852. Story of the "bomerang" propeller The search for a method of screw propulsion of ships intrigued many inventors during the latter half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. An Englishman, K. P. Smith, patented a screw propeller in 1836, and shortly afterwards Captain John Ericsson, formerly an officer of the Swedish army, patented another. On his travels, Mitchell must have been evolving the idea of his boomerang propeller—he spelled it "bomerang", while newspapers used "bomarang" and "boomerang." The first test was made in the Sydney Harbour in May 1852, an iron propeller being fitted to the "screw-steamer" Keera. The results of this trial were considered satisfactory, the ship's progress being calculated on two runs at 10 and a little over 12 knots, and Sir Thomas Mitchell took his Invention to England. In 1853 the propeller was fitted to the Genova, and a trial was conducted on the Mersey. Then the Admiralty gave it a test on . The Genova ran at 9.5 knots as against 8.5 with a screw propeller, and the Conflict 9.25 knots as against the screw propeller 8.75, and at a lower engine speed. The "boomerang" propeller can be simply described as a "screw" propeller with much of the blades close to the shaft, which contribute little to propulsion but much to drag, cut away, a principle which is well understood today. Family life Thomas Mitchell and Mary had twelve children: Livingstone, Roderick, Murray, Campbell, Thomas, Richard, Georgina, Maria, Emily, Camilla, Alicia, Blanche. Georgina and Maria died young, and Murray before 1847. Roderick became a Commissioner of Crown Lands and head of the Border Police in the Liverpool Plains district. Roderick was drowned and Campbell died during the last years of Mitchell's life. His family enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and Blanche Mitchell, his youngest daughter, recorded her daily activities and social life in childhood diaries and notebooks. Her sister Emily married George Edward Thicknesse-Touchet, 21st Baron Audley. In 1841, Mitchell completed his new Gothic home, Carthona, on the water's edge in Darling Point, Sydney. Following Mitchell's death, his family moved to Craigend Terrace in Woolloomooloo. Death In July 1855 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the New South Wales Survey Department, but Mitchell did not live to see the report. While surveying the line of road between Nelligen and Braidwood, he developed a chill which led to a severe attack of bronchitis. He died a few days later at Carthona at Darling Point at 5:15 pm 5 October 1855. Newspapers of the day commented:"For a period of twenty-eight years Sir Thomas Mitchell had served the Colony, much of that service having been exceedingly arduous and difficult. Among the early explorers of Australia his name will occupy an honoured place in the estimation of posterity." He is buried at Camperdown Cemetery, Newtown, with his grave being maintained by the Seniors Group of Surveyors. Naming Some of the places Mitchell named on his expeditions were: the Avoca River, Balonne River, Belyando River, Campaspe River, Cogoon River, Discovery Bay, Glenelg River, Grampians, Maranoa River, Mount Arapiles, Mount King, Mount Macedon, Mount Napier, Mount William, Nyngan, Pyramid Hill, St George, Swan Hill and Wimmera River. Commemoration Because of his contributions in the surveying and exploration of Australia, Mitchell is commemorated by having numerous localities or objects across Australia being named after him. These include: The town of Mitchell in Queensland The Mitchell River in Queensland The Canberra suburb of Mitchell The electorate of Mitchell The Mitchell Highway The Major Mitchell's cockatoo, a species of cockatoo Mitchellstown in Victoria. A local government area in Victoria, Shire of Mitchell Steam locomotive number S 301 Sir Thomas Mitchell, a member of the Victorian Railways S class locomotives. In turn, Mitchell House at Seymour Technical High School, the town with the loco depot which serviced the famous four locos. Later, the name was carried by the diesel S301. Mitchell grass, common name of the small genus of grass species dominant across much of the arid areas of the continent Mitchell's hopping mouse, an Australian native rodent-like animal Countless roadside locations in Victoria have a memorial erected 'Major Mitchell passed here'. Sir Thomas Mitchell Road Villawood NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell road in Bondi NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell Drive Bowenfels (Lithgow) linking the Great Western Highway with the Cox River at a fitting memorial to colonial road builders. Mitchell is also the namesake in the highest honor of the New South Wales Surveyors Awards, the Sir Thomas Mitchell Excellence in Surveying Award. A map of the expedition of Major Sir Thomas Mitchell into the country between the Maranoa and Mount Mudge and the River Victoria, 1848 was ranked #38 in the ‘Top 150: Documenting Queensland’ exhibition when it toured to venues around Queensland from February 2009 to April 2010. The exhibition was part of Queensland State Archives’ events and exhibition program which contributed to the state’s Q150 celebrations, marking the 150th anniversary of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales. Manuscript Collections See also :Category:Taxa named by Thomas Mitchell (explorer) Charles Sturt Great North Road (Australia) History of New South Wales New South Wales gold rush Nineteen Counties Surveyor General of New South Wales References External links Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1, Volume 2 The Great North Road – Convict Trail Project 1792 births 1855 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Explorers of Australia Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia Scottish explorers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Scottish surveyors Royal Engineers officers People from Grangemouth Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Rifle Brigade officers Surveyors General of New South Wales 19th-century Australian politicians Pre-Separation Queensland Australian duellists
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[ "Najsłabsze ogniwo was the Polish version of the game show Weakest Link aired from 1 March 2004 to 22 December 2005 on TVN. The show was hosted by Kazimiera Szczuka. The show pitted eight contestants against each other for a pot of 27,000 złotys (PLN). This show was watched usually by 3 million viewers (average 1,5 million).\n\nThe game's prizes for questions\n 1. question correct • 100 zł\n 2. question correct • 300 zł\n 3. question correct • 600 zł\n 4. question correct • 900 zł\n 5. question correct • 1,300 zł\n 6. question correct • 1,800 zł\n 7. question correct • 2,400 zł\n 8. question correct • 3,000 zł\n\nReferences\n\nPolish game shows\n2004 Polish television series debuts\n2006 Polish television series endings\nTVN (Polish TV channel) original programming\nThe Weakest Link", "Correct is an unincorporated community in Johnson Township, Ripley County, in the U.S. state of Indiana.\n\nHistory\nA post office called Correct was established in 1881, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1905. According to tradition, the name of the village was supposed to be Comet, but postal authorities mistakingly entered the name as Correct, and that name stuck.\n\nGeography\nCorrect is located on U.S. Route 421, south-southwest of Versailles.\n\nReferences\n\nUnincorporated communities in Ripley County, Indiana\nUnincorporated communities in Indiana" ]
[ "Thomas Mitchell (explorer)", "Fourth expedition", "What was Mitchell exploring during his fourth expedition?", "Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria,", "Was he correct?", "Later that year, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek." ]
C_31fec604f00d47fca55b1bf8097cb058_0
When did he begin his explorations?
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When did Thomas Mitchell begin his explorations?
Thomas Mitchell (explorer)
Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, this being the main thrust of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree (Buree in Mitchell's journal) with a large party including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). He struck the Darling River above Fort Bourke then continued to the Narran River, the Balonne, and the Culgoa. On 12 April 1846 he came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St.George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to a magnificent pastoral district in the midst of which stood a solitary hill that he named Mount Abundance. He then crossed a low watershed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa and discovered the Warrago River. Keeping north over the watershed, he traversed the Claude and Nogoa rivers, then reached the Belyando River, an upper reach of the Burdekin River. This had already been discovered by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington on 2 April 1845. Intensely mortified to find that he was on a tributary of the Burdekin River, and approaching the ground already trodden by Leichhardt, he returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, after dividing his party and forming a stationary camp. He continued west, making a new discovery which he was certain was the fabled north-west river. In honour of the sovereign of the time he decided to call it Victoria River. Having run out of time, he turned back towards the main party. It was here that Mitchell first noticed the well known grass that bears his name. On the homeward journey he trekked along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later that year, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aborigines. CANNOTANSWER
On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree (Buree in Mitchell's journal) with a large party including Edmund Kennedy as second in command
Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (15 June 1792 – 5 October 1855), surveyor and explorer of Southeastern Australia, was born at Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, Scotland. In 1827 he took up an appointment as Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales. The following year he became Surveyor General and remained in this position until his death. Mitchell was knighted in 1839 for his contribution to the surveying of Australia. Early life Born in Scotland on 15 June 1792, he was son of John Mitchell of Carron Works and was brought up from childhood by his uncle, Thomas Livingstone of Parkhall, Stirlingshire. Peninsular War On the death of his uncle, he joined the British army in Portugal as a volunteer in the Peninsular War, at the age of sixteen. On 24 June 1811, at the age of nineteen, he received his first commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion 95th Rifles (later the Rifle Brigade / Royal Green Jackets). Utilising his skills as a draughtsman of outstanding ability, he was occasionally employed in the Quartermaster-General's department under Sir George Murray. He was present at the storming of the fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos and San Sebastian as well as the battles of Salamanca and the Pyrenees. Subsequently, he would receive the Military General Service Medal with bars for each of these engagements. When the war was over, Mitchell was selected to reside in Spain and Portugal for four years to complete sketches of the battlefields for the Military Depot. His duties also included conducting several other important surveys which had been impossible to finish whilst operations were in progress in the field. On 10 June 1818, during this posting, Mitchell married Mary Blunt (daughter of General Richard Blunt) in Lisbon and gained promotion to a company in the 54th Regiment. In the summer of 1819, he returned to Britain where he devoted himself to finishing the drawings, but with the cessation of the government allowances he had to stop this work. The reductions in the military establishment which followed the withdrawing of the Army of Occupation from France forced Mitchell on to half-pay. It was not until much later, while Mitchell was in London between 1838 and 1840, that the work was completed. The finished drawings were published by the London geographer James Wyld in 1841 under the title Atlas containing the principle battles, sieges and affairs of the Peninsular War. Of high quality, the drawings are the prime source for the topography of the war. New South Wales In 1827, with the support of Sir George Murray, Mitchell became Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales with the right to succeed John Oxley. Oxley died the following year, and on 27 May 1828, Mitchell became Surveyor General. In this post he did much to improve the quality and accuracy of surveying – a vital task in a colony where huge tracts of land were being opened up and sold to new settlers. One of the first roads surveyed under his leadership was the Great North Road, built by convict labour between 1826 and 1836 linking Sydney to the Hunter Region. The Great South Road (now replaced by the Hume Highway), also convict-built, linked Sydney and Goulburn. He kept a record of his 'Progress in roads and Public Works in New South Wales to 1855', including sketches and plans of Sydney, Emu Plains, the Blue Mountains, Victoria Pass, roads to Bathurst, Wiseman's Ferry, and indigenous Australians. As Surveyor General, Mitchell also completed maps and plans of Sydney, including Darling Point, Point Piper, the city, and Port Jackson. In 1834 he was commissioned to survey a map of the Nineteen Counties. The map he produced was done with such skill and accuracy that he was awarded a knighthood. Around this time, a portrait of Mitchell was painted showing him in the uniform of Major of the 1st Rifle Brigade of the 95th Regiment, complete with whistle used to direct the movement of troops. During his tenure in New South Wales, Mitchell led four extensive and historically significant surveying expeditions into the interior of eastern Australia. First expedition In 1831, a runaway convict named George "The Barber" Clarke (monument around Barbers Lagoon, Boggabri NSW), who had lived with the Kamilaroi people in the area for several years, claimed that a large river called Kindur flowed north-west from the Liverpool Ranges in New South Wales to the sea. Charles Sturt believed that the Murray-Darling system formed the main river system of New South Wales and Mitchell wanted to prove Sturt wrong. Mitchell formed an expedition consisting of himself, assistant surveyor George Boyle White and 15 convicts who were promised remission for good conduct. Mitchell took 20 bullocks, three heavy drays, three light carts and nine horses to carry supplies, and set out on 24 November 1831 to investigate the claim. On reaching Wollombi in the Hunter Valley, the local assistant surveyor, Heneage Finch, expressed a desire to join the expedition which Mitchell approved, provided he first obtain extra provisions and rendezvous later. The expedition continued northward, and having climbed the Liverpool Range on 5 December, they found an Aboriginal tribe who had fled from their home in the Hunter Valley and were suffering from what appeared to be smallpox. On 8 December they arrived at Quirindi and by 11 December the expedition had reached Wallamoul Station near Tamworth, the northern extent of white settlement at the time. Mitchell continued his northward push into uncolonised territory, guided by a local Gamilaraay man named "Mr. Brown". In mid-December, near to where Boggabri now stands, they located the remains of a stockyard and huts built by George Clarke and his Aboriginal colleagues. By early January 1832 Mitchell's group was travelling along the Namoi River, by which stage Mr Brown had left them. Mitchell's party then headed north unguided but managed to reach the Gwydir River in mid-January where they found a small Aboriginal village of conical-roofed huts. They followed the Gwydir west and made it to the Barwon River by the end of the month. Mitchell came to the correct conclusion that the Barwon flowed into the Darling River and decided not to proceed any further. At this stage, Finch had finally caught up with the main group. Finch conveyed the news that the provisions he had obtained had been ransacked by Aboriginal people at Gorolei. Two men he had left to guard the supplies had also been killed. The immediate effect was that Mitchell decided to abandon the expedition and return south. The party retraced their path having tense but peaceful interactions with large groups of Gamilaraay people along the way. They reached Gorolei on 18 February where Mitchell buried the bodies of the two killed men and salvaged some equipment. Aboriginal people approached the group laying down their spears and offering females to Mitchell's men in an apparent attempt at appeasement for the killings. Mitchell refused the offer but accepted their guidance on an easy way back to the Namoi River. Once back at Wallamoul, Mitchell placed White in charge of the main party, while he returned hastily to Sydney. He was satisfied that there was no truth about the river Kindur claimed by Clarke. Fourteen years later, Mitchell revealed that the convicts had indulged in sexual relations with Aboriginal women. Second expedition Mitchell's next expedition was in 1835. The purpose was to explore the course of the Darling River from where Sturt had turned back in 1829, to where it joined the Murray River. There were 24 men in the party including Mitchell, James Larmer (assistant surveyor) as second in command, Richard Cunningham (colonial botanist) and 21 other men. The main party under Larmer left Parramatta on 9 March and rendezvoused with Mitchell at Boree near the township of Orange. From there, the expedition was guided through the Goobang Ranges by local Wiradjuri people toward the Bogan River. On 17 April 1835, Richard Cunningham wandered away from the party while looking for botanical specimens and went missing. The party, with the assistance of various local Aboriginal people, searched for him until 5 May, following Cunningham's tracks around the headwaters of the Bogan until they disappeared. Cunningham's dead horse, saddle, glove and fragments of his coat and map were all they found. Months later, a search party of military mounted police commanded by Lieutenant Henry Zouch of the first division, discovered that Cunningham had been killed by four Wiradjuri men and his bones were found and buried at Currindine. After the fruitless search for Cunningham, Mitchell decided to continue the expedition. He was assisted by a local unnamed elder who provided a guide called Tackijally. This man led Mitchell downstream along the waterholes adjacent to the Bogan River as far as Nyngan. Tackijally left them at this point and the group was soon involved in a brief confrontation after they startled an Aboriginal man at a waterhole. The man, who was shot in the hand, had his wounds dressed by the group and later departed. They proceeded down the Bogan, encountering several gatherings of people to which Mitchell gave tomahawks and pieces of an old sword. On 25 May the junction with the Darling River was reached. Here, on a high point of land which bore many Aboriginal grave sites, Mitchell decided to build a fort as he realised that they "had not asked permission to come there" and he needed a stockade for "stout resistance against any number of natives." He named it Fort Bourke in honour of the Governor, Richard Bourke. Two whale boats had been transported the whole distance on bullock drays and on 1 June Mitchell launched the boats on the Darling to transport the party downriver. However, the Darling became shallower and unnavigable resulting in the expedition resorting once again to overland progress. They encountered many tribes as they headed south, with Mitchell documenting the agricultural practices of some, such as the harvesting of Panicum decompositum, and the large permanent dwellings of others. One clan appeared more hostile than others, kicking up dust and spitting at party members. Mitchell acknowledged that his group were "rather unceremonious invaders of their country" but inflamed tensions by firing a pistol at a tree. Mitchell wrote that "the more they saw of our superior weapons...the more they shewed their hatred and tokens of defiance." The party continued downriver, meeting with friendlier locals, passing through villages and noting the construction of their tomb-sites. Just north of the Menindee Lakes, the expedition came across a large congregation of several tribes and Mitchell decided that continuing the exploration would be too dangerous. On 11 July, just as Mitchell had resolved to return to Sydney, shots were heard from a forage party up the river. Mitchell sent a further three armed men to the scene of the shooting and the firing continued. After more than an hour, some members of the group returned reporting that a skirmish had occurred over the possession of a kettle and at least three Aboriginal people had been shot dead, including a woman and her child. One of Mitchell's men had been knocked unconscious. The party then commenced their return via the outbound route with Mitchell deciding to avoid contact with the various tribes as much as possible. The "spitting tribe" attempted to burn down their camp on this return journey which resulted in Mitchell ordering shots to be fired over their heads. They arrived at Fort Bourke on 10 August and continued back along the Bogan River. Near Nyngan they met again with members of Tackijally's tribe who allowed Mitchell to walk through their cemetery at Milmeridien. Mitchell soon tired of the clan asking for food and ordered some of his men to march at them with bayonets. On 9 September they came to the upper reaches of the Bogan where they found a cattle-station had already been formed along their route by William Lee. The expedition arrived back at their starting point of Boree on 14 September. While Mitchell did not trace the Darling River to its junction with the Murray River, the course and terrain of the Bogan River and much of the Darling River had been charted. The places where this and other Mitchell expeditions were most assailed by Aboriginal Australians, including the location of Cunningham's killing, are marked on an 1836 map produced by Mitchell. Third expedition The goal of Mitchell's third expedition was to explore and survey the lower part of the Darling River, with instructions to head up the Murray River and then return to the settled areas around Yass. Second in command was assistant surveyor Granville Stapylton. A Wiradjuri man named John Piper was also recruited and 23 convicts and ticket of leave men made up the rest of the party. The group set out from a valley near Mount Canobolas on 17 March 1836, and made their way to Boree and the Bogan River as on previous journeys, then veered south to the Kalare or Lachlan River to approach the Darling from its southern end where it joined the Murray. The party was guided by various Aboriginal people such as "Barney" along the Lachlan, passing Lake Cargelligo, as John Oxley did in 1817. At this place they met with a large clan from which a number of people joined the expedition and gave vital information about waterholes, as the Lachlan was drying out. Piper also obtained a "good, strong woman" from this tribe. On 2 May they arrived at Combedyega where an Aboriginal widow named Turandurey with her four-year-old daughter Ballandella also joined the expedition as a guide. She remembered Oxley from nineteen years earlier and Sturt as well, and knew the lower Lachlan. The Murrumbidgee River was reached on 12 May, but at a point downstream from the junction with the Lachlan. Mount Dispersion massacre They continued down the Murrumbidgee until 21 May when they were close to the junction with the Murray River. A depot was established at this point, and Mitchell left Staplyton with eight men to guard the stock, while he ventured downstream with the rest of the group. According to the account given to a later enquiry by William Muirhead (bullock-driver and sergeant), Alexander Burnett (overseer) and Jemmy Piper (Aboriginal man accompanying the party): on 24 May Mitchell noticed that Barkindji tribesmen from the Darling River were gathering in large numbers, and by 27 May the hostile intentions of these men became known, when local Murray River people told Piper that the Barkindji were planning to kill Mitchell and his men. Mitchell had to decide whether to wait for an attack, or plan a pre-emptive manoeuvre. His numbers were reduced, as Staplyton and eight men were still at the depot. He split his party again, leaving half the men to hide in the scrub in ambush, while he continued ahead with the carts. When the armed Barkindji warriors approached, the convict Charles King, who was involved in the earlier killings, fired first without waiting for orders. The tribesmen fled into the river and Mitchell's two groups reunited on the shore and continued to shoot at the people for up to 15 minutes. Around 75 shots were fired with Piper later being told that seven Barkindji were killed and four wounded. Mitchell wrote about the loss of life in his journal, describing the Barkindji as "treacherous savages", and detailing how his men had chased them away, "pursuing and shooting as many as they could". This section was withheld from Mitchell's report when it was released to the public in Sydney. Mitchell named the hill near to where the mass-shooting occurred Mount Dispersion and in May 2020 it was heritage-listed as the Mount Dispersion Massacre Site Aboriginal Place. Onwards The expedition continued down the Murray River, encountering a major Aboriginal grave-site at Red Cliffs. On 31 May they arrived close to the junction of the Murray with a "green and stagnant" waterway. Local people advised Piper that this was the Darling River. Mitchell did not believe it, and only when he travelled upstream for some distance, coming across the same type of burial mounds that he had seen in 1835, did he acknowledge that "this hopeless river" was the Darling. He turned back and headed upstream on the Murray to rejoin Stapylton at the depot. The reunited expedition now travelled south-east following the Murray. They passed Swan Hill on 21 June and encountered a group of native inhabitants at Lake Boga. These people were angry at Piper for "bringing whitefellows" to their country and threw spears at him. Piper shot one of them dead. Mitchell noted the local people's practice of making large nets that spanned above the river to catch waterfowl and also came across unusual animals such as the now extinct Southern pig-footed bandicoot. At the end of June, Mitchell chose to leave the Murray to investigate better looking lands to the south-west. Mitchell was so impressed with the country he saw, he named it Australia Felix. In early July the party crossed the Loddon River, and made their way in a south-westerly direction which brought them to the Grampians and the Wimmera River. Confrontation with people in this region resulted in an Indigenous man being shot in the arm. They were guided by a local Aboriginal woman along part of the Nangeela (Glenelg River) with Mitchell constructing a fortified base on its banks which he named Fort O'Hare. From here Mitchell led part of the group in boats down the Glenelg to where it discharged into the ocean at a bay which Mitchell named Discovery Bay. Mitchell then returned to Fort O'Hare and altered direction towards Portland Bay to the east. When this was reached on 29 August, Mitchell was surprised to find an established farm and whaling station operated by the Henty brothers. The expedition continued north-east with Mitchell spending a night in a "snug old hut of the natives" at Narrawong. On 17 September, in order to speed his return, Mitchell split the party in two, taking 14 men with him and leaving the remainder with Stapylton to follow with the bullocks and drays. The young girl Ballandella went with Mitchell, while her mother Turandurey remained behind. On the plains around the Hopkins River, Mitchell came across a community of Aboriginal people who cultivated and harvested murnong tubers with specialised tools. Mitchell was wary and when forty of them approached his camp, he ordered his men to charge at them. On 30 September, Mitchell climbed and named Mount Macedon, from the summit of which he had a view of Port Phillip. Progress was slowed due a member of the group, James "Tally-ho" Taylor, drowning while crossing the Broken River. Their return to the frontier of British colonisation on the Murrumbidgee was not completed until 24 October. Enquiry When Mitchell arrived in Sydney in early November he was received with great joy. However, when the remainder of his party arrived two weeks later, rumours circulated about the mass killing on the Murray. He subsequently faced a Legislative Council Inquiry in December 1836, receiving an official rebuke. Ballandella joined Mitchell's family of eight other children and learnt to read and write, but was left by Mitchell when he returned to England. Ballandella later married and raised a family at Sackville where she died around the age of thirty. Fourth expedition Mitchell's fourth expedition was into northern interior of the colony (a region now part of Queensland) in 1845–46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, and finding this river was the main focus of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree near Orange with a large party of 32 people including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). The Wiradjuri man named Piper from his previous expedition was also a member. Yuranigh (also Wiradjuri) and a ten year old boy from the lower Bogan River named "Dicky" were also assigned as guides. The party travelled north along the Bogan where a war between the British and the Indigenous inhabitants was at that time occurring. Mitchell noted areas where the British had been pushed back, abandoning their farmhouses which were subsequently burnt down by the local people. Mitchell stated "All I could learn about the rest of the tribe was, that the men were almost all dead, and that their wives were chiefly servants at stock stations along the Macquarie." In January 1846, they left the Bogan and started following the Macquarie River where Mitchell was informed of Pipers' intention to leave the expedition. Mitchell ordered him back to Bathurst, accompanied by Corporal Graham. Near the Macquarie Marshes the harvesting of native millet by Aboriginal people to make bread was recorded and a local man named Yulliyally guided the group to the Barwon River. From here two brothers from a nearby clan led Mitchell to vital waterholes near the Narran River. Mitchell "blushed inwardly for our pallid race" knowing that "white man's cattle would soon trample these holes into a quagmire of mud." More bundles of harvested millet lay for miles along their journey up the Narran. Mitchell then received a message from his son, Roderick Mitchell, a Crown Lands Commissioner who had previously been to the area, which recommended following the Balonne and the Culgoa rivers north. They encountered many Indigenous people who guided the group along the way. On 12 April 1846 Mitchell came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St. George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to an area with an "abundance of good pasturage" in which stood a solitary double topped hill that he named Mount Abundance, on which grew a species of bottle tree. He then crossed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy, who had trouble with local inhabitants trying to burn down his camp, rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa, on one occasion discharging his rifle over the heads of the Indigenous people to gain "peaceful occupation of the ground." He sighted the headwaters of the Warrego and Nogoa Rivers, then came across the upper reaches of the Belyando River which they followed for a considerable distance. This river's name was given to Mitchell by Indigenous residents before the expedition's dogs chased them away, biting at their legs. Being a tributary of the Burdekin River, a waterway already visited by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington in 1845, Mitchell was dismayed to find that he was approaching ground already explored by Europeans. He returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, meeting with a tribe who caught emus with nets. He encountered a river which he was certain was the fabled waterway that would flow north-west to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He followed it until he came across a large clan of Aboriginal people living in permanent huts on the banks of a lagoon. He called this place Yuranigh Pond after his Wiradjuri guide and decided to return home. In honour of the British sovereign of the time, he named the waterway, Victoria River. On the homeward journey Mitchell noticed the well known grass that bears his name. They trekked back along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later in 1847, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria in fact did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aboriginal people. Later career In 1837, Mitchell sought 18 months leave from his position and in May he left Sydney for London. During his leave, he published an account of his explorations called Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia: with descriptions of the recently explored region of Australia Felix, and of the present colony of New South Wales. Mitchell sought additional periods of leave and finally arrived back in Australia in 1841. Mitchell left Sydney again in March 1847 on another period of leave. By the time he arrived back in mid-1848, he had published his Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia, in search of a route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mitchell's journals proved a rich source for historians and anthropologists, with their close and sympathetic observations of the Aboriginal peoples he had encountered. These publications made him the most celebrated Australian explorer of his day. But he was a difficult man to get on with, made evident by this passage made by Governor Charles Augustus FitzRoy: "It is notorious that Sir Thomas Mitchell's unfortunate impracticability of temper and spirit of opposition of those in authority over him misled him into frequent collision with my predecessors." In a by-election for the Electoral district of Port Phillip in April 1844, Mitchell was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council. He found it difficult to separate his roles of government employee and elected member of the legislature, and after only five months he resigned from the Legislative Council. Duel Mitchell is also remembered as the last person in Australia to challenge anyone to a duel. In September 1851, Mitchell issued a challenge to Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson (later Premier of New South Wales) because Donaldson had publicly criticised excessive spending by the Surveyor General's Department. The duel took place in Sydney on 27 September, with both duellists missing their marks; only Donaldson's hat was damaged. The French 50 calibre pistols used in the duel are in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. Ophir gold fields In 1851, Mitchell was instructed by Governor FitzRoy to make a report on, and survey of, 'the extent and productiveness of the goldfield reported to have been discovered in the County of Bathurst.' He travelled west during winter to visit the Ophir gold diggings, accompanied by his son, Roderick, and Samuel Stutchbury the government geologist. In June 1851 Mitchell selected the site for the township of Ophir. W.R. Davidson plotted a survey of the ground and Mitchell planned the streets and allotments for the town. Mitchell returned with a collection of specimens from the diggings, mostly quartz, with 48 of these stored in a wooden chest. His report of the goldfields was presented to the Legislative Council in February 1852. Story of the "bomerang" propeller The search for a method of screw propulsion of ships intrigued many inventors during the latter half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. An Englishman, K. P. Smith, patented a screw propeller in 1836, and shortly afterwards Captain John Ericsson, formerly an officer of the Swedish army, patented another. On his travels, Mitchell must have been evolving the idea of his boomerang propeller—he spelled it "bomerang", while newspapers used "bomarang" and "boomerang." The first test was made in the Sydney Harbour in May 1852, an iron propeller being fitted to the "screw-steamer" Keera. The results of this trial were considered satisfactory, the ship's progress being calculated on two runs at 10 and a little over 12 knots, and Sir Thomas Mitchell took his Invention to England. In 1853 the propeller was fitted to the Genova, and a trial was conducted on the Mersey. Then the Admiralty gave it a test on . The Genova ran at 9.5 knots as against 8.5 with a screw propeller, and the Conflict 9.25 knots as against the screw propeller 8.75, and at a lower engine speed. The "boomerang" propeller can be simply described as a "screw" propeller with much of the blades close to the shaft, which contribute little to propulsion but much to drag, cut away, a principle which is well understood today. Family life Thomas Mitchell and Mary had twelve children: Livingstone, Roderick, Murray, Campbell, Thomas, Richard, Georgina, Maria, Emily, Camilla, Alicia, Blanche. Georgina and Maria died young, and Murray before 1847. Roderick became a Commissioner of Crown Lands and head of the Border Police in the Liverpool Plains district. Roderick was drowned and Campbell died during the last years of Mitchell's life. His family enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and Blanche Mitchell, his youngest daughter, recorded her daily activities and social life in childhood diaries and notebooks. Her sister Emily married George Edward Thicknesse-Touchet, 21st Baron Audley. In 1841, Mitchell completed his new Gothic home, Carthona, on the water's edge in Darling Point, Sydney. Following Mitchell's death, his family moved to Craigend Terrace in Woolloomooloo. Death In July 1855 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the New South Wales Survey Department, but Mitchell did not live to see the report. While surveying the line of road between Nelligen and Braidwood, he developed a chill which led to a severe attack of bronchitis. He died a few days later at Carthona at Darling Point at 5:15 pm 5 October 1855. Newspapers of the day commented:"For a period of twenty-eight years Sir Thomas Mitchell had served the Colony, much of that service having been exceedingly arduous and difficult. Among the early explorers of Australia his name will occupy an honoured place in the estimation of posterity." He is buried at Camperdown Cemetery, Newtown, with his grave being maintained by the Seniors Group of Surveyors. Naming Some of the places Mitchell named on his expeditions were: the Avoca River, Balonne River, Belyando River, Campaspe River, Cogoon River, Discovery Bay, Glenelg River, Grampians, Maranoa River, Mount Arapiles, Mount King, Mount Macedon, Mount Napier, Mount William, Nyngan, Pyramid Hill, St George, Swan Hill and Wimmera River. Commemoration Because of his contributions in the surveying and exploration of Australia, Mitchell is commemorated by having numerous localities or objects across Australia being named after him. These include: The town of Mitchell in Queensland The Mitchell River in Queensland The Canberra suburb of Mitchell The electorate of Mitchell The Mitchell Highway The Major Mitchell's cockatoo, a species of cockatoo Mitchellstown in Victoria. A local government area in Victoria, Shire of Mitchell Steam locomotive number S 301 Sir Thomas Mitchell, a member of the Victorian Railways S class locomotives. In turn, Mitchell House at Seymour Technical High School, the town with the loco depot which serviced the famous four locos. Later, the name was carried by the diesel S301. Mitchell grass, common name of the small genus of grass species dominant across much of the arid areas of the continent Mitchell's hopping mouse, an Australian native rodent-like animal Countless roadside locations in Victoria have a memorial erected 'Major Mitchell passed here'. Sir Thomas Mitchell Road Villawood NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell road in Bondi NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell Drive Bowenfels (Lithgow) linking the Great Western Highway with the Cox River at a fitting memorial to colonial road builders. Mitchell is also the namesake in the highest honor of the New South Wales Surveyors Awards, the Sir Thomas Mitchell Excellence in Surveying Award. A map of the expedition of Major Sir Thomas Mitchell into the country between the Maranoa and Mount Mudge and the River Victoria, 1848 was ranked #38 in the ‘Top 150: Documenting Queensland’ exhibition when it toured to venues around Queensland from February 2009 to April 2010. The exhibition was part of Queensland State Archives’ events and exhibition program which contributed to the state’s Q150 celebrations, marking the 150th anniversary of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales. Manuscript Collections See also :Category:Taxa named by Thomas Mitchell (explorer) Charles Sturt Great North Road (Australia) History of New South Wales New South Wales gold rush Nineteen Counties Surveyor General of New South Wales References External links Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1, Volume 2 The Great North Road – Convict Trail Project 1792 births 1855 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Explorers of Australia Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia Scottish explorers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Scottish surveyors Royal Engineers officers People from Grangemouth Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Rifle Brigade officers Surveyors General of New South Wales 19th-century Australian politicians Pre-Separation Queensland Australian duellists
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[ "\n\nExplorations\n Spring: Explorations at Timna in Yemen by Wendell Phillips of the American Foundation for the Study of Man (continues in 1951).\n\nExcavations\n Excavations at Stonehenge by R. J. C. Atkinson, Stuart Piggott and J. F. S. Stone.\n Excavations at Wharram Percy by Maurice Beresford begin.\n Excavations at Beitin.\n Excavations at Gordium by the University of Pennsylvania Museum under Rodney S. Young begin.\n\nFinds\n March 1 - A hoard of Roman coins is discovered at Hordley Grange, Shropshire, England.\n May 8 - A bog body known as \"Tollund Man\" is discovered in Denmark.\n The Upchurch Hoard is discovered in Upchurch, Kent, England.\n A third premolar is discovered in materials sent back to Sweden by Otto Zdansky from his excavations of the Peking Man site at Zhoukoudian, China in 1921 and 1923.\n Balfarg, a prehistoric site in Fife, Scotland, is discovered through air photography.\n Three Roman mosaic pavements are found at Harpham in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.\n Stabiae rediscovered.\n The Garima Gospels at Abba Garima Monastery first become known to Western scholars.\n\nPublications\n\n T. C. Lethbridge - Herdsmen and Hermits: Celtic Seafarers in the Northern Seas.\n V. E. Nash-Williams - The Early Christian Monuments of Wales.\n\nBirths\n January 25 - Phil Harding, English field archaeologist\n Wafaa El Saddik, Egyptian Egyptologist\n\nDeaths\n January 27 - Herbert Eustis Winlock, American Egyptologist who worked for the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (b. 1884)\n\nReferences\n\nArchaeology\nArchaeology\nArchaeology by year", "The year 1885 in archaeology involved some significant events.\n\nEvents\n The British School at Athens is established.\n\nExplorations\n Explorations continue in many places, from Latin America to Italy to Japan.\n\nExcavations\n At Ostia Antica (near Rome), the Quattro Tempietti (Four Small Temples) are excavated in 1885-1886 by R. Lanciani (The square in front is excavated in 1911-1915 by D. Vaglieri and R. Paribeni).\n On the outskirts of Rome, Italy, the ruins of the Temple of Diana at Nemi are excavated by British Ambassador Lord John Savile of Rufford Abbey.\n In Wales, at Ffynnon Beuno Cave, Tremeirchion, Denbighshire, the cave complex is excavated: occupational evidence includes Aurignacian and proto-Solutrean flint work plus Pleistocene fauna (Palaeolithic, Old Stone Age).\n In Japan, the Katsutachi Pit is excavated in 1885 (Meiji 18) under the leadership of Takuma Dan, an American-trained engineer.\n At Susa, Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy and Jane Dieulafoy begin French excavations.\n\nPublications\n Désiré Charnay's account of his explorations in Mesoamerica, Les Anciennes Villes du Nouveau Monde, published in Paris.\n William Collings Lukis -\n Prehistoric Stone Monuments of the British Isles: Cornwall with 40 tinted litho plates, accurately drawn to scale by W. C. Lukis and W. C. Borlase, published by the Society of Antiquaries.\n \"Report of survey of certain megalithic monuments in Scotland, Cumberland and Westmoreland, executed in summer 1884\". Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries pp. 302–11.\n American Journal of Archaeology first published.\n\nBirths\n October 29: Alfred V. Kidder, American archaeologist (d. 1963)\n\nDeaths\n\nReferences\n\nArchaeology\nArchaeology by year\nArchaeology\nArchaeology" ]
[ "Thomas Mitchell (explorer)", "Fourth expedition", "What was Mitchell exploring during his fourth expedition?", "Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria,", "Was he correct?", "Later that year, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek.", "When did he begin his explorations?", "On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree (Buree in Mitchell's journal) with a large party including Edmund Kennedy as second in command" ]
C_31fec604f00d47fca55b1bf8097cb058_0
Who else was with the exploration party?
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Who else was with the exploration party, besides Thomas Mitchell ?
Thomas Mitchell (explorer)
Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, this being the main thrust of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree (Buree in Mitchell's journal) with a large party including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). He struck the Darling River above Fort Bourke then continued to the Narran River, the Balonne, and the Culgoa. On 12 April 1846 he came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St.George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to a magnificent pastoral district in the midst of which stood a solitary hill that he named Mount Abundance. He then crossed a low watershed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa and discovered the Warrago River. Keeping north over the watershed, he traversed the Claude and Nogoa rivers, then reached the Belyando River, an upper reach of the Burdekin River. This had already been discovered by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington on 2 April 1845. Intensely mortified to find that he was on a tributary of the Burdekin River, and approaching the ground already trodden by Leichhardt, he returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, after dividing his party and forming a stationary camp. He continued west, making a new discovery which he was certain was the fabled north-west river. In honour of the sovereign of the time he decided to call it Victoria River. Having run out of time, he turned back towards the main party. It was here that Mitchell first noticed the well known grass that bears his name. On the homeward journey he trekked along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later that year, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aborigines. CANNOTANSWER
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Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (15 June 1792 – 5 October 1855), surveyor and explorer of Southeastern Australia, was born at Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, Scotland. In 1827 he took up an appointment as Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales. The following year he became Surveyor General and remained in this position until his death. Mitchell was knighted in 1839 for his contribution to the surveying of Australia. Early life Born in Scotland on 15 June 1792, he was son of John Mitchell of Carron Works and was brought up from childhood by his uncle, Thomas Livingstone of Parkhall, Stirlingshire. Peninsular War On the death of his uncle, he joined the British army in Portugal as a volunteer in the Peninsular War, at the age of sixteen. On 24 June 1811, at the age of nineteen, he received his first commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion 95th Rifles (later the Rifle Brigade / Royal Green Jackets). Utilising his skills as a draughtsman of outstanding ability, he was occasionally employed in the Quartermaster-General's department under Sir George Murray. He was present at the storming of the fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos and San Sebastian as well as the battles of Salamanca and the Pyrenees. Subsequently, he would receive the Military General Service Medal with bars for each of these engagements. When the war was over, Mitchell was selected to reside in Spain and Portugal for four years to complete sketches of the battlefields for the Military Depot. His duties also included conducting several other important surveys which had been impossible to finish whilst operations were in progress in the field. On 10 June 1818, during this posting, Mitchell married Mary Blunt (daughter of General Richard Blunt) in Lisbon and gained promotion to a company in the 54th Regiment. In the summer of 1819, he returned to Britain where he devoted himself to finishing the drawings, but with the cessation of the government allowances he had to stop this work. The reductions in the military establishment which followed the withdrawing of the Army of Occupation from France forced Mitchell on to half-pay. It was not until much later, while Mitchell was in London between 1838 and 1840, that the work was completed. The finished drawings were published by the London geographer James Wyld in 1841 under the title Atlas containing the principle battles, sieges and affairs of the Peninsular War. Of high quality, the drawings are the prime source for the topography of the war. New South Wales In 1827, with the support of Sir George Murray, Mitchell became Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales with the right to succeed John Oxley. Oxley died the following year, and on 27 May 1828, Mitchell became Surveyor General. In this post he did much to improve the quality and accuracy of surveying – a vital task in a colony where huge tracts of land were being opened up and sold to new settlers. One of the first roads surveyed under his leadership was the Great North Road, built by convict labour between 1826 and 1836 linking Sydney to the Hunter Region. The Great South Road (now replaced by the Hume Highway), also convict-built, linked Sydney and Goulburn. He kept a record of his 'Progress in roads and Public Works in New South Wales to 1855', including sketches and plans of Sydney, Emu Plains, the Blue Mountains, Victoria Pass, roads to Bathurst, Wiseman's Ferry, and indigenous Australians. As Surveyor General, Mitchell also completed maps and plans of Sydney, including Darling Point, Point Piper, the city, and Port Jackson. In 1834 he was commissioned to survey a map of the Nineteen Counties. The map he produced was done with such skill and accuracy that he was awarded a knighthood. Around this time, a portrait of Mitchell was painted showing him in the uniform of Major of the 1st Rifle Brigade of the 95th Regiment, complete with whistle used to direct the movement of troops. During his tenure in New South Wales, Mitchell led four extensive and historically significant surveying expeditions into the interior of eastern Australia. First expedition In 1831, a runaway convict named George "The Barber" Clarke (monument around Barbers Lagoon, Boggabri NSW), who had lived with the Kamilaroi people in the area for several years, claimed that a large river called Kindur flowed north-west from the Liverpool Ranges in New South Wales to the sea. Charles Sturt believed that the Murray-Darling system formed the main river system of New South Wales and Mitchell wanted to prove Sturt wrong. Mitchell formed an expedition consisting of himself, assistant surveyor George Boyle White and 15 convicts who were promised remission for good conduct. Mitchell took 20 bullocks, three heavy drays, three light carts and nine horses to carry supplies, and set out on 24 November 1831 to investigate the claim. On reaching Wollombi in the Hunter Valley, the local assistant surveyor, Heneage Finch, expressed a desire to join the expedition which Mitchell approved, provided he first obtain extra provisions and rendezvous later. The expedition continued northward, and having climbed the Liverpool Range on 5 December, they found an Aboriginal tribe who had fled from their home in the Hunter Valley and were suffering from what appeared to be smallpox. On 8 December they arrived at Quirindi and by 11 December the expedition had reached Wallamoul Station near Tamworth, the northern extent of white settlement at the time. Mitchell continued his northward push into uncolonised territory, guided by a local Gamilaraay man named "Mr. Brown". In mid-December, near to where Boggabri now stands, they located the remains of a stockyard and huts built by George Clarke and his Aboriginal colleagues. By early January 1832 Mitchell's group was travelling along the Namoi River, by which stage Mr Brown had left them. Mitchell's party then headed north unguided but managed to reach the Gwydir River in mid-January where they found a small Aboriginal village of conical-roofed huts. They followed the Gwydir west and made it to the Barwon River by the end of the month. Mitchell came to the correct conclusion that the Barwon flowed into the Darling River and decided not to proceed any further. At this stage, Finch had finally caught up with the main group. Finch conveyed the news that the provisions he had obtained had been ransacked by Aboriginal people at Gorolei. Two men he had left to guard the supplies had also been killed. The immediate effect was that Mitchell decided to abandon the expedition and return south. The party retraced their path having tense but peaceful interactions with large groups of Gamilaraay people along the way. They reached Gorolei on 18 February where Mitchell buried the bodies of the two killed men and salvaged some equipment. Aboriginal people approached the group laying down their spears and offering females to Mitchell's men in an apparent attempt at appeasement for the killings. Mitchell refused the offer but accepted their guidance on an easy way back to the Namoi River. Once back at Wallamoul, Mitchell placed White in charge of the main party, while he returned hastily to Sydney. He was satisfied that there was no truth about the river Kindur claimed by Clarke. Fourteen years later, Mitchell revealed that the convicts had indulged in sexual relations with Aboriginal women. Second expedition Mitchell's next expedition was in 1835. The purpose was to explore the course of the Darling River from where Sturt had turned back in 1829, to where it joined the Murray River. There were 24 men in the party including Mitchell, James Larmer (assistant surveyor) as second in command, Richard Cunningham (colonial botanist) and 21 other men. The main party under Larmer left Parramatta on 9 March and rendezvoused with Mitchell at Boree near the township of Orange. From there, the expedition was guided through the Goobang Ranges by local Wiradjuri people toward the Bogan River. On 17 April 1835, Richard Cunningham wandered away from the party while looking for botanical specimens and went missing. The party, with the assistance of various local Aboriginal people, searched for him until 5 May, following Cunningham's tracks around the headwaters of the Bogan until they disappeared. Cunningham's dead horse, saddle, glove and fragments of his coat and map were all they found. Months later, a search party of military mounted police commanded by Lieutenant Henry Zouch of the first division, discovered that Cunningham had been killed by four Wiradjuri men and his bones were found and buried at Currindine. After the fruitless search for Cunningham, Mitchell decided to continue the expedition. He was assisted by a local unnamed elder who provided a guide called Tackijally. This man led Mitchell downstream along the waterholes adjacent to the Bogan River as far as Nyngan. Tackijally left them at this point and the group was soon involved in a brief confrontation after they startled an Aboriginal man at a waterhole. The man, who was shot in the hand, had his wounds dressed by the group and later departed. They proceeded down the Bogan, encountering several gatherings of people to which Mitchell gave tomahawks and pieces of an old sword. On 25 May the junction with the Darling River was reached. Here, on a high point of land which bore many Aboriginal grave sites, Mitchell decided to build a fort as he realised that they "had not asked permission to come there" and he needed a stockade for "stout resistance against any number of natives." He named it Fort Bourke in honour of the Governor, Richard Bourke. Two whale boats had been transported the whole distance on bullock drays and on 1 June Mitchell launched the boats on the Darling to transport the party downriver. However, the Darling became shallower and unnavigable resulting in the expedition resorting once again to overland progress. They encountered many tribes as they headed south, with Mitchell documenting the agricultural practices of some, such as the harvesting of Panicum decompositum, and the large permanent dwellings of others. One clan appeared more hostile than others, kicking up dust and spitting at party members. Mitchell acknowledged that his group were "rather unceremonious invaders of their country" but inflamed tensions by firing a pistol at a tree. Mitchell wrote that "the more they saw of our superior weapons...the more they shewed their hatred and tokens of defiance." The party continued downriver, meeting with friendlier locals, passing through villages and noting the construction of their tomb-sites. Just north of the Menindee Lakes, the expedition came across a large congregation of several tribes and Mitchell decided that continuing the exploration would be too dangerous. On 11 July, just as Mitchell had resolved to return to Sydney, shots were heard from a forage party up the river. Mitchell sent a further three armed men to the scene of the shooting and the firing continued. After more than an hour, some members of the group returned reporting that a skirmish had occurred over the possession of a kettle and at least three Aboriginal people had been shot dead, including a woman and her child. One of Mitchell's men had been knocked unconscious. The party then commenced their return via the outbound route with Mitchell deciding to avoid contact with the various tribes as much as possible. The "spitting tribe" attempted to burn down their camp on this return journey which resulted in Mitchell ordering shots to be fired over their heads. They arrived at Fort Bourke on 10 August and continued back along the Bogan River. Near Nyngan they met again with members of Tackijally's tribe who allowed Mitchell to walk through their cemetery at Milmeridien. Mitchell soon tired of the clan asking for food and ordered some of his men to march at them with bayonets. On 9 September they came to the upper reaches of the Bogan where they found a cattle-station had already been formed along their route by William Lee. The expedition arrived back at their starting point of Boree on 14 September. While Mitchell did not trace the Darling River to its junction with the Murray River, the course and terrain of the Bogan River and much of the Darling River had been charted. The places where this and other Mitchell expeditions were most assailed by Aboriginal Australians, including the location of Cunningham's killing, are marked on an 1836 map produced by Mitchell. Third expedition The goal of Mitchell's third expedition was to explore and survey the lower part of the Darling River, with instructions to head up the Murray River and then return to the settled areas around Yass. Second in command was assistant surveyor Granville Stapylton. A Wiradjuri man named John Piper was also recruited and 23 convicts and ticket of leave men made up the rest of the party. The group set out from a valley near Mount Canobolas on 17 March 1836, and made their way to Boree and the Bogan River as on previous journeys, then veered south to the Kalare or Lachlan River to approach the Darling from its southern end where it joined the Murray. The party was guided by various Aboriginal people such as "Barney" along the Lachlan, passing Lake Cargelligo, as John Oxley did in 1817. At this place they met with a large clan from which a number of people joined the expedition and gave vital information about waterholes, as the Lachlan was drying out. Piper also obtained a "good, strong woman" from this tribe. On 2 May they arrived at Combedyega where an Aboriginal widow named Turandurey with her four-year-old daughter Ballandella also joined the expedition as a guide. She remembered Oxley from nineteen years earlier and Sturt as well, and knew the lower Lachlan. The Murrumbidgee River was reached on 12 May, but at a point downstream from the junction with the Lachlan. Mount Dispersion massacre They continued down the Murrumbidgee until 21 May when they were close to the junction with the Murray River. A depot was established at this point, and Mitchell left Staplyton with eight men to guard the stock, while he ventured downstream with the rest of the group. According to the account given to a later enquiry by William Muirhead (bullock-driver and sergeant), Alexander Burnett (overseer) and Jemmy Piper (Aboriginal man accompanying the party): on 24 May Mitchell noticed that Barkindji tribesmen from the Darling River were gathering in large numbers, and by 27 May the hostile intentions of these men became known, when local Murray River people told Piper that the Barkindji were planning to kill Mitchell and his men. Mitchell had to decide whether to wait for an attack, or plan a pre-emptive manoeuvre. His numbers were reduced, as Staplyton and eight men were still at the depot. He split his party again, leaving half the men to hide in the scrub in ambush, while he continued ahead with the carts. When the armed Barkindji warriors approached, the convict Charles King, who was involved in the earlier killings, fired first without waiting for orders. The tribesmen fled into the river and Mitchell's two groups reunited on the shore and continued to shoot at the people for up to 15 minutes. Around 75 shots were fired with Piper later being told that seven Barkindji were killed and four wounded. Mitchell wrote about the loss of life in his journal, describing the Barkindji as "treacherous savages", and detailing how his men had chased them away, "pursuing and shooting as many as they could". This section was withheld from Mitchell's report when it was released to the public in Sydney. Mitchell named the hill near to where the mass-shooting occurred Mount Dispersion and in May 2020 it was heritage-listed as the Mount Dispersion Massacre Site Aboriginal Place. Onwards The expedition continued down the Murray River, encountering a major Aboriginal grave-site at Red Cliffs. On 31 May they arrived close to the junction of the Murray with a "green and stagnant" waterway. Local people advised Piper that this was the Darling River. Mitchell did not believe it, and only when he travelled upstream for some distance, coming across the same type of burial mounds that he had seen in 1835, did he acknowledge that "this hopeless river" was the Darling. He turned back and headed upstream on the Murray to rejoin Stapylton at the depot. The reunited expedition now travelled south-east following the Murray. They passed Swan Hill on 21 June and encountered a group of native inhabitants at Lake Boga. These people were angry at Piper for "bringing whitefellows" to their country and threw spears at him. Piper shot one of them dead. Mitchell noted the local people's practice of making large nets that spanned above the river to catch waterfowl and also came across unusual animals such as the now extinct Southern pig-footed bandicoot. At the end of June, Mitchell chose to leave the Murray to investigate better looking lands to the south-west. Mitchell was so impressed with the country he saw, he named it Australia Felix. In early July the party crossed the Loddon River, and made their way in a south-westerly direction which brought them to the Grampians and the Wimmera River. Confrontation with people in this region resulted in an Indigenous man being shot in the arm. They were guided by a local Aboriginal woman along part of the Nangeela (Glenelg River) with Mitchell constructing a fortified base on its banks which he named Fort O'Hare. From here Mitchell led part of the group in boats down the Glenelg to where it discharged into the ocean at a bay which Mitchell named Discovery Bay. Mitchell then returned to Fort O'Hare and altered direction towards Portland Bay to the east. When this was reached on 29 August, Mitchell was surprised to find an established farm and whaling station operated by the Henty brothers. The expedition continued north-east with Mitchell spending a night in a "snug old hut of the natives" at Narrawong. On 17 September, in order to speed his return, Mitchell split the party in two, taking 14 men with him and leaving the remainder with Stapylton to follow with the bullocks and drays. The young girl Ballandella went with Mitchell, while her mother Turandurey remained behind. On the plains around the Hopkins River, Mitchell came across a community of Aboriginal people who cultivated and harvested murnong tubers with specialised tools. Mitchell was wary and when forty of them approached his camp, he ordered his men to charge at them. On 30 September, Mitchell climbed and named Mount Macedon, from the summit of which he had a view of Port Phillip. Progress was slowed due a member of the group, James "Tally-ho" Taylor, drowning while crossing the Broken River. Their return to the frontier of British colonisation on the Murrumbidgee was not completed until 24 October. Enquiry When Mitchell arrived in Sydney in early November he was received with great joy. However, when the remainder of his party arrived two weeks later, rumours circulated about the mass killing on the Murray. He subsequently faced a Legislative Council Inquiry in December 1836, receiving an official rebuke. Ballandella joined Mitchell's family of eight other children and learnt to read and write, but was left by Mitchell when he returned to England. Ballandella later married and raised a family at Sackville where she died around the age of thirty. Fourth expedition Mitchell's fourth expedition was into northern interior of the colony (a region now part of Queensland) in 1845–46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, and finding this river was the main focus of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree near Orange with a large party of 32 people including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). The Wiradjuri man named Piper from his previous expedition was also a member. Yuranigh (also Wiradjuri) and a ten year old boy from the lower Bogan River named "Dicky" were also assigned as guides. The party travelled north along the Bogan where a war between the British and the Indigenous inhabitants was at that time occurring. Mitchell noted areas where the British had been pushed back, abandoning their farmhouses which were subsequently burnt down by the local people. Mitchell stated "All I could learn about the rest of the tribe was, that the men were almost all dead, and that their wives were chiefly servants at stock stations along the Macquarie." In January 1846, they left the Bogan and started following the Macquarie River where Mitchell was informed of Pipers' intention to leave the expedition. Mitchell ordered him back to Bathurst, accompanied by Corporal Graham. Near the Macquarie Marshes the harvesting of native millet by Aboriginal people to make bread was recorded and a local man named Yulliyally guided the group to the Barwon River. From here two brothers from a nearby clan led Mitchell to vital waterholes near the Narran River. Mitchell "blushed inwardly for our pallid race" knowing that "white man's cattle would soon trample these holes into a quagmire of mud." More bundles of harvested millet lay for miles along their journey up the Narran. Mitchell then received a message from his son, Roderick Mitchell, a Crown Lands Commissioner who had previously been to the area, which recommended following the Balonne and the Culgoa rivers north. They encountered many Indigenous people who guided the group along the way. On 12 April 1846 Mitchell came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St. George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to an area with an "abundance of good pasturage" in which stood a solitary double topped hill that he named Mount Abundance, on which grew a species of bottle tree. He then crossed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy, who had trouble with local inhabitants trying to burn down his camp, rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa, on one occasion discharging his rifle over the heads of the Indigenous people to gain "peaceful occupation of the ground." He sighted the headwaters of the Warrego and Nogoa Rivers, then came across the upper reaches of the Belyando River which they followed for a considerable distance. This river's name was given to Mitchell by Indigenous residents before the expedition's dogs chased them away, biting at their legs. Being a tributary of the Burdekin River, a waterway already visited by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington in 1845, Mitchell was dismayed to find that he was approaching ground already explored by Europeans. He returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, meeting with a tribe who caught emus with nets. He encountered a river which he was certain was the fabled waterway that would flow north-west to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He followed it until he came across a large clan of Aboriginal people living in permanent huts on the banks of a lagoon. He called this place Yuranigh Pond after his Wiradjuri guide and decided to return home. In honour of the British sovereign of the time, he named the waterway, Victoria River. On the homeward journey Mitchell noticed the well known grass that bears his name. They trekked back along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later in 1847, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria in fact did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aboriginal people. Later career In 1837, Mitchell sought 18 months leave from his position and in May he left Sydney for London. During his leave, he published an account of his explorations called Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia: with descriptions of the recently explored region of Australia Felix, and of the present colony of New South Wales. Mitchell sought additional periods of leave and finally arrived back in Australia in 1841. Mitchell left Sydney again in March 1847 on another period of leave. By the time he arrived back in mid-1848, he had published his Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia, in search of a route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mitchell's journals proved a rich source for historians and anthropologists, with their close and sympathetic observations of the Aboriginal peoples he had encountered. These publications made him the most celebrated Australian explorer of his day. But he was a difficult man to get on with, made evident by this passage made by Governor Charles Augustus FitzRoy: "It is notorious that Sir Thomas Mitchell's unfortunate impracticability of temper and spirit of opposition of those in authority over him misled him into frequent collision with my predecessors." In a by-election for the Electoral district of Port Phillip in April 1844, Mitchell was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council. He found it difficult to separate his roles of government employee and elected member of the legislature, and after only five months he resigned from the Legislative Council. Duel Mitchell is also remembered as the last person in Australia to challenge anyone to a duel. In September 1851, Mitchell issued a challenge to Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson (later Premier of New South Wales) because Donaldson had publicly criticised excessive spending by the Surveyor General's Department. The duel took place in Sydney on 27 September, with both duellists missing their marks; only Donaldson's hat was damaged. The French 50 calibre pistols used in the duel are in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. Ophir gold fields In 1851, Mitchell was instructed by Governor FitzRoy to make a report on, and survey of, 'the extent and productiveness of the goldfield reported to have been discovered in the County of Bathurst.' He travelled west during winter to visit the Ophir gold diggings, accompanied by his son, Roderick, and Samuel Stutchbury the government geologist. In June 1851 Mitchell selected the site for the township of Ophir. W.R. Davidson plotted a survey of the ground and Mitchell planned the streets and allotments for the town. Mitchell returned with a collection of specimens from the diggings, mostly quartz, with 48 of these stored in a wooden chest. His report of the goldfields was presented to the Legislative Council in February 1852. Story of the "bomerang" propeller The search for a method of screw propulsion of ships intrigued many inventors during the latter half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. An Englishman, K. P. Smith, patented a screw propeller in 1836, and shortly afterwards Captain John Ericsson, formerly an officer of the Swedish army, patented another. On his travels, Mitchell must have been evolving the idea of his boomerang propeller—he spelled it "bomerang", while newspapers used "bomarang" and "boomerang." The first test was made in the Sydney Harbour in May 1852, an iron propeller being fitted to the "screw-steamer" Keera. The results of this trial were considered satisfactory, the ship's progress being calculated on two runs at 10 and a little over 12 knots, and Sir Thomas Mitchell took his Invention to England. In 1853 the propeller was fitted to the Genova, and a trial was conducted on the Mersey. Then the Admiralty gave it a test on . The Genova ran at 9.5 knots as against 8.5 with a screw propeller, and the Conflict 9.25 knots as against the screw propeller 8.75, and at a lower engine speed. The "boomerang" propeller can be simply described as a "screw" propeller with much of the blades close to the shaft, which contribute little to propulsion but much to drag, cut away, a principle which is well understood today. Family life Thomas Mitchell and Mary had twelve children: Livingstone, Roderick, Murray, Campbell, Thomas, Richard, Georgina, Maria, Emily, Camilla, Alicia, Blanche. Georgina and Maria died young, and Murray before 1847. Roderick became a Commissioner of Crown Lands and head of the Border Police in the Liverpool Plains district. Roderick was drowned and Campbell died during the last years of Mitchell's life. His family enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and Blanche Mitchell, his youngest daughter, recorded her daily activities and social life in childhood diaries and notebooks. Her sister Emily married George Edward Thicknesse-Touchet, 21st Baron Audley. In 1841, Mitchell completed his new Gothic home, Carthona, on the water's edge in Darling Point, Sydney. Following Mitchell's death, his family moved to Craigend Terrace in Woolloomooloo. Death In July 1855 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the New South Wales Survey Department, but Mitchell did not live to see the report. While surveying the line of road between Nelligen and Braidwood, he developed a chill which led to a severe attack of bronchitis. He died a few days later at Carthona at Darling Point at 5:15 pm 5 October 1855. Newspapers of the day commented:"For a period of twenty-eight years Sir Thomas Mitchell had served the Colony, much of that service having been exceedingly arduous and difficult. Among the early explorers of Australia his name will occupy an honoured place in the estimation of posterity." He is buried at Camperdown Cemetery, Newtown, with his grave being maintained by the Seniors Group of Surveyors. Naming Some of the places Mitchell named on his expeditions were: the Avoca River, Balonne River, Belyando River, Campaspe River, Cogoon River, Discovery Bay, Glenelg River, Grampians, Maranoa River, Mount Arapiles, Mount King, Mount Macedon, Mount Napier, Mount William, Nyngan, Pyramid Hill, St George, Swan Hill and Wimmera River. Commemoration Because of his contributions in the surveying and exploration of Australia, Mitchell is commemorated by having numerous localities or objects across Australia being named after him. These include: The town of Mitchell in Queensland The Mitchell River in Queensland The Canberra suburb of Mitchell The electorate of Mitchell The Mitchell Highway The Major Mitchell's cockatoo, a species of cockatoo Mitchellstown in Victoria. A local government area in Victoria, Shire of Mitchell Steam locomotive number S 301 Sir Thomas Mitchell, a member of the Victorian Railways S class locomotives. In turn, Mitchell House at Seymour Technical High School, the town with the loco depot which serviced the famous four locos. Later, the name was carried by the diesel S301. Mitchell grass, common name of the small genus of grass species dominant across much of the arid areas of the continent Mitchell's hopping mouse, an Australian native rodent-like animal Countless roadside locations in Victoria have a memorial erected 'Major Mitchell passed here'. Sir Thomas Mitchell Road Villawood NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell road in Bondi NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell Drive Bowenfels (Lithgow) linking the Great Western Highway with the Cox River at a fitting memorial to colonial road builders. Mitchell is also the namesake in the highest honor of the New South Wales Surveyors Awards, the Sir Thomas Mitchell Excellence in Surveying Award. A map of the expedition of Major Sir Thomas Mitchell into the country between the Maranoa and Mount Mudge and the River Victoria, 1848 was ranked #38 in the ‘Top 150: Documenting Queensland’ exhibition when it toured to venues around Queensland from February 2009 to April 2010. The exhibition was part of Queensland State Archives’ events and exhibition program which contributed to the state’s Q150 celebrations, marking the 150th anniversary of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales. Manuscript Collections See also :Category:Taxa named by Thomas Mitchell (explorer) Charles Sturt Great North Road (Australia) History of New South Wales New South Wales gold rush Nineteen Counties Surveyor General of New South Wales References External links Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1, Volume 2 The Great North Road – Convict Trail Project 1792 births 1855 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Explorers of Australia Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia Scottish explorers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Scottish surveyors Royal Engineers officers People from Grangemouth Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Rifle Brigade officers Surveyors General of New South Wales 19th-century Australian politicians Pre-Separation Queensland Australian duellists
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[ "Else Meier (born Else Wagner: 24 February 1901 – 2 August 1933) was a German politician (KPD) who died young.\n\nLife \nElse Wagner was born in Magdeburg. After leaving school she became a metal worker. She married the paint shop worker Otto Meier and became politically active in the Communist Party which she joined after the First World War. By 1932 she had relocated and was living in Wedding, a quarter of Berlin in the city's north-central area. In April 1932 she was elected a member of the Prussian regional parliament (Landtag).\n\nIn the general election of 5 March 1933 Else Meier stood for election not to a regional parliament but to the national parliament (Reichstag). She was elected as a communist member representing the Potsdam electoral district. However, the election took place two months after the Nazi power seizure, since when the government had been systematically transforming the country into a one-party dictatorship. Following the Reichstag fire at the end of February 1933 - officially blamed, with implausible haste, on \"communists\" - the authorities had placed dealing with the Communist Party high on their agenda. On 30 March 1933, a week after the president had signed the Enabling Act of 1933, all 81 communist members of the Reichstag, including Else Meier, were by law deprived of their places in the parliament.\n\nElse Meier died in Berlin on 2 August 1933. Unclarity surrounds the circumstances of her death. Research indicates that she may have died as the result of a violent assault by Nazi paramilitaries. However, that she died as the result of an incurable disease is also a possibility.\n\nReferences\n\nPoliticians from Magdeburg\nPrussian politicians\nMembers of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic\nCommunist Party of Germany politicians\n1901 births\n1933 deaths", "The Western Base Party was a successful exploration party of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. The eight-man Western Party was deposited by the SY Aurora on the Shackleton Ice Shelf at Queen Mary Land. The leader of the team was Frank Wild and the party included the geologist Charles Hoadley.\n \nThe party established the Queen Mary Land Station. An early setback was the destruction of the radio mast in the first blizzard. Severe weather impeded activities as did dangerous crevices. The team sent an expedition into Kaiser Wilhelm II Land.\n\nThe party had no supplies for a second winter. The Western Base Party was collected on February 23, 1913 by the Aurora, with no loss of life.\n\nDiscoveries\nThe Western Base Party made a number of discoveries including;\n Adams Island\n Bay of Winds\n Cape Penck\n Cape Hoadley\n Cape Hordern\n Denman Glacier\n Pobeda Ice Island\n Farr Bay (discovered in November 1912)\n Henderson Island (discovered in August 1912)\n Hippo Island\n Scott Glacier\n Mount Sandow\n Mount Amundsen\n\nDrygalski Island was first sited by the Western Base Party but it was not until the return voyage of Australasian Antarctic Expedition that the island was accurately identified.\n\nA.L. Kennedy was cartographer of the expedition. He was later honored by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN)'s naming of Kennedy Peak (Antarctica) for him, in recognition of the close correlation of his 1912–13 running survey of the eastern half of the Queen Mary Coast with the US-ACAN map of 1955 compiled from aerial photographs.\n\nSee also\n\n Douglas Mawson\n\nReferences\n\nExploration of Antarctica\nAntarctic expeditions\nAustralia and the Antarctic\n1912 in Antarctica\n1913 in Antarctica\nAustralasian Antarctic Expedition" ]
[ "Thomas Mitchell (explorer)", "Fourth expedition", "What was Mitchell exploring during his fourth expedition?", "Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria,", "Was he correct?", "Later that year, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek.", "When did he begin his explorations?", "On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree (Buree in Mitchell's journal) with a large party including Edmund Kennedy as second in command", "Who else was with the exploration party?", "I don't know." ]
C_31fec604f00d47fca55b1bf8097cb058_0
Did anything interesting happen during his exploration?
5
Did anything interesting happen during Thomas Mitchell's fourth expedition?
Thomas Mitchell (explorer)
Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, this being the main thrust of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree (Buree in Mitchell's journal) with a large party including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). He struck the Darling River above Fort Bourke then continued to the Narran River, the Balonne, and the Culgoa. On 12 April 1846 he came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St.George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to a magnificent pastoral district in the midst of which stood a solitary hill that he named Mount Abundance. He then crossed a low watershed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa and discovered the Warrago River. Keeping north over the watershed, he traversed the Claude and Nogoa rivers, then reached the Belyando River, an upper reach of the Burdekin River. This had already been discovered by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington on 2 April 1845. Intensely mortified to find that he was on a tributary of the Burdekin River, and approaching the ground already trodden by Leichhardt, he returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, after dividing his party and forming a stationary camp. He continued west, making a new discovery which he was certain was the fabled north-west river. In honour of the sovereign of the time he decided to call it Victoria River. Having run out of time, he turned back towards the main party. It was here that Mitchell first noticed the well known grass that bears his name. On the homeward journey he trekked along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later that year, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aborigines. CANNOTANSWER
This rivulet led him to a magnificent pastoral district in the midst of which stood a solitary hill that he named Mount Abundance.
Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (15 June 1792 – 5 October 1855), surveyor and explorer of Southeastern Australia, was born at Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, Scotland. In 1827 he took up an appointment as Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales. The following year he became Surveyor General and remained in this position until his death. Mitchell was knighted in 1839 for his contribution to the surveying of Australia. Early life Born in Scotland on 15 June 1792, he was son of John Mitchell of Carron Works and was brought up from childhood by his uncle, Thomas Livingstone of Parkhall, Stirlingshire. Peninsular War On the death of his uncle, he joined the British army in Portugal as a volunteer in the Peninsular War, at the age of sixteen. On 24 June 1811, at the age of nineteen, he received his first commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion 95th Rifles (later the Rifle Brigade / Royal Green Jackets). Utilising his skills as a draughtsman of outstanding ability, he was occasionally employed in the Quartermaster-General's department under Sir George Murray. He was present at the storming of the fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos and San Sebastian as well as the battles of Salamanca and the Pyrenees. Subsequently, he would receive the Military General Service Medal with bars for each of these engagements. When the war was over, Mitchell was selected to reside in Spain and Portugal for four years to complete sketches of the battlefields for the Military Depot. His duties also included conducting several other important surveys which had been impossible to finish whilst operations were in progress in the field. On 10 June 1818, during this posting, Mitchell married Mary Blunt (daughter of General Richard Blunt) in Lisbon and gained promotion to a company in the 54th Regiment. In the summer of 1819, he returned to Britain where he devoted himself to finishing the drawings, but with the cessation of the government allowances he had to stop this work. The reductions in the military establishment which followed the withdrawing of the Army of Occupation from France forced Mitchell on to half-pay. It was not until much later, while Mitchell was in London between 1838 and 1840, that the work was completed. The finished drawings were published by the London geographer James Wyld in 1841 under the title Atlas containing the principle battles, sieges and affairs of the Peninsular War. Of high quality, the drawings are the prime source for the topography of the war. New South Wales In 1827, with the support of Sir George Murray, Mitchell became Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales with the right to succeed John Oxley. Oxley died the following year, and on 27 May 1828, Mitchell became Surveyor General. In this post he did much to improve the quality and accuracy of surveying – a vital task in a colony where huge tracts of land were being opened up and sold to new settlers. One of the first roads surveyed under his leadership was the Great North Road, built by convict labour between 1826 and 1836 linking Sydney to the Hunter Region. The Great South Road (now replaced by the Hume Highway), also convict-built, linked Sydney and Goulburn. He kept a record of his 'Progress in roads and Public Works in New South Wales to 1855', including sketches and plans of Sydney, Emu Plains, the Blue Mountains, Victoria Pass, roads to Bathurst, Wiseman's Ferry, and indigenous Australians. As Surveyor General, Mitchell also completed maps and plans of Sydney, including Darling Point, Point Piper, the city, and Port Jackson. In 1834 he was commissioned to survey a map of the Nineteen Counties. The map he produced was done with such skill and accuracy that he was awarded a knighthood. Around this time, a portrait of Mitchell was painted showing him in the uniform of Major of the 1st Rifle Brigade of the 95th Regiment, complete with whistle used to direct the movement of troops. During his tenure in New South Wales, Mitchell led four extensive and historically significant surveying expeditions into the interior of eastern Australia. First expedition In 1831, a runaway convict named George "The Barber" Clarke (monument around Barbers Lagoon, Boggabri NSW), who had lived with the Kamilaroi people in the area for several years, claimed that a large river called Kindur flowed north-west from the Liverpool Ranges in New South Wales to the sea. Charles Sturt believed that the Murray-Darling system formed the main river system of New South Wales and Mitchell wanted to prove Sturt wrong. Mitchell formed an expedition consisting of himself, assistant surveyor George Boyle White and 15 convicts who were promised remission for good conduct. Mitchell took 20 bullocks, three heavy drays, three light carts and nine horses to carry supplies, and set out on 24 November 1831 to investigate the claim. On reaching Wollombi in the Hunter Valley, the local assistant surveyor, Heneage Finch, expressed a desire to join the expedition which Mitchell approved, provided he first obtain extra provisions and rendezvous later. The expedition continued northward, and having climbed the Liverpool Range on 5 December, they found an Aboriginal tribe who had fled from their home in the Hunter Valley and were suffering from what appeared to be smallpox. On 8 December they arrived at Quirindi and by 11 December the expedition had reached Wallamoul Station near Tamworth, the northern extent of white settlement at the time. Mitchell continued his northward push into uncolonised territory, guided by a local Gamilaraay man named "Mr. Brown". In mid-December, near to where Boggabri now stands, they located the remains of a stockyard and huts built by George Clarke and his Aboriginal colleagues. By early January 1832 Mitchell's group was travelling along the Namoi River, by which stage Mr Brown had left them. Mitchell's party then headed north unguided but managed to reach the Gwydir River in mid-January where they found a small Aboriginal village of conical-roofed huts. They followed the Gwydir west and made it to the Barwon River by the end of the month. Mitchell came to the correct conclusion that the Barwon flowed into the Darling River and decided not to proceed any further. At this stage, Finch had finally caught up with the main group. Finch conveyed the news that the provisions he had obtained had been ransacked by Aboriginal people at Gorolei. Two men he had left to guard the supplies had also been killed. The immediate effect was that Mitchell decided to abandon the expedition and return south. The party retraced their path having tense but peaceful interactions with large groups of Gamilaraay people along the way. They reached Gorolei on 18 February where Mitchell buried the bodies of the two killed men and salvaged some equipment. Aboriginal people approached the group laying down their spears and offering females to Mitchell's men in an apparent attempt at appeasement for the killings. Mitchell refused the offer but accepted their guidance on an easy way back to the Namoi River. Once back at Wallamoul, Mitchell placed White in charge of the main party, while he returned hastily to Sydney. He was satisfied that there was no truth about the river Kindur claimed by Clarke. Fourteen years later, Mitchell revealed that the convicts had indulged in sexual relations with Aboriginal women. Second expedition Mitchell's next expedition was in 1835. The purpose was to explore the course of the Darling River from where Sturt had turned back in 1829, to where it joined the Murray River. There were 24 men in the party including Mitchell, James Larmer (assistant surveyor) as second in command, Richard Cunningham (colonial botanist) and 21 other men. The main party under Larmer left Parramatta on 9 March and rendezvoused with Mitchell at Boree near the township of Orange. From there, the expedition was guided through the Goobang Ranges by local Wiradjuri people toward the Bogan River. On 17 April 1835, Richard Cunningham wandered away from the party while looking for botanical specimens and went missing. The party, with the assistance of various local Aboriginal people, searched for him until 5 May, following Cunningham's tracks around the headwaters of the Bogan until they disappeared. Cunningham's dead horse, saddle, glove and fragments of his coat and map were all they found. Months later, a search party of military mounted police commanded by Lieutenant Henry Zouch of the first division, discovered that Cunningham had been killed by four Wiradjuri men and his bones were found and buried at Currindine. After the fruitless search for Cunningham, Mitchell decided to continue the expedition. He was assisted by a local unnamed elder who provided a guide called Tackijally. This man led Mitchell downstream along the waterholes adjacent to the Bogan River as far as Nyngan. Tackijally left them at this point and the group was soon involved in a brief confrontation after they startled an Aboriginal man at a waterhole. The man, who was shot in the hand, had his wounds dressed by the group and later departed. They proceeded down the Bogan, encountering several gatherings of people to which Mitchell gave tomahawks and pieces of an old sword. On 25 May the junction with the Darling River was reached. Here, on a high point of land which bore many Aboriginal grave sites, Mitchell decided to build a fort as he realised that they "had not asked permission to come there" and he needed a stockade for "stout resistance against any number of natives." He named it Fort Bourke in honour of the Governor, Richard Bourke. Two whale boats had been transported the whole distance on bullock drays and on 1 June Mitchell launched the boats on the Darling to transport the party downriver. However, the Darling became shallower and unnavigable resulting in the expedition resorting once again to overland progress. They encountered many tribes as they headed south, with Mitchell documenting the agricultural practices of some, such as the harvesting of Panicum decompositum, and the large permanent dwellings of others. One clan appeared more hostile than others, kicking up dust and spitting at party members. Mitchell acknowledged that his group were "rather unceremonious invaders of their country" but inflamed tensions by firing a pistol at a tree. Mitchell wrote that "the more they saw of our superior weapons...the more they shewed their hatred and tokens of defiance." The party continued downriver, meeting with friendlier locals, passing through villages and noting the construction of their tomb-sites. Just north of the Menindee Lakes, the expedition came across a large congregation of several tribes and Mitchell decided that continuing the exploration would be too dangerous. On 11 July, just as Mitchell had resolved to return to Sydney, shots were heard from a forage party up the river. Mitchell sent a further three armed men to the scene of the shooting and the firing continued. After more than an hour, some members of the group returned reporting that a skirmish had occurred over the possession of a kettle and at least three Aboriginal people had been shot dead, including a woman and her child. One of Mitchell's men had been knocked unconscious. The party then commenced their return via the outbound route with Mitchell deciding to avoid contact with the various tribes as much as possible. The "spitting tribe" attempted to burn down their camp on this return journey which resulted in Mitchell ordering shots to be fired over their heads. They arrived at Fort Bourke on 10 August and continued back along the Bogan River. Near Nyngan they met again with members of Tackijally's tribe who allowed Mitchell to walk through their cemetery at Milmeridien. Mitchell soon tired of the clan asking for food and ordered some of his men to march at them with bayonets. On 9 September they came to the upper reaches of the Bogan where they found a cattle-station had already been formed along their route by William Lee. The expedition arrived back at their starting point of Boree on 14 September. While Mitchell did not trace the Darling River to its junction with the Murray River, the course and terrain of the Bogan River and much of the Darling River had been charted. The places where this and other Mitchell expeditions were most assailed by Aboriginal Australians, including the location of Cunningham's killing, are marked on an 1836 map produced by Mitchell. Third expedition The goal of Mitchell's third expedition was to explore and survey the lower part of the Darling River, with instructions to head up the Murray River and then return to the settled areas around Yass. Second in command was assistant surveyor Granville Stapylton. A Wiradjuri man named John Piper was also recruited and 23 convicts and ticket of leave men made up the rest of the party. The group set out from a valley near Mount Canobolas on 17 March 1836, and made their way to Boree and the Bogan River as on previous journeys, then veered south to the Kalare or Lachlan River to approach the Darling from its southern end where it joined the Murray. The party was guided by various Aboriginal people such as "Barney" along the Lachlan, passing Lake Cargelligo, as John Oxley did in 1817. At this place they met with a large clan from which a number of people joined the expedition and gave vital information about waterholes, as the Lachlan was drying out. Piper also obtained a "good, strong woman" from this tribe. On 2 May they arrived at Combedyega where an Aboriginal widow named Turandurey with her four-year-old daughter Ballandella also joined the expedition as a guide. She remembered Oxley from nineteen years earlier and Sturt as well, and knew the lower Lachlan. The Murrumbidgee River was reached on 12 May, but at a point downstream from the junction with the Lachlan. Mount Dispersion massacre They continued down the Murrumbidgee until 21 May when they were close to the junction with the Murray River. A depot was established at this point, and Mitchell left Staplyton with eight men to guard the stock, while he ventured downstream with the rest of the group. According to the account given to a later enquiry by William Muirhead (bullock-driver and sergeant), Alexander Burnett (overseer) and Jemmy Piper (Aboriginal man accompanying the party): on 24 May Mitchell noticed that Barkindji tribesmen from the Darling River were gathering in large numbers, and by 27 May the hostile intentions of these men became known, when local Murray River people told Piper that the Barkindji were planning to kill Mitchell and his men. Mitchell had to decide whether to wait for an attack, or plan a pre-emptive manoeuvre. His numbers were reduced, as Staplyton and eight men were still at the depot. He split his party again, leaving half the men to hide in the scrub in ambush, while he continued ahead with the carts. When the armed Barkindji warriors approached, the convict Charles King, who was involved in the earlier killings, fired first without waiting for orders. The tribesmen fled into the river and Mitchell's two groups reunited on the shore and continued to shoot at the people for up to 15 minutes. Around 75 shots were fired with Piper later being told that seven Barkindji were killed and four wounded. Mitchell wrote about the loss of life in his journal, describing the Barkindji as "treacherous savages", and detailing how his men had chased them away, "pursuing and shooting as many as they could". This section was withheld from Mitchell's report when it was released to the public in Sydney. Mitchell named the hill near to where the mass-shooting occurred Mount Dispersion and in May 2020 it was heritage-listed as the Mount Dispersion Massacre Site Aboriginal Place. Onwards The expedition continued down the Murray River, encountering a major Aboriginal grave-site at Red Cliffs. On 31 May they arrived close to the junction of the Murray with a "green and stagnant" waterway. Local people advised Piper that this was the Darling River. Mitchell did not believe it, and only when he travelled upstream for some distance, coming across the same type of burial mounds that he had seen in 1835, did he acknowledge that "this hopeless river" was the Darling. He turned back and headed upstream on the Murray to rejoin Stapylton at the depot. The reunited expedition now travelled south-east following the Murray. They passed Swan Hill on 21 June and encountered a group of native inhabitants at Lake Boga. These people were angry at Piper for "bringing whitefellows" to their country and threw spears at him. Piper shot one of them dead. Mitchell noted the local people's practice of making large nets that spanned above the river to catch waterfowl and also came across unusual animals such as the now extinct Southern pig-footed bandicoot. At the end of June, Mitchell chose to leave the Murray to investigate better looking lands to the south-west. Mitchell was so impressed with the country he saw, he named it Australia Felix. In early July the party crossed the Loddon River, and made their way in a south-westerly direction which brought them to the Grampians and the Wimmera River. Confrontation with people in this region resulted in an Indigenous man being shot in the arm. They were guided by a local Aboriginal woman along part of the Nangeela (Glenelg River) with Mitchell constructing a fortified base on its banks which he named Fort O'Hare. From here Mitchell led part of the group in boats down the Glenelg to where it discharged into the ocean at a bay which Mitchell named Discovery Bay. Mitchell then returned to Fort O'Hare and altered direction towards Portland Bay to the east. When this was reached on 29 August, Mitchell was surprised to find an established farm and whaling station operated by the Henty brothers. The expedition continued north-east with Mitchell spending a night in a "snug old hut of the natives" at Narrawong. On 17 September, in order to speed his return, Mitchell split the party in two, taking 14 men with him and leaving the remainder with Stapylton to follow with the bullocks and drays. The young girl Ballandella went with Mitchell, while her mother Turandurey remained behind. On the plains around the Hopkins River, Mitchell came across a community of Aboriginal people who cultivated and harvested murnong tubers with specialised tools. Mitchell was wary and when forty of them approached his camp, he ordered his men to charge at them. On 30 September, Mitchell climbed and named Mount Macedon, from the summit of which he had a view of Port Phillip. Progress was slowed due a member of the group, James "Tally-ho" Taylor, drowning while crossing the Broken River. Their return to the frontier of British colonisation on the Murrumbidgee was not completed until 24 October. Enquiry When Mitchell arrived in Sydney in early November he was received with great joy. However, when the remainder of his party arrived two weeks later, rumours circulated about the mass killing on the Murray. He subsequently faced a Legislative Council Inquiry in December 1836, receiving an official rebuke. Ballandella joined Mitchell's family of eight other children and learnt to read and write, but was left by Mitchell when he returned to England. Ballandella later married and raised a family at Sackville where she died around the age of thirty. Fourth expedition Mitchell's fourth expedition was into northern interior of the colony (a region now part of Queensland) in 1845–46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, and finding this river was the main focus of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree near Orange with a large party of 32 people including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). The Wiradjuri man named Piper from his previous expedition was also a member. Yuranigh (also Wiradjuri) and a ten year old boy from the lower Bogan River named "Dicky" were also assigned as guides. The party travelled north along the Bogan where a war between the British and the Indigenous inhabitants was at that time occurring. Mitchell noted areas where the British had been pushed back, abandoning their farmhouses which were subsequently burnt down by the local people. Mitchell stated "All I could learn about the rest of the tribe was, that the men were almost all dead, and that their wives were chiefly servants at stock stations along the Macquarie." In January 1846, they left the Bogan and started following the Macquarie River where Mitchell was informed of Pipers' intention to leave the expedition. Mitchell ordered him back to Bathurst, accompanied by Corporal Graham. Near the Macquarie Marshes the harvesting of native millet by Aboriginal people to make bread was recorded and a local man named Yulliyally guided the group to the Barwon River. From here two brothers from a nearby clan led Mitchell to vital waterholes near the Narran River. Mitchell "blushed inwardly for our pallid race" knowing that "white man's cattle would soon trample these holes into a quagmire of mud." More bundles of harvested millet lay for miles along their journey up the Narran. Mitchell then received a message from his son, Roderick Mitchell, a Crown Lands Commissioner who had previously been to the area, which recommended following the Balonne and the Culgoa rivers north. They encountered many Indigenous people who guided the group along the way. On 12 April 1846 Mitchell came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St. George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to an area with an "abundance of good pasturage" in which stood a solitary double topped hill that he named Mount Abundance, on which grew a species of bottle tree. He then crossed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy, who had trouble with local inhabitants trying to burn down his camp, rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa, on one occasion discharging his rifle over the heads of the Indigenous people to gain "peaceful occupation of the ground." He sighted the headwaters of the Warrego and Nogoa Rivers, then came across the upper reaches of the Belyando River which they followed for a considerable distance. This river's name was given to Mitchell by Indigenous residents before the expedition's dogs chased them away, biting at their legs. Being a tributary of the Burdekin River, a waterway already visited by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington in 1845, Mitchell was dismayed to find that he was approaching ground already explored by Europeans. He returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, meeting with a tribe who caught emus with nets. He encountered a river which he was certain was the fabled waterway that would flow north-west to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He followed it until he came across a large clan of Aboriginal people living in permanent huts on the banks of a lagoon. He called this place Yuranigh Pond after his Wiradjuri guide and decided to return home. In honour of the British sovereign of the time, he named the waterway, Victoria River. On the homeward journey Mitchell noticed the well known grass that bears his name. They trekked back along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later in 1847, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria in fact did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aboriginal people. Later career In 1837, Mitchell sought 18 months leave from his position and in May he left Sydney for London. During his leave, he published an account of his explorations called Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia: with descriptions of the recently explored region of Australia Felix, and of the present colony of New South Wales. Mitchell sought additional periods of leave and finally arrived back in Australia in 1841. Mitchell left Sydney again in March 1847 on another period of leave. By the time he arrived back in mid-1848, he had published his Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia, in search of a route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mitchell's journals proved a rich source for historians and anthropologists, with their close and sympathetic observations of the Aboriginal peoples he had encountered. These publications made him the most celebrated Australian explorer of his day. But he was a difficult man to get on with, made evident by this passage made by Governor Charles Augustus FitzRoy: "It is notorious that Sir Thomas Mitchell's unfortunate impracticability of temper and spirit of opposition of those in authority over him misled him into frequent collision with my predecessors." In a by-election for the Electoral district of Port Phillip in April 1844, Mitchell was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council. He found it difficult to separate his roles of government employee and elected member of the legislature, and after only five months he resigned from the Legislative Council. Duel Mitchell is also remembered as the last person in Australia to challenge anyone to a duel. In September 1851, Mitchell issued a challenge to Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson (later Premier of New South Wales) because Donaldson had publicly criticised excessive spending by the Surveyor General's Department. The duel took place in Sydney on 27 September, with both duellists missing their marks; only Donaldson's hat was damaged. The French 50 calibre pistols used in the duel are in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. Ophir gold fields In 1851, Mitchell was instructed by Governor FitzRoy to make a report on, and survey of, 'the extent and productiveness of the goldfield reported to have been discovered in the County of Bathurst.' He travelled west during winter to visit the Ophir gold diggings, accompanied by his son, Roderick, and Samuel Stutchbury the government geologist. In June 1851 Mitchell selected the site for the township of Ophir. W.R. Davidson plotted a survey of the ground and Mitchell planned the streets and allotments for the town. Mitchell returned with a collection of specimens from the diggings, mostly quartz, with 48 of these stored in a wooden chest. His report of the goldfields was presented to the Legislative Council in February 1852. Story of the "bomerang" propeller The search for a method of screw propulsion of ships intrigued many inventors during the latter half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. An Englishman, K. P. Smith, patented a screw propeller in 1836, and shortly afterwards Captain John Ericsson, formerly an officer of the Swedish army, patented another. On his travels, Mitchell must have been evolving the idea of his boomerang propeller—he spelled it "bomerang", while newspapers used "bomarang" and "boomerang." The first test was made in the Sydney Harbour in May 1852, an iron propeller being fitted to the "screw-steamer" Keera. The results of this trial were considered satisfactory, the ship's progress being calculated on two runs at 10 and a little over 12 knots, and Sir Thomas Mitchell took his Invention to England. In 1853 the propeller was fitted to the Genova, and a trial was conducted on the Mersey. Then the Admiralty gave it a test on . The Genova ran at 9.5 knots as against 8.5 with a screw propeller, and the Conflict 9.25 knots as against the screw propeller 8.75, and at a lower engine speed. The "boomerang" propeller can be simply described as a "screw" propeller with much of the blades close to the shaft, which contribute little to propulsion but much to drag, cut away, a principle which is well understood today. Family life Thomas Mitchell and Mary had twelve children: Livingstone, Roderick, Murray, Campbell, Thomas, Richard, Georgina, Maria, Emily, Camilla, Alicia, Blanche. Georgina and Maria died young, and Murray before 1847. Roderick became a Commissioner of Crown Lands and head of the Border Police in the Liverpool Plains district. Roderick was drowned and Campbell died during the last years of Mitchell's life. His family enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and Blanche Mitchell, his youngest daughter, recorded her daily activities and social life in childhood diaries and notebooks. Her sister Emily married George Edward Thicknesse-Touchet, 21st Baron Audley. In 1841, Mitchell completed his new Gothic home, Carthona, on the water's edge in Darling Point, Sydney. Following Mitchell's death, his family moved to Craigend Terrace in Woolloomooloo. Death In July 1855 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the New South Wales Survey Department, but Mitchell did not live to see the report. While surveying the line of road between Nelligen and Braidwood, he developed a chill which led to a severe attack of bronchitis. He died a few days later at Carthona at Darling Point at 5:15 pm 5 October 1855. Newspapers of the day commented:"For a period of twenty-eight years Sir Thomas Mitchell had served the Colony, much of that service having been exceedingly arduous and difficult. Among the early explorers of Australia his name will occupy an honoured place in the estimation of posterity." He is buried at Camperdown Cemetery, Newtown, with his grave being maintained by the Seniors Group of Surveyors. Naming Some of the places Mitchell named on his expeditions were: the Avoca River, Balonne River, Belyando River, Campaspe River, Cogoon River, Discovery Bay, Glenelg River, Grampians, Maranoa River, Mount Arapiles, Mount King, Mount Macedon, Mount Napier, Mount William, Nyngan, Pyramid Hill, St George, Swan Hill and Wimmera River. Commemoration Because of his contributions in the surveying and exploration of Australia, Mitchell is commemorated by having numerous localities or objects across Australia being named after him. These include: The town of Mitchell in Queensland The Mitchell River in Queensland The Canberra suburb of Mitchell The electorate of Mitchell The Mitchell Highway The Major Mitchell's cockatoo, a species of cockatoo Mitchellstown in Victoria. A local government area in Victoria, Shire of Mitchell Steam locomotive number S 301 Sir Thomas Mitchell, a member of the Victorian Railways S class locomotives. In turn, Mitchell House at Seymour Technical High School, the town with the loco depot which serviced the famous four locos. Later, the name was carried by the diesel S301. Mitchell grass, common name of the small genus of grass species dominant across much of the arid areas of the continent Mitchell's hopping mouse, an Australian native rodent-like animal Countless roadside locations in Victoria have a memorial erected 'Major Mitchell passed here'. Sir Thomas Mitchell Road Villawood NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell road in Bondi NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell Drive Bowenfels (Lithgow) linking the Great Western Highway with the Cox River at a fitting memorial to colonial road builders. Mitchell is also the namesake in the highest honor of the New South Wales Surveyors Awards, the Sir Thomas Mitchell Excellence in Surveying Award. A map of the expedition of Major Sir Thomas Mitchell into the country between the Maranoa and Mount Mudge and the River Victoria, 1848 was ranked #38 in the ‘Top 150: Documenting Queensland’ exhibition when it toured to venues around Queensland from February 2009 to April 2010. The exhibition was part of Queensland State Archives’ events and exhibition program which contributed to the state’s Q150 celebrations, marking the 150th anniversary of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales. Manuscript Collections See also :Category:Taxa named by Thomas Mitchell (explorer) Charles Sturt Great North Road (Australia) History of New South Wales New South Wales gold rush Nineteen Counties Surveyor General of New South Wales References External links Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1, Volume 2 The Great North Road – Convict Trail Project 1792 births 1855 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Explorers of Australia Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia Scottish explorers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Scottish surveyors Royal Engineers officers People from Grangemouth Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Rifle Brigade officers Surveyors General of New South Wales 19th-century Australian politicians Pre-Separation Queensland Australian duellists
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[ "Anything Can Happen is a 1952 comedy-drama film.\n\nAnything Can Happen may also refer to:\n\n Anything Can Happen (album), by Leon Russell, 1994\n \"Anything Can Happen\", a 2019 song by Saint Jhn \n Edhuvum Nadakkum ('Anything Can Happen'), a season of the Tamil TV series Marmadesam\n \"Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour\", or \"Anything Can Happen\", a 2007 song by Enter Shikari\n Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour (EP), 2004\n\nSee also\n \"Anything Could Happen\", a 2012 song by Ellie Goulding \n Anything Might Happen, 1934 British crime film\n Special Effects: Anything Can Happen, a 1996 American documentary film\n \"Anything Can Happen on Halloween\", a song from the 1986 film The Worst Witch \n Anything Can Happen in the Theatre, a musical revue of works by Maury Yeston\n \"The Anything Can Happen Recurrence\", an episode of The Big Bang Theory (season 7)\n The Anupam Kher Show - Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai ('The Anupam Kher Show — Anything Can Happen') an Indian TV show", "\"Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour...\" (often shortened to \"Anything Can Happen\") is the second physical single, and third overall, by Enter Shikari and the second single to be released from their debut album Take to the Skies. It was released on 18 February 2007 for digital download and on 5 March 2007 on both CD and 7\" vinyl. It is the band's highest charting single, charting at #27 in the UK single chart, and number 1 on the UK indie chart. There are two remixes of the song, Colon Open Bracket Remix and Grayedout Mix. Both are up for download on their official download store.\n\nTrack listing\n\n CD\n \"Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour...\" (Rou, Enter Shikari) - 4:40\n \"Kickin' Back on the Surface of Your Cheek\" (Rou, Enter Shikari) - 3:50\n \"Keep It on Ice\" (Rou) - 2:51\n\n 7\"\n\n \"Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour...\" (Rou, Enter Shikari) - 4:40\n \"Kickin' Back on the Surface of Your Cheek\" (Rou, Enter Shikari) - 3:50\n\nOriginal version\nIn the original version of the song, a sample is heard from the introduction of the popular 1960s TV series Stingray in which the character says \"Anything can happen in the next half hour\". This is, however, not heard in the re-recorded version.\n\nChart performance\n\nPersonnel\n\nEnter Shikari\nRoughton \"Rou\" Reynolds - vocals, electronics\nLiam \"Rory\" Clewlow - guitar\nChris Batten - bass, vocals\nRob Rolfe - drums\nProduction\nEnter Shikari - production\nJohn Mitchell - recording\nBen Humphreys - recording\nMartin Giles - mastering\nKeaton Henson - illustration, design\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Video - \"Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour...\" video.\n Original Video - Original video using the 2004 EP version of the song.\n Stingray Introduction - The phrase can be heard at 0:44\n\n2007 singles\nEnter Shikari songs\nSong articles missing an audio sample\n2007 songs" ]
[ "Thomas Mitchell (explorer)", "Fourth expedition", "What was Mitchell exploring during his fourth expedition?", "Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria,", "Was he correct?", "Later that year, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek.", "When did he begin his explorations?", "On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree (Buree in Mitchell's journal) with a large party including Edmund Kennedy as second in command", "Who else was with the exploration party?", "I don't know.", "Did anything interesting happen during his exploration?", "This rivulet led him to a magnificent pastoral district in the midst of which stood a solitary hill that he named Mount Abundance." ]
C_31fec604f00d47fca55b1bf8097cb058_0
Why did he call it Mount Abundance?
6
Why did Thomas Mitchell call a solitary hill Mount Abundance in 1845?
Thomas Mitchell (explorer)
Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, this being the main thrust of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree (Buree in Mitchell's journal) with a large party including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). He struck the Darling River above Fort Bourke then continued to the Narran River, the Balonne, and the Culgoa. On 12 April 1846 he came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St.George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to a magnificent pastoral district in the midst of which stood a solitary hill that he named Mount Abundance. He then crossed a low watershed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa and discovered the Warrago River. Keeping north over the watershed, he traversed the Claude and Nogoa rivers, then reached the Belyando River, an upper reach of the Burdekin River. This had already been discovered by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington on 2 April 1845. Intensely mortified to find that he was on a tributary of the Burdekin River, and approaching the ground already trodden by Leichhardt, he returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, after dividing his party and forming a stationary camp. He continued west, making a new discovery which he was certain was the fabled north-west river. In honour of the sovereign of the time he decided to call it Victoria River. Having run out of time, he turned back towards the main party. It was here that Mitchell first noticed the well known grass that bears his name. On the homeward journey he trekked along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later that year, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aborigines. CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (15 June 1792 – 5 October 1855), surveyor and explorer of Southeastern Australia, was born at Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, Scotland. In 1827 he took up an appointment as Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales. The following year he became Surveyor General and remained in this position until his death. Mitchell was knighted in 1839 for his contribution to the surveying of Australia. Early life Born in Scotland on 15 June 1792, he was son of John Mitchell of Carron Works and was brought up from childhood by his uncle, Thomas Livingstone of Parkhall, Stirlingshire. Peninsular War On the death of his uncle, he joined the British army in Portugal as a volunteer in the Peninsular War, at the age of sixteen. On 24 June 1811, at the age of nineteen, he received his first commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion 95th Rifles (later the Rifle Brigade / Royal Green Jackets). Utilising his skills as a draughtsman of outstanding ability, he was occasionally employed in the Quartermaster-General's department under Sir George Murray. He was present at the storming of the fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos and San Sebastian as well as the battles of Salamanca and the Pyrenees. Subsequently, he would receive the Military General Service Medal with bars for each of these engagements. When the war was over, Mitchell was selected to reside in Spain and Portugal for four years to complete sketches of the battlefields for the Military Depot. His duties also included conducting several other important surveys which had been impossible to finish whilst operations were in progress in the field. On 10 June 1818, during this posting, Mitchell married Mary Blunt (daughter of General Richard Blunt) in Lisbon and gained promotion to a company in the 54th Regiment. In the summer of 1819, he returned to Britain where he devoted himself to finishing the drawings, but with the cessation of the government allowances he had to stop this work. The reductions in the military establishment which followed the withdrawing of the Army of Occupation from France forced Mitchell on to half-pay. It was not until much later, while Mitchell was in London between 1838 and 1840, that the work was completed. The finished drawings were published by the London geographer James Wyld in 1841 under the title Atlas containing the principle battles, sieges and affairs of the Peninsular War. Of high quality, the drawings are the prime source for the topography of the war. New South Wales In 1827, with the support of Sir George Murray, Mitchell became Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales with the right to succeed John Oxley. Oxley died the following year, and on 27 May 1828, Mitchell became Surveyor General. In this post he did much to improve the quality and accuracy of surveying – a vital task in a colony where huge tracts of land were being opened up and sold to new settlers. One of the first roads surveyed under his leadership was the Great North Road, built by convict labour between 1826 and 1836 linking Sydney to the Hunter Region. The Great South Road (now replaced by the Hume Highway), also convict-built, linked Sydney and Goulburn. He kept a record of his 'Progress in roads and Public Works in New South Wales to 1855', including sketches and plans of Sydney, Emu Plains, the Blue Mountains, Victoria Pass, roads to Bathurst, Wiseman's Ferry, and indigenous Australians. As Surveyor General, Mitchell also completed maps and plans of Sydney, including Darling Point, Point Piper, the city, and Port Jackson. In 1834 he was commissioned to survey a map of the Nineteen Counties. The map he produced was done with such skill and accuracy that he was awarded a knighthood. Around this time, a portrait of Mitchell was painted showing him in the uniform of Major of the 1st Rifle Brigade of the 95th Regiment, complete with whistle used to direct the movement of troops. During his tenure in New South Wales, Mitchell led four extensive and historically significant surveying expeditions into the interior of eastern Australia. First expedition In 1831, a runaway convict named George "The Barber" Clarke (monument around Barbers Lagoon, Boggabri NSW), who had lived with the Kamilaroi people in the area for several years, claimed that a large river called Kindur flowed north-west from the Liverpool Ranges in New South Wales to the sea. Charles Sturt believed that the Murray-Darling system formed the main river system of New South Wales and Mitchell wanted to prove Sturt wrong. Mitchell formed an expedition consisting of himself, assistant surveyor George Boyle White and 15 convicts who were promised remission for good conduct. Mitchell took 20 bullocks, three heavy drays, three light carts and nine horses to carry supplies, and set out on 24 November 1831 to investigate the claim. On reaching Wollombi in the Hunter Valley, the local assistant surveyor, Heneage Finch, expressed a desire to join the expedition which Mitchell approved, provided he first obtain extra provisions and rendezvous later. The expedition continued northward, and having climbed the Liverpool Range on 5 December, they found an Aboriginal tribe who had fled from their home in the Hunter Valley and were suffering from what appeared to be smallpox. On 8 December they arrived at Quirindi and by 11 December the expedition had reached Wallamoul Station near Tamworth, the northern extent of white settlement at the time. Mitchell continued his northward push into uncolonised territory, guided by a local Gamilaraay man named "Mr. Brown". In mid-December, near to where Boggabri now stands, they located the remains of a stockyard and huts built by George Clarke and his Aboriginal colleagues. By early January 1832 Mitchell's group was travelling along the Namoi River, by which stage Mr Brown had left them. Mitchell's party then headed north unguided but managed to reach the Gwydir River in mid-January where they found a small Aboriginal village of conical-roofed huts. They followed the Gwydir west and made it to the Barwon River by the end of the month. Mitchell came to the correct conclusion that the Barwon flowed into the Darling River and decided not to proceed any further. At this stage, Finch had finally caught up with the main group. Finch conveyed the news that the provisions he had obtained had been ransacked by Aboriginal people at Gorolei. Two men he had left to guard the supplies had also been killed. The immediate effect was that Mitchell decided to abandon the expedition and return south. The party retraced their path having tense but peaceful interactions with large groups of Gamilaraay people along the way. They reached Gorolei on 18 February where Mitchell buried the bodies of the two killed men and salvaged some equipment. Aboriginal people approached the group laying down their spears and offering females to Mitchell's men in an apparent attempt at appeasement for the killings. Mitchell refused the offer but accepted their guidance on an easy way back to the Namoi River. Once back at Wallamoul, Mitchell placed White in charge of the main party, while he returned hastily to Sydney. He was satisfied that there was no truth about the river Kindur claimed by Clarke. Fourteen years later, Mitchell revealed that the convicts had indulged in sexual relations with Aboriginal women. Second expedition Mitchell's next expedition was in 1835. The purpose was to explore the course of the Darling River from where Sturt had turned back in 1829, to where it joined the Murray River. There were 24 men in the party including Mitchell, James Larmer (assistant surveyor) as second in command, Richard Cunningham (colonial botanist) and 21 other men. The main party under Larmer left Parramatta on 9 March and rendezvoused with Mitchell at Boree near the township of Orange. From there, the expedition was guided through the Goobang Ranges by local Wiradjuri people toward the Bogan River. On 17 April 1835, Richard Cunningham wandered away from the party while looking for botanical specimens and went missing. The party, with the assistance of various local Aboriginal people, searched for him until 5 May, following Cunningham's tracks around the headwaters of the Bogan until they disappeared. Cunningham's dead horse, saddle, glove and fragments of his coat and map were all they found. Months later, a search party of military mounted police commanded by Lieutenant Henry Zouch of the first division, discovered that Cunningham had been killed by four Wiradjuri men and his bones were found and buried at Currindine. After the fruitless search for Cunningham, Mitchell decided to continue the expedition. He was assisted by a local unnamed elder who provided a guide called Tackijally. This man led Mitchell downstream along the waterholes adjacent to the Bogan River as far as Nyngan. Tackijally left them at this point and the group was soon involved in a brief confrontation after they startled an Aboriginal man at a waterhole. The man, who was shot in the hand, had his wounds dressed by the group and later departed. They proceeded down the Bogan, encountering several gatherings of people to which Mitchell gave tomahawks and pieces of an old sword. On 25 May the junction with the Darling River was reached. Here, on a high point of land which bore many Aboriginal grave sites, Mitchell decided to build a fort as he realised that they "had not asked permission to come there" and he needed a stockade for "stout resistance against any number of natives." He named it Fort Bourke in honour of the Governor, Richard Bourke. Two whale boats had been transported the whole distance on bullock drays and on 1 June Mitchell launched the boats on the Darling to transport the party downriver. However, the Darling became shallower and unnavigable resulting in the expedition resorting once again to overland progress. They encountered many tribes as they headed south, with Mitchell documenting the agricultural practices of some, such as the harvesting of Panicum decompositum, and the large permanent dwellings of others. One clan appeared more hostile than others, kicking up dust and spitting at party members. Mitchell acknowledged that his group were "rather unceremonious invaders of their country" but inflamed tensions by firing a pistol at a tree. Mitchell wrote that "the more they saw of our superior weapons...the more they shewed their hatred and tokens of defiance." The party continued downriver, meeting with friendlier locals, passing through villages and noting the construction of their tomb-sites. Just north of the Menindee Lakes, the expedition came across a large congregation of several tribes and Mitchell decided that continuing the exploration would be too dangerous. On 11 July, just as Mitchell had resolved to return to Sydney, shots were heard from a forage party up the river. Mitchell sent a further three armed men to the scene of the shooting and the firing continued. After more than an hour, some members of the group returned reporting that a skirmish had occurred over the possession of a kettle and at least three Aboriginal people had been shot dead, including a woman and her child. One of Mitchell's men had been knocked unconscious. The party then commenced their return via the outbound route with Mitchell deciding to avoid contact with the various tribes as much as possible. The "spitting tribe" attempted to burn down their camp on this return journey which resulted in Mitchell ordering shots to be fired over their heads. They arrived at Fort Bourke on 10 August and continued back along the Bogan River. Near Nyngan they met again with members of Tackijally's tribe who allowed Mitchell to walk through their cemetery at Milmeridien. Mitchell soon tired of the clan asking for food and ordered some of his men to march at them with bayonets. On 9 September they came to the upper reaches of the Bogan where they found a cattle-station had already been formed along their route by William Lee. The expedition arrived back at their starting point of Boree on 14 September. While Mitchell did not trace the Darling River to its junction with the Murray River, the course and terrain of the Bogan River and much of the Darling River had been charted. The places where this and other Mitchell expeditions were most assailed by Aboriginal Australians, including the location of Cunningham's killing, are marked on an 1836 map produced by Mitchell. Third expedition The goal of Mitchell's third expedition was to explore and survey the lower part of the Darling River, with instructions to head up the Murray River and then return to the settled areas around Yass. Second in command was assistant surveyor Granville Stapylton. A Wiradjuri man named John Piper was also recruited and 23 convicts and ticket of leave men made up the rest of the party. The group set out from a valley near Mount Canobolas on 17 March 1836, and made their way to Boree and the Bogan River as on previous journeys, then veered south to the Kalare or Lachlan River to approach the Darling from its southern end where it joined the Murray. The party was guided by various Aboriginal people such as "Barney" along the Lachlan, passing Lake Cargelligo, as John Oxley did in 1817. At this place they met with a large clan from which a number of people joined the expedition and gave vital information about waterholes, as the Lachlan was drying out. Piper also obtained a "good, strong woman" from this tribe. On 2 May they arrived at Combedyega where an Aboriginal widow named Turandurey with her four-year-old daughter Ballandella also joined the expedition as a guide. She remembered Oxley from nineteen years earlier and Sturt as well, and knew the lower Lachlan. The Murrumbidgee River was reached on 12 May, but at a point downstream from the junction with the Lachlan. Mount Dispersion massacre They continued down the Murrumbidgee until 21 May when they were close to the junction with the Murray River. A depot was established at this point, and Mitchell left Staplyton with eight men to guard the stock, while he ventured downstream with the rest of the group. According to the account given to a later enquiry by William Muirhead (bullock-driver and sergeant), Alexander Burnett (overseer) and Jemmy Piper (Aboriginal man accompanying the party): on 24 May Mitchell noticed that Barkindji tribesmen from the Darling River were gathering in large numbers, and by 27 May the hostile intentions of these men became known, when local Murray River people told Piper that the Barkindji were planning to kill Mitchell and his men. Mitchell had to decide whether to wait for an attack, or plan a pre-emptive manoeuvre. His numbers were reduced, as Staplyton and eight men were still at the depot. He split his party again, leaving half the men to hide in the scrub in ambush, while he continued ahead with the carts. When the armed Barkindji warriors approached, the convict Charles King, who was involved in the earlier killings, fired first without waiting for orders. The tribesmen fled into the river and Mitchell's two groups reunited on the shore and continued to shoot at the people for up to 15 minutes. Around 75 shots were fired with Piper later being told that seven Barkindji were killed and four wounded. Mitchell wrote about the loss of life in his journal, describing the Barkindji as "treacherous savages", and detailing how his men had chased them away, "pursuing and shooting as many as they could". This section was withheld from Mitchell's report when it was released to the public in Sydney. Mitchell named the hill near to where the mass-shooting occurred Mount Dispersion and in May 2020 it was heritage-listed as the Mount Dispersion Massacre Site Aboriginal Place. Onwards The expedition continued down the Murray River, encountering a major Aboriginal grave-site at Red Cliffs. On 31 May they arrived close to the junction of the Murray with a "green and stagnant" waterway. Local people advised Piper that this was the Darling River. Mitchell did not believe it, and only when he travelled upstream for some distance, coming across the same type of burial mounds that he had seen in 1835, did he acknowledge that "this hopeless river" was the Darling. He turned back and headed upstream on the Murray to rejoin Stapylton at the depot. The reunited expedition now travelled south-east following the Murray. They passed Swan Hill on 21 June and encountered a group of native inhabitants at Lake Boga. These people were angry at Piper for "bringing whitefellows" to their country and threw spears at him. Piper shot one of them dead. Mitchell noted the local people's practice of making large nets that spanned above the river to catch waterfowl and also came across unusual animals such as the now extinct Southern pig-footed bandicoot. At the end of June, Mitchell chose to leave the Murray to investigate better looking lands to the south-west. Mitchell was so impressed with the country he saw, he named it Australia Felix. In early July the party crossed the Loddon River, and made their way in a south-westerly direction which brought them to the Grampians and the Wimmera River. Confrontation with people in this region resulted in an Indigenous man being shot in the arm. They were guided by a local Aboriginal woman along part of the Nangeela (Glenelg River) with Mitchell constructing a fortified base on its banks which he named Fort O'Hare. From here Mitchell led part of the group in boats down the Glenelg to where it discharged into the ocean at a bay which Mitchell named Discovery Bay. Mitchell then returned to Fort O'Hare and altered direction towards Portland Bay to the east. When this was reached on 29 August, Mitchell was surprised to find an established farm and whaling station operated by the Henty brothers. The expedition continued north-east with Mitchell spending a night in a "snug old hut of the natives" at Narrawong. On 17 September, in order to speed his return, Mitchell split the party in two, taking 14 men with him and leaving the remainder with Stapylton to follow with the bullocks and drays. The young girl Ballandella went with Mitchell, while her mother Turandurey remained behind. On the plains around the Hopkins River, Mitchell came across a community of Aboriginal people who cultivated and harvested murnong tubers with specialised tools. Mitchell was wary and when forty of them approached his camp, he ordered his men to charge at them. On 30 September, Mitchell climbed and named Mount Macedon, from the summit of which he had a view of Port Phillip. Progress was slowed due a member of the group, James "Tally-ho" Taylor, drowning while crossing the Broken River. Their return to the frontier of British colonisation on the Murrumbidgee was not completed until 24 October. Enquiry When Mitchell arrived in Sydney in early November he was received with great joy. However, when the remainder of his party arrived two weeks later, rumours circulated about the mass killing on the Murray. He subsequently faced a Legislative Council Inquiry in December 1836, receiving an official rebuke. Ballandella joined Mitchell's family of eight other children and learnt to read and write, but was left by Mitchell when he returned to England. Ballandella later married and raised a family at Sackville where she died around the age of thirty. Fourth expedition Mitchell's fourth expedition was into northern interior of the colony (a region now part of Queensland) in 1845–46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, and finding this river was the main focus of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree near Orange with a large party of 32 people including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). The Wiradjuri man named Piper from his previous expedition was also a member. Yuranigh (also Wiradjuri) and a ten year old boy from the lower Bogan River named "Dicky" were also assigned as guides. The party travelled north along the Bogan where a war between the British and the Indigenous inhabitants was at that time occurring. Mitchell noted areas where the British had been pushed back, abandoning their farmhouses which were subsequently burnt down by the local people. Mitchell stated "All I could learn about the rest of the tribe was, that the men were almost all dead, and that their wives were chiefly servants at stock stations along the Macquarie." In January 1846, they left the Bogan and started following the Macquarie River where Mitchell was informed of Pipers' intention to leave the expedition. Mitchell ordered him back to Bathurst, accompanied by Corporal Graham. Near the Macquarie Marshes the harvesting of native millet by Aboriginal people to make bread was recorded and a local man named Yulliyally guided the group to the Barwon River. From here two brothers from a nearby clan led Mitchell to vital waterholes near the Narran River. Mitchell "blushed inwardly for our pallid race" knowing that "white man's cattle would soon trample these holes into a quagmire of mud." More bundles of harvested millet lay for miles along their journey up the Narran. Mitchell then received a message from his son, Roderick Mitchell, a Crown Lands Commissioner who had previously been to the area, which recommended following the Balonne and the Culgoa rivers north. They encountered many Indigenous people who guided the group along the way. On 12 April 1846 Mitchell came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St. George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to an area with an "abundance of good pasturage" in which stood a solitary double topped hill that he named Mount Abundance, on which grew a species of bottle tree. He then crossed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy, who had trouble with local inhabitants trying to burn down his camp, rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa, on one occasion discharging his rifle over the heads of the Indigenous people to gain "peaceful occupation of the ground." He sighted the headwaters of the Warrego and Nogoa Rivers, then came across the upper reaches of the Belyando River which they followed for a considerable distance. This river's name was given to Mitchell by Indigenous residents before the expedition's dogs chased them away, biting at their legs. Being a tributary of the Burdekin River, a waterway already visited by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington in 1845, Mitchell was dismayed to find that he was approaching ground already explored by Europeans. He returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, meeting with a tribe who caught emus with nets. He encountered a river which he was certain was the fabled waterway that would flow north-west to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He followed it until he came across a large clan of Aboriginal people living in permanent huts on the banks of a lagoon. He called this place Yuranigh Pond after his Wiradjuri guide and decided to return home. In honour of the British sovereign of the time, he named the waterway, Victoria River. On the homeward journey Mitchell noticed the well known grass that bears his name. They trekked back along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later in 1847, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria in fact did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aboriginal people. Later career In 1837, Mitchell sought 18 months leave from his position and in May he left Sydney for London. During his leave, he published an account of his explorations called Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia: with descriptions of the recently explored region of Australia Felix, and of the present colony of New South Wales. Mitchell sought additional periods of leave and finally arrived back in Australia in 1841. Mitchell left Sydney again in March 1847 on another period of leave. By the time he arrived back in mid-1848, he had published his Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia, in search of a route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mitchell's journals proved a rich source for historians and anthropologists, with their close and sympathetic observations of the Aboriginal peoples he had encountered. These publications made him the most celebrated Australian explorer of his day. But he was a difficult man to get on with, made evident by this passage made by Governor Charles Augustus FitzRoy: "It is notorious that Sir Thomas Mitchell's unfortunate impracticability of temper and spirit of opposition of those in authority over him misled him into frequent collision with my predecessors." In a by-election for the Electoral district of Port Phillip in April 1844, Mitchell was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council. He found it difficult to separate his roles of government employee and elected member of the legislature, and after only five months he resigned from the Legislative Council. Duel Mitchell is also remembered as the last person in Australia to challenge anyone to a duel. In September 1851, Mitchell issued a challenge to Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson (later Premier of New South Wales) because Donaldson had publicly criticised excessive spending by the Surveyor General's Department. The duel took place in Sydney on 27 September, with both duellists missing their marks; only Donaldson's hat was damaged. The French 50 calibre pistols used in the duel are in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. Ophir gold fields In 1851, Mitchell was instructed by Governor FitzRoy to make a report on, and survey of, 'the extent and productiveness of the goldfield reported to have been discovered in the County of Bathurst.' He travelled west during winter to visit the Ophir gold diggings, accompanied by his son, Roderick, and Samuel Stutchbury the government geologist. In June 1851 Mitchell selected the site for the township of Ophir. W.R. Davidson plotted a survey of the ground and Mitchell planned the streets and allotments for the town. Mitchell returned with a collection of specimens from the diggings, mostly quartz, with 48 of these stored in a wooden chest. His report of the goldfields was presented to the Legislative Council in February 1852. Story of the "bomerang" propeller The search for a method of screw propulsion of ships intrigued many inventors during the latter half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. An Englishman, K. P. Smith, patented a screw propeller in 1836, and shortly afterwards Captain John Ericsson, formerly an officer of the Swedish army, patented another. On his travels, Mitchell must have been evolving the idea of his boomerang propeller—he spelled it "bomerang", while newspapers used "bomarang" and "boomerang." The first test was made in the Sydney Harbour in May 1852, an iron propeller being fitted to the "screw-steamer" Keera. The results of this trial were considered satisfactory, the ship's progress being calculated on two runs at 10 and a little over 12 knots, and Sir Thomas Mitchell took his Invention to England. In 1853 the propeller was fitted to the Genova, and a trial was conducted on the Mersey. Then the Admiralty gave it a test on . The Genova ran at 9.5 knots as against 8.5 with a screw propeller, and the Conflict 9.25 knots as against the screw propeller 8.75, and at a lower engine speed. The "boomerang" propeller can be simply described as a "screw" propeller with much of the blades close to the shaft, which contribute little to propulsion but much to drag, cut away, a principle which is well understood today. Family life Thomas Mitchell and Mary had twelve children: Livingstone, Roderick, Murray, Campbell, Thomas, Richard, Georgina, Maria, Emily, Camilla, Alicia, Blanche. Georgina and Maria died young, and Murray before 1847. Roderick became a Commissioner of Crown Lands and head of the Border Police in the Liverpool Plains district. Roderick was drowned and Campbell died during the last years of Mitchell's life. His family enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and Blanche Mitchell, his youngest daughter, recorded her daily activities and social life in childhood diaries and notebooks. Her sister Emily married George Edward Thicknesse-Touchet, 21st Baron Audley. In 1841, Mitchell completed his new Gothic home, Carthona, on the water's edge in Darling Point, Sydney. Following Mitchell's death, his family moved to Craigend Terrace in Woolloomooloo. Death In July 1855 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the New South Wales Survey Department, but Mitchell did not live to see the report. While surveying the line of road between Nelligen and Braidwood, he developed a chill which led to a severe attack of bronchitis. He died a few days later at Carthona at Darling Point at 5:15 pm 5 October 1855. Newspapers of the day commented:"For a period of twenty-eight years Sir Thomas Mitchell had served the Colony, much of that service having been exceedingly arduous and difficult. Among the early explorers of Australia his name will occupy an honoured place in the estimation of posterity." He is buried at Camperdown Cemetery, Newtown, with his grave being maintained by the Seniors Group of Surveyors. Naming Some of the places Mitchell named on his expeditions were: the Avoca River, Balonne River, Belyando River, Campaspe River, Cogoon River, Discovery Bay, Glenelg River, Grampians, Maranoa River, Mount Arapiles, Mount King, Mount Macedon, Mount Napier, Mount William, Nyngan, Pyramid Hill, St George, Swan Hill and Wimmera River. Commemoration Because of his contributions in the surveying and exploration of Australia, Mitchell is commemorated by having numerous localities or objects across Australia being named after him. These include: The town of Mitchell in Queensland The Mitchell River in Queensland The Canberra suburb of Mitchell The electorate of Mitchell The Mitchell Highway The Major Mitchell's cockatoo, a species of cockatoo Mitchellstown in Victoria. A local government area in Victoria, Shire of Mitchell Steam locomotive number S 301 Sir Thomas Mitchell, a member of the Victorian Railways S class locomotives. In turn, Mitchell House at Seymour Technical High School, the town with the loco depot which serviced the famous four locos. Later, the name was carried by the diesel S301. Mitchell grass, common name of the small genus of grass species dominant across much of the arid areas of the continent Mitchell's hopping mouse, an Australian native rodent-like animal Countless roadside locations in Victoria have a memorial erected 'Major Mitchell passed here'. Sir Thomas Mitchell Road Villawood NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell road in Bondi NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell Drive Bowenfels (Lithgow) linking the Great Western Highway with the Cox River at a fitting memorial to colonial road builders. Mitchell is also the namesake in the highest honor of the New South Wales Surveyors Awards, the Sir Thomas Mitchell Excellence in Surveying Award. A map of the expedition of Major Sir Thomas Mitchell into the country between the Maranoa and Mount Mudge and the River Victoria, 1848 was ranked #38 in the ‘Top 150: Documenting Queensland’ exhibition when it toured to venues around Queensland from February 2009 to April 2010. The exhibition was part of Queensland State Archives’ events and exhibition program which contributed to the state’s Q150 celebrations, marking the 150th anniversary of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales. Manuscript Collections See also :Category:Taxa named by Thomas Mitchell (explorer) Charles Sturt Great North Road (Australia) History of New South Wales New South Wales gold rush Nineteen Counties Surveyor General of New South Wales References External links Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1, Volume 2 The Great North Road – Convict Trail Project 1792 births 1855 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Explorers of Australia Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia Scottish explorers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Scottish surveyors Royal Engineers officers People from Grangemouth Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Rifle Brigade officers Surveyors General of New South Wales 19th-century Australian politicians Pre-Separation Queensland Australian duellists
false
[ "Mount Abundance may refer to:\n Mount Abundance, Queensland, Maranoa Region, Australia\n Mount Abundance Homestead, Bungil, Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia", "Mount Abundance is a locality in the Maranoa Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Mount Abundance had a population of 194 people.\n\nHistory \nThe name comes from the name of the mountain, which in turned was named by Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell on 7 May 1846 because of the \"abundance of pasture\" in the area.\n\nOn 17 May 1927, 57 allotments of Mount Abundance land, south-west of Roma, were advertised for lease by the Lands Department. Each lease carried a condition that a certain area had to be cultivated with wheat within a specified period. A map advertised the offer which ran from the 17 to 31 May 1927.\n\nRoad infrastructure\nThe Warrego Highway runs along the northern boundary.\n\nReferences \n\nMaranoa Region\nLocalities in Queensland" ]
[ "Thomas Mitchell (explorer)", "Fourth expedition", "What was Mitchell exploring during his fourth expedition?", "Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria,", "Was he correct?", "Later that year, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek.", "When did he begin his explorations?", "On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree (Buree in Mitchell's journal) with a large party including Edmund Kennedy as second in command", "Who else was with the exploration party?", "I don't know.", "Did anything interesting happen during his exploration?", "This rivulet led him to a magnificent pastoral district in the midst of which stood a solitary hill that he named Mount Abundance.", "Why did he call it Mount Abundance?", "I don't know." ]
C_31fec604f00d47fca55b1bf8097cb058_0
How long did the expedition last?
7
How long did Thomas Mitchell 's fourth expedition last?
Thomas Mitchell (explorer)
Mitchell's fourth expedition was into Queensland in 1845-46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, this being the main thrust of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree (Buree in Mitchell's journal) with a large party including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). He struck the Darling River above Fort Bourke then continued to the Narran River, the Balonne, and the Culgoa. On 12 April 1846 he came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St.George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to a magnificent pastoral district in the midst of which stood a solitary hill that he named Mount Abundance. He then crossed a low watershed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa and discovered the Warrago River. Keeping north over the watershed, he traversed the Claude and Nogoa rivers, then reached the Belyando River, an upper reach of the Burdekin River. This had already been discovered by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington on 2 April 1845. Intensely mortified to find that he was on a tributary of the Burdekin River, and approaching the ground already trodden by Leichhardt, he returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, after dividing his party and forming a stationary camp. He continued west, making a new discovery which he was certain was the fabled north-west river. In honour of the sovereign of the time he decided to call it Victoria River. Having run out of time, he turned back towards the main party. It was here that Mitchell first noticed the well known grass that bears his name. On the homeward journey he trekked along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later that year, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aborigines. CANNOTANSWER
On the homeward journey he trekked along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847.
Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (15 June 1792 – 5 October 1855), surveyor and explorer of Southeastern Australia, was born at Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, Scotland. In 1827 he took up an appointment as Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales. The following year he became Surveyor General and remained in this position until his death. Mitchell was knighted in 1839 for his contribution to the surveying of Australia. Early life Born in Scotland on 15 June 1792, he was son of John Mitchell of Carron Works and was brought up from childhood by his uncle, Thomas Livingstone of Parkhall, Stirlingshire. Peninsular War On the death of his uncle, he joined the British army in Portugal as a volunteer in the Peninsular War, at the age of sixteen. On 24 June 1811, at the age of nineteen, he received his first commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion 95th Rifles (later the Rifle Brigade / Royal Green Jackets). Utilising his skills as a draughtsman of outstanding ability, he was occasionally employed in the Quartermaster-General's department under Sir George Murray. He was present at the storming of the fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos and San Sebastian as well as the battles of Salamanca and the Pyrenees. Subsequently, he would receive the Military General Service Medal with bars for each of these engagements. When the war was over, Mitchell was selected to reside in Spain and Portugal for four years to complete sketches of the battlefields for the Military Depot. His duties also included conducting several other important surveys which had been impossible to finish whilst operations were in progress in the field. On 10 June 1818, during this posting, Mitchell married Mary Blunt (daughter of General Richard Blunt) in Lisbon and gained promotion to a company in the 54th Regiment. In the summer of 1819, he returned to Britain where he devoted himself to finishing the drawings, but with the cessation of the government allowances he had to stop this work. The reductions in the military establishment which followed the withdrawing of the Army of Occupation from France forced Mitchell on to half-pay. It was not until much later, while Mitchell was in London between 1838 and 1840, that the work was completed. The finished drawings were published by the London geographer James Wyld in 1841 under the title Atlas containing the principle battles, sieges and affairs of the Peninsular War. Of high quality, the drawings are the prime source for the topography of the war. New South Wales In 1827, with the support of Sir George Murray, Mitchell became Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales with the right to succeed John Oxley. Oxley died the following year, and on 27 May 1828, Mitchell became Surveyor General. In this post he did much to improve the quality and accuracy of surveying – a vital task in a colony where huge tracts of land were being opened up and sold to new settlers. One of the first roads surveyed under his leadership was the Great North Road, built by convict labour between 1826 and 1836 linking Sydney to the Hunter Region. The Great South Road (now replaced by the Hume Highway), also convict-built, linked Sydney and Goulburn. He kept a record of his 'Progress in roads and Public Works in New South Wales to 1855', including sketches and plans of Sydney, Emu Plains, the Blue Mountains, Victoria Pass, roads to Bathurst, Wiseman's Ferry, and indigenous Australians. As Surveyor General, Mitchell also completed maps and plans of Sydney, including Darling Point, Point Piper, the city, and Port Jackson. In 1834 he was commissioned to survey a map of the Nineteen Counties. The map he produced was done with such skill and accuracy that he was awarded a knighthood. Around this time, a portrait of Mitchell was painted showing him in the uniform of Major of the 1st Rifle Brigade of the 95th Regiment, complete with whistle used to direct the movement of troops. During his tenure in New South Wales, Mitchell led four extensive and historically significant surveying expeditions into the interior of eastern Australia. First expedition In 1831, a runaway convict named George "The Barber" Clarke (monument around Barbers Lagoon, Boggabri NSW), who had lived with the Kamilaroi people in the area for several years, claimed that a large river called Kindur flowed north-west from the Liverpool Ranges in New South Wales to the sea. Charles Sturt believed that the Murray-Darling system formed the main river system of New South Wales and Mitchell wanted to prove Sturt wrong. Mitchell formed an expedition consisting of himself, assistant surveyor George Boyle White and 15 convicts who were promised remission for good conduct. Mitchell took 20 bullocks, three heavy drays, three light carts and nine horses to carry supplies, and set out on 24 November 1831 to investigate the claim. On reaching Wollombi in the Hunter Valley, the local assistant surveyor, Heneage Finch, expressed a desire to join the expedition which Mitchell approved, provided he first obtain extra provisions and rendezvous later. The expedition continued northward, and having climbed the Liverpool Range on 5 December, they found an Aboriginal tribe who had fled from their home in the Hunter Valley and were suffering from what appeared to be smallpox. On 8 December they arrived at Quirindi and by 11 December the expedition had reached Wallamoul Station near Tamworth, the northern extent of white settlement at the time. Mitchell continued his northward push into uncolonised territory, guided by a local Gamilaraay man named "Mr. Brown". In mid-December, near to where Boggabri now stands, they located the remains of a stockyard and huts built by George Clarke and his Aboriginal colleagues. By early January 1832 Mitchell's group was travelling along the Namoi River, by which stage Mr Brown had left them. Mitchell's party then headed north unguided but managed to reach the Gwydir River in mid-January where they found a small Aboriginal village of conical-roofed huts. They followed the Gwydir west and made it to the Barwon River by the end of the month. Mitchell came to the correct conclusion that the Barwon flowed into the Darling River and decided not to proceed any further. At this stage, Finch had finally caught up with the main group. Finch conveyed the news that the provisions he had obtained had been ransacked by Aboriginal people at Gorolei. Two men he had left to guard the supplies had also been killed. The immediate effect was that Mitchell decided to abandon the expedition and return south. The party retraced their path having tense but peaceful interactions with large groups of Gamilaraay people along the way. They reached Gorolei on 18 February where Mitchell buried the bodies of the two killed men and salvaged some equipment. Aboriginal people approached the group laying down their spears and offering females to Mitchell's men in an apparent attempt at appeasement for the killings. Mitchell refused the offer but accepted their guidance on an easy way back to the Namoi River. Once back at Wallamoul, Mitchell placed White in charge of the main party, while he returned hastily to Sydney. He was satisfied that there was no truth about the river Kindur claimed by Clarke. Fourteen years later, Mitchell revealed that the convicts had indulged in sexual relations with Aboriginal women. Second expedition Mitchell's next expedition was in 1835. The purpose was to explore the course of the Darling River from where Sturt had turned back in 1829, to where it joined the Murray River. There were 24 men in the party including Mitchell, James Larmer (assistant surveyor) as second in command, Richard Cunningham (colonial botanist) and 21 other men. The main party under Larmer left Parramatta on 9 March and rendezvoused with Mitchell at Boree near the township of Orange. From there, the expedition was guided through the Goobang Ranges by local Wiradjuri people toward the Bogan River. On 17 April 1835, Richard Cunningham wandered away from the party while looking for botanical specimens and went missing. The party, with the assistance of various local Aboriginal people, searched for him until 5 May, following Cunningham's tracks around the headwaters of the Bogan until they disappeared. Cunningham's dead horse, saddle, glove and fragments of his coat and map were all they found. Months later, a search party of military mounted police commanded by Lieutenant Henry Zouch of the first division, discovered that Cunningham had been killed by four Wiradjuri men and his bones were found and buried at Currindine. After the fruitless search for Cunningham, Mitchell decided to continue the expedition. He was assisted by a local unnamed elder who provided a guide called Tackijally. This man led Mitchell downstream along the waterholes adjacent to the Bogan River as far as Nyngan. Tackijally left them at this point and the group was soon involved in a brief confrontation after they startled an Aboriginal man at a waterhole. The man, who was shot in the hand, had his wounds dressed by the group and later departed. They proceeded down the Bogan, encountering several gatherings of people to which Mitchell gave tomahawks and pieces of an old sword. On 25 May the junction with the Darling River was reached. Here, on a high point of land which bore many Aboriginal grave sites, Mitchell decided to build a fort as he realised that they "had not asked permission to come there" and he needed a stockade for "stout resistance against any number of natives." He named it Fort Bourke in honour of the Governor, Richard Bourke. Two whale boats had been transported the whole distance on bullock drays and on 1 June Mitchell launched the boats on the Darling to transport the party downriver. However, the Darling became shallower and unnavigable resulting in the expedition resorting once again to overland progress. They encountered many tribes as they headed south, with Mitchell documenting the agricultural practices of some, such as the harvesting of Panicum decompositum, and the large permanent dwellings of others. One clan appeared more hostile than others, kicking up dust and spitting at party members. Mitchell acknowledged that his group were "rather unceremonious invaders of their country" but inflamed tensions by firing a pistol at a tree. Mitchell wrote that "the more they saw of our superior weapons...the more they shewed their hatred and tokens of defiance." The party continued downriver, meeting with friendlier locals, passing through villages and noting the construction of their tomb-sites. Just north of the Menindee Lakes, the expedition came across a large congregation of several tribes and Mitchell decided that continuing the exploration would be too dangerous. On 11 July, just as Mitchell had resolved to return to Sydney, shots were heard from a forage party up the river. Mitchell sent a further three armed men to the scene of the shooting and the firing continued. After more than an hour, some members of the group returned reporting that a skirmish had occurred over the possession of a kettle and at least three Aboriginal people had been shot dead, including a woman and her child. One of Mitchell's men had been knocked unconscious. The party then commenced their return via the outbound route with Mitchell deciding to avoid contact with the various tribes as much as possible. The "spitting tribe" attempted to burn down their camp on this return journey which resulted in Mitchell ordering shots to be fired over their heads. They arrived at Fort Bourke on 10 August and continued back along the Bogan River. Near Nyngan they met again with members of Tackijally's tribe who allowed Mitchell to walk through their cemetery at Milmeridien. Mitchell soon tired of the clan asking for food and ordered some of his men to march at them with bayonets. On 9 September they came to the upper reaches of the Bogan where they found a cattle-station had already been formed along their route by William Lee. The expedition arrived back at their starting point of Boree on 14 September. While Mitchell did not trace the Darling River to its junction with the Murray River, the course and terrain of the Bogan River and much of the Darling River had been charted. The places where this and other Mitchell expeditions were most assailed by Aboriginal Australians, including the location of Cunningham's killing, are marked on an 1836 map produced by Mitchell. Third expedition The goal of Mitchell's third expedition was to explore and survey the lower part of the Darling River, with instructions to head up the Murray River and then return to the settled areas around Yass. Second in command was assistant surveyor Granville Stapylton. A Wiradjuri man named John Piper was also recruited and 23 convicts and ticket of leave men made up the rest of the party. The group set out from a valley near Mount Canobolas on 17 March 1836, and made their way to Boree and the Bogan River as on previous journeys, then veered south to the Kalare or Lachlan River to approach the Darling from its southern end where it joined the Murray. The party was guided by various Aboriginal people such as "Barney" along the Lachlan, passing Lake Cargelligo, as John Oxley did in 1817. At this place they met with a large clan from which a number of people joined the expedition and gave vital information about waterholes, as the Lachlan was drying out. Piper also obtained a "good, strong woman" from this tribe. On 2 May they arrived at Combedyega where an Aboriginal widow named Turandurey with her four-year-old daughter Ballandella also joined the expedition as a guide. She remembered Oxley from nineteen years earlier and Sturt as well, and knew the lower Lachlan. The Murrumbidgee River was reached on 12 May, but at a point downstream from the junction with the Lachlan. Mount Dispersion massacre They continued down the Murrumbidgee until 21 May when they were close to the junction with the Murray River. A depot was established at this point, and Mitchell left Staplyton with eight men to guard the stock, while he ventured downstream with the rest of the group. According to the account given to a later enquiry by William Muirhead (bullock-driver and sergeant), Alexander Burnett (overseer) and Jemmy Piper (Aboriginal man accompanying the party): on 24 May Mitchell noticed that Barkindji tribesmen from the Darling River were gathering in large numbers, and by 27 May the hostile intentions of these men became known, when local Murray River people told Piper that the Barkindji were planning to kill Mitchell and his men. Mitchell had to decide whether to wait for an attack, or plan a pre-emptive manoeuvre. His numbers were reduced, as Staplyton and eight men were still at the depot. He split his party again, leaving half the men to hide in the scrub in ambush, while he continued ahead with the carts. When the armed Barkindji warriors approached, the convict Charles King, who was involved in the earlier killings, fired first without waiting for orders. The tribesmen fled into the river and Mitchell's two groups reunited on the shore and continued to shoot at the people for up to 15 minutes. Around 75 shots were fired with Piper later being told that seven Barkindji were killed and four wounded. Mitchell wrote about the loss of life in his journal, describing the Barkindji as "treacherous savages", and detailing how his men had chased them away, "pursuing and shooting as many as they could". This section was withheld from Mitchell's report when it was released to the public in Sydney. Mitchell named the hill near to where the mass-shooting occurred Mount Dispersion and in May 2020 it was heritage-listed as the Mount Dispersion Massacre Site Aboriginal Place. Onwards The expedition continued down the Murray River, encountering a major Aboriginal grave-site at Red Cliffs. On 31 May they arrived close to the junction of the Murray with a "green and stagnant" waterway. Local people advised Piper that this was the Darling River. Mitchell did not believe it, and only when he travelled upstream for some distance, coming across the same type of burial mounds that he had seen in 1835, did he acknowledge that "this hopeless river" was the Darling. He turned back and headed upstream on the Murray to rejoin Stapylton at the depot. The reunited expedition now travelled south-east following the Murray. They passed Swan Hill on 21 June and encountered a group of native inhabitants at Lake Boga. These people were angry at Piper for "bringing whitefellows" to their country and threw spears at him. Piper shot one of them dead. Mitchell noted the local people's practice of making large nets that spanned above the river to catch waterfowl and also came across unusual animals such as the now extinct Southern pig-footed bandicoot. At the end of June, Mitchell chose to leave the Murray to investigate better looking lands to the south-west. Mitchell was so impressed with the country he saw, he named it Australia Felix. In early July the party crossed the Loddon River, and made their way in a south-westerly direction which brought them to the Grampians and the Wimmera River. Confrontation with people in this region resulted in an Indigenous man being shot in the arm. They were guided by a local Aboriginal woman along part of the Nangeela (Glenelg River) with Mitchell constructing a fortified base on its banks which he named Fort O'Hare. From here Mitchell led part of the group in boats down the Glenelg to where it discharged into the ocean at a bay which Mitchell named Discovery Bay. Mitchell then returned to Fort O'Hare and altered direction towards Portland Bay to the east. When this was reached on 29 August, Mitchell was surprised to find an established farm and whaling station operated by the Henty brothers. The expedition continued north-east with Mitchell spending a night in a "snug old hut of the natives" at Narrawong. On 17 September, in order to speed his return, Mitchell split the party in two, taking 14 men with him and leaving the remainder with Stapylton to follow with the bullocks and drays. The young girl Ballandella went with Mitchell, while her mother Turandurey remained behind. On the plains around the Hopkins River, Mitchell came across a community of Aboriginal people who cultivated and harvested murnong tubers with specialised tools. Mitchell was wary and when forty of them approached his camp, he ordered his men to charge at them. On 30 September, Mitchell climbed and named Mount Macedon, from the summit of which he had a view of Port Phillip. Progress was slowed due a member of the group, James "Tally-ho" Taylor, drowning while crossing the Broken River. Their return to the frontier of British colonisation on the Murrumbidgee was not completed until 24 October. Enquiry When Mitchell arrived in Sydney in early November he was received with great joy. However, when the remainder of his party arrived two weeks later, rumours circulated about the mass killing on the Murray. He subsequently faced a Legislative Council Inquiry in December 1836, receiving an official rebuke. Ballandella joined Mitchell's family of eight other children and learnt to read and write, but was left by Mitchell when he returned to England. Ballandella later married and raised a family at Sackville where she died around the age of thirty. Fourth expedition Mitchell's fourth expedition was into northern interior of the colony (a region now part of Queensland) in 1845–46. He was convinced that a significant river must flow north-west into the Gulf of Carpentaria, and finding this river was the main focus of the endeavour. On 15 December 1845 Mitchell started from Boree near Orange with a large party of 32 people including Edmund Kennedy as second in command (later speared to death at Escape River near Cape York). The Wiradjuri man named Piper from his previous expedition was also a member. Yuranigh (also Wiradjuri) and a ten year old boy from the lower Bogan River named "Dicky" were also assigned as guides. The party travelled north along the Bogan where a war between the British and the Indigenous inhabitants was at that time occurring. Mitchell noted areas where the British had been pushed back, abandoning their farmhouses which were subsequently burnt down by the local people. Mitchell stated "All I could learn about the rest of the tribe was, that the men were almost all dead, and that their wives were chiefly servants at stock stations along the Macquarie." In January 1846, they left the Bogan and started following the Macquarie River where Mitchell was informed of Pipers' intention to leave the expedition. Mitchell ordered him back to Bathurst, accompanied by Corporal Graham. Near the Macquarie Marshes the harvesting of native millet by Aboriginal people to make bread was recorded and a local man named Yulliyally guided the group to the Barwon River. From here two brothers from a nearby clan led Mitchell to vital waterholes near the Narran River. Mitchell "blushed inwardly for our pallid race" knowing that "white man's cattle would soon trample these holes into a quagmire of mud." More bundles of harvested millet lay for miles along their journey up the Narran. Mitchell then received a message from his son, Roderick Mitchell, a Crown Lands Commissioner who had previously been to the area, which recommended following the Balonne and the Culgoa rivers north. They encountered many Indigenous people who guided the group along the way. On 12 April 1846 Mitchell came to a natural bridge of rocks on the main branch of the Balonne which he called St. George Bridge, now the site of the town of St George. Kennedy was left in charge of the main body here, and was instructed to follow on slowly while Mitchell pushed ahead with a few men. Mitchell followed the Balonne to the Maranoa, and the Cogoon (now called Muckadilla Creek, near Roma). This rivulet led him to an area with an "abundance of good pasturage" in which stood a solitary double topped hill that he named Mount Abundance, on which grew a species of bottle tree. He then crossed to the Maranoa and awaited Kennedy's arrival. Kennedy, who had trouble with local inhabitants trying to burn down his camp, rejoined Mitchell on 1 June 1846. Leaving Kennedy for a second time, he set out on an extensive excursion of more than four months. Mitchell traversed the country at the head of the Maranoa, on one occasion discharging his rifle over the heads of the Indigenous people to gain "peaceful occupation of the ground." He sighted the headwaters of the Warrego and Nogoa Rivers, then came across the upper reaches of the Belyando River which they followed for a considerable distance. This river's name was given to Mitchell by Indigenous residents before the expedition's dogs chased them away, biting at their legs. Being a tributary of the Burdekin River, a waterway already visited by Ludwig Leichhardt on his expedition to Port Essington in 1845, Mitchell was dismayed to find that he was approaching ground already explored by Europeans. He returned to the head of the Nogoa and struck west, meeting with a tribe who caught emus with nets. He encountered a river which he was certain was the fabled waterway that would flow north-west to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He followed it until he came across a large clan of Aboriginal people living in permanent huts on the banks of a lagoon. He called this place Yuranigh Pond after his Wiradjuri guide and decided to return home. In honour of the British sovereign of the time, he named the waterway, Victoria River. On the homeward journey Mitchell noticed the well known grass that bears his name. They trekked back along the Maranoa River to St.George Bridge, arriving in Sydney 20 January 1847. Later in 1847, Kennedy proved beyond doubt that the Victoria in fact did not continue north-west, but turned south-west and joined Cooper Creek. He renamed the watercourse the Barcoo River from a name mentioned by local Aboriginal people. Later career In 1837, Mitchell sought 18 months leave from his position and in May he left Sydney for London. During his leave, he published an account of his explorations called Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia: with descriptions of the recently explored region of Australia Felix, and of the present colony of New South Wales. Mitchell sought additional periods of leave and finally arrived back in Australia in 1841. Mitchell left Sydney again in March 1847 on another period of leave. By the time he arrived back in mid-1848, he had published his Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia, in search of a route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mitchell's journals proved a rich source for historians and anthropologists, with their close and sympathetic observations of the Aboriginal peoples he had encountered. These publications made him the most celebrated Australian explorer of his day. But he was a difficult man to get on with, made evident by this passage made by Governor Charles Augustus FitzRoy: "It is notorious that Sir Thomas Mitchell's unfortunate impracticability of temper and spirit of opposition of those in authority over him misled him into frequent collision with my predecessors." In a by-election for the Electoral district of Port Phillip in April 1844, Mitchell was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council. He found it difficult to separate his roles of government employee and elected member of the legislature, and after only five months he resigned from the Legislative Council. Duel Mitchell is also remembered as the last person in Australia to challenge anyone to a duel. In September 1851, Mitchell issued a challenge to Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson (later Premier of New South Wales) because Donaldson had publicly criticised excessive spending by the Surveyor General's Department. The duel took place in Sydney on 27 September, with both duellists missing their marks; only Donaldson's hat was damaged. The French 50 calibre pistols used in the duel are in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. Ophir gold fields In 1851, Mitchell was instructed by Governor FitzRoy to make a report on, and survey of, 'the extent and productiveness of the goldfield reported to have been discovered in the County of Bathurst.' He travelled west during winter to visit the Ophir gold diggings, accompanied by his son, Roderick, and Samuel Stutchbury the government geologist. In June 1851 Mitchell selected the site for the township of Ophir. W.R. Davidson plotted a survey of the ground and Mitchell planned the streets and allotments for the town. Mitchell returned with a collection of specimens from the diggings, mostly quartz, with 48 of these stored in a wooden chest. His report of the goldfields was presented to the Legislative Council in February 1852. Story of the "bomerang" propeller The search for a method of screw propulsion of ships intrigued many inventors during the latter half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. An Englishman, K. P. Smith, patented a screw propeller in 1836, and shortly afterwards Captain John Ericsson, formerly an officer of the Swedish army, patented another. On his travels, Mitchell must have been evolving the idea of his boomerang propeller—he spelled it "bomerang", while newspapers used "bomarang" and "boomerang." The first test was made in the Sydney Harbour in May 1852, an iron propeller being fitted to the "screw-steamer" Keera. The results of this trial were considered satisfactory, the ship's progress being calculated on two runs at 10 and a little over 12 knots, and Sir Thomas Mitchell took his Invention to England. In 1853 the propeller was fitted to the Genova, and a trial was conducted on the Mersey. Then the Admiralty gave it a test on . The Genova ran at 9.5 knots as against 8.5 with a screw propeller, and the Conflict 9.25 knots as against the screw propeller 8.75, and at a lower engine speed. The "boomerang" propeller can be simply described as a "screw" propeller with much of the blades close to the shaft, which contribute little to propulsion but much to drag, cut away, a principle which is well understood today. Family life Thomas Mitchell and Mary had twelve children: Livingstone, Roderick, Murray, Campbell, Thomas, Richard, Georgina, Maria, Emily, Camilla, Alicia, Blanche. Georgina and Maria died young, and Murray before 1847. Roderick became a Commissioner of Crown Lands and head of the Border Police in the Liverpool Plains district. Roderick was drowned and Campbell died during the last years of Mitchell's life. His family enjoyed a privileged upbringing, and Blanche Mitchell, his youngest daughter, recorded her daily activities and social life in childhood diaries and notebooks. Her sister Emily married George Edward Thicknesse-Touchet, 21st Baron Audley. In 1841, Mitchell completed his new Gothic home, Carthona, on the water's edge in Darling Point, Sydney. Following Mitchell's death, his family moved to Craigend Terrace in Woolloomooloo. Death In July 1855 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the New South Wales Survey Department, but Mitchell did not live to see the report. While surveying the line of road between Nelligen and Braidwood, he developed a chill which led to a severe attack of bronchitis. He died a few days later at Carthona at Darling Point at 5:15 pm 5 October 1855. Newspapers of the day commented:"For a period of twenty-eight years Sir Thomas Mitchell had served the Colony, much of that service having been exceedingly arduous and difficult. Among the early explorers of Australia his name will occupy an honoured place in the estimation of posterity." He is buried at Camperdown Cemetery, Newtown, with his grave being maintained by the Seniors Group of Surveyors. Naming Some of the places Mitchell named on his expeditions were: the Avoca River, Balonne River, Belyando River, Campaspe River, Cogoon River, Discovery Bay, Glenelg River, Grampians, Maranoa River, Mount Arapiles, Mount King, Mount Macedon, Mount Napier, Mount William, Nyngan, Pyramid Hill, St George, Swan Hill and Wimmera River. Commemoration Because of his contributions in the surveying and exploration of Australia, Mitchell is commemorated by having numerous localities or objects across Australia being named after him. These include: The town of Mitchell in Queensland The Mitchell River in Queensland The Canberra suburb of Mitchell The electorate of Mitchell The Mitchell Highway The Major Mitchell's cockatoo, a species of cockatoo Mitchellstown in Victoria. A local government area in Victoria, Shire of Mitchell Steam locomotive number S 301 Sir Thomas Mitchell, a member of the Victorian Railways S class locomotives. In turn, Mitchell House at Seymour Technical High School, the town with the loco depot which serviced the famous four locos. Later, the name was carried by the diesel S301. Mitchell grass, common name of the small genus of grass species dominant across much of the arid areas of the continent Mitchell's hopping mouse, an Australian native rodent-like animal Countless roadside locations in Victoria have a memorial erected 'Major Mitchell passed here'. Sir Thomas Mitchell Road Villawood NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell road in Bondi NSW Sir Thomas Mitchell Drive Bowenfels (Lithgow) linking the Great Western Highway with the Cox River at a fitting memorial to colonial road builders. Mitchell is also the namesake in the highest honor of the New South Wales Surveyors Awards, the Sir Thomas Mitchell Excellence in Surveying Award. A map of the expedition of Major Sir Thomas Mitchell into the country between the Maranoa and Mount Mudge and the River Victoria, 1848 was ranked #38 in the ‘Top 150: Documenting Queensland’ exhibition when it toured to venues around Queensland from February 2009 to April 2010. The exhibition was part of Queensland State Archives’ events and exhibition program which contributed to the state’s Q150 celebrations, marking the 150th anniversary of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales. Manuscript Collections See also :Category:Taxa named by Thomas Mitchell (explorer) Charles Sturt Great North Road (Australia) History of New South Wales New South Wales gold rush Nineteen Counties Surveyor General of New South Wales References External links Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1, Volume 2 The Great North Road – Convict Trail Project 1792 births 1855 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Explorers of Australia Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia Scottish explorers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Scottish surveyors Royal Engineers officers People from Grangemouth Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Rifle Brigade officers Surveyors General of New South Wales 19th-century Australian politicians Pre-Separation Queensland Australian duellists
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[ "Expedition 21 was the 21st long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The expedition began on 11 October 2009, with Frank de Winne becoming the first ESA astronaut to command a space mission.\n\nThe handover between Expedition 20 and Expedition 21 required three Soyuz vehicles being docked to the station at the same time, the first time this has occurred.\n\nSoyuz TMA-16 brought the final members of Expedition 21 to the ISS, along with space tourist Guy Laliberté. Laliberté returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-14 with two members of Expedition 20 on 11 October 2009.\n\nNicole P. Stott was the last ISS expedition crew member to fly on the Space Shuttle. She returned to Earth aboard STS-129 in November 2009.\n\nCrew\n\nSource NASA\n\nBackup crew \n André Kuipers - Commander\n Dimitri Kondratyev\n Chris Hadfield\n Shannon Walker\n Aleksandr Skvortsov\n Catherine Coleman\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nNASA's Space Station Expeditions page\nExpedition 21 Photography\n\nExpeditions to the International Space Station\n2009 in spaceflight", "The 1955-56 Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition was a publicity effort by Land Rover in support of the 1956 Land Rover Series I Station Wagons. The station wagons were very different from the previous Tickford model, being built with bolt-together aluminium panels. The journey was undertaken by six Oxford & Cambridge university students from London to Singapore.\n\nThe Expedition was inspired by the earlier 1954 Oxford and Cambridge Trans-Africa Expedition, developed by Adrian Cowell.\n\nTeam members\n\nAll members were from either Oxford University or Cambridge University, and all had just finished their degrees when they set out on the expedition, with the exception of Nigel Newbery, who had one year left, and was the only Oxford student. The expedition members and their roles on the expedition were as follows:\n\n Antony \"B.B.\" Barrington Brown - Cameraman\n Adrian Cowell - Business Manager\n Patrick Murphy - Navigator and Chef\n Nigel Newbery - Quartermaster and Mechanic\n Henry Nott - Chief Engineer\n Tim Slessor - Scribe and Assistant Cameraman\n\nRoute\nAfter setting off from Hyde Park in London, on 1 September 1955, the expedition was flown over to the European continent and from there continued through France, Monaco, Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Malaya and Singapore.\n\nArriving on 6 March 1956, the journey took six months and six days, over 18,000 miles.\n\nLegacy\n\nOxford and Cambridge Expedition to South America (1957-8)\nThe next joint expedition was the 1957-8 Oxford and Cambridge Expedition to South America, on which at least two team members from the Singapore journey took part: Adrian Cowell and Nigel Newbery.\n\nEric Edis expedition (1957-9)\nBetween 1957-9, Eric Edis led a sixteen-person team on an overland expedition from London to Singapore and then on to Australia and back to the UK - the first man to make the round trip overland and with no sponsorship. He was also the only man to cross the 'closed' Burmese border twice unaided. See Eric Edis' book The Impossible Takes A Little Longer.\n\nFirst Overland (1957)\nFirst Overland: London-Singapore by Land Rover is the 1957 book recounting the expedition by Tim Slessor, originally published by The Companion Book Club under the title First Overland: The Story of the Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition. The 2005 50th anniversary edition, published by Signal Books Ltd, also contains a foreword by Sir David Attenborough, who is listed as co-author. The book is the main source of information about the expedition and its fullest account, as the footage and subsequent programmes made with it only cover a small portion of what the six students did and experienced on their long journey.\n\n50th Anniversary of the Expedition (2006)\nOn the 50th Anniversary of the Expedition, the five surviving members (all except Henry Nott) traveled once more to the Far East and recreated the last leg of their journey, covering the 350 km from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore on 4 March 2006. The following day, the five men did the one thing they forgot in 1956 - they followed Rudyard Kipling's instruction to \"feed at Raffles\" and enjoyed brunch at the Bar and Billiard Room and Singapore Slings at the Long Bar.\n\nThe 1955 route is now largely impassable, because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.\n\nThe Last Overland\n\nAt the age of 87, Tim Slessor and others in one of the original Land Rovers, are re-creating the first London to Singapore trip by doing it in reverse; they are starting from Singapore on August 25, 2019 on a trip called the Last Overland.\n\nAdaption for screen\nThe expedition set out with only a limited quantity of film from the BBC, but with the promise of more from David Attenborough if the initial material sent back was good. In the end there was enough material for 3 short films for the BBC series 'Traveller's Tales' which were shot in colour, but only transmitted in black and white.\n\nIn the late 1950s there was no home recording technology like VHS, so once broadcast, the films faded from view and have only been seen occasionally since. Recently they have been re-mastered and edited, with a commentary by the cameraman Antony Barrington-Brown and Tim Slessor, and interviews with Nigel Newbery, Pat Murphy, Adrian Cowell and Sir David Attenborough. The DVD also has an 'extra' about the making of the original films and the rescuing of the footage.\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography\nSlessor, Tim. (1957), First Overland: The Story of the Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition, The Companion Book Club, London. ASIN: B0000CJTJQ\n\nExternal links\n Adrian Cowell, 'It's Started, The Rally To Singapore', The Straits Times.\nBBC Radio Interview with Pat Murphy, 1955 expedition navigator\nOfficial website of First Overland Audiobook\nThe original film footage from the 1955 Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition available now on DVD\nFilm clips\n\n1955 in transport\nExpeditions using Land Rovers\n1957 non-fiction books\nClubs and societies of the University of Oxford\nClubs and societies of the University of Cambridge" ]
[ "Kansas (band)", "1985-1990: Reformation" ]
C_220546961ba24066b1e9c3ce55dcefab_0
What happened in 1985?
1
What happened in 1985 with the band Kansas?
Kansas (band)
In July 1985 the band came back together with Ehart, Williams and Walsh (who had briefly played keyboards on the road for Cheap Trick in the spring and summer of 1985 after the break up of Streets), but without Livgren, Hope or Steinhardt. The new lineup included Streets bassist Billy Greer and guitarist Steve Morse (formerly of the Dixie Dregs). The first performances of the new lineup with Morse and Greer took place during a third USO 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division tour that toured US military bases in the US, Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, Singapore, Iceland and most of Europe during the late summer through early October 1986. The re-formed band released Power in November 1986. The first single, "All I Wanted", became the last Kansas single to hit the Billboard Top 40 chart, peaking at No. 19. It also received considerable airplay on MTV. Two more singles, the title track and "Can't Cry Anymore", were less successful, "Power" hitting the lower end of the Hot 100 and getting substantial play and charting on the Rock Charts, but "Can't Cry Anymore" receiving little airplay despite a clever music video. The band added New Orleans native Greg Robert on keyboards and back-up vocals at the suggestion of LeRoux's Leon Medica. Greg played his first show with Kansas on January 31, 1987 at Roberto Clemente Stadium in Puerto Rico. The new lineup released a second album, In the Spirit of Things, in October 1988. The concept album and subsequent tour were popular with the fan base but did not receive widespread airplay beyond the "Stand Beside Me" video on MTV. Morse temporarily left the band at the end of a tour of Germany in April 1989. On September 15, 1990, Walsh, Williams and Ehart played a charity event at the Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu, California, alongside Saga, Lou Gramm (of Foreigner), Mr. Big, Eddie Money, Kevin Cronin (from REO Speedwagon) and others. Alex Lifeson joined them on stage for a short set of Kansas before Geddy Lee flew in to join Alex for a Rush set, with Ehart on drums subbing for Neil Peart. In November 1990 a German promoter arranged to reunite all the original members of Kansas (except for Steinhardt) for a European tour. Greer joined them, along with keyboardist Greg Robert. At the end of the tour, Hope left again, but Livgren remained on into 1991. CANNOTANSWER
In July 1985 the band came back together with Ehart, Williams and Walsh (who had briefly played keyboards on the road for Cheap Trick
Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on album-oriented rock charts and later with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind". The band has produced nine gold albums, three multi-platinum albums (Leftoverture 4×, Point of Know Return 4×, and The Best of Kansas 4×), one other platinum studio album (Monolith), one platinum live double album (Two for the Show), and a million-selling single, "Dust in the Wind". Kansas appeared on the Billboard charts for over 200 weeks throughout the 1970s and 1980s and played to sold-out arenas and stadiums throughout North America, Europe and Japan. "Carry On Wayward Son" was the second-most-played track on US classic rock radio in 1995 and No. 1 in 1997. History 1970–1973: Early years In 1969, Don Montre and Kerry Livgren (guitars, keyboards, synthesizers) were performing in a band called the Reasons Why in their hometown of Topeka, Kansas. After leaving to form the band Saratoga with Lynn Meredith and Dan Wright, they started playing Livgren's original material, with Scott Kessler playing bass and Zeke Lowe coming in on drums. In 1970, they changed the band's name to Kansas and merged with members of rival Topeka progressive rock group White Clover. White Clover members Dave Hope (bass) and Phil Ehart (drums, percussion) joined with Livgren, vocalists Meredith and Greg Allen, keyboardists Montre and Wright and saxophonist Larry Baker. This early Kansas group, sometimes called Kansas I, lasted until early 1971 when Ehart, Hope and some of the others left to re-form White Clover. Ehart was replaced by Zeke Lowe and later Brad Schulz, Hope was replaced by Rod Mikinski on bass and Baker was replaced by John Bolton on saxophone and flute. This lineup is sometimes referred to as Kansas II, and 30 years later would re-form under the name Proto-Kaw. In 1972, after Ehart returned from England (where he had gone to look for other musicians), he and Hope once again re-formed White Clover with Robby Steinhardt (vocals, violin, viola, cello), Steve Walsh (vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion) and Rich Williams (guitars). In early 1973, they recruited Livgren from the second Kansas group, which then folded. Eventually they received a recording contract with Don Kirshner's eponymous label, after Kirshner's assistant, Wally Gold, heard one of their demo tapes and came out to check out the band at one of their local gigs in March 1973, in Ellinwood, Kansas. After signing with Kirshner, the group decided to return to using the name "Kansas". 1974–1979: Rise to national prominence Their self-titled debut album, produced by Gold, was released in March 1974, nearly a year after it was recorded in New York. It defined the band's signature sound, a mix of American-style boogie rock and complex, symphonic arrangements with changing time signatures. Steinhardt's violin was a distinctive element of the group's sound, being defined more by heartland rock than the jazz and classical influences which most progressive rock violinists followed. The band slowly developed a cult following due to promotion by Kirshner and extensive touring for the debut album and its two follow-ups, Song for America (February 1975) and Masque (October 1975). Song for America was co-produced by Wally Gold and their former White Clover bandmate Jeff Glixman, who would go on to produce all of their albums from Masque to Two for the Show (October 1978) on his own, returning to the helm for 1995's Freaks of Nature. Both Masque and their next release, Leftoverture, were recorded at a studio in the middle of the Louisiana Bayou named Studio in the Country. Kansas released its fourth album, Leftoverture, in October 1976, which produced a hit single, "Carry On Wayward Son", in 1977. The follow-up, Point of Know Return, recorded at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana and Woodland Sound in Nashville and released in October 1977, featured the title track and "Dust in the Wind", both hit singles. Leftoverture was a breakthrough for the band, hitting No. 5 on Billboard's pop album chart. Point of Know Return peaked even higher, at No. 4. Both albums sold over four million copies in the U.S. Both "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind" were certified gold singles, selling over one million units each. "Dust in the Wind" was certified gold as a digital download by the RIAA in 2005, almost 30 years after selling one million copies as a single. Leftoverture was eventually certified five-times platinum by the RIAA in 2001. During this period, Kansas became a major headlining act and sold out the largest venues available to rock bands at the time, including New York's Madison Square Garden. The band documented this era in 1978 with Two for the Show, a double live album of recordings from various performances from its 1977 and 1978 tours. The band gained a solid reputation for faithful live reproduction of their studio recordings. In March 1978, Kansas was brought over to tour Europe for the very first time and later on that same year, they were named UNICEF Deputy Ambassadors of Goodwill. The follow-up studio album to Point of Know Return was Monolith (May 1979), which was self-produced. The album generated a Top 40 single in "People of the South Wind", whose title refers to the meaning of the 'Kanza' (Kaw) Native American people, after whom the state and the band are named. The album failed to garner the sales and radio airplay of its two predecessors. Nevertheless, the album eventually went platinum. Livgren's platinum award for the album is on display at the Kansas Museum of History. The band toured the US for Monolith during the summer and fall of 1979 then went over to tour Japan for the first time in January 1980. 1980–1984: Creative tensions Kansas bandmembers began to drift apart in the early 1980s. During the tour supporting Monolith, Livgren became a born-again Christian, and this was reflected in his lyrics on the next three albums, beginning with Audio-Visions (September 1980). "Hold On", a Top 40 single from that album, displayed his new-found faith. Hope soon converted to Christianity as well. This would be the final album with the original lineup (until they briefly reunited in 1999–2000), and also the last Kansas studio album to be certified gold by the RIAA. Due to creative differences over the lyrical direction of the next album, Walsh left in October 1981 to form a new band, Streets. In early December of that year, Walsh was replaced by vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist John Elefante, who—unknown to Livgren and Hope at the time—was also a Christian. He was chosen from over 200 applicants, such as Sammy Hagar, Doug Pinnick, Ted Neeley (who played the title character in the movie Jesus Christ Superstar), Warren Ham (ex-Bloodrock, who would join the band on the road in 1982, adding sax, flute, harmonica, back-up vocals and extra keyboards) and Michael Gleason (who would supply keyboards and back-up vocals on the group's 1983 tour). The first Kansas album with Elefante, Vinyl Confessions, was released in June 1982. The record renewed interest in the group and generated the band's first Top 20 hit in several years, "Play the Game Tonight", which hit No. 4 on Billboards newly deployed Mainstream Rock chart. The album's mostly Christianity-based lyrics attracted a new audience and garnered radio airplay on the then fledgling Contemporary Christian Music format. The album featured backing vocals from Queen drummer Roger Taylor, who was recording in the studio next door. Still, sales of the album fell short of gold status. Drastic Measures followed in July 1983. For various reasons, Livgren contributed only three songs to the album; the rest were penned by John Elefante and his brother Dino. With violinist Steinhardt leaving the group before the recording sessions, the result was a more mainstream pop-rock album. Though the album charted lower than any Kansas album since Masque, peaking at No. 41, its single "Fight Fire with Fire" fared better. It did not crack the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, but reached No. 3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. It was the highest chart position of any Kansas release on any chart, though this particular chart did not exist prior to 1981. For their 1983 tour for Drastic Measures, Kansas was joined on stage by the aforementioned Michael Gleason and Terry Brock (who covered the absent Steinhardt's harmony vocals). During the band's time with Elefante as lead vocalist, Livgren became increasingly uncomfortable with Kansas representing his Christian worldview. After a final New Year's Eve performance on December 31, 1983, Livgren and Hope left to form AD with Warren Ham and Michael Gleason. They were joined by drummer Dennis Holt. Elefante, Ehart and Williams sought to continue as Kansas and recorded one more song, "Perfect Lover", which appeared on the retrospective The Best of Kansas (August 1984), which has sold over four million units in the U.S. alone. The song would eventually be removed in favor of other songs on the remastered release of the compilation. The group disbanded after its release, which thus became the final Kansas recording with Elefante. Since leaving the band, Elefante has become a popular Contemporary Christian music artist and has not performed with the group since. In the summer of 1984, Ehart, Williams and Elefante were part of a United Service Organizations (USO) tour of US military bases that had been put together by Ehart, called 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division, that also included Patrick Simmons (Doobie Brothers), Leon Medica (LeRoux), David Jenkins, Cory Lerios and John Pierce (from Pablo Cruise) and Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos (from Cheap Trick). The supergroup began four days of rehearsals in Hawaii on March 10 before beginning a 17-day tour playing for the United States Seventh Fleet in the Indian Ocean and land-based troops in Korea, Okinawa, Diego Garcia and the Philippines. This was followed by a second USO tour in March 1985 that included Ehart, Williams and Steve Walsh. 1985–1990: Reformation In March 1985, the band came back together with Ehart, Williams and Walsh (who had briefly played keyboards on the road for Cheap Trick in the spring and summer of 1985, after the break up of Streets), but without Livgren, Hope or Steinhardt. The new lineup included Streets bassist Billy Greer and guitarist Steve Morse (formerly of the Dixie Dregs). The first performances of the new lineup with Morse and Greer took place during a third USO 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division tour that toured US military bases in the US, Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, Singapore, Iceland and most of Europe during the late summer through early October 1986. The re-formed band released Power in November 1986. The first single, "All I Wanted", became the last Kansas single to hit the Billboard Top 40 chart, peaking at No. 19. It also received considerable airplay on MTV. Two more singles, the title track and "Can't Cry Anymore", were less successful, "Power" hitting the lower end of the Hot 100 and getting substantial play and charting on the Rock Charts, but "Can't Cry Anymore" receiving little airplay despite a clever music video. The band added Baton Rouge native Greg Robert on keyboards and back-up vocals at the suggestion of LeRoux's Leon Medica. Greg played his first show with Kansas on January 31, 1987 along with 38 Special at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Puerto Rico. The new lineup released a second album, In the Spirit of Things, in October 1988. The concept album and subsequent tour were popular with the fan base but did not receive widespread airplay beyond the "Stand Beside Me" video on MTV. Morse temporarily left the band at the end of a tour of Germany in April 1989. On September 15, 1990 Walsh, Williams and Ehart played a charity event at the Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu, California, alongside Saga, Lou Gramm (of Foreigner), Mr. Big, Eddie Money, Kevin Cronin (from REO Speedwagon) and others. Alex Lifeson joined them on stage for a short set of Kansas before Geddy Lee flew in to join Alex for a Rush set, with Ehart on drums subbing for Neil Peart. In November 1990, a German promoter arranged to reunite all the original members of Kansas (except for Steinhardt) for a European tour. Greer joined them, along with keyboardist Greg Robert. At the end of the tour, Hope left again, but Livgren remained on into 1991. 1991–1997: Addition of David Ragsdale In April 1991 violinist David Ragsdale (who had submitted a tape of his playing to Ehart several years earlier) was invited to join the group and the return of the violin allowed Kansas to perform earlier material in arrangements closer to the originals. Livgren left during the 1991 summer tour, to be replaced temporarily by Steve Morse again. After the tour, Morse left the band for good to return to his own projects and eventually become a member of Deep Purple, and Ragsdale took over the extra guitar parts, leaving Williams as the primary guitar player. The resulting lineup of Ehart, Greer, Ragsdale, Robert, Walsh and Williams lasted from 1991 to 1997. This period saw one live album and accompanying video, Live at the Whisky (July 1992), and one studio album, Freaks of Nature (May 1995). During the fall of 1993, drummer Van Romaine (formerly of Blood Sweat and Tears and Steve Morse's band) came in to substitute for Ehart, who was taking care of the group's business and putting together The Kansas Boxed Set, which was released in July 1994. Bryan Holmes, from The Producers, likewise filled in for Ehart during the spring and summer of 1994 until that December, when Phil returned for a tour of Germany. On July 28, 1995 Kansas was inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame in Hollywood. 1997–2006: Return of Robby Steinhardt In early 1997, Robert and Ragsdale left the band and Steinhardt returned. In May 1998, Kansas released Always Never the Same, which featured Larry Baird conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. The album was a mix of older Kansas material (with new arrangements by Baird), several new songs and a cover of "Eleanor Rigby". Somewhere to Elsewhere, a new studio album released in July 2000, featured all the original members of Kansas, plus Greer, with all songs written by Kerry Livgren. That same summer, Kansas was the opening act for Yes during their "Masterworks" tour. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Livgren would occasionally attend Kansas shows and come on stage to play one or more songs with the band. At a March 9, 2002 concert at Lake Tahoe, he played the whole show, subbing for Rich Williams who was "under the weather", and another live album and DVD from Kansas, entitled Device - Voice - Drum, which was recorded in the band's present home of Atlanta on June 15, 2002, was released that October. Also in 2002, Kansas II (the lineup prior to the recording and release of the first Kansas album) released an album under the name Proto-Kaw, featuring demos and live material recorded from 1971 to 1973. It led to a new studio album, Before Became After (2004), with most of the Kansas II members participating. Proto-Kaw released a third album, The Wait of Glory in 2006, and their fourth and final studio album, Forth, was released in 2011, after which the band ceased. 2006–2013: Continued touring and regained popularity Kansas continued to tour every year. The 2006 tour was delayed for a few weeks due to Steinhardt's second departure in March and Ragsdale's subsequent return to the lineup. In 2008, the Kansas website announced that four of the five members (Ehart, Ragsdale, Williams, and Greer) had formed a side recording group called Native Window and they released their self-titled debut album in June 2009. In February 2009, Kansas recorded a concert in Topeka featuring a full symphony orchestra, with Larry Baird conducting. Morse and Livgren appeared as special guests on several songs. The performance was released on CD, DVD, and Blu-ray as There's Know Place Like Home that October and the DVD hit No. 5 on the Billboard Music Video Chart the week after its release. In July 2010, Kansas completed a 30-day "United We Rock" tour with fellow classic rock acts Styx and Foreigner. Kansas then began a collegiate tour in September 2010. On this tour they performed with the symphony orchestras of various US colleges in an effort to raise money for the individual schools' music programs. The success of the tour led the band to start another one the following year. On September 13, 2012 Kansas began a new tour with a performance at the Best Buy Theater in New York City. Opening for them was the band King's X and a one-man-band called That 1 Guy. This tour featured many hits from the albums Leftoverture and Point of Know Return, as well as material from a number of their other albums. The band kicked off 2013 being featured on the Rock Legends II cruise. The floating rock festival for a cause aboard Royal Caribbean International's Liberty of the Seas departed January 10, 2013 from Fort Lauderdale, FL. Other big names included Foreigner, Paul Rodgers, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Bachman & Turner, 38 Special, The Marshall Tucker Band, Blue Öyster Cult, Foghat and Molly Hatchet. On March 1, 2013 Kansas announced a 40th-anniversary celebration was in the works. However, Steinhardt suffered a heart attack days before the concert and was unable to participate. Nevertheless, the show went on, billed as the 40th Anniversary Fan Appreciation Concert, performed in Pittsburgh on August 17, 2013 at the same venue, Benedum Center (formerly The Stanley Theater), which had propelled them to national recognition. The show featured guest appearances by Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope and the first set featured symphonic accompaniment by the Three Rivers Orchestra, conducted by Larry Baird. Intermission featured Phil Ehart overseeing random prize drawings of autographed band merchandise, videotaped 40th anniversary well-wishes from other bands and an exclusive first-look at the trailer for the upcoming feature-length documentary Miracles Out of Nowhere. 2014–2020: Retirement of Steve Walsh, The Prelude Implicit On August 2, 2014 a statement was issued on the band's official Facebook page announcing the impending retirement of lead singer Steve Walsh. On August 6, 2014 former Kansas lead singer John Elefante issued a statement that he had been contacted by the band on August 2 to discuss rejoining. However, on August 4, after turning to prayer, he said that it was not meant to be. At that point, he also cited Steve Walsh as one of the reasons he wanted to become a singer. A statement was issued on August 14, 2014 through the band's official Facebook page stating that Chicago native Ronnie Platt (who had previously sung with Shooting Star) had been selected as the band's new lead vocalist and keyboard player. On August 24, 2014 the band announced that their longtime lighting specialist David Manion would be handling the main keyboard parts for the band on stage along with Platt, giving the group a full-time keyboardist for the first time since Greg Robert's departure in 1997. Manion had also handled keyboard responsibilities for Kansas bassist and vocalist Billy Greer's band, Seventh Key. In March 2015, the band released the aforementioned documentary, Miracles Out of Nowhere. The documentary chronicles the band's formation and follows them throughout their success with Leftoverture and Point of Know Return. It was initially available in a limited-edition release that contained an extra DVD of bonus interviews. The documentary was released alongside a companion CD of the same name that contained a selection of the band's greatest hits along with snippets of commentary from the documentary. On September 1, 2015 a press release announced that Kansas had signed with Inside Out Music, a German label dedicated to progressive rock and related genres, for the release of their upcoming 15th studio album. The release of this album marked the longest period to date between studio releases since the previous album, Somewhere to Elsewhere, had been released over 15 years prior, in 2000. On February 26, 2016 the group officially announced The Prelude Implicit for a September 2016 release. The album's co-producer and co-writer, Zak Rizvi, was subsequently named as a full member of the band, giving Kansas a second full-time guitarist for the first time since Steve Morse's departure in 1991. On September 30, 2016 the current lineup kicked off a multi-city tour at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the release of Leftoverture, which was done again in the spring of 2017 with a 12 show 40th anniversary tour, that, like the fall jaunt, included performances of newer tracks, older songs and a complete rendering of the full Leftoverture album. A two-CD set, Leftoverture Live & Beyond, was released in November 2017 that contained 19 songs culled from different shows during the tour and the band's 2017 fall dates also included further 40th anniversary shows. In 2018 the group decided to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Point of Know Return by playing that album in its entirety at the shows on a tour, set to begin in September. After the conclusion of the fall tour dates, keyboardist David Manion departed the band and in December Tom Brislin (who had played with Yes, Meat Loaf, Debbie Harry, Renaissance, Camel, Dennis DeYoung and others) was announced as the new keyboardist, with the second leg of the Point 40th anniversary tour slated to resume in March 2019. On June 25, 2019 The New York Times Magazine listed Kansas among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. In December 2019, the band played the entire Leftoverture and Point of Know Return albums in a special performance at the Beacon Theater in New York City. 2020: The Absence of Presence On March 20, 2020, the band announced the upcoming release of a new studio album, The Absence of Presence. Due to manufacturing delays, the album was released on July 17, 2020. It has been promoted by the release of videos for three songs: "Throwing Mountains", "Memories Down the Line" and "Jets Overhead". Recording for the album took place simultaneously during the band's 2019 touring schedule. To promote the album, an autumn 2020 tour of Europe was scheduled, but following the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the tour has been postponed to 2022. Rizvi left the band in April 2021 in order to pursue new projects. On May 28, 2021, the group released Point of Know Return: Live and Beyond, with performances taken from various dates on the 2019 to early 2020 legs of the Point of Know Return 40th Anniversary Tour. Former violin player and vocalist Robby Steinhardt died from pancreatitis on July 17, 2021, at the age of 71. Influences Kansas's musical style, a fusion of hard rock, southern rock, and progressive rock, was influenced by several bands. The music of Yes and Genesis was inspirational to Kansas, especially demonstrated in the lyrics of Walsh. Livgren cited the 1960s band Touch as foundational to his development. Livgren's evolving spirituality is reflected in the band's songs, with early works showing an interest in the mysticism of Eastern religions, works in the late 1970s influenced by the American spiritual philosophy of The Urantia Book, followed in the early 1980s by works embracing born-again Christianity. The re-formed band produced a harder pop metal album in the late 1980s. In a 2003 interview with The A.V. Club, Berkeley Breathed, the creator of the Opus comic strip, revealed that "Opus was named after a Kansas song." From the band's 1976 album Leftoverture, the songs "Opus Insert" and the epic "Magnum Opus" could both be the inspiration for the name. He also added, "If you're too young to know who Kansas was, to hell with you." Appearances in other media "Carry On Wayward Son" has been covered by many artists. It was included on soundtracks for the following movies and television shows: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Family Guy, Gentlemen Broncos, Happy Gilmore, Heroes (1977)*, Scrubs, South Park ("Guitar Queer-o" episode), King of the Hill ("My Own Private Rodeo") and Strangers with Candy ("Yes You Can't"). It was also featured in the video games Grand Theft Auto V, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, Rock Band 2, and Rock Band Unplugged. The song is frequently played throughout the show Supernatural and also appears in Supernatural: The Anime Series (as the ending for each episode). It is often hailed as the show's unofficial theme song. "Carry On Wayward Son" was removed from the 1977 movie Heroes when it was discovered that the movie had not obtained rights to use the song. The DVD release by MCA/Universal Home used a different (unknown) song, yet the credit for "Wayward Son" remains. "Dust in the Wind" was parodied by comedian Tim Hawkins, the parody called "A Whiff of Kansas" which is on the Pretty Pink Tractor album, and a video parody on the Insanitized live DVD. In 2016, the music video for the song was parodied on The Late Late Show with James Corden. In the 2003 movie Old School, the song was sung by Frank "The Tank" Ricard, played by Will Ferrell, at the funeral for Joseph "Blue" Pulaski, a fraternity brother, played by Joseph Patrick Cranshaw, and as such, the song appears on the movie's soundtrack. In the 1989 movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Ted, played by Keanu Reeves, quotes the song lyric "All we are is dust in the wind, dude" to philosophize with Socrates. "Point of Know Return" was featured as part of the soundtrack for the 2021 film The Suicide Squad. Members Current members Phil Ehart – drums, percussion Rich Williams – lead and rhythm guitars Billy Greer – bass, acoustic guitar, backing and lead vocals David Ragsdale – violin, rhythm guitar, backing vocals Ronnie Platt – lead and backing vocals, keyboards Tom Brislin – keyboards, backing and lead vocals Discography Kansas (1974) Song for America (1975) Masque (1975) Leftoverture (1976) Point of Know Return (1977) Monolith (1979) Audio-Visions (1980) Vinyl Confessions (1982) Drastic Measures (1983) Power (1986) In the Spirit of Things (1988) Freaks of Nature (1995) Always Never the Same (1998) Somewhere to Elsewhere (2000) The Prelude Implicit (2016) The Absence of Presence (2020) References External links Billy Greer Kerry Livgren David Ragsdale Steve Walsh John Elefante AllMusic: Kansas - Artist Biography Innerviews: Career-Spanning 2015 Band Interview American hard rock musical groups American progressive rock groups Art rock musical groups Epic Records artists Musical groups established in 1973 Musical groups disestablished in 1984 Musical groups reestablished in 1985 1973 establishments in Kansas 1984 disestablishments in Kansas 1985 establishments in Kansas Musicians from Topeka, Kansas Rock music groups from Kansas Symphonic rock groups Inside Out Music artists MCA Records artists Magna Carta Records artists
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" ]
[ "Kansas (band)", "1985-1990: Reformation", "What happened in 1985?", "In July 1985 the band came back together with Ehart, Williams and Walsh (who had briefly played keyboards on the road for Cheap Trick" ]
C_220546961ba24066b1e9c3ce55dcefab_0
what happened on the road?
2
What happened on the road with Kansas in 1985?
Kansas (band)
In July 1985 the band came back together with Ehart, Williams and Walsh (who had briefly played keyboards on the road for Cheap Trick in the spring and summer of 1985 after the break up of Streets), but without Livgren, Hope or Steinhardt. The new lineup included Streets bassist Billy Greer and guitarist Steve Morse (formerly of the Dixie Dregs). The first performances of the new lineup with Morse and Greer took place during a third USO 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division tour that toured US military bases in the US, Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, Singapore, Iceland and most of Europe during the late summer through early October 1986. The re-formed band released Power in November 1986. The first single, "All I Wanted", became the last Kansas single to hit the Billboard Top 40 chart, peaking at No. 19. It also received considerable airplay on MTV. Two more singles, the title track and "Can't Cry Anymore", were less successful, "Power" hitting the lower end of the Hot 100 and getting substantial play and charting on the Rock Charts, but "Can't Cry Anymore" receiving little airplay despite a clever music video. The band added New Orleans native Greg Robert on keyboards and back-up vocals at the suggestion of LeRoux's Leon Medica. Greg played his first show with Kansas on January 31, 1987 at Roberto Clemente Stadium in Puerto Rico. The new lineup released a second album, In the Spirit of Things, in October 1988. The concept album and subsequent tour were popular with the fan base but did not receive widespread airplay beyond the "Stand Beside Me" video on MTV. Morse temporarily left the band at the end of a tour of Germany in April 1989. On September 15, 1990, Walsh, Williams and Ehart played a charity event at the Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu, California, alongside Saga, Lou Gramm (of Foreigner), Mr. Big, Eddie Money, Kevin Cronin (from REO Speedwagon) and others. Alex Lifeson joined them on stage for a short set of Kansas before Geddy Lee flew in to join Alex for a Rush set, with Ehart on drums subbing for Neil Peart. In November 1990 a German promoter arranged to reunite all the original members of Kansas (except for Steinhardt) for a European tour. Greer joined them, along with keyboardist Greg Robert. At the end of the tour, Hope left again, but Livgren remained on into 1991. CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on album-oriented rock charts and later with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind". The band has produced nine gold albums, three multi-platinum albums (Leftoverture 4×, Point of Know Return 4×, and The Best of Kansas 4×), one other platinum studio album (Monolith), one platinum live double album (Two for the Show), and a million-selling single, "Dust in the Wind". Kansas appeared on the Billboard charts for over 200 weeks throughout the 1970s and 1980s and played to sold-out arenas and stadiums throughout North America, Europe and Japan. "Carry On Wayward Son" was the second-most-played track on US classic rock radio in 1995 and No. 1 in 1997. History 1970–1973: Early years In 1969, Don Montre and Kerry Livgren (guitars, keyboards, synthesizers) were performing in a band called the Reasons Why in their hometown of Topeka, Kansas. After leaving to form the band Saratoga with Lynn Meredith and Dan Wright, they started playing Livgren's original material, with Scott Kessler playing bass and Zeke Lowe coming in on drums. In 1970, they changed the band's name to Kansas and merged with members of rival Topeka progressive rock group White Clover. White Clover members Dave Hope (bass) and Phil Ehart (drums, percussion) joined with Livgren, vocalists Meredith and Greg Allen, keyboardists Montre and Wright and saxophonist Larry Baker. This early Kansas group, sometimes called Kansas I, lasted until early 1971 when Ehart, Hope and some of the others left to re-form White Clover. Ehart was replaced by Zeke Lowe and later Brad Schulz, Hope was replaced by Rod Mikinski on bass and Baker was replaced by John Bolton on saxophone and flute. This lineup is sometimes referred to as Kansas II, and 30 years later would re-form under the name Proto-Kaw. In 1972, after Ehart returned from England (where he had gone to look for other musicians), he and Hope once again re-formed White Clover with Robby Steinhardt (vocals, violin, viola, cello), Steve Walsh (vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion) and Rich Williams (guitars). In early 1973, they recruited Livgren from the second Kansas group, which then folded. Eventually they received a recording contract with Don Kirshner's eponymous label, after Kirshner's assistant, Wally Gold, heard one of their demo tapes and came out to check out the band at one of their local gigs in March 1973, in Ellinwood, Kansas. After signing with Kirshner, the group decided to return to using the name "Kansas". 1974–1979: Rise to national prominence Their self-titled debut album, produced by Gold, was released in March 1974, nearly a year after it was recorded in New York. It defined the band's signature sound, a mix of American-style boogie rock and complex, symphonic arrangements with changing time signatures. Steinhardt's violin was a distinctive element of the group's sound, being defined more by heartland rock than the jazz and classical influences which most progressive rock violinists followed. The band slowly developed a cult following due to promotion by Kirshner and extensive touring for the debut album and its two follow-ups, Song for America (February 1975) and Masque (October 1975). Song for America was co-produced by Wally Gold and their former White Clover bandmate Jeff Glixman, who would go on to produce all of their albums from Masque to Two for the Show (October 1978) on his own, returning to the helm for 1995's Freaks of Nature. Both Masque and their next release, Leftoverture, were recorded at a studio in the middle of the Louisiana Bayou named Studio in the Country. Kansas released its fourth album, Leftoverture, in October 1976, which produced a hit single, "Carry On Wayward Son", in 1977. The follow-up, Point of Know Return, recorded at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana and Woodland Sound in Nashville and released in October 1977, featured the title track and "Dust in the Wind", both hit singles. Leftoverture was a breakthrough for the band, hitting No. 5 on Billboard's pop album chart. Point of Know Return peaked even higher, at No. 4. Both albums sold over four million copies in the U.S. Both "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind" were certified gold singles, selling over one million units each. "Dust in the Wind" was certified gold as a digital download by the RIAA in 2005, almost 30 years after selling one million copies as a single. Leftoverture was eventually certified five-times platinum by the RIAA in 2001. During this period, Kansas became a major headlining act and sold out the largest venues available to rock bands at the time, including New York's Madison Square Garden. The band documented this era in 1978 with Two for the Show, a double live album of recordings from various performances from its 1977 and 1978 tours. The band gained a solid reputation for faithful live reproduction of their studio recordings. In March 1978, Kansas was brought over to tour Europe for the very first time and later on that same year, they were named UNICEF Deputy Ambassadors of Goodwill. The follow-up studio album to Point of Know Return was Monolith (May 1979), which was self-produced. The album generated a Top 40 single in "People of the South Wind", whose title refers to the meaning of the 'Kanza' (Kaw) Native American people, after whom the state and the band are named. The album failed to garner the sales and radio airplay of its two predecessors. Nevertheless, the album eventually went platinum. Livgren's platinum award for the album is on display at the Kansas Museum of History. The band toured the US for Monolith during the summer and fall of 1979 then went over to tour Japan for the first time in January 1980. 1980–1984: Creative tensions Kansas bandmembers began to drift apart in the early 1980s. During the tour supporting Monolith, Livgren became a born-again Christian, and this was reflected in his lyrics on the next three albums, beginning with Audio-Visions (September 1980). "Hold On", a Top 40 single from that album, displayed his new-found faith. Hope soon converted to Christianity as well. This would be the final album with the original lineup (until they briefly reunited in 1999–2000), and also the last Kansas studio album to be certified gold by the RIAA. Due to creative differences over the lyrical direction of the next album, Walsh left in October 1981 to form a new band, Streets. In early December of that year, Walsh was replaced by vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist John Elefante, who—unknown to Livgren and Hope at the time—was also a Christian. He was chosen from over 200 applicants, such as Sammy Hagar, Doug Pinnick, Ted Neeley (who played the title character in the movie Jesus Christ Superstar), Warren Ham (ex-Bloodrock, who would join the band on the road in 1982, adding sax, flute, harmonica, back-up vocals and extra keyboards) and Michael Gleason (who would supply keyboards and back-up vocals on the group's 1983 tour). The first Kansas album with Elefante, Vinyl Confessions, was released in June 1982. The record renewed interest in the group and generated the band's first Top 20 hit in several years, "Play the Game Tonight", which hit No. 4 on Billboards newly deployed Mainstream Rock chart. The album's mostly Christianity-based lyrics attracted a new audience and garnered radio airplay on the then fledgling Contemporary Christian Music format. The album featured backing vocals from Queen drummer Roger Taylor, who was recording in the studio next door. Still, sales of the album fell short of gold status. Drastic Measures followed in July 1983. For various reasons, Livgren contributed only three songs to the album; the rest were penned by John Elefante and his brother Dino. With violinist Steinhardt leaving the group before the recording sessions, the result was a more mainstream pop-rock album. Though the album charted lower than any Kansas album since Masque, peaking at No. 41, its single "Fight Fire with Fire" fared better. It did not crack the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, but reached No. 3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. It was the highest chart position of any Kansas release on any chart, though this particular chart did not exist prior to 1981. For their 1983 tour for Drastic Measures, Kansas was joined on stage by the aforementioned Michael Gleason and Terry Brock (who covered the absent Steinhardt's harmony vocals). During the band's time with Elefante as lead vocalist, Livgren became increasingly uncomfortable with Kansas representing his Christian worldview. After a final New Year's Eve performance on December 31, 1983, Livgren and Hope left to form AD with Warren Ham and Michael Gleason. They were joined by drummer Dennis Holt. Elefante, Ehart and Williams sought to continue as Kansas and recorded one more song, "Perfect Lover", which appeared on the retrospective The Best of Kansas (August 1984), which has sold over four million units in the U.S. alone. The song would eventually be removed in favor of other songs on the remastered release of the compilation. The group disbanded after its release, which thus became the final Kansas recording with Elefante. Since leaving the band, Elefante has become a popular Contemporary Christian music artist and has not performed with the group since. In the summer of 1984, Ehart, Williams and Elefante were part of a United Service Organizations (USO) tour of US military bases that had been put together by Ehart, called 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division, that also included Patrick Simmons (Doobie Brothers), Leon Medica (LeRoux), David Jenkins, Cory Lerios and John Pierce (from Pablo Cruise) and Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos (from Cheap Trick). The supergroup began four days of rehearsals in Hawaii on March 10 before beginning a 17-day tour playing for the United States Seventh Fleet in the Indian Ocean and land-based troops in Korea, Okinawa, Diego Garcia and the Philippines. This was followed by a second USO tour in March 1985 that included Ehart, Williams and Steve Walsh. 1985–1990: Reformation In March 1985, the band came back together with Ehart, Williams and Walsh (who had briefly played keyboards on the road for Cheap Trick in the spring and summer of 1985, after the break up of Streets), but without Livgren, Hope or Steinhardt. The new lineup included Streets bassist Billy Greer and guitarist Steve Morse (formerly of the Dixie Dregs). The first performances of the new lineup with Morse and Greer took place during a third USO 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division tour that toured US military bases in the US, Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, Singapore, Iceland and most of Europe during the late summer through early October 1986. The re-formed band released Power in November 1986. The first single, "All I Wanted", became the last Kansas single to hit the Billboard Top 40 chart, peaking at No. 19. It also received considerable airplay on MTV. Two more singles, the title track and "Can't Cry Anymore", were less successful, "Power" hitting the lower end of the Hot 100 and getting substantial play and charting on the Rock Charts, but "Can't Cry Anymore" receiving little airplay despite a clever music video. The band added Baton Rouge native Greg Robert on keyboards and back-up vocals at the suggestion of LeRoux's Leon Medica. Greg played his first show with Kansas on January 31, 1987 along with 38 Special at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Puerto Rico. The new lineup released a second album, In the Spirit of Things, in October 1988. The concept album and subsequent tour were popular with the fan base but did not receive widespread airplay beyond the "Stand Beside Me" video on MTV. Morse temporarily left the band at the end of a tour of Germany in April 1989. On September 15, 1990 Walsh, Williams and Ehart played a charity event at the Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu, California, alongside Saga, Lou Gramm (of Foreigner), Mr. Big, Eddie Money, Kevin Cronin (from REO Speedwagon) and others. Alex Lifeson joined them on stage for a short set of Kansas before Geddy Lee flew in to join Alex for a Rush set, with Ehart on drums subbing for Neil Peart. In November 1990, a German promoter arranged to reunite all the original members of Kansas (except for Steinhardt) for a European tour. Greer joined them, along with keyboardist Greg Robert. At the end of the tour, Hope left again, but Livgren remained on into 1991. 1991–1997: Addition of David Ragsdale In April 1991 violinist David Ragsdale (who had submitted a tape of his playing to Ehart several years earlier) was invited to join the group and the return of the violin allowed Kansas to perform earlier material in arrangements closer to the originals. Livgren left during the 1991 summer tour, to be replaced temporarily by Steve Morse again. After the tour, Morse left the band for good to return to his own projects and eventually become a member of Deep Purple, and Ragsdale took over the extra guitar parts, leaving Williams as the primary guitar player. The resulting lineup of Ehart, Greer, Ragsdale, Robert, Walsh and Williams lasted from 1991 to 1997. This period saw one live album and accompanying video, Live at the Whisky (July 1992), and one studio album, Freaks of Nature (May 1995). During the fall of 1993, drummer Van Romaine (formerly of Blood Sweat and Tears and Steve Morse's band) came in to substitute for Ehart, who was taking care of the group's business and putting together The Kansas Boxed Set, which was released in July 1994. Bryan Holmes, from The Producers, likewise filled in for Ehart during the spring and summer of 1994 until that December, when Phil returned for a tour of Germany. On July 28, 1995 Kansas was inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame in Hollywood. 1997–2006: Return of Robby Steinhardt In early 1997, Robert and Ragsdale left the band and Steinhardt returned. In May 1998, Kansas released Always Never the Same, which featured Larry Baird conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. The album was a mix of older Kansas material (with new arrangements by Baird), several new songs and a cover of "Eleanor Rigby". Somewhere to Elsewhere, a new studio album released in July 2000, featured all the original members of Kansas, plus Greer, with all songs written by Kerry Livgren. That same summer, Kansas was the opening act for Yes during their "Masterworks" tour. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Livgren would occasionally attend Kansas shows and come on stage to play one or more songs with the band. At a March 9, 2002 concert at Lake Tahoe, he played the whole show, subbing for Rich Williams who was "under the weather", and another live album and DVD from Kansas, entitled Device - Voice - Drum, which was recorded in the band's present home of Atlanta on June 15, 2002, was released that October. Also in 2002, Kansas II (the lineup prior to the recording and release of the first Kansas album) released an album under the name Proto-Kaw, featuring demos and live material recorded from 1971 to 1973. It led to a new studio album, Before Became After (2004), with most of the Kansas II members participating. Proto-Kaw released a third album, The Wait of Glory in 2006, and their fourth and final studio album, Forth, was released in 2011, after which the band ceased. 2006–2013: Continued touring and regained popularity Kansas continued to tour every year. The 2006 tour was delayed for a few weeks due to Steinhardt's second departure in March and Ragsdale's subsequent return to the lineup. In 2008, the Kansas website announced that four of the five members (Ehart, Ragsdale, Williams, and Greer) had formed a side recording group called Native Window and they released their self-titled debut album in June 2009. In February 2009, Kansas recorded a concert in Topeka featuring a full symphony orchestra, with Larry Baird conducting. Morse and Livgren appeared as special guests on several songs. The performance was released on CD, DVD, and Blu-ray as There's Know Place Like Home that October and the DVD hit No. 5 on the Billboard Music Video Chart the week after its release. In July 2010, Kansas completed a 30-day "United We Rock" tour with fellow classic rock acts Styx and Foreigner. Kansas then began a collegiate tour in September 2010. On this tour they performed with the symphony orchestras of various US colleges in an effort to raise money for the individual schools' music programs. The success of the tour led the band to start another one the following year. On September 13, 2012 Kansas began a new tour with a performance at the Best Buy Theater in New York City. Opening for them was the band King's X and a one-man-band called That 1 Guy. This tour featured many hits from the albums Leftoverture and Point of Know Return, as well as material from a number of their other albums. The band kicked off 2013 being featured on the Rock Legends II cruise. The floating rock festival for a cause aboard Royal Caribbean International's Liberty of the Seas departed January 10, 2013 from Fort Lauderdale, FL. Other big names included Foreigner, Paul Rodgers, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Bachman & Turner, 38 Special, The Marshall Tucker Band, Blue Öyster Cult, Foghat and Molly Hatchet. On March 1, 2013 Kansas announced a 40th-anniversary celebration was in the works. However, Steinhardt suffered a heart attack days before the concert and was unable to participate. Nevertheless, the show went on, billed as the 40th Anniversary Fan Appreciation Concert, performed in Pittsburgh on August 17, 2013 at the same venue, Benedum Center (formerly The Stanley Theater), which had propelled them to national recognition. The show featured guest appearances by Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope and the first set featured symphonic accompaniment by the Three Rivers Orchestra, conducted by Larry Baird. Intermission featured Phil Ehart overseeing random prize drawings of autographed band merchandise, videotaped 40th anniversary well-wishes from other bands and an exclusive first-look at the trailer for the upcoming feature-length documentary Miracles Out of Nowhere. 2014–2020: Retirement of Steve Walsh, The Prelude Implicit On August 2, 2014 a statement was issued on the band's official Facebook page announcing the impending retirement of lead singer Steve Walsh. On August 6, 2014 former Kansas lead singer John Elefante issued a statement that he had been contacted by the band on August 2 to discuss rejoining. However, on August 4, after turning to prayer, he said that it was not meant to be. At that point, he also cited Steve Walsh as one of the reasons he wanted to become a singer. A statement was issued on August 14, 2014 through the band's official Facebook page stating that Chicago native Ronnie Platt (who had previously sung with Shooting Star) had been selected as the band's new lead vocalist and keyboard player. On August 24, 2014 the band announced that their longtime lighting specialist David Manion would be handling the main keyboard parts for the band on stage along with Platt, giving the group a full-time keyboardist for the first time since Greg Robert's departure in 1997. Manion had also handled keyboard responsibilities for Kansas bassist and vocalist Billy Greer's band, Seventh Key. In March 2015, the band released the aforementioned documentary, Miracles Out of Nowhere. The documentary chronicles the band's formation and follows them throughout their success with Leftoverture and Point of Know Return. It was initially available in a limited-edition release that contained an extra DVD of bonus interviews. The documentary was released alongside a companion CD of the same name that contained a selection of the band's greatest hits along with snippets of commentary from the documentary. On September 1, 2015 a press release announced that Kansas had signed with Inside Out Music, a German label dedicated to progressive rock and related genres, for the release of their upcoming 15th studio album. The release of this album marked the longest period to date between studio releases since the previous album, Somewhere to Elsewhere, had been released over 15 years prior, in 2000. On February 26, 2016 the group officially announced The Prelude Implicit for a September 2016 release. The album's co-producer and co-writer, Zak Rizvi, was subsequently named as a full member of the band, giving Kansas a second full-time guitarist for the first time since Steve Morse's departure in 1991. On September 30, 2016 the current lineup kicked off a multi-city tour at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the release of Leftoverture, which was done again in the spring of 2017 with a 12 show 40th anniversary tour, that, like the fall jaunt, included performances of newer tracks, older songs and a complete rendering of the full Leftoverture album. A two-CD set, Leftoverture Live & Beyond, was released in November 2017 that contained 19 songs culled from different shows during the tour and the band's 2017 fall dates also included further 40th anniversary shows. In 2018 the group decided to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Point of Know Return by playing that album in its entirety at the shows on a tour, set to begin in September. After the conclusion of the fall tour dates, keyboardist David Manion departed the band and in December Tom Brislin (who had played with Yes, Meat Loaf, Debbie Harry, Renaissance, Camel, Dennis DeYoung and others) was announced as the new keyboardist, with the second leg of the Point 40th anniversary tour slated to resume in March 2019. On June 25, 2019 The New York Times Magazine listed Kansas among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. In December 2019, the band played the entire Leftoverture and Point of Know Return albums in a special performance at the Beacon Theater in New York City. 2020: The Absence of Presence On March 20, 2020, the band announced the upcoming release of a new studio album, The Absence of Presence. Due to manufacturing delays, the album was released on July 17, 2020. It has been promoted by the release of videos for three songs: "Throwing Mountains", "Memories Down the Line" and "Jets Overhead". Recording for the album took place simultaneously during the band's 2019 touring schedule. To promote the album, an autumn 2020 tour of Europe was scheduled, but following the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the tour has been postponed to 2022. Rizvi left the band in April 2021 in order to pursue new projects. On May 28, 2021, the group released Point of Know Return: Live and Beyond, with performances taken from various dates on the 2019 to early 2020 legs of the Point of Know Return 40th Anniversary Tour. Former violin player and vocalist Robby Steinhardt died from pancreatitis on July 17, 2021, at the age of 71. Influences Kansas's musical style, a fusion of hard rock, southern rock, and progressive rock, was influenced by several bands. The music of Yes and Genesis was inspirational to Kansas, especially demonstrated in the lyrics of Walsh. Livgren cited the 1960s band Touch as foundational to his development. Livgren's evolving spirituality is reflected in the band's songs, with early works showing an interest in the mysticism of Eastern religions, works in the late 1970s influenced by the American spiritual philosophy of The Urantia Book, followed in the early 1980s by works embracing born-again Christianity. The re-formed band produced a harder pop metal album in the late 1980s. In a 2003 interview with The A.V. Club, Berkeley Breathed, the creator of the Opus comic strip, revealed that "Opus was named after a Kansas song." From the band's 1976 album Leftoverture, the songs "Opus Insert" and the epic "Magnum Opus" could both be the inspiration for the name. He also added, "If you're too young to know who Kansas was, to hell with you." Appearances in other media "Carry On Wayward Son" has been covered by many artists. It was included on soundtracks for the following movies and television shows: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Family Guy, Gentlemen Broncos, Happy Gilmore, Heroes (1977)*, Scrubs, South Park ("Guitar Queer-o" episode), King of the Hill ("My Own Private Rodeo") and Strangers with Candy ("Yes You Can't"). It was also featured in the video games Grand Theft Auto V, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, Rock Band 2, and Rock Band Unplugged. The song is frequently played throughout the show Supernatural and also appears in Supernatural: The Anime Series (as the ending for each episode). It is often hailed as the show's unofficial theme song. "Carry On Wayward Son" was removed from the 1977 movie Heroes when it was discovered that the movie had not obtained rights to use the song. The DVD release by MCA/Universal Home used a different (unknown) song, yet the credit for "Wayward Son" remains. "Dust in the Wind" was parodied by comedian Tim Hawkins, the parody called "A Whiff of Kansas" which is on the Pretty Pink Tractor album, and a video parody on the Insanitized live DVD. In 2016, the music video for the song was parodied on The Late Late Show with James Corden. In the 2003 movie Old School, the song was sung by Frank "The Tank" Ricard, played by Will Ferrell, at the funeral for Joseph "Blue" Pulaski, a fraternity brother, played by Joseph Patrick Cranshaw, and as such, the song appears on the movie's soundtrack. In the 1989 movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Ted, played by Keanu Reeves, quotes the song lyric "All we are is dust in the wind, dude" to philosophize with Socrates. "Point of Know Return" was featured as part of the soundtrack for the 2021 film The Suicide Squad. Members Current members Phil Ehart – drums, percussion Rich Williams – lead and rhythm guitars Billy Greer – bass, acoustic guitar, backing and lead vocals David Ragsdale – violin, rhythm guitar, backing vocals Ronnie Platt – lead and backing vocals, keyboards Tom Brislin – keyboards, backing and lead vocals Discography Kansas (1974) Song for America (1975) Masque (1975) Leftoverture (1976) Point of Know Return (1977) Monolith (1979) Audio-Visions (1980) Vinyl Confessions (1982) Drastic Measures (1983) Power (1986) In the Spirit of Things (1988) Freaks of Nature (1995) Always Never the Same (1998) Somewhere to Elsewhere (2000) The Prelude Implicit (2016) The Absence of Presence (2020) References External links Billy Greer Kerry Livgren David Ragsdale Steve Walsh John Elefante AllMusic: Kansas - Artist Biography Innerviews: Career-Spanning 2015 Band Interview American hard rock musical groups American progressive rock groups Art rock musical groups Epic Records artists Musical groups established in 1973 Musical groups disestablished in 1984 Musical groups reestablished in 1985 1973 establishments in Kansas 1984 disestablishments in Kansas 1985 establishments in Kansas Musicians from Topeka, Kansas Rock music groups from Kansas Symphonic rock groups Inside Out Music artists MCA Records artists Magna Carta Records artists
false
[ "\"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", "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? may refer to:\n\nWhat Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (novel), a 1960 suspense novel by Henry Farrell\n What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (film), a 1962 American psychological thriller, based on the novel.\n What Ever Happened to..., a 1991 ABC television film, based on the novel" ]
[ "Kansas (band)", "1985-1990: Reformation", "What happened in 1985?", "In July 1985 the band came back together with Ehart, Williams and Walsh (who had briefly played keyboards on the road for Cheap Trick", "what happened on the road?", "I don't know." ]
C_220546961ba24066b1e9c3ce55dcefab_0
What was the reformation?
3
What was the reformation of Kansas from 1985 to 1990?
Kansas (band)
In July 1985 the band came back together with Ehart, Williams and Walsh (who had briefly played keyboards on the road for Cheap Trick in the spring and summer of 1985 after the break up of Streets), but without Livgren, Hope or Steinhardt. The new lineup included Streets bassist Billy Greer and guitarist Steve Morse (formerly of the Dixie Dregs). The first performances of the new lineup with Morse and Greer took place during a third USO 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division tour that toured US military bases in the US, Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, Singapore, Iceland and most of Europe during the late summer through early October 1986. The re-formed band released Power in November 1986. The first single, "All I Wanted", became the last Kansas single to hit the Billboard Top 40 chart, peaking at No. 19. It also received considerable airplay on MTV. Two more singles, the title track and "Can't Cry Anymore", were less successful, "Power" hitting the lower end of the Hot 100 and getting substantial play and charting on the Rock Charts, but "Can't Cry Anymore" receiving little airplay despite a clever music video. The band added New Orleans native Greg Robert on keyboards and back-up vocals at the suggestion of LeRoux's Leon Medica. Greg played his first show with Kansas on January 31, 1987 at Roberto Clemente Stadium in Puerto Rico. The new lineup released a second album, In the Spirit of Things, in October 1988. The concept album and subsequent tour were popular with the fan base but did not receive widespread airplay beyond the "Stand Beside Me" video on MTV. Morse temporarily left the band at the end of a tour of Germany in April 1989. On September 15, 1990, Walsh, Williams and Ehart played a charity event at the Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu, California, alongside Saga, Lou Gramm (of Foreigner), Mr. Big, Eddie Money, Kevin Cronin (from REO Speedwagon) and others. Alex Lifeson joined them on stage for a short set of Kansas before Geddy Lee flew in to join Alex for a Rush set, with Ehart on drums subbing for Neil Peart. In November 1990 a German promoter arranged to reunite all the original members of Kansas (except for Steinhardt) for a European tour. Greer joined them, along with keyboardist Greg Robert. At the end of the tour, Hope left again, but Livgren remained on into 1991. CANNOTANSWER
The new lineup included Streets bassist Billy Greer and guitarist Steve Morse (formerly of the Dixie Dregs).
Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on album-oriented rock charts and later with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind". The band has produced nine gold albums, three multi-platinum albums (Leftoverture 4×, Point of Know Return 4×, and The Best of Kansas 4×), one other platinum studio album (Monolith), one platinum live double album (Two for the Show), and a million-selling single, "Dust in the Wind". Kansas appeared on the Billboard charts for over 200 weeks throughout the 1970s and 1980s and played to sold-out arenas and stadiums throughout North America, Europe and Japan. "Carry On Wayward Son" was the second-most-played track on US classic rock radio in 1995 and No. 1 in 1997. History 1970–1973: Early years In 1969, Don Montre and Kerry Livgren (guitars, keyboards, synthesizers) were performing in a band called the Reasons Why in their hometown of Topeka, Kansas. After leaving to form the band Saratoga with Lynn Meredith and Dan Wright, they started playing Livgren's original material, with Scott Kessler playing bass and Zeke Lowe coming in on drums. In 1970, they changed the band's name to Kansas and merged with members of rival Topeka progressive rock group White Clover. White Clover members Dave Hope (bass) and Phil Ehart (drums, percussion) joined with Livgren, vocalists Meredith and Greg Allen, keyboardists Montre and Wright and saxophonist Larry Baker. This early Kansas group, sometimes called Kansas I, lasted until early 1971 when Ehart, Hope and some of the others left to re-form White Clover. Ehart was replaced by Zeke Lowe and later Brad Schulz, Hope was replaced by Rod Mikinski on bass and Baker was replaced by John Bolton on saxophone and flute. This lineup is sometimes referred to as Kansas II, and 30 years later would re-form under the name Proto-Kaw. In 1972, after Ehart returned from England (where he had gone to look for other musicians), he and Hope once again re-formed White Clover with Robby Steinhardt (vocals, violin, viola, cello), Steve Walsh (vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion) and Rich Williams (guitars). In early 1973, they recruited Livgren from the second Kansas group, which then folded. Eventually they received a recording contract with Don Kirshner's eponymous label, after Kirshner's assistant, Wally Gold, heard one of their demo tapes and came out to check out the band at one of their local gigs in March 1973, in Ellinwood, Kansas. After signing with Kirshner, the group decided to return to using the name "Kansas". 1974–1979: Rise to national prominence Their self-titled debut album, produced by Gold, was released in March 1974, nearly a year after it was recorded in New York. It defined the band's signature sound, a mix of American-style boogie rock and complex, symphonic arrangements with changing time signatures. Steinhardt's violin was a distinctive element of the group's sound, being defined more by heartland rock than the jazz and classical influences which most progressive rock violinists followed. The band slowly developed a cult following due to promotion by Kirshner and extensive touring for the debut album and its two follow-ups, Song for America (February 1975) and Masque (October 1975). Song for America was co-produced by Wally Gold and their former White Clover bandmate Jeff Glixman, who would go on to produce all of their albums from Masque to Two for the Show (October 1978) on his own, returning to the helm for 1995's Freaks of Nature. Both Masque and their next release, Leftoverture, were recorded at a studio in the middle of the Louisiana Bayou named Studio in the Country. Kansas released its fourth album, Leftoverture, in October 1976, which produced a hit single, "Carry On Wayward Son", in 1977. The follow-up, Point of Know Return, recorded at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana and Woodland Sound in Nashville and released in October 1977, featured the title track and "Dust in the Wind", both hit singles. Leftoverture was a breakthrough for the band, hitting No. 5 on Billboard's pop album chart. Point of Know Return peaked even higher, at No. 4. Both albums sold over four million copies in the U.S. Both "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind" were certified gold singles, selling over one million units each. "Dust in the Wind" was certified gold as a digital download by the RIAA in 2005, almost 30 years after selling one million copies as a single. Leftoverture was eventually certified five-times platinum by the RIAA in 2001. During this period, Kansas became a major headlining act and sold out the largest venues available to rock bands at the time, including New York's Madison Square Garden. The band documented this era in 1978 with Two for the Show, a double live album of recordings from various performances from its 1977 and 1978 tours. The band gained a solid reputation for faithful live reproduction of their studio recordings. In March 1978, Kansas was brought over to tour Europe for the very first time and later on that same year, they were named UNICEF Deputy Ambassadors of Goodwill. The follow-up studio album to Point of Know Return was Monolith (May 1979), which was self-produced. The album generated a Top 40 single in "People of the South Wind", whose title refers to the meaning of the 'Kanza' (Kaw) Native American people, after whom the state and the band are named. The album failed to garner the sales and radio airplay of its two predecessors. Nevertheless, the album eventually went platinum. Livgren's platinum award for the album is on display at the Kansas Museum of History. The band toured the US for Monolith during the summer and fall of 1979 then went over to tour Japan for the first time in January 1980. 1980–1984: Creative tensions Kansas bandmembers began to drift apart in the early 1980s. During the tour supporting Monolith, Livgren became a born-again Christian, and this was reflected in his lyrics on the next three albums, beginning with Audio-Visions (September 1980). "Hold On", a Top 40 single from that album, displayed his new-found faith. Hope soon converted to Christianity as well. This would be the final album with the original lineup (until they briefly reunited in 1999–2000), and also the last Kansas studio album to be certified gold by the RIAA. Due to creative differences over the lyrical direction of the next album, Walsh left in October 1981 to form a new band, Streets. In early December of that year, Walsh was replaced by vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist John Elefante, who—unknown to Livgren and Hope at the time—was also a Christian. He was chosen from over 200 applicants, such as Sammy Hagar, Doug Pinnick, Ted Neeley (who played the title character in the movie Jesus Christ Superstar), Warren Ham (ex-Bloodrock, who would join the band on the road in 1982, adding sax, flute, harmonica, back-up vocals and extra keyboards) and Michael Gleason (who would supply keyboards and back-up vocals on the group's 1983 tour). The first Kansas album with Elefante, Vinyl Confessions, was released in June 1982. The record renewed interest in the group and generated the band's first Top 20 hit in several years, "Play the Game Tonight", which hit No. 4 on Billboards newly deployed Mainstream Rock chart. The album's mostly Christianity-based lyrics attracted a new audience and garnered radio airplay on the then fledgling Contemporary Christian Music format. The album featured backing vocals from Queen drummer Roger Taylor, who was recording in the studio next door. Still, sales of the album fell short of gold status. Drastic Measures followed in July 1983. For various reasons, Livgren contributed only three songs to the album; the rest were penned by John Elefante and his brother Dino. With violinist Steinhardt leaving the group before the recording sessions, the result was a more mainstream pop-rock album. Though the album charted lower than any Kansas album since Masque, peaking at No. 41, its single "Fight Fire with Fire" fared better. It did not crack the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, but reached No. 3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. It was the highest chart position of any Kansas release on any chart, though this particular chart did not exist prior to 1981. For their 1983 tour for Drastic Measures, Kansas was joined on stage by the aforementioned Michael Gleason and Terry Brock (who covered the absent Steinhardt's harmony vocals). During the band's time with Elefante as lead vocalist, Livgren became increasingly uncomfortable with Kansas representing his Christian worldview. After a final New Year's Eve performance on December 31, 1983, Livgren and Hope left to form AD with Warren Ham and Michael Gleason. They were joined by drummer Dennis Holt. Elefante, Ehart and Williams sought to continue as Kansas and recorded one more song, "Perfect Lover", which appeared on the retrospective The Best of Kansas (August 1984), which has sold over four million units in the U.S. alone. The song would eventually be removed in favor of other songs on the remastered release of the compilation. The group disbanded after its release, which thus became the final Kansas recording with Elefante. Since leaving the band, Elefante has become a popular Contemporary Christian music artist and has not performed with the group since. In the summer of 1984, Ehart, Williams and Elefante were part of a United Service Organizations (USO) tour of US military bases that had been put together by Ehart, called 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division, that also included Patrick Simmons (Doobie Brothers), Leon Medica (LeRoux), David Jenkins, Cory Lerios and John Pierce (from Pablo Cruise) and Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos (from Cheap Trick). The supergroup began four days of rehearsals in Hawaii on March 10 before beginning a 17-day tour playing for the United States Seventh Fleet in the Indian Ocean and land-based troops in Korea, Okinawa, Diego Garcia and the Philippines. This was followed by a second USO tour in March 1985 that included Ehart, Williams and Steve Walsh. 1985–1990: Reformation In March 1985, the band came back together with Ehart, Williams and Walsh (who had briefly played keyboards on the road for Cheap Trick in the spring and summer of 1985, after the break up of Streets), but without Livgren, Hope or Steinhardt. The new lineup included Streets bassist Billy Greer and guitarist Steve Morse (formerly of the Dixie Dregs). The first performances of the new lineup with Morse and Greer took place during a third USO 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division tour that toured US military bases in the US, Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, Singapore, Iceland and most of Europe during the late summer through early October 1986. The re-formed band released Power in November 1986. The first single, "All I Wanted", became the last Kansas single to hit the Billboard Top 40 chart, peaking at No. 19. It also received considerable airplay on MTV. Two more singles, the title track and "Can't Cry Anymore", were less successful, "Power" hitting the lower end of the Hot 100 and getting substantial play and charting on the Rock Charts, but "Can't Cry Anymore" receiving little airplay despite a clever music video. The band added Baton Rouge native Greg Robert on keyboards and back-up vocals at the suggestion of LeRoux's Leon Medica. Greg played his first show with Kansas on January 31, 1987 along with 38 Special at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Puerto Rico. The new lineup released a second album, In the Spirit of Things, in October 1988. The concept album and subsequent tour were popular with the fan base but did not receive widespread airplay beyond the "Stand Beside Me" video on MTV. Morse temporarily left the band at the end of a tour of Germany in April 1989. On September 15, 1990 Walsh, Williams and Ehart played a charity event at the Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu, California, alongside Saga, Lou Gramm (of Foreigner), Mr. Big, Eddie Money, Kevin Cronin (from REO Speedwagon) and others. Alex Lifeson joined them on stage for a short set of Kansas before Geddy Lee flew in to join Alex for a Rush set, with Ehart on drums subbing for Neil Peart. In November 1990, a German promoter arranged to reunite all the original members of Kansas (except for Steinhardt) for a European tour. Greer joined them, along with keyboardist Greg Robert. At the end of the tour, Hope left again, but Livgren remained on into 1991. 1991–1997: Addition of David Ragsdale In April 1991 violinist David Ragsdale (who had submitted a tape of his playing to Ehart several years earlier) was invited to join the group and the return of the violin allowed Kansas to perform earlier material in arrangements closer to the originals. Livgren left during the 1991 summer tour, to be replaced temporarily by Steve Morse again. After the tour, Morse left the band for good to return to his own projects and eventually become a member of Deep Purple, and Ragsdale took over the extra guitar parts, leaving Williams as the primary guitar player. The resulting lineup of Ehart, Greer, Ragsdale, Robert, Walsh and Williams lasted from 1991 to 1997. This period saw one live album and accompanying video, Live at the Whisky (July 1992), and one studio album, Freaks of Nature (May 1995). During the fall of 1993, drummer Van Romaine (formerly of Blood Sweat and Tears and Steve Morse's band) came in to substitute for Ehart, who was taking care of the group's business and putting together The Kansas Boxed Set, which was released in July 1994. Bryan Holmes, from The Producers, likewise filled in for Ehart during the spring and summer of 1994 until that December, when Phil returned for a tour of Germany. On July 28, 1995 Kansas was inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame in Hollywood. 1997–2006: Return of Robby Steinhardt In early 1997, Robert and Ragsdale left the band and Steinhardt returned. In May 1998, Kansas released Always Never the Same, which featured Larry Baird conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. The album was a mix of older Kansas material (with new arrangements by Baird), several new songs and a cover of "Eleanor Rigby". Somewhere to Elsewhere, a new studio album released in July 2000, featured all the original members of Kansas, plus Greer, with all songs written by Kerry Livgren. That same summer, Kansas was the opening act for Yes during their "Masterworks" tour. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Livgren would occasionally attend Kansas shows and come on stage to play one or more songs with the band. At a March 9, 2002 concert at Lake Tahoe, he played the whole show, subbing for Rich Williams who was "under the weather", and another live album and DVD from Kansas, entitled Device - Voice - Drum, which was recorded in the band's present home of Atlanta on June 15, 2002, was released that October. Also in 2002, Kansas II (the lineup prior to the recording and release of the first Kansas album) released an album under the name Proto-Kaw, featuring demos and live material recorded from 1971 to 1973. It led to a new studio album, Before Became After (2004), with most of the Kansas II members participating. Proto-Kaw released a third album, The Wait of Glory in 2006, and their fourth and final studio album, Forth, was released in 2011, after which the band ceased. 2006–2013: Continued touring and regained popularity Kansas continued to tour every year. The 2006 tour was delayed for a few weeks due to Steinhardt's second departure in March and Ragsdale's subsequent return to the lineup. In 2008, the Kansas website announced that four of the five members (Ehart, Ragsdale, Williams, and Greer) had formed a side recording group called Native Window and they released their self-titled debut album in June 2009. In February 2009, Kansas recorded a concert in Topeka featuring a full symphony orchestra, with Larry Baird conducting. Morse and Livgren appeared as special guests on several songs. The performance was released on CD, DVD, and Blu-ray as There's Know Place Like Home that October and the DVD hit No. 5 on the Billboard Music Video Chart the week after its release. In July 2010, Kansas completed a 30-day "United We Rock" tour with fellow classic rock acts Styx and Foreigner. Kansas then began a collegiate tour in September 2010. On this tour they performed with the symphony orchestras of various US colleges in an effort to raise money for the individual schools' music programs. The success of the tour led the band to start another one the following year. On September 13, 2012 Kansas began a new tour with a performance at the Best Buy Theater in New York City. Opening for them was the band King's X and a one-man-band called That 1 Guy. This tour featured many hits from the albums Leftoverture and Point of Know Return, as well as material from a number of their other albums. The band kicked off 2013 being featured on the Rock Legends II cruise. The floating rock festival for a cause aboard Royal Caribbean International's Liberty of the Seas departed January 10, 2013 from Fort Lauderdale, FL. Other big names included Foreigner, Paul Rodgers, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Bachman & Turner, 38 Special, The Marshall Tucker Band, Blue Öyster Cult, Foghat and Molly Hatchet. On March 1, 2013 Kansas announced a 40th-anniversary celebration was in the works. However, Steinhardt suffered a heart attack days before the concert and was unable to participate. Nevertheless, the show went on, billed as the 40th Anniversary Fan Appreciation Concert, performed in Pittsburgh on August 17, 2013 at the same venue, Benedum Center (formerly The Stanley Theater), which had propelled them to national recognition. The show featured guest appearances by Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope and the first set featured symphonic accompaniment by the Three Rivers Orchestra, conducted by Larry Baird. Intermission featured Phil Ehart overseeing random prize drawings of autographed band merchandise, videotaped 40th anniversary well-wishes from other bands and an exclusive first-look at the trailer for the upcoming feature-length documentary Miracles Out of Nowhere. 2014–2020: Retirement of Steve Walsh, The Prelude Implicit On August 2, 2014 a statement was issued on the band's official Facebook page announcing the impending retirement of lead singer Steve Walsh. On August 6, 2014 former Kansas lead singer John Elefante issued a statement that he had been contacted by the band on August 2 to discuss rejoining. However, on August 4, after turning to prayer, he said that it was not meant to be. At that point, he also cited Steve Walsh as one of the reasons he wanted to become a singer. A statement was issued on August 14, 2014 through the band's official Facebook page stating that Chicago native Ronnie Platt (who had previously sung with Shooting Star) had been selected as the band's new lead vocalist and keyboard player. On August 24, 2014 the band announced that their longtime lighting specialist David Manion would be handling the main keyboard parts for the band on stage along with Platt, giving the group a full-time keyboardist for the first time since Greg Robert's departure in 1997. Manion had also handled keyboard responsibilities for Kansas bassist and vocalist Billy Greer's band, Seventh Key. In March 2015, the band released the aforementioned documentary, Miracles Out of Nowhere. The documentary chronicles the band's formation and follows them throughout their success with Leftoverture and Point of Know Return. It was initially available in a limited-edition release that contained an extra DVD of bonus interviews. The documentary was released alongside a companion CD of the same name that contained a selection of the band's greatest hits along with snippets of commentary from the documentary. On September 1, 2015 a press release announced that Kansas had signed with Inside Out Music, a German label dedicated to progressive rock and related genres, for the release of their upcoming 15th studio album. The release of this album marked the longest period to date between studio releases since the previous album, Somewhere to Elsewhere, had been released over 15 years prior, in 2000. On February 26, 2016 the group officially announced The Prelude Implicit for a September 2016 release. The album's co-producer and co-writer, Zak Rizvi, was subsequently named as a full member of the band, giving Kansas a second full-time guitarist for the first time since Steve Morse's departure in 1991. On September 30, 2016 the current lineup kicked off a multi-city tour at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the release of Leftoverture, which was done again in the spring of 2017 with a 12 show 40th anniversary tour, that, like the fall jaunt, included performances of newer tracks, older songs and a complete rendering of the full Leftoverture album. A two-CD set, Leftoverture Live & Beyond, was released in November 2017 that contained 19 songs culled from different shows during the tour and the band's 2017 fall dates also included further 40th anniversary shows. In 2018 the group decided to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Point of Know Return by playing that album in its entirety at the shows on a tour, set to begin in September. After the conclusion of the fall tour dates, keyboardist David Manion departed the band and in December Tom Brislin (who had played with Yes, Meat Loaf, Debbie Harry, Renaissance, Camel, Dennis DeYoung and others) was announced as the new keyboardist, with the second leg of the Point 40th anniversary tour slated to resume in March 2019. On June 25, 2019 The New York Times Magazine listed Kansas among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. In December 2019, the band played the entire Leftoverture and Point of Know Return albums in a special performance at the Beacon Theater in New York City. 2020: The Absence of Presence On March 20, 2020, the band announced the upcoming release of a new studio album, The Absence of Presence. Due to manufacturing delays, the album was released on July 17, 2020. It has been promoted by the release of videos for three songs: "Throwing Mountains", "Memories Down the Line" and "Jets Overhead". Recording for the album took place simultaneously during the band's 2019 touring schedule. To promote the album, an autumn 2020 tour of Europe was scheduled, but following the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the tour has been postponed to 2022. Rizvi left the band in April 2021 in order to pursue new projects. On May 28, 2021, the group released Point of Know Return: Live and Beyond, with performances taken from various dates on the 2019 to early 2020 legs of the Point of Know Return 40th Anniversary Tour. Former violin player and vocalist Robby Steinhardt died from pancreatitis on July 17, 2021, at the age of 71. Influences Kansas's musical style, a fusion of hard rock, southern rock, and progressive rock, was influenced by several bands. The music of Yes and Genesis was inspirational to Kansas, especially demonstrated in the lyrics of Walsh. Livgren cited the 1960s band Touch as foundational to his development. Livgren's evolving spirituality is reflected in the band's songs, with early works showing an interest in the mysticism of Eastern religions, works in the late 1970s influenced by the American spiritual philosophy of The Urantia Book, followed in the early 1980s by works embracing born-again Christianity. The re-formed band produced a harder pop metal album in the late 1980s. In a 2003 interview with The A.V. Club, Berkeley Breathed, the creator of the Opus comic strip, revealed that "Opus was named after a Kansas song." From the band's 1976 album Leftoverture, the songs "Opus Insert" and the epic "Magnum Opus" could both be the inspiration for the name. He also added, "If you're too young to know who Kansas was, to hell with you." Appearances in other media "Carry On Wayward Son" has been covered by many artists. It was included on soundtracks for the following movies and television shows: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Family Guy, Gentlemen Broncos, Happy Gilmore, Heroes (1977)*, Scrubs, South Park ("Guitar Queer-o" episode), King of the Hill ("My Own Private Rodeo") and Strangers with Candy ("Yes You Can't"). It was also featured in the video games Grand Theft Auto V, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, Rock Band 2, and Rock Band Unplugged. The song is frequently played throughout the show Supernatural and also appears in Supernatural: The Anime Series (as the ending for each episode). It is often hailed as the show's unofficial theme song. "Carry On Wayward Son" was removed from the 1977 movie Heroes when it was discovered that the movie had not obtained rights to use the song. The DVD release by MCA/Universal Home used a different (unknown) song, yet the credit for "Wayward Son" remains. "Dust in the Wind" was parodied by comedian Tim Hawkins, the parody called "A Whiff of Kansas" which is on the Pretty Pink Tractor album, and a video parody on the Insanitized live DVD. In 2016, the music video for the song was parodied on The Late Late Show with James Corden. In the 2003 movie Old School, the song was sung by Frank "The Tank" Ricard, played by Will Ferrell, at the funeral for Joseph "Blue" Pulaski, a fraternity brother, played by Joseph Patrick Cranshaw, and as such, the song appears on the movie's soundtrack. In the 1989 movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Ted, played by Keanu Reeves, quotes the song lyric "All we are is dust in the wind, dude" to philosophize with Socrates. "Point of Know Return" was featured as part of the soundtrack for the 2021 film The Suicide Squad. Members Current members Phil Ehart – drums, percussion Rich Williams – lead and rhythm guitars Billy Greer – bass, acoustic guitar, backing and lead vocals David Ragsdale – violin, rhythm guitar, backing vocals Ronnie Platt – lead and backing vocals, keyboards Tom Brislin – keyboards, backing and lead vocals Discography Kansas (1974) Song for America (1975) Masque (1975) Leftoverture (1976) Point of Know Return (1977) Monolith (1979) Audio-Visions (1980) Vinyl Confessions (1982) Drastic Measures (1983) Power (1986) In the Spirit of Things (1988) Freaks of Nature (1995) Always Never the Same (1998) Somewhere to Elsewhere (2000) The Prelude Implicit (2016) The Absence of Presence (2020) References External links Billy Greer Kerry Livgren David Ragsdale Steve Walsh John Elefante AllMusic: Kansas - Artist Biography Innerviews: Career-Spanning 2015 Band Interview American hard rock musical groups American progressive rock groups Art rock musical groups Epic Records artists Musical groups established in 1973 Musical groups disestablished in 1984 Musical groups reestablished in 1985 1973 establishments in Kansas 1984 disestablishments in Kansas 1985 establishments in Kansas Musicians from Topeka, Kansas Rock music groups from Kansas Symphonic rock groups Inside Out Music artists MCA Records artists Magna Carta Records artists
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[ "The Reformation Study Bible (previously known as the New Geneva Study Bible) is a study Bible published by Reformation Trust Publishing, a division of Ligonier Ministries. The Reformation Study Bible \"aims to carry on the legacy of the Geneva Bible in shining forth the light of biblical Christianity, which was recovered in the Reformation.\" The Reformation Study Bible features editions that use the text of either the English Standard Version or the New King James Version.\n\nHistory \nStarting in 1989, R. C. Sproul assembled a team of contributors to work on a study Bible edition that would follow a distinctively Reformed perspective. In 1995, Thomas Nelson (now HarperCollins) published the New Geneva Study Bible (featuring the Bible text of the New King James Version); the name of the edition was changed to Reformation Study Bible in 1998.\n\nIn 2005, Ligonier Ministries self-published a minor revision to the Reformation Study Bible, now using the Bible text of the English Standard Version.\n\nIn 2015, a fully revised version of the Reformation Study Bible was released. The notes were expanded into a three column format and the theological and doctrinal content was updated. An additional resource was added to the back of this Bible that contains the Creeds, Catechisms and Doctrinal documents that are common to Reformed fellowships.\n\nIn February 2016, due to popular demand, Reformation Trust released an edition of the Reformation Study Bible featuring the text of the New King James Version. Reformation Trust lists R. C. Sproul, James M. Boice, Edmund Clowney, Sean Michael Lucas, Keith A. Mathison, L. Michael Morales, Stephen J. Nichols, Roger Nicole, J.I. Packer, Burk Parsons, et al. as primary editors of the 2015/2016 editions of the Reformation Study Bible.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\n1995 books\n1995 in Christianity\n2015 books\n2015 in Christianity\nStudy Bibles", "Kirkjubæjar Abbey (Icelandic: Kirkjubæjarklaustur), in operation from 1186 until the Icelandic Reformation, was a monastery in Iceland of nuns of the Order of St. Benedict. It was located at Kirkjubæjarklaustur. Iceland had nine religious communities before the Reformation, two of which were monasteries of nuns, of which this is the first and oldest.\n\nIn contrast to the other women's monastery in Iceland, Reynistaðarklaustur (1295–1563), which was placed under the authority of the Bishop of Hólar, at Kirkjubæjar Abbey the Abbess was left in full authority over the community, free of episcopal oversight.\n\nHistory\nThe Abbey was founded in 1186. The first abbess was Halldóra Eyjólfsdóttir, who died in 1210. The abbey was regarded as a center of culture and literature. \n\nIn the mid-14th-century, the abbey was given a name of being in opposition to the Pope. A nun named Karin or Kristin held what was heretic sermons in the convent. She was put on trial on charges of having sold her soul to the Devil, of carrying the Blessed Sacrament outside the church, having carnal knowledge with men and speaking blasphemously of the Pope. She was sentenced guilty as charged of heresy and fornication and executed by burning. This event reportedly occurred in 1343. This event became the subject of legend and the nun in question was split in two: one executed for fornication, and the other one for heresy. After the Icelandic Reformation, the latter nun was vindicated, and flowers are said to bloom on her grave, but not that of the first nun. The Systrastapi (Sister's rock) is where one of the nuns of the Abbey was buried after being burned at the stake.\n\nIn 1402, most of the abbey's servants and many nuns died of the plague, and the nuns themselves were, for a period, forced to tend to the cattle. This they are said to have done badly, as the majority of them were from wealthy families and unused to manual labor.\n\nDissolution\nDuring the Icelandic Reformation, Kirkjubæjar Abbey was declared dissolved and the property of the king and banned from accepting new novices, but the former nuns were allowed to remain in the building if they wished. At the time of the reformation, the reformation bishop Gissur Einarsson had two relatives in the convent, as his sister was a nun there and his aunt its abbess.\n\nThe former nuns are last mentioned in 1544, when six of them, Guðríður, Oddný (sister of the reformation bishop Gissur Einarsson) Arnleif, Ástríður, Margrét and Valgerður were still in residence in the abbey buildings with their abbess Halldóra Sigvaldadóttir.\n\nLegacy\nThe place names of Systrafoss ('Waterfall of the Sisters') and of Lake Systravatn ('Water of the Sisters') in the mountains above the village refer to this abbey. Folk tales illustrate history with stories about both good and bad nuns. \n\nSystravatn also has a legend related to the cloister. The nuns traditionally bathed in the lake, and one day two nuns saw a hand with a gold ring extending from the water. When they tried to seize the ring, they were dragged below the water and drowned.\n\nSee also \n\n Kirkjubæjarbók\n\nSources\n\n Anna Sigurðardóttir: Allt hafði annan róm áður í páfadóm. Nunnuklaustrin tvö á Íslandi og brot úr kristnisögu. Kvennasögusafn Íslands, Rvík 1988, 412 bls. Úr veröld kvenna 3.\n „Kirkjubæjarklaustur. Tímarit hins íslenzka bókmenntafélags, 8. árgangur 1887.“,\n\nBenedictine nunneries in Iceland\nChristian monasteries established in the 12th century\n1186 establishments in Europe\n12th-century establishments in Iceland\nMonasteries dissolved under the Icelandic Reformation" ]
[ "Kansas (band)", "1985-1990: Reformation", "What happened in 1985?", "In July 1985 the band came back together with Ehart, Williams and Walsh (who had briefly played keyboards on the road for Cheap Trick", "what happened on the road?", "I don't know.", "What was the reformation?", "The new lineup included Streets bassist Billy Greer and guitarist Steve Morse (formerly of the Dixie Dregs)." ]
C_220546961ba24066b1e9c3ce55dcefab_0
what music did they make?
4
What music did Kansas make?
Kansas (band)
In July 1985 the band came back together with Ehart, Williams and Walsh (who had briefly played keyboards on the road for Cheap Trick in the spring and summer of 1985 after the break up of Streets), but without Livgren, Hope or Steinhardt. The new lineup included Streets bassist Billy Greer and guitarist Steve Morse (formerly of the Dixie Dregs). The first performances of the new lineup with Morse and Greer took place during a third USO 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division tour that toured US military bases in the US, Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, Singapore, Iceland and most of Europe during the late summer through early October 1986. The re-formed band released Power in November 1986. The first single, "All I Wanted", became the last Kansas single to hit the Billboard Top 40 chart, peaking at No. 19. It also received considerable airplay on MTV. Two more singles, the title track and "Can't Cry Anymore", were less successful, "Power" hitting the lower end of the Hot 100 and getting substantial play and charting on the Rock Charts, but "Can't Cry Anymore" receiving little airplay despite a clever music video. The band added New Orleans native Greg Robert on keyboards and back-up vocals at the suggestion of LeRoux's Leon Medica. Greg played his first show with Kansas on January 31, 1987 at Roberto Clemente Stadium in Puerto Rico. The new lineup released a second album, In the Spirit of Things, in October 1988. The concept album and subsequent tour were popular with the fan base but did not receive widespread airplay beyond the "Stand Beside Me" video on MTV. Morse temporarily left the band at the end of a tour of Germany in April 1989. On September 15, 1990, Walsh, Williams and Ehart played a charity event at the Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu, California, alongside Saga, Lou Gramm (of Foreigner), Mr. Big, Eddie Money, Kevin Cronin (from REO Speedwagon) and others. Alex Lifeson joined them on stage for a short set of Kansas before Geddy Lee flew in to join Alex for a Rush set, with Ehart on drums subbing for Neil Peart. In November 1990 a German promoter arranged to reunite all the original members of Kansas (except for Steinhardt) for a European tour. Greer joined them, along with keyboardist Greg Robert. At the end of the tour, Hope left again, but Livgren remained on into 1991. CANNOTANSWER
The first single, "All I Wanted", became the last Kansas single to hit the Billboard Top 40 chart,
Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on album-oriented rock charts and later with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind". The band has produced nine gold albums, three multi-platinum albums (Leftoverture 4×, Point of Know Return 4×, and The Best of Kansas 4×), one other platinum studio album (Monolith), one platinum live double album (Two for the Show), and a million-selling single, "Dust in the Wind". Kansas appeared on the Billboard charts for over 200 weeks throughout the 1970s and 1980s and played to sold-out arenas and stadiums throughout North America, Europe and Japan. "Carry On Wayward Son" was the second-most-played track on US classic rock radio in 1995 and No. 1 in 1997. History 1970–1973: Early years In 1969, Don Montre and Kerry Livgren (guitars, keyboards, synthesizers) were performing in a band called the Reasons Why in their hometown of Topeka, Kansas. After leaving to form the band Saratoga with Lynn Meredith and Dan Wright, they started playing Livgren's original material, with Scott Kessler playing bass and Zeke Lowe coming in on drums. In 1970, they changed the band's name to Kansas and merged with members of rival Topeka progressive rock group White Clover. White Clover members Dave Hope (bass) and Phil Ehart (drums, percussion) joined with Livgren, vocalists Meredith and Greg Allen, keyboardists Montre and Wright and saxophonist Larry Baker. This early Kansas group, sometimes called Kansas I, lasted until early 1971 when Ehart, Hope and some of the others left to re-form White Clover. Ehart was replaced by Zeke Lowe and later Brad Schulz, Hope was replaced by Rod Mikinski on bass and Baker was replaced by John Bolton on saxophone and flute. This lineup is sometimes referred to as Kansas II, and 30 years later would re-form under the name Proto-Kaw. In 1972, after Ehart returned from England (where he had gone to look for other musicians), he and Hope once again re-formed White Clover with Robby Steinhardt (vocals, violin, viola, cello), Steve Walsh (vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion) and Rich Williams (guitars). In early 1973, they recruited Livgren from the second Kansas group, which then folded. Eventually they received a recording contract with Don Kirshner's eponymous label, after Kirshner's assistant, Wally Gold, heard one of their demo tapes and came out to check out the band at one of their local gigs in March 1973, in Ellinwood, Kansas. After signing with Kirshner, the group decided to return to using the name "Kansas". 1974–1979: Rise to national prominence Their self-titled debut album, produced by Gold, was released in March 1974, nearly a year after it was recorded in New York. It defined the band's signature sound, a mix of American-style boogie rock and complex, symphonic arrangements with changing time signatures. Steinhardt's violin was a distinctive element of the group's sound, being defined more by heartland rock than the jazz and classical influences which most progressive rock violinists followed. The band slowly developed a cult following due to promotion by Kirshner and extensive touring for the debut album and its two follow-ups, Song for America (February 1975) and Masque (October 1975). Song for America was co-produced by Wally Gold and their former White Clover bandmate Jeff Glixman, who would go on to produce all of their albums from Masque to Two for the Show (October 1978) on his own, returning to the helm for 1995's Freaks of Nature. Both Masque and their next release, Leftoverture, were recorded at a studio in the middle of the Louisiana Bayou named Studio in the Country. Kansas released its fourth album, Leftoverture, in October 1976, which produced a hit single, "Carry On Wayward Son", in 1977. The follow-up, Point of Know Return, recorded at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana and Woodland Sound in Nashville and released in October 1977, featured the title track and "Dust in the Wind", both hit singles. Leftoverture was a breakthrough for the band, hitting No. 5 on Billboard's pop album chart. Point of Know Return peaked even higher, at No. 4. Both albums sold over four million copies in the U.S. Both "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind" were certified gold singles, selling over one million units each. "Dust in the Wind" was certified gold as a digital download by the RIAA in 2005, almost 30 years after selling one million copies as a single. Leftoverture was eventually certified five-times platinum by the RIAA in 2001. During this period, Kansas became a major headlining act and sold out the largest venues available to rock bands at the time, including New York's Madison Square Garden. The band documented this era in 1978 with Two for the Show, a double live album of recordings from various performances from its 1977 and 1978 tours. The band gained a solid reputation for faithful live reproduction of their studio recordings. In March 1978, Kansas was brought over to tour Europe for the very first time and later on that same year, they were named UNICEF Deputy Ambassadors of Goodwill. The follow-up studio album to Point of Know Return was Monolith (May 1979), which was self-produced. The album generated a Top 40 single in "People of the South Wind", whose title refers to the meaning of the 'Kanza' (Kaw) Native American people, after whom the state and the band are named. The album failed to garner the sales and radio airplay of its two predecessors. Nevertheless, the album eventually went platinum. Livgren's platinum award for the album is on display at the Kansas Museum of History. The band toured the US for Monolith during the summer and fall of 1979 then went over to tour Japan for the first time in January 1980. 1980–1984: Creative tensions Kansas bandmembers began to drift apart in the early 1980s. During the tour supporting Monolith, Livgren became a born-again Christian, and this was reflected in his lyrics on the next three albums, beginning with Audio-Visions (September 1980). "Hold On", a Top 40 single from that album, displayed his new-found faith. Hope soon converted to Christianity as well. This would be the final album with the original lineup (until they briefly reunited in 1999–2000), and also the last Kansas studio album to be certified gold by the RIAA. Due to creative differences over the lyrical direction of the next album, Walsh left in October 1981 to form a new band, Streets. In early December of that year, Walsh was replaced by vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist John Elefante, who—unknown to Livgren and Hope at the time—was also a Christian. He was chosen from over 200 applicants, such as Sammy Hagar, Doug Pinnick, Ted Neeley (who played the title character in the movie Jesus Christ Superstar), Warren Ham (ex-Bloodrock, who would join the band on the road in 1982, adding sax, flute, harmonica, back-up vocals and extra keyboards) and Michael Gleason (who would supply keyboards and back-up vocals on the group's 1983 tour). The first Kansas album with Elefante, Vinyl Confessions, was released in June 1982. The record renewed interest in the group and generated the band's first Top 20 hit in several years, "Play the Game Tonight", which hit No. 4 on Billboards newly deployed Mainstream Rock chart. The album's mostly Christianity-based lyrics attracted a new audience and garnered radio airplay on the then fledgling Contemporary Christian Music format. The album featured backing vocals from Queen drummer Roger Taylor, who was recording in the studio next door. Still, sales of the album fell short of gold status. Drastic Measures followed in July 1983. For various reasons, Livgren contributed only three songs to the album; the rest were penned by John Elefante and his brother Dino. With violinist Steinhardt leaving the group before the recording sessions, the result was a more mainstream pop-rock album. Though the album charted lower than any Kansas album since Masque, peaking at No. 41, its single "Fight Fire with Fire" fared better. It did not crack the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, but reached No. 3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. It was the highest chart position of any Kansas release on any chart, though this particular chart did not exist prior to 1981. For their 1983 tour for Drastic Measures, Kansas was joined on stage by the aforementioned Michael Gleason and Terry Brock (who covered the absent Steinhardt's harmony vocals). During the band's time with Elefante as lead vocalist, Livgren became increasingly uncomfortable with Kansas representing his Christian worldview. After a final New Year's Eve performance on December 31, 1983, Livgren and Hope left to form AD with Warren Ham and Michael Gleason. They were joined by drummer Dennis Holt. Elefante, Ehart and Williams sought to continue as Kansas and recorded one more song, "Perfect Lover", which appeared on the retrospective The Best of Kansas (August 1984), which has sold over four million units in the U.S. alone. The song would eventually be removed in favor of other songs on the remastered release of the compilation. The group disbanded after its release, which thus became the final Kansas recording with Elefante. Since leaving the band, Elefante has become a popular Contemporary Christian music artist and has not performed with the group since. In the summer of 1984, Ehart, Williams and Elefante were part of a United Service Organizations (USO) tour of US military bases that had been put together by Ehart, called 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division, that also included Patrick Simmons (Doobie Brothers), Leon Medica (LeRoux), David Jenkins, Cory Lerios and John Pierce (from Pablo Cruise) and Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos (from Cheap Trick). The supergroup began four days of rehearsals in Hawaii on March 10 before beginning a 17-day tour playing for the United States Seventh Fleet in the Indian Ocean and land-based troops in Korea, Okinawa, Diego Garcia and the Philippines. This was followed by a second USO tour in March 1985 that included Ehart, Williams and Steve Walsh. 1985–1990: Reformation In March 1985, the band came back together with Ehart, Williams and Walsh (who had briefly played keyboards on the road for Cheap Trick in the spring and summer of 1985, after the break up of Streets), but without Livgren, Hope or Steinhardt. The new lineup included Streets bassist Billy Greer and guitarist Steve Morse (formerly of the Dixie Dregs). The first performances of the new lineup with Morse and Greer took place during a third USO 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division tour that toured US military bases in the US, Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, Singapore, Iceland and most of Europe during the late summer through early October 1986. The re-formed band released Power in November 1986. The first single, "All I Wanted", became the last Kansas single to hit the Billboard Top 40 chart, peaking at No. 19. It also received considerable airplay on MTV. Two more singles, the title track and "Can't Cry Anymore", were less successful, "Power" hitting the lower end of the Hot 100 and getting substantial play and charting on the Rock Charts, but "Can't Cry Anymore" receiving little airplay despite a clever music video. The band added Baton Rouge native Greg Robert on keyboards and back-up vocals at the suggestion of LeRoux's Leon Medica. Greg played his first show with Kansas on January 31, 1987 along with 38 Special at Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Puerto Rico. The new lineup released a second album, In the Spirit of Things, in October 1988. The concept album and subsequent tour were popular with the fan base but did not receive widespread airplay beyond the "Stand Beside Me" video on MTV. Morse temporarily left the band at the end of a tour of Germany in April 1989. On September 15, 1990 Walsh, Williams and Ehart played a charity event at the Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu, California, alongside Saga, Lou Gramm (of Foreigner), Mr. Big, Eddie Money, Kevin Cronin (from REO Speedwagon) and others. Alex Lifeson joined them on stage for a short set of Kansas before Geddy Lee flew in to join Alex for a Rush set, with Ehart on drums subbing for Neil Peart. In November 1990, a German promoter arranged to reunite all the original members of Kansas (except for Steinhardt) for a European tour. Greer joined them, along with keyboardist Greg Robert. At the end of the tour, Hope left again, but Livgren remained on into 1991. 1991–1997: Addition of David Ragsdale In April 1991 violinist David Ragsdale (who had submitted a tape of his playing to Ehart several years earlier) was invited to join the group and the return of the violin allowed Kansas to perform earlier material in arrangements closer to the originals. Livgren left during the 1991 summer tour, to be replaced temporarily by Steve Morse again. After the tour, Morse left the band for good to return to his own projects and eventually become a member of Deep Purple, and Ragsdale took over the extra guitar parts, leaving Williams as the primary guitar player. The resulting lineup of Ehart, Greer, Ragsdale, Robert, Walsh and Williams lasted from 1991 to 1997. This period saw one live album and accompanying video, Live at the Whisky (July 1992), and one studio album, Freaks of Nature (May 1995). During the fall of 1993, drummer Van Romaine (formerly of Blood Sweat and Tears and Steve Morse's band) came in to substitute for Ehart, who was taking care of the group's business and putting together The Kansas Boxed Set, which was released in July 1994. Bryan Holmes, from The Producers, likewise filled in for Ehart during the spring and summer of 1994 until that December, when Phil returned for a tour of Germany. On July 28, 1995 Kansas was inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame in Hollywood. 1997–2006: Return of Robby Steinhardt In early 1997, Robert and Ragsdale left the band and Steinhardt returned. In May 1998, Kansas released Always Never the Same, which featured Larry Baird conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. The album was a mix of older Kansas material (with new arrangements by Baird), several new songs and a cover of "Eleanor Rigby". Somewhere to Elsewhere, a new studio album released in July 2000, featured all the original members of Kansas, plus Greer, with all songs written by Kerry Livgren. That same summer, Kansas was the opening act for Yes during their "Masterworks" tour. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Livgren would occasionally attend Kansas shows and come on stage to play one or more songs with the band. At a March 9, 2002 concert at Lake Tahoe, he played the whole show, subbing for Rich Williams who was "under the weather", and another live album and DVD from Kansas, entitled Device - Voice - Drum, which was recorded in the band's present home of Atlanta on June 15, 2002, was released that October. Also in 2002, Kansas II (the lineup prior to the recording and release of the first Kansas album) released an album under the name Proto-Kaw, featuring demos and live material recorded from 1971 to 1973. It led to a new studio album, Before Became After (2004), with most of the Kansas II members participating. Proto-Kaw released a third album, The Wait of Glory in 2006, and their fourth and final studio album, Forth, was released in 2011, after which the band ceased. 2006–2013: Continued touring and regained popularity Kansas continued to tour every year. The 2006 tour was delayed for a few weeks due to Steinhardt's second departure in March and Ragsdale's subsequent return to the lineup. In 2008, the Kansas website announced that four of the five members (Ehart, Ragsdale, Williams, and Greer) had formed a side recording group called Native Window and they released their self-titled debut album in June 2009. In February 2009, Kansas recorded a concert in Topeka featuring a full symphony orchestra, with Larry Baird conducting. Morse and Livgren appeared as special guests on several songs. The performance was released on CD, DVD, and Blu-ray as There's Know Place Like Home that October and the DVD hit No. 5 on the Billboard Music Video Chart the week after its release. In July 2010, Kansas completed a 30-day "United We Rock" tour with fellow classic rock acts Styx and Foreigner. Kansas then began a collegiate tour in September 2010. On this tour they performed with the symphony orchestras of various US colleges in an effort to raise money for the individual schools' music programs. The success of the tour led the band to start another one the following year. On September 13, 2012 Kansas began a new tour with a performance at the Best Buy Theater in New York City. Opening for them was the band King's X and a one-man-band called That 1 Guy. This tour featured many hits from the albums Leftoverture and Point of Know Return, as well as material from a number of their other albums. The band kicked off 2013 being featured on the Rock Legends II cruise. The floating rock festival for a cause aboard Royal Caribbean International's Liberty of the Seas departed January 10, 2013 from Fort Lauderdale, FL. Other big names included Foreigner, Paul Rodgers, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Bachman & Turner, 38 Special, The Marshall Tucker Band, Blue Öyster Cult, Foghat and Molly Hatchet. On March 1, 2013 Kansas announced a 40th-anniversary celebration was in the works. However, Steinhardt suffered a heart attack days before the concert and was unable to participate. Nevertheless, the show went on, billed as the 40th Anniversary Fan Appreciation Concert, performed in Pittsburgh on August 17, 2013 at the same venue, Benedum Center (formerly The Stanley Theater), which had propelled them to national recognition. The show featured guest appearances by Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope and the first set featured symphonic accompaniment by the Three Rivers Orchestra, conducted by Larry Baird. Intermission featured Phil Ehart overseeing random prize drawings of autographed band merchandise, videotaped 40th anniversary well-wishes from other bands and an exclusive first-look at the trailer for the upcoming feature-length documentary Miracles Out of Nowhere. 2014–2020: Retirement of Steve Walsh, The Prelude Implicit On August 2, 2014 a statement was issued on the band's official Facebook page announcing the impending retirement of lead singer Steve Walsh. On August 6, 2014 former Kansas lead singer John Elefante issued a statement that he had been contacted by the band on August 2 to discuss rejoining. However, on August 4, after turning to prayer, he said that it was not meant to be. At that point, he also cited Steve Walsh as one of the reasons he wanted to become a singer. A statement was issued on August 14, 2014 through the band's official Facebook page stating that Chicago native Ronnie Platt (who had previously sung with Shooting Star) had been selected as the band's new lead vocalist and keyboard player. On August 24, 2014 the band announced that their longtime lighting specialist David Manion would be handling the main keyboard parts for the band on stage along with Platt, giving the group a full-time keyboardist for the first time since Greg Robert's departure in 1997. Manion had also handled keyboard responsibilities for Kansas bassist and vocalist Billy Greer's band, Seventh Key. In March 2015, the band released the aforementioned documentary, Miracles Out of Nowhere. The documentary chronicles the band's formation and follows them throughout their success with Leftoverture and Point of Know Return. It was initially available in a limited-edition release that contained an extra DVD of bonus interviews. The documentary was released alongside a companion CD of the same name that contained a selection of the band's greatest hits along with snippets of commentary from the documentary. On September 1, 2015 a press release announced that Kansas had signed with Inside Out Music, a German label dedicated to progressive rock and related genres, for the release of their upcoming 15th studio album. The release of this album marked the longest period to date between studio releases since the previous album, Somewhere to Elsewhere, had been released over 15 years prior, in 2000. On February 26, 2016 the group officially announced The Prelude Implicit for a September 2016 release. The album's co-producer and co-writer, Zak Rizvi, was subsequently named as a full member of the band, giving Kansas a second full-time guitarist for the first time since Steve Morse's departure in 1991. On September 30, 2016 the current lineup kicked off a multi-city tour at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the release of Leftoverture, which was done again in the spring of 2017 with a 12 show 40th anniversary tour, that, like the fall jaunt, included performances of newer tracks, older songs and a complete rendering of the full Leftoverture album. A two-CD set, Leftoverture Live & Beyond, was released in November 2017 that contained 19 songs culled from different shows during the tour and the band's 2017 fall dates also included further 40th anniversary shows. In 2018 the group decided to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Point of Know Return by playing that album in its entirety at the shows on a tour, set to begin in September. After the conclusion of the fall tour dates, keyboardist David Manion departed the band and in December Tom Brislin (who had played with Yes, Meat Loaf, Debbie Harry, Renaissance, Camel, Dennis DeYoung and others) was announced as the new keyboardist, with the second leg of the Point 40th anniversary tour slated to resume in March 2019. On June 25, 2019 The New York Times Magazine listed Kansas among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. In December 2019, the band played the entire Leftoverture and Point of Know Return albums in a special performance at the Beacon Theater in New York City. 2020: The Absence of Presence On March 20, 2020, the band announced the upcoming release of a new studio album, The Absence of Presence. Due to manufacturing delays, the album was released on July 17, 2020. It has been promoted by the release of videos for three songs: "Throwing Mountains", "Memories Down the Line" and "Jets Overhead". Recording for the album took place simultaneously during the band's 2019 touring schedule. To promote the album, an autumn 2020 tour of Europe was scheduled, but following the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the tour has been postponed to 2022. Rizvi left the band in April 2021 in order to pursue new projects. On May 28, 2021, the group released Point of Know Return: Live and Beyond, with performances taken from various dates on the 2019 to early 2020 legs of the Point of Know Return 40th Anniversary Tour. Former violin player and vocalist Robby Steinhardt died from pancreatitis on July 17, 2021, at the age of 71. Influences Kansas's musical style, a fusion of hard rock, southern rock, and progressive rock, was influenced by several bands. The music of Yes and Genesis was inspirational to Kansas, especially demonstrated in the lyrics of Walsh. Livgren cited the 1960s band Touch as foundational to his development. Livgren's evolving spirituality is reflected in the band's songs, with early works showing an interest in the mysticism of Eastern religions, works in the late 1970s influenced by the American spiritual philosophy of The Urantia Book, followed in the early 1980s by works embracing born-again Christianity. The re-formed band produced a harder pop metal album in the late 1980s. In a 2003 interview with The A.V. Club, Berkeley Breathed, the creator of the Opus comic strip, revealed that "Opus was named after a Kansas song." From the band's 1976 album Leftoverture, the songs "Opus Insert" and the epic "Magnum Opus" could both be the inspiration for the name. He also added, "If you're too young to know who Kansas was, to hell with you." Appearances in other media "Carry On Wayward Son" has been covered by many artists. It was included on soundtracks for the following movies and television shows: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Family Guy, Gentlemen Broncos, Happy Gilmore, Heroes (1977)*, Scrubs, South Park ("Guitar Queer-o" episode), King of the Hill ("My Own Private Rodeo") and Strangers with Candy ("Yes You Can't"). It was also featured in the video games Grand Theft Auto V, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, Rock Band 2, and Rock Band Unplugged. The song is frequently played throughout the show Supernatural and also appears in Supernatural: The Anime Series (as the ending for each episode). It is often hailed as the show's unofficial theme song. "Carry On Wayward Son" was removed from the 1977 movie Heroes when it was discovered that the movie had not obtained rights to use the song. The DVD release by MCA/Universal Home used a different (unknown) song, yet the credit for "Wayward Son" remains. "Dust in the Wind" was parodied by comedian Tim Hawkins, the parody called "A Whiff of Kansas" which is on the Pretty Pink Tractor album, and a video parody on the Insanitized live DVD. In 2016, the music video for the song was parodied on The Late Late Show with James Corden. In the 2003 movie Old School, the song was sung by Frank "The Tank" Ricard, played by Will Ferrell, at the funeral for Joseph "Blue" Pulaski, a fraternity brother, played by Joseph Patrick Cranshaw, and as such, the song appears on the movie's soundtrack. In the 1989 movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Ted, played by Keanu Reeves, quotes the song lyric "All we are is dust in the wind, dude" to philosophize with Socrates. "Point of Know Return" was featured as part of the soundtrack for the 2021 film The Suicide Squad. Members Current members Phil Ehart – drums, percussion Rich Williams – lead and rhythm guitars Billy Greer – bass, acoustic guitar, backing and lead vocals David Ragsdale – violin, rhythm guitar, backing vocals Ronnie Platt – lead and backing vocals, keyboards Tom Brislin – keyboards, backing and lead vocals Discography Kansas (1974) Song for America (1975) Masque (1975) Leftoverture (1976) Point of Know Return (1977) Monolith (1979) Audio-Visions (1980) Vinyl Confessions (1982) Drastic Measures (1983) Power (1986) In the Spirit of Things (1988) Freaks of Nature (1995) Always Never the Same (1998) Somewhere to Elsewhere (2000) The Prelude Implicit (2016) The Absence of Presence (2020) References External links Billy Greer Kerry Livgren David Ragsdale Steve Walsh John Elefante AllMusic: Kansas - Artist Biography Innerviews: Career-Spanning 2015 Band Interview American hard rock musical groups American progressive rock groups Art rock musical groups Epic Records artists Musical groups established in 1973 Musical groups disestablished in 1984 Musical groups reestablished in 1985 1973 establishments in Kansas 1984 disestablishments in Kansas 1985 establishments in Kansas Musicians from Topeka, Kansas Rock music groups from Kansas Symphonic rock groups Inside Out Music artists MCA Records artists Magna Carta Records artists
true
[ "Genocide Organ is a German power electronics/martial industrial collective, formed in Mannheim, Germany in 1985. They are known for their brutal and controversial presentation in their music and attitude.\n\nMany of the themes present in their music make reference to the Ku Klux Klan, the Third Reich and war. This insistence on these themes has led to accusations of being far-right extremists, they have denied these accusations in interviews saying: “We never say what we think, and we never believe what we say, and if we tell the truth by accident, we hide it under so many lies that it is difficult to find out”. Due to this attitude, the website Discogs has blocked the sale of a number of their albums.\n\nDiscography \n\n Leichenlinie (1989)\n Save Our Slaves (1991)\n Mind Control (1995)\n Remember (1997)\n The Truth Will Make You Free (1999)\n Same (2003)\n In-Konflikt (2004)\n Under-Kontrakt (2011)\n Obituary of the Americas (2016)\n Civilization (2017)\n Movement (2019)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n Tesco Organisation Webpage\n\nMusical groups established in 1985\nElectronic music groups\nExperimental music\nPower electronics (music)\nIndustrial music groups", "\"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)" ]
[ "Pink Floyd – The Wall", "Concept" ]
C_b62e7e335a114491b7a8de96e7d5746d_1
what was the concept of the wall
1
What was the concept of Pink Floyd's the wall?
Pink Floyd – The Wall
In the mid-1970s, as Pink Floyd gained mainstream fame, Waters began feeling increasingly alienated from their audiences: Audiences at those vast concerts are there for an excitement which, I think, has to do with the love of success. When a band or a person becomes an idol, it can have to do with the success that that person manifests, not the quality of work he produces. You don't become a fanatic because somebody's work is good, you become a fanatic to be touched vicariously by their glamour and fame. Stars--film stars, rock 'n' roll stars--represent, in myth anyway, the life as we'd all like to live it. They seem at the very centre of life. And that's why audiences still spend large sums of money at concerts where they are a long, long way from the stage, where they are often very uncomfortable, and where the sound is often very bad. Waters was also dismayed by the "executive approach", which was only about success, not even attempting to get acquainted with the actual persons of whom the band was comprised (addressed in an earlier song from Wish You Were Here, "Have a Cigar"). The concept of the wall, along with the decision to name the lead character "Pink", partly grew out of that approach, combined with the issue of the growing alienation between the band and their fans. This symbolised a new era for rock bands, as Pink Floyd "explored (... ) the hard realities of 'being where we are'", drawing upon existentialists, namely Jean-Paul Sartre. CANNOTANSWER
Stars--film stars, rock 'n' roll stars--represent, in myth anyway,
Pink Floyd – The Wall is a 1982 British musical psychological drama film directed by Alan Parker, based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall. The screenplay was written by Pink Floyd vocalist and bassist Roger Waters. Boomtown Rats vocalist Bob Geldof plays rock star Pink, who, driven into insanity by the death of his father, constructs a physical and emotional wall to protect himself. Like the album, the film is highly metaphorical, and symbolic imagery and sound are present most commonly. The film is mostly driven by music and features little dialogue from the characters. Despite its turbulent production and the creators voicing their discontent about the final product, the film received generally positive reviews and has an established cult following. Plot Pink is a depressed rock star whom, at the beginning of the film, appears motionless and expressionless while remembering his father. While Pink imagines a crowd of fans entering one of his concerts, but him receiving them in a fascist alter ego, a flashback reveals how his father was killed defending the Anzio beachhead during World War II, in Pink's infancy. The aftermath of the battle is seen, and thus, Pink's mother raises him alone, which affects Pink's childhood. A young Pink later discovers relics from his father's military service and death. An animation depicts the war, showing that the death of the people was for nothing. Pink places a bullet on the track of an oncoming train within a tunnel, and the train that passes has children peering out of the windows wearing face masks. At school, he is caught writing poems in class and is humiliated by the teacher who reads a poem from Pink's book. However, it is revealed that the bad treatment of the students is because of the unhappiness of the teacher's marriage. Pink imagines an oppressive school system in which children fall into a meat grinder. Pink then fantasizes about the children rising in rebellion and burning down the school, throwing the teacher onto a bonfire. As an adult now, Pink remembers his overprotective mother, and when he got married. After a phone call, Pink discovers that his wife is cheating on him, and another animation shows that every traumatic experience he has had is represented as a "brick" in the metaphorical wall he constructs around himself that divides him from all society. Pink then comes back to the hotel room with a groupie, only for her to annoy Pink to the point where he destroys the room in a fit of violence, scaring her away. Depressed, he thinks about his wife, and feels trapped in his room. He then remembers every "brick" of his wall. His wall shown to be complete, and the film returns to the first scene. Now inside his wall, he does not leave his hotel room, and begins to lose his mind to metaphorical "worms". He shaves all his body hair, and watches television. A flashback shows young Pink searching through trenches of the war, eventually finding himself as an adult. Young Pink runs in terror, and appears in a station, with the people demanding that the soldiers return home. Returning to the present, Pink's manager finds him in his hotel room, drugged and unresponsive. A paramedic injects him to enable him to perform. In this state, Pink dreams that he is a dictator and his concert is a fascist rally. His followers proceed to attack people. He then holds a rally in suburban London, indicating his mind has taken over. The scene includes images of animated marching hammers that goose-step across ruins. Pink then stops hallucinating and screams "STOP!", deciding he no longer wants to be in the wall. He is then seen cowering in a bathroom stall, silently singing to himself as a security guard walks past him. In a climactic animated sequence, Pink, as a rag doll, is on trial for "showing feelings of an almost human nature", and his sentence is "to be exposed before his peers". His teacher and wife accuse him, while his mother tries to take him home. The judge gives the order to "tear down the wall!". Following a prolonged silence, the wall is smashed as Pink can be heard screaming. Pink is never seen again after this. Several children are seen cleaning up a pile of debris, with a freeze-frame on one of the children emptying a Molotov cocktail, after which the film ends. Cast Bob Geldof as Pink Kevin McKeon as Young Pink David Bingham as Little Pink Christine Hargreaves as Pink's mother Eleanor David as Pink's wife Alex McAvoy as Teacher Bob Hoskins as Rock manager Michael Ensign as Hotel manager James Laurenson as Pink's father Jenny Wright as American groupie Margery Mason as Teacher's wife Ellis Dale as English doctor James Hazeldine as Lover Ray Mort as Playground father Robert Bridges as American doctor Joanne Whalley, Nell Campbell, Emma Longfellow, and Lorna Barton as Groupies Philip Davis and Gary Olsen as Roadies Production Concept In the mid-1970s, as Pink Floyd gained mainstream fame, songwriter Roger Waters began feeling increasingly alienated from their audiences:Audiences at those vast concerts are there for an excitement which, I think, has to do with the love of success. When a band or a person becomes an idol, it can have to do with the success that that person manifests, not the quality of work he produces. You don't become a fanatic because somebody's work is good, you become a fanatic to be touched vicariously by their glamour and fame. Stars—film stars, rock 'n' roll stars—represent, in myth anyway, the life as we'd all like to live it. They seem at the very centre of life. And that's why audiences still spend large sums of money at concerts where they are a long, long way from the stage, where they are often very uncomfortable, and where the sound is often very bad. Waters was also dismayed by the "executive approach", which was only about success, not even attempting to get acquainted with the actual persons of whom the band was composed (addressed in an earlier song from Wish You Were Here, "Have a Cigar"). The concept of the wall, along with the decision to name the lead character "Pink", partly grew out of that approach, combined with the issue of the growing alienation between the band and their fans. This symbolised a new era for rock bands, as Pink Floyd explored “the hard realities of 'being where we are'", echoing ideas of alienation described by existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre. Development Even before the original Pink Floyd album was recorded, the intention was to make a film from it. The original plan was for the film to be live footage from the album's tour, together with Scarfe's animation and extra scenes, and for Waters himself to star. EMI did not intend to make the film, as they did not understand the concept. Director Alan Parker, a Pink Floyd fan, asked EMI whether The Wall could be adapted to film. EMI suggested that Parker talk to Waters, who had asked Parker to direct the film. Parker instead suggested that he produce it and give the directing task to Gerald Scarfe and Michael Seresin, a cinematographer. Waters began work on the film's screenplay after studying scriptwriting books. He and Scarfe produced a special-edition book containing the screenplay and art to pitch the project to investors. While the book depicted Waters in the role of Pink, after screen tests, he was removed from the starring role and replaced with new wave musician and frontman of the Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof. In Behind the Wall, both Waters and Geldof later admitted to a story during casting where Geldof and his manager took a taxi to an airport, and Geldof's manager pitched the role to the singer, who continued to reject the offer and express his contempt for the project throughout the fare, unaware that the taxi driver was Waters' brother, who told Waters about Geldof's opinion. Since Waters was no longer in the starring role, it no longer made sense for the feature to include Pink Floyd footage, so the live film aspect was dropped. The footage culled from the five Wall concerts at Earl's Court from 13–17 June 1981 that were held specifically for filming was deemed unusable also for technical reasons as the fast Panavision lenses needed for the low light levels turned out to have insufficient resolution for the movie screen. Complex parts such as "Hey You" still had not been properly shot by the end of the live shows. Parker convinced Waters and Scarfe that the concert footage was too theatrical and that it would jar with the animation and stage live action. After the concert footage was dropped, Seresin left the project and Parker became sole director. Filming Parker, Waters and Scarfe frequently clashed during production, and Parker described the filming as "one of the most miserable experiences of my creative life." Scarfe declared that he would drive to Pinewood Studios carrying a bottle of Jack Daniel's, because "I had to have a slug before I went in the morning, because I knew what was coming up, and I knew I had to fortify myself in some way." Waters said that filming was "a very unnerving and unpleasant experience". During production, while filming the destruction of a hotel room, Geldof suffered a cut to his hand as he pulled away the Venetian blinds. The footage remains in the film. It was discovered while filming the pool scenes that Geldof did not know how to swim. Interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios, and it was suggested that they suspend Geldof in Christopher Reeve's clear cast used for the Superman flying sequences, but his frame was too small by comparison; it was then decided to make a smaller rig that was a more acceptable fit, and he lay on his back. In Nicholas Schaffner's book Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey (1991) it is claimed that the body cast from the film Supergirl (1984) was actually used instead. The war scenes were shot on Saunton Sands in North Devon, which was also featured on the cover of Pink Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason six years later. Release The film was shown out of competition during the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. The film's official premiere was at the Empire, Leicester Square in London, on 14 July 1982. It was attended by Waters and fellow Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason, but not Richard Wright, who was no longer a member of the band. It was also attended by various celebrities including Geldof, Scarfe, Paula Yates, Pete Townshend, Sting, Roger Taylor, James Hunt, Lulu and Andy Summers. Box office and critical reception The Wall opened with a limited release on 6 August 1982 and entered at No. 28 of the US box office charts despite only playing in one theatre on its first weekend, grossing over $68,000, a rare feat even by today's standards. The film then spent just over a month below the top 20 while still in the top 30. The film later expanded to over 600 theatres on 10 September, achieving No. 3 at the box office charts, below E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and An Officer and a Gentleman. The film eventually earned $22 million before closing in early 1983. The film received generally positive reviews. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film the approval rating of 69% based on 26 critic reviews, with the average score of 7.2 out of 10. The critical consensus reads "Pink Floyd's expression of generational angst is given striking visual form The Wall, although this ambitious feature's narrative struggles to marry its provocative images and psychedelic soundtrack into a compelling whole." On Metacritic, the film holds the weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 13 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Reviewing The Wall on their television programme At the Movies in 1982, film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave the film "two thumbs up". Ebert described The Wall as "a stunning vision of self-destruction" and "one of the most horrifying musicals of all time ... but the movie is effective. The music is strong and true, the images are like sledge hammers, and for once, the rock and roll hero isn't just a spoiled narcissist, but a real, suffering image of all the despair of this nuclear age. This is a real good movie." Siskel was more reserved in his judgement, stating that he felt that the film's imagery was too repetitive. However, he admitted that the "central image" of the fascist rally sequence "will stay with me for an awful long time." In February 2010, Ebert added The Wall to his Great Movies list, describing the film as "without question the best of all serious fiction films devoted to rock. Seeing it now in more timid times, it looks more daring than it did in 1982, when I saw it at Cannes ... It's disquieting and depressing and very good." It was chosen for the opening night of Ebertfest 2010. Danny Peary wrote that the "picture is unrelentingly downbeat and at times repulsive ... but I don't find it unwatchable – which is more than I could say if Ken Russell had directed this. The cinematography by Peter Biziou is extremely impressive and a few of the individual scenes have undeniable power." It earned two British Academy Awards: Best Sound for James Guthrie, Eddy Joseph, Clive Winter, Graham Hartstone and Nicholas Le Messurier, and Best Original Song for Waters. Waters said of the film: "I found it was so unremitting in its onslaught upon the senses, that it didn't give me, anyway, as an audience, a chance to get involved with it," although he had nothing but praise for Geldof's performance. Gilmour stated (on the "In the Studio with Redbeard" episodes of The Wall, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and On an Island) that the conflict between him and Waters started with the making of the film. Gilmour also stated on the documentary Behind The Wall (which was aired on the BBC in the UK and VH1 in the US) that "the movie was the less successful telling of The Wall story as opposed to the album and concert versions." Although the symbol of the crossed hammers used in the film was not related to any real group, it was adopted by white supremacist group the Hammerskins in the late 1980s. Themes and analysis It has been suggested that the protagonist stands for Waters. Beyond the obvious parallel of them both being rock stars, Waters lost his father while he was an infant and had marital problems, divorcing several times. It has also been suggested that Pink represents former lead singer, writer and founding member Syd Barrett, both in his appearance as well as in several incidents and anecdotes related to Barrett's descent from pop stardom due to his struggles with mental illness and self-medicating with drugs. One seemingly blatant reference is Pink's detachment from the world as he locks himself away in his room before a show and shaves himself down while suffering a mental break. During a mental breakdown, Barrett shaved his head and face before showing up to a band rehearsal (after already having been removed from the band). However, Bob Geldof, who plays Pink in the film, refused to shave his head for this part of the performance. Another influence was the declining state of pianist, Richard Wright, who was allegedly struggling with cocaine addiction at the time. This is referenced in the song Nobody Home: Got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains. Romero and Cabo place the Nazism and imperialism related symbols in the context of Margaret Thatcher's government and British foreign policy especially concerning the Falklands issue. "There's a scene in the movie of The Wall where the guy smashes up a hotel room and tries to put it together," remarked Trent Reznor, explaining the theme of Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile. "As he tries, it's obviously not right, but he's trying to make semblance [sic] of things. That's a visual that I've used in my head. It's helped me." Awards Documentary A documentary was produced about the making of Pink Floyd – The Wall entitled The Other Side of the Wall that includes interviews with Parker, Scarfe, and clips of Waters; it originally aired on MTV in 1982. A second documentary about the film was produced in 1999 entitled Retrospective: Looking Back at The Wall that includes interviews with Waters, Parker, Scarfe, and other members of the film's production team. Both are featured on The Wall DVD as extras. Soundtrack The film soundtrack contains most songs from the album, albeit with several changes, as well as additional material (see table below). The only songs from the album not used in the film are "Hey You" and "The Show Must Go On". "Hey You" was deleted as Waters and Parker felt the footage was too repetitive (eighty percent of the footage appears in montage sequences elsewhere) but a workprint version of the scene is included as a bonus feature on the DVD release. A soundtrack album from Columbia Records was listed in the film's end credits, but only a single containing "When the Tigers Broke Free" and the rerecorded "Bring the Boys Back Home" were released. "When the Tigers Broke Free" later became a bonus track on the 1983 album The Final Cut. Guitarist David Gilmour dismissed the album as a collection of songs that had been rejected for The Wall project, but were being recycled. The song, in the edit used for the single, also appears on the 2001 compilation album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd. In addition to the above, Vera Lynn's rendition of "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" was used as background music during the opening scenes. Chart positions Certifications References External links A Complete Analysis of Pink Floyd – The Wall by Bret Urick Original screenplay by Roger Waters Pink Floyd films The Wall (rock opera) 1982 films 1982 animated films 1980s musical drama films 1980s psychological drama films British films English-language films British animated films British drama films British musical films Adultery in films Allegory BAFTA winners (films) Fiction with unreliable narrators Films scored by Michael Kamen Films about fascists Films based on albums Films directed by Alan Parker Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1970s Films with live action and animation Mental illness in films British nonlinear narrative films Sung-through musical films Rock operas Films shot at Pinewood Studios Goldcrest Films films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films about depression Films about solitude 1982 drama films Pink Floyd video albums
false
[ "Engineer Battery was an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.\n\nDescription\nEngineer Battery was at the southern end of the Line Wall Curtain which starts at the North Bastion. The battery was at the end of what was the fortification wall for the western coast of the town which protected it from bombardment by ships in the Bay of Gibraltar. The Line Wall Curtain, as it stands, was built by the British in the 18th century running north–south as part of the Line Wall western defenses. In 1859 there was just one gun at the Engineer Battery guarding the northern edge of Rosia Bay and two nearby magazines. but by 1897 the battery had three 12 pounder QF guns.\n\nReferences\n\n \n \n\nBatteries in Gibraltar", "Concept 21 (Chinese: 觀念21), arguably the first artist collective of performance art in China, was formed in 1986 in Beijing by five students — Sheng Qi (盛奇), Zheng Yuke (鄭玉珂), Zhao Jianhai (趙建海), Kang Mu (康木), and Xi Jianjun (奚建軍).\n\nFormation \n\nConcept 21 was formed in 1986 in Beijing. The group's inception began with 52 Hours of Unfolding Action, a collective performance which was executed on December 23, 1986. At the time, a group of students from Peking University organized a spontaneous art festival, and Sheng Qi invited his peers to orchestrate a performance at the campus of the university.\n\nGreat Wall Performance \n\nEnacted over the course of two days in May 1988, the collective executed a series of performances at the Great Wall of China by once again dressing in colourful strips of cloth around their bodies and head, similar to their attire in 52 Hours of Unfolding Action. The performance was divided into a number of stages in which the group engaged in various ritual-like actions. Shing-Kwan Chan argues that in this performance, the artists' body became at once a radical representation of the injustices of the past and of the contemporary individual grieving the injustices in the present.\n\nReferences \n\nLiving people\nChinese performance artists\nChinese contemporary artists\nYear of birth missing (living people)" ]
[ "Pink Floyd – The Wall", "Concept", "what was the concept of the wall", "Stars--film stars, rock 'n' roll stars--represent, in myth anyway," ]
C_b62e7e335a114491b7a8de96e7d5746d_1
how was the film to be made
2
How was Pink Floyd's the Wall film to be made?
Pink Floyd – The Wall
In the mid-1970s, as Pink Floyd gained mainstream fame, Waters began feeling increasingly alienated from their audiences: Audiences at those vast concerts are there for an excitement which, I think, has to do with the love of success. When a band or a person becomes an idol, it can have to do with the success that that person manifests, not the quality of work he produces. You don't become a fanatic because somebody's work is good, you become a fanatic to be touched vicariously by their glamour and fame. Stars--film stars, rock 'n' roll stars--represent, in myth anyway, the life as we'd all like to live it. They seem at the very centre of life. And that's why audiences still spend large sums of money at concerts where they are a long, long way from the stage, where they are often very uncomfortable, and where the sound is often very bad. Waters was also dismayed by the "executive approach", which was only about success, not even attempting to get acquainted with the actual persons of whom the band was comprised (addressed in an earlier song from Wish You Were Here, "Have a Cigar"). The concept of the wall, along with the decision to name the lead character "Pink", partly grew out of that approach, combined with the issue of the growing alienation between the band and their fans. This symbolised a new era for rock bands, as Pink Floyd "explored (... ) the hard realities of 'being where we are'", drawing upon existentialists, namely Jean-Paul Sartre. CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Pink Floyd – The Wall is a 1982 British musical psychological drama film directed by Alan Parker, based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall. The screenplay was written by Pink Floyd vocalist and bassist Roger Waters. Boomtown Rats vocalist Bob Geldof plays rock star Pink, who, driven into insanity by the death of his father, constructs a physical and emotional wall to protect himself. Like the album, the film is highly metaphorical, and symbolic imagery and sound are present most commonly. The film is mostly driven by music and features little dialogue from the characters. Despite its turbulent production and the creators voicing their discontent about the final product, the film received generally positive reviews and has an established cult following. Plot Pink is a depressed rock star whom, at the beginning of the film, appears motionless and expressionless while remembering his father. While Pink imagines a crowd of fans entering one of his concerts, but him receiving them in a fascist alter ego, a flashback reveals how his father was killed defending the Anzio beachhead during World War II, in Pink's infancy. The aftermath of the battle is seen, and thus, Pink's mother raises him alone, which affects Pink's childhood. A young Pink later discovers relics from his father's military service and death. An animation depicts the war, showing that the death of the people was for nothing. Pink places a bullet on the track of an oncoming train within a tunnel, and the train that passes has children peering out of the windows wearing face masks. At school, he is caught writing poems in class and is humiliated by the teacher who reads a poem from Pink's book. However, it is revealed that the bad treatment of the students is because of the unhappiness of the teacher's marriage. Pink imagines an oppressive school system in which children fall into a meat grinder. Pink then fantasizes about the children rising in rebellion and burning down the school, throwing the teacher onto a bonfire. As an adult now, Pink remembers his overprotective mother, and when he got married. After a phone call, Pink discovers that his wife is cheating on him, and another animation shows that every traumatic experience he has had is represented as a "brick" in the metaphorical wall he constructs around himself that divides him from all society. Pink then comes back to the hotel room with a groupie, only for her to annoy Pink to the point where he destroys the room in a fit of violence, scaring her away. Depressed, he thinks about his wife, and feels trapped in his room. He then remembers every "brick" of his wall. His wall shown to be complete, and the film returns to the first scene. Now inside his wall, he does not leave his hotel room, and begins to lose his mind to metaphorical "worms". He shaves all his body hair, and watches television. A flashback shows young Pink searching through trenches of the war, eventually finding himself as an adult. Young Pink runs in terror, and appears in a station, with the people demanding that the soldiers return home. Returning to the present, Pink's manager finds him in his hotel room, drugged and unresponsive. A paramedic injects him to enable him to perform. In this state, Pink dreams that he is a dictator and his concert is a fascist rally. His followers proceed to attack people. He then holds a rally in suburban London, indicating his mind has taken over. The scene includes images of animated marching hammers that goose-step across ruins. Pink then stops hallucinating and screams "STOP!", deciding he no longer wants to be in the wall. He is then seen cowering in a bathroom stall, silently singing to himself as a security guard walks past him. In a climactic animated sequence, Pink, as a rag doll, is on trial for "showing feelings of an almost human nature", and his sentence is "to be exposed before his peers". His teacher and wife accuse him, while his mother tries to take him home. The judge gives the order to "tear down the wall!". Following a prolonged silence, the wall is smashed as Pink can be heard screaming. Pink is never seen again after this. Several children are seen cleaning up a pile of debris, with a freeze-frame on one of the children emptying a Molotov cocktail, after which the film ends. Cast Bob Geldof as Pink Kevin McKeon as Young Pink David Bingham as Little Pink Christine Hargreaves as Pink's mother Eleanor David as Pink's wife Alex McAvoy as Teacher Bob Hoskins as Rock manager Michael Ensign as Hotel manager James Laurenson as Pink's father Jenny Wright as American groupie Margery Mason as Teacher's wife Ellis Dale as English doctor James Hazeldine as Lover Ray Mort as Playground father Robert Bridges as American doctor Joanne Whalley, Nell Campbell, Emma Longfellow, and Lorna Barton as Groupies Philip Davis and Gary Olsen as Roadies Production Concept In the mid-1970s, as Pink Floyd gained mainstream fame, songwriter Roger Waters began feeling increasingly alienated from their audiences:Audiences at those vast concerts are there for an excitement which, I think, has to do with the love of success. When a band or a person becomes an idol, it can have to do with the success that that person manifests, not the quality of work he produces. You don't become a fanatic because somebody's work is good, you become a fanatic to be touched vicariously by their glamour and fame. Stars—film stars, rock 'n' roll stars—represent, in myth anyway, the life as we'd all like to live it. They seem at the very centre of life. And that's why audiences still spend large sums of money at concerts where they are a long, long way from the stage, where they are often very uncomfortable, and where the sound is often very bad. Waters was also dismayed by the "executive approach", which was only about success, not even attempting to get acquainted with the actual persons of whom the band was composed (addressed in an earlier song from Wish You Were Here, "Have a Cigar"). The concept of the wall, along with the decision to name the lead character "Pink", partly grew out of that approach, combined with the issue of the growing alienation between the band and their fans. This symbolised a new era for rock bands, as Pink Floyd explored “the hard realities of 'being where we are'", echoing ideas of alienation described by existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre. Development Even before the original Pink Floyd album was recorded, the intention was to make a film from it. The original plan was for the film to be live footage from the album's tour, together with Scarfe's animation and extra scenes, and for Waters himself to star. EMI did not intend to make the film, as they did not understand the concept. Director Alan Parker, a Pink Floyd fan, asked EMI whether The Wall could be adapted to film. EMI suggested that Parker talk to Waters, who had asked Parker to direct the film. Parker instead suggested that he produce it and give the directing task to Gerald Scarfe and Michael Seresin, a cinematographer. Waters began work on the film's screenplay after studying scriptwriting books. He and Scarfe produced a special-edition book containing the screenplay and art to pitch the project to investors. While the book depicted Waters in the role of Pink, after screen tests, he was removed from the starring role and replaced with new wave musician and frontman of the Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof. In Behind the Wall, both Waters and Geldof later admitted to a story during casting where Geldof and his manager took a taxi to an airport, and Geldof's manager pitched the role to the singer, who continued to reject the offer and express his contempt for the project throughout the fare, unaware that the taxi driver was Waters' brother, who told Waters about Geldof's opinion. Since Waters was no longer in the starring role, it no longer made sense for the feature to include Pink Floyd footage, so the live film aspect was dropped. The footage culled from the five Wall concerts at Earl's Court from 13–17 June 1981 that were held specifically for filming was deemed unusable also for technical reasons as the fast Panavision lenses needed for the low light levels turned out to have insufficient resolution for the movie screen. Complex parts such as "Hey You" still had not been properly shot by the end of the live shows. Parker convinced Waters and Scarfe that the concert footage was too theatrical and that it would jar with the animation and stage live action. After the concert footage was dropped, Seresin left the project and Parker became sole director. Filming Parker, Waters and Scarfe frequently clashed during production, and Parker described the filming as "one of the most miserable experiences of my creative life." Scarfe declared that he would drive to Pinewood Studios carrying a bottle of Jack Daniel's, because "I had to have a slug before I went in the morning, because I knew what was coming up, and I knew I had to fortify myself in some way." Waters said that filming was "a very unnerving and unpleasant experience". During production, while filming the destruction of a hotel room, Geldof suffered a cut to his hand as he pulled away the Venetian blinds. The footage remains in the film. It was discovered while filming the pool scenes that Geldof did not know how to swim. Interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios, and it was suggested that they suspend Geldof in Christopher Reeve's clear cast used for the Superman flying sequences, but his frame was too small by comparison; it was then decided to make a smaller rig that was a more acceptable fit, and he lay on his back. In Nicholas Schaffner's book Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey (1991) it is claimed that the body cast from the film Supergirl (1984) was actually used instead. The war scenes were shot on Saunton Sands in North Devon, which was also featured on the cover of Pink Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason six years later. Release The film was shown out of competition during the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. The film's official premiere was at the Empire, Leicester Square in London, on 14 July 1982. It was attended by Waters and fellow Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason, but not Richard Wright, who was no longer a member of the band. It was also attended by various celebrities including Geldof, Scarfe, Paula Yates, Pete Townshend, Sting, Roger Taylor, James Hunt, Lulu and Andy Summers. Box office and critical reception The Wall opened with a limited release on 6 August 1982 and entered at No. 28 of the US box office charts despite only playing in one theatre on its first weekend, grossing over $68,000, a rare feat even by today's standards. The film then spent just over a month below the top 20 while still in the top 30. The film later expanded to over 600 theatres on 10 September, achieving No. 3 at the box office charts, below E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and An Officer and a Gentleman. The film eventually earned $22 million before closing in early 1983. The film received generally positive reviews. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film the approval rating of 69% based on 26 critic reviews, with the average score of 7.2 out of 10. The critical consensus reads "Pink Floyd's expression of generational angst is given striking visual form The Wall, although this ambitious feature's narrative struggles to marry its provocative images and psychedelic soundtrack into a compelling whole." On Metacritic, the film holds the weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 13 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Reviewing The Wall on their television programme At the Movies in 1982, film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave the film "two thumbs up". Ebert described The Wall as "a stunning vision of self-destruction" and "one of the most horrifying musicals of all time ... but the movie is effective. The music is strong and true, the images are like sledge hammers, and for once, the rock and roll hero isn't just a spoiled narcissist, but a real, suffering image of all the despair of this nuclear age. This is a real good movie." Siskel was more reserved in his judgement, stating that he felt that the film's imagery was too repetitive. However, he admitted that the "central image" of the fascist rally sequence "will stay with me for an awful long time." In February 2010, Ebert added The Wall to his Great Movies list, describing the film as "without question the best of all serious fiction films devoted to rock. Seeing it now in more timid times, it looks more daring than it did in 1982, when I saw it at Cannes ... It's disquieting and depressing and very good." It was chosen for the opening night of Ebertfest 2010. Danny Peary wrote that the "picture is unrelentingly downbeat and at times repulsive ... but I don't find it unwatchable – which is more than I could say if Ken Russell had directed this. The cinematography by Peter Biziou is extremely impressive and a few of the individual scenes have undeniable power." It earned two British Academy Awards: Best Sound for James Guthrie, Eddy Joseph, Clive Winter, Graham Hartstone and Nicholas Le Messurier, and Best Original Song for Waters. Waters said of the film: "I found it was so unremitting in its onslaught upon the senses, that it didn't give me, anyway, as an audience, a chance to get involved with it," although he had nothing but praise for Geldof's performance. Gilmour stated (on the "In the Studio with Redbeard" episodes of The Wall, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and On an Island) that the conflict between him and Waters started with the making of the film. Gilmour also stated on the documentary Behind The Wall (which was aired on the BBC in the UK and VH1 in the US) that "the movie was the less successful telling of The Wall story as opposed to the album and concert versions." Although the symbol of the crossed hammers used in the film was not related to any real group, it was adopted by white supremacist group the Hammerskins in the late 1980s. Themes and analysis It has been suggested that the protagonist stands for Waters. Beyond the obvious parallel of them both being rock stars, Waters lost his father while he was an infant and had marital problems, divorcing several times. It has also been suggested that Pink represents former lead singer, writer and founding member Syd Barrett, both in his appearance as well as in several incidents and anecdotes related to Barrett's descent from pop stardom due to his struggles with mental illness and self-medicating with drugs. One seemingly blatant reference is Pink's detachment from the world as he locks himself away in his room before a show and shaves himself down while suffering a mental break. During a mental breakdown, Barrett shaved his head and face before showing up to a band rehearsal (after already having been removed from the band). However, Bob Geldof, who plays Pink in the film, refused to shave his head for this part of the performance. Another influence was the declining state of pianist, Richard Wright, who was allegedly struggling with cocaine addiction at the time. This is referenced in the song Nobody Home: Got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains. Romero and Cabo place the Nazism and imperialism related symbols in the context of Margaret Thatcher's government and British foreign policy especially concerning the Falklands issue. "There's a scene in the movie of The Wall where the guy smashes up a hotel room and tries to put it together," remarked Trent Reznor, explaining the theme of Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile. "As he tries, it's obviously not right, but he's trying to make semblance [sic] of things. That's a visual that I've used in my head. It's helped me." Awards Documentary A documentary was produced about the making of Pink Floyd – The Wall entitled The Other Side of the Wall that includes interviews with Parker, Scarfe, and clips of Waters; it originally aired on MTV in 1982. A second documentary about the film was produced in 1999 entitled Retrospective: Looking Back at The Wall that includes interviews with Waters, Parker, Scarfe, and other members of the film's production team. Both are featured on The Wall DVD as extras. Soundtrack The film soundtrack contains most songs from the album, albeit with several changes, as well as additional material (see table below). The only songs from the album not used in the film are "Hey You" and "The Show Must Go On". "Hey You" was deleted as Waters and Parker felt the footage was too repetitive (eighty percent of the footage appears in montage sequences elsewhere) but a workprint version of the scene is included as a bonus feature on the DVD release. A soundtrack album from Columbia Records was listed in the film's end credits, but only a single containing "When the Tigers Broke Free" and the rerecorded "Bring the Boys Back Home" were released. "When the Tigers Broke Free" later became a bonus track on the 1983 album The Final Cut. Guitarist David Gilmour dismissed the album as a collection of songs that had been rejected for The Wall project, but were being recycled. The song, in the edit used for the single, also appears on the 2001 compilation album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd. In addition to the above, Vera Lynn's rendition of "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" was used as background music during the opening scenes. Chart positions Certifications References External links A Complete Analysis of Pink Floyd – The Wall by Bret Urick Original screenplay by Roger Waters Pink Floyd films The Wall (rock opera) 1982 films 1982 animated films 1980s musical drama films 1980s psychological drama films British films English-language films British animated films British drama films British musical films Adultery in films Allegory BAFTA winners (films) Fiction with unreliable narrators Films scored by Michael Kamen Films about fascists Films based on albums Films directed by Alan Parker Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1970s Films with live action and animation Mental illness in films British nonlinear narrative films Sung-through musical films Rock operas Films shot at Pinewood Studios Goldcrest Films films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films about depression Films about solitude 1982 drama films Pink Floyd video albums
false
[ "How Brown Saw the Baseball Game is an American short silent comedy film produced in 1907 and distributed by the Lubin Manufacturing Company. The film follows a baseball fan named Mr. Brown who drinks large quantities of alcohol before a baseball game and becomes so intoxicated that the game appears to him in reverse motion. During production, trick photography was used to achieve this effect. In 1909, the comedy show was dubbed as one of the best comedies of the century so far.\n\nThe film was released in November 1907. It received a positive review in a 1908 issue of The Courier-Journal that reported the film was successful and \"truly funny.\" , it is unclear whether a print of the film has survived. The identities of the film's cast and production crew are unknown. Film historians have noted similarities between the plot of How Brown Saw the Baseball Game and the Edwin S. Porter-directed comedy film How the Office Boy Saw the Ball Game released the previous year.\n\nPlot\nBefore heading out to a baseball game at a nearby ballpark, sports fan Mr. Brown drinks several highball cocktails. He arrives at the ballpark to watch the game, but has become so inebriated that the game appears to him in reverse, with the players running the bases backwards and the baseball flying back into the pitcher's hand. After the game is over, Mr. Brown is escorted home by one of his friends. When they arrive at Brown's house, they encounter his wife who becomes furious with the friend and proceeds to physically assault him, believing he is responsible for her husband's severe intoxication.\n\nProduction\n\nHow Brown Saw the Baseball Game was produced by Lubin Manufacturing Company, a company founded by German-American film pioneer Siegmund Lubin. At the time How Brown Saw the Baseball Game was made, the company was creating and distributing up to three films a week. The identities of How Brown Saw the Baseball Games director and cast are not known.\n\nIt is a silent film shot in black and white, and the finished product comprised of film. For the scenes which took place at the ballpark, the filmmakers used a form of trick photography to show the baseball players running backwards. Siegmund Lubin filed a copyright for the film on October 26, 1907, under the title How Jones Saw the Baseball Game.\n\nRelease and reception\nHow Brown Saw the Baseball Game was released to theaters by Lubin Manufacturing Company on November 16, 1907, and was still being shown as late as January 1910. During this time, the film was sometimes presented as part of a double feature with the 1907 film Neighbors Who Borrow, a short comedy film about a man who lends nearly everything he owns to his neighbors until his wife returns home and berates him for doing so.\n\nAdvertisements for the film touted it as \"such fun\", and Lubin himself promoted the film as a \"screamingly funny farce\". It received a positive review in a June 1908 issue of The Courier-Journal which described the film as \"truly funny\" and that it proved to be \"a veritable hit\".\n\nModern writings have often suggested that How Brown Saw the Baseball Game was produced as Lubin Manufacturing Company's alternative to the Edwin S. Porter-directed comedy How the Office Boy Saw the Ball Game, a film released by Edison Studios in 1906 about an office employee sneaking out of his workplace to watch a baseball game only to discover his employer in a nearby seat. Lubin Manufacturing Company was known for creating films similar to competing motion pictures made by other studios. Lubin had previously created films resembling Edison Studios' releases Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Great Train Robbery. Author Jack Spears wrote in his book Hollywood: The Golden Era that How Brown Saw the Baseball Game and How the Office Boy Saw the Ball Game \"used practically the same plot\"; Rob Elderman's article \"The Baseball Film: to 1920\" in the journal Base Ball likewise notes the similarities of their plotlines.\n\n, it is unclear whether there is a surviving print of How Brown Saw the Baseball Game; it has likely become a lost film. If rediscovered, the film would be in the public domain.\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography\n\nExternal links\n\n1907 films\n1900s sports comedy films\n1907 short films\nAmerican sports comedy films\nAmerican baseball films\nAmerican black-and-white films\nAmerican films\nAmerican silent short films\nLubin Manufacturing Company films\nFilms set in the United States", "Sleep is a 2013 film directed by Juha Lilja consisting of approximately 1 hour long takes about Lilja himself sleeping naked. Multiple camera angles are used, and film also contains dream sequences, which are shot on a drone and a motorcycle. The Film premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2015 as a part of its Signals 24/7 theme, which was focusing on how the attention economy and technological improvements have changed society. Other films from the director have been screened in festivals in Asia and USA.\n\nThe film was released 50 years after the release of Sleep from American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol. The 2013 remake explores how modern technology has made it easier for anyone to produce such monumental length films. Warhol had originally planned Sleep to be an 8-hour film. According to his memoirs, he had said to Gerard Malanga: \"Wouldn't it be fabulous to film Brigitte Bardot sleeping for eight hours\" Because of technical difficulties it was not possible at the time. Lilja's version was made to reach the 8 hour goal.\n\nSee also\nList of longest films by running time\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n Sleep on director's web page\n\n2013 films\nSwedish films\n2010s avant-garde and experimental films\nFilms without speech" ]
[ "Pink Floyd – The Wall", "Concept", "what was the concept of the wall", "Stars--film stars, rock 'n' roll stars--represent, in myth anyway,", "how was the film to be made", "I don't know." ]
C_b62e7e335a114491b7a8de96e7d5746d_1
who was to star in the film
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Who was to star in the film Pink Floyd's The Wall?
Pink Floyd – The Wall
In the mid-1970s, as Pink Floyd gained mainstream fame, Waters began feeling increasingly alienated from their audiences: Audiences at those vast concerts are there for an excitement which, I think, has to do with the love of success. When a band or a person becomes an idol, it can have to do with the success that that person manifests, not the quality of work he produces. You don't become a fanatic because somebody's work is good, you become a fanatic to be touched vicariously by their glamour and fame. Stars--film stars, rock 'n' roll stars--represent, in myth anyway, the life as we'd all like to live it. They seem at the very centre of life. And that's why audiences still spend large sums of money at concerts where they are a long, long way from the stage, where they are often very uncomfortable, and where the sound is often very bad. Waters was also dismayed by the "executive approach", which was only about success, not even attempting to get acquainted with the actual persons of whom the band was comprised (addressed in an earlier song from Wish You Were Here, "Have a Cigar"). The concept of the wall, along with the decision to name the lead character "Pink", partly grew out of that approach, combined with the issue of the growing alienation between the band and their fans. This symbolised a new era for rock bands, as Pink Floyd "explored (... ) the hard realities of 'being where we are'", drawing upon existentialists, namely Jean-Paul Sartre. CANNOTANSWER
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd – The Wall is a 1982 British musical psychological drama film directed by Alan Parker, based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall. The screenplay was written by Pink Floyd vocalist and bassist Roger Waters. Boomtown Rats vocalist Bob Geldof plays rock star Pink, who, driven into insanity by the death of his father, constructs a physical and emotional wall to protect himself. Like the album, the film is highly metaphorical, and symbolic imagery and sound are present most commonly. The film is mostly driven by music and features little dialogue from the characters. Despite its turbulent production and the creators voicing their discontent about the final product, the film received generally positive reviews and has an established cult following. Plot Pink is a depressed rock star whom, at the beginning of the film, appears motionless and expressionless while remembering his father. While Pink imagines a crowd of fans entering one of his concerts, but him receiving them in a fascist alter ego, a flashback reveals how his father was killed defending the Anzio beachhead during World War II, in Pink's infancy. The aftermath of the battle is seen, and thus, Pink's mother raises him alone, which affects Pink's childhood. A young Pink later discovers relics from his father's military service and death. An animation depicts the war, showing that the death of the people was for nothing. Pink places a bullet on the track of an oncoming train within a tunnel, and the train that passes has children peering out of the windows wearing face masks. At school, he is caught writing poems in class and is humiliated by the teacher who reads a poem from Pink's book. However, it is revealed that the bad treatment of the students is because of the unhappiness of the teacher's marriage. Pink imagines an oppressive school system in which children fall into a meat grinder. Pink then fantasizes about the children rising in rebellion and burning down the school, throwing the teacher onto a bonfire. As an adult now, Pink remembers his overprotective mother, and when he got married. After a phone call, Pink discovers that his wife is cheating on him, and another animation shows that every traumatic experience he has had is represented as a "brick" in the metaphorical wall he constructs around himself that divides him from all society. Pink then comes back to the hotel room with a groupie, only for her to annoy Pink to the point where he destroys the room in a fit of violence, scaring her away. Depressed, he thinks about his wife, and feels trapped in his room. He then remembers every "brick" of his wall. His wall shown to be complete, and the film returns to the first scene. Now inside his wall, he does not leave his hotel room, and begins to lose his mind to metaphorical "worms". He shaves all his body hair, and watches television. A flashback shows young Pink searching through trenches of the war, eventually finding himself as an adult. Young Pink runs in terror, and appears in a station, with the people demanding that the soldiers return home. Returning to the present, Pink's manager finds him in his hotel room, drugged and unresponsive. A paramedic injects him to enable him to perform. In this state, Pink dreams that he is a dictator and his concert is a fascist rally. His followers proceed to attack people. He then holds a rally in suburban London, indicating his mind has taken over. The scene includes images of animated marching hammers that goose-step across ruins. Pink then stops hallucinating and screams "STOP!", deciding he no longer wants to be in the wall. He is then seen cowering in a bathroom stall, silently singing to himself as a security guard walks past him. In a climactic animated sequence, Pink, as a rag doll, is on trial for "showing feelings of an almost human nature", and his sentence is "to be exposed before his peers". His teacher and wife accuse him, while his mother tries to take him home. The judge gives the order to "tear down the wall!". Following a prolonged silence, the wall is smashed as Pink can be heard screaming. Pink is never seen again after this. Several children are seen cleaning up a pile of debris, with a freeze-frame on one of the children emptying a Molotov cocktail, after which the film ends. Cast Bob Geldof as Pink Kevin McKeon as Young Pink David Bingham as Little Pink Christine Hargreaves as Pink's mother Eleanor David as Pink's wife Alex McAvoy as Teacher Bob Hoskins as Rock manager Michael Ensign as Hotel manager James Laurenson as Pink's father Jenny Wright as American groupie Margery Mason as Teacher's wife Ellis Dale as English doctor James Hazeldine as Lover Ray Mort as Playground father Robert Bridges as American doctor Joanne Whalley, Nell Campbell, Emma Longfellow, and Lorna Barton as Groupies Philip Davis and Gary Olsen as Roadies Production Concept In the mid-1970s, as Pink Floyd gained mainstream fame, songwriter Roger Waters began feeling increasingly alienated from their audiences:Audiences at those vast concerts are there for an excitement which, I think, has to do with the love of success. When a band or a person becomes an idol, it can have to do with the success that that person manifests, not the quality of work he produces. You don't become a fanatic because somebody's work is good, you become a fanatic to be touched vicariously by their glamour and fame. Stars—film stars, rock 'n' roll stars—represent, in myth anyway, the life as we'd all like to live it. They seem at the very centre of life. And that's why audiences still spend large sums of money at concerts where they are a long, long way from the stage, where they are often very uncomfortable, and where the sound is often very bad. Waters was also dismayed by the "executive approach", which was only about success, not even attempting to get acquainted with the actual persons of whom the band was composed (addressed in an earlier song from Wish You Were Here, "Have a Cigar"). The concept of the wall, along with the decision to name the lead character "Pink", partly grew out of that approach, combined with the issue of the growing alienation between the band and their fans. This symbolised a new era for rock bands, as Pink Floyd explored “the hard realities of 'being where we are'", echoing ideas of alienation described by existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre. Development Even before the original Pink Floyd album was recorded, the intention was to make a film from it. The original plan was for the film to be live footage from the album's tour, together with Scarfe's animation and extra scenes, and for Waters himself to star. EMI did not intend to make the film, as they did not understand the concept. Director Alan Parker, a Pink Floyd fan, asked EMI whether The Wall could be adapted to film. EMI suggested that Parker talk to Waters, who had asked Parker to direct the film. Parker instead suggested that he produce it and give the directing task to Gerald Scarfe and Michael Seresin, a cinematographer. Waters began work on the film's screenplay after studying scriptwriting books. He and Scarfe produced a special-edition book containing the screenplay and art to pitch the project to investors. While the book depicted Waters in the role of Pink, after screen tests, he was removed from the starring role and replaced with new wave musician and frontman of the Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof. In Behind the Wall, both Waters and Geldof later admitted to a story during casting where Geldof and his manager took a taxi to an airport, and Geldof's manager pitched the role to the singer, who continued to reject the offer and express his contempt for the project throughout the fare, unaware that the taxi driver was Waters' brother, who told Waters about Geldof's opinion. Since Waters was no longer in the starring role, it no longer made sense for the feature to include Pink Floyd footage, so the live film aspect was dropped. The footage culled from the five Wall concerts at Earl's Court from 13–17 June 1981 that were held specifically for filming was deemed unusable also for technical reasons as the fast Panavision lenses needed for the low light levels turned out to have insufficient resolution for the movie screen. Complex parts such as "Hey You" still had not been properly shot by the end of the live shows. Parker convinced Waters and Scarfe that the concert footage was too theatrical and that it would jar with the animation and stage live action. After the concert footage was dropped, Seresin left the project and Parker became sole director. Filming Parker, Waters and Scarfe frequently clashed during production, and Parker described the filming as "one of the most miserable experiences of my creative life." Scarfe declared that he would drive to Pinewood Studios carrying a bottle of Jack Daniel's, because "I had to have a slug before I went in the morning, because I knew what was coming up, and I knew I had to fortify myself in some way." Waters said that filming was "a very unnerving and unpleasant experience". During production, while filming the destruction of a hotel room, Geldof suffered a cut to his hand as he pulled away the Venetian blinds. The footage remains in the film. It was discovered while filming the pool scenes that Geldof did not know how to swim. Interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios, and it was suggested that they suspend Geldof in Christopher Reeve's clear cast used for the Superman flying sequences, but his frame was too small by comparison; it was then decided to make a smaller rig that was a more acceptable fit, and he lay on his back. In Nicholas Schaffner's book Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey (1991) it is claimed that the body cast from the film Supergirl (1984) was actually used instead. The war scenes were shot on Saunton Sands in North Devon, which was also featured on the cover of Pink Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason six years later. Release The film was shown out of competition during the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. The film's official premiere was at the Empire, Leicester Square in London, on 14 July 1982. It was attended by Waters and fellow Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason, but not Richard Wright, who was no longer a member of the band. It was also attended by various celebrities including Geldof, Scarfe, Paula Yates, Pete Townshend, Sting, Roger Taylor, James Hunt, Lulu and Andy Summers. Box office and critical reception The Wall opened with a limited release on 6 August 1982 and entered at No. 28 of the US box office charts despite only playing in one theatre on its first weekend, grossing over $68,000, a rare feat even by today's standards. The film then spent just over a month below the top 20 while still in the top 30. The film later expanded to over 600 theatres on 10 September, achieving No. 3 at the box office charts, below E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and An Officer and a Gentleman. The film eventually earned $22 million before closing in early 1983. The film received generally positive reviews. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film the approval rating of 69% based on 26 critic reviews, with the average score of 7.2 out of 10. The critical consensus reads "Pink Floyd's expression of generational angst is given striking visual form The Wall, although this ambitious feature's narrative struggles to marry its provocative images and psychedelic soundtrack into a compelling whole." On Metacritic, the film holds the weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 13 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Reviewing The Wall on their television programme At the Movies in 1982, film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave the film "two thumbs up". Ebert described The Wall as "a stunning vision of self-destruction" and "one of the most horrifying musicals of all time ... but the movie is effective. The music is strong and true, the images are like sledge hammers, and for once, the rock and roll hero isn't just a spoiled narcissist, but a real, suffering image of all the despair of this nuclear age. This is a real good movie." Siskel was more reserved in his judgement, stating that he felt that the film's imagery was too repetitive. However, he admitted that the "central image" of the fascist rally sequence "will stay with me for an awful long time." In February 2010, Ebert added The Wall to his Great Movies list, describing the film as "without question the best of all serious fiction films devoted to rock. Seeing it now in more timid times, it looks more daring than it did in 1982, when I saw it at Cannes ... It's disquieting and depressing and very good." It was chosen for the opening night of Ebertfest 2010. Danny Peary wrote that the "picture is unrelentingly downbeat and at times repulsive ... but I don't find it unwatchable – which is more than I could say if Ken Russell had directed this. The cinematography by Peter Biziou is extremely impressive and a few of the individual scenes have undeniable power." It earned two British Academy Awards: Best Sound for James Guthrie, Eddy Joseph, Clive Winter, Graham Hartstone and Nicholas Le Messurier, and Best Original Song for Waters. Waters said of the film: "I found it was so unremitting in its onslaught upon the senses, that it didn't give me, anyway, as an audience, a chance to get involved with it," although he had nothing but praise for Geldof's performance. Gilmour stated (on the "In the Studio with Redbeard" episodes of The Wall, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and On an Island) that the conflict between him and Waters started with the making of the film. Gilmour also stated on the documentary Behind The Wall (which was aired on the BBC in the UK and VH1 in the US) that "the movie was the less successful telling of The Wall story as opposed to the album and concert versions." Although the symbol of the crossed hammers used in the film was not related to any real group, it was adopted by white supremacist group the Hammerskins in the late 1980s. Themes and analysis It has been suggested that the protagonist stands for Waters. Beyond the obvious parallel of them both being rock stars, Waters lost his father while he was an infant and had marital problems, divorcing several times. It has also been suggested that Pink represents former lead singer, writer and founding member Syd Barrett, both in his appearance as well as in several incidents and anecdotes related to Barrett's descent from pop stardom due to his struggles with mental illness and self-medicating with drugs. One seemingly blatant reference is Pink's detachment from the world as he locks himself away in his room before a show and shaves himself down while suffering a mental break. During a mental breakdown, Barrett shaved his head and face before showing up to a band rehearsal (after already having been removed from the band). However, Bob Geldof, who plays Pink in the film, refused to shave his head for this part of the performance. Another influence was the declining state of pianist, Richard Wright, who was allegedly struggling with cocaine addiction at the time. This is referenced in the song Nobody Home: Got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains. Romero and Cabo place the Nazism and imperialism related symbols in the context of Margaret Thatcher's government and British foreign policy especially concerning the Falklands issue. "There's a scene in the movie of The Wall where the guy smashes up a hotel room and tries to put it together," remarked Trent Reznor, explaining the theme of Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile. "As he tries, it's obviously not right, but he's trying to make semblance [sic] of things. That's a visual that I've used in my head. It's helped me." Awards Documentary A documentary was produced about the making of Pink Floyd – The Wall entitled The Other Side of the Wall that includes interviews with Parker, Scarfe, and clips of Waters; it originally aired on MTV in 1982. A second documentary about the film was produced in 1999 entitled Retrospective: Looking Back at The Wall that includes interviews with Waters, Parker, Scarfe, and other members of the film's production team. Both are featured on The Wall DVD as extras. Soundtrack The film soundtrack contains most songs from the album, albeit with several changes, as well as additional material (see table below). The only songs from the album not used in the film are "Hey You" and "The Show Must Go On". "Hey You" was deleted as Waters and Parker felt the footage was too repetitive (eighty percent of the footage appears in montage sequences elsewhere) but a workprint version of the scene is included as a bonus feature on the DVD release. A soundtrack album from Columbia Records was listed in the film's end credits, but only a single containing "When the Tigers Broke Free" and the rerecorded "Bring the Boys Back Home" were released. "When the Tigers Broke Free" later became a bonus track on the 1983 album The Final Cut. Guitarist David Gilmour dismissed the album as a collection of songs that had been rejected for The Wall project, but were being recycled. The song, in the edit used for the single, also appears on the 2001 compilation album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd. In addition to the above, Vera Lynn's rendition of "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" was used as background music during the opening scenes. Chart positions Certifications References External links A Complete Analysis of Pink Floyd – The Wall by Bret Urick Original screenplay by Roger Waters Pink Floyd films The Wall (rock opera) 1982 films 1982 animated films 1980s musical drama films 1980s psychological drama films British films English-language films British animated films British drama films British musical films Adultery in films Allegory BAFTA winners (films) Fiction with unreliable narrators Films scored by Michael Kamen Films about fascists Films based on albums Films directed by Alan Parker Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1970s Films with live action and animation Mental illness in films British nonlinear narrative films Sung-through musical films Rock operas Films shot at Pinewood Studios Goldcrest Films films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films about depression Films about solitude 1982 drama films Pink Floyd video albums
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[ "Star Trek 4 is the working title for an American science fiction film in development at Paramount Pictures, based on the television series Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry. It is intended to be the fourteenth film in the Star Trek film franchise and the fourth installment in the reboot series. There have been several different iterations of the film in development since 2015.\n\nDevelopment of a new Star Trek film following Star Trek Beyond (2016) was revealed before the release of that film, with J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay writing. In December 2017, Quentin Tarantino pitched his own idea for a new Star Trek film to producer J. J. Abrams, and development began separately from the Beyond sequel. S. J. Clarkson was hired to direct the latter in April 2018, but negotiations with stars Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth ended that August with the actors leaving the project. Noah Hawley was hired in November 2019 to write and direct a new version of the franchise. Tarantino revealed in January 2020 that he had decided not to direct his Star Trek film. Hawley's version was placed on hold that August to allow Paramount to decide on the best direction for the franchise. Kalinda Vazquez was set to write the script for a new film based on her own original idea in March 2021, while a separate script was developed by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. Matt Shakman was hired to direct the latter film in July, and the script was being re-written by Josh Friedman and Cameron Squires in November. Negotiations for the return of Pine and the rest of the main cast from the reboot series began in February 2022. The film is scheduled for release on December 22, 2023.\n\nBackground \nShortly before filming for Star Trek Beyond began in June 2015, Paramount Pictures completed last-minute contract re-negotiations with the main cast members of the Star Trek franchise's reboot films. This gave the actors pay rises while signing Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto to return for a fourth film in their respective roles as James T. Kirk and Spock. While promoting the release of Beyond, producer J. J. Abrams revealed on July 15, 2016, that the fourth film would see Chris Hemsworth reprising the role of George Kirk, the father of Pine's character, from the prologue of the first reboot film, Star Trek (2009). Abrams added that the role of Pavel Chekov would not be recast following the death of actor Anton Yelchin a month earlier. On July 18, Paramount Pictures officially announced a fourth Star Trek reboot film with the temporary title Star Trek 4. The announcement confirmed the return of Hemsworth and Pine as well as most of the main cast from Beyond, with Abrams producing alongside Lindsey Weber under their company Bad Robot Productions. J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay were hired to write the screenplay for the sequel after doing uncredited writing work on Beyond. David Ellison and Dana Goldberg of Skydance Media were set as executive producers.\n\nWhile making a guest appearance on The Nerdist Podcast in December 2015, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino expressed interest in making a Star Trek film. He stated that he was a fan of the original Star Trek series as well as Abrams's 2009 reboot film, and felt that many classic Star Trek episodes could be \"easily expanded\" into a feature film; he gave the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode \"Yesterday's Enterprise\" (1990) as an example. In September 2017, after a clip of this discussion resurfaced on YouTube, Tarantino was asked about directing a Star Trek film and said \"it would be worth having a meeting about\". He noted that he planned to retire after directing ten films and had already made eight. Both Pine and Quinto separately stated earlier in 2017 that they had not heard any updates about a new Star Trek film other than it was being written. Karl Urban, who portrays Leonard McCoy in the films, reiterated this in September and expressed interest in having the fourth film introduce McCoy's ex-wife and daughter. That December, Tarantino approached Abrams and Paramount about an idea he had for a new Star Trek film, and development on the project began at the studio. At CinemaCon in April 2018, Paramount CEO Jim Gianopulos said the Beyond sequel and Tarantino's proposed film were both in development.\n\nQuentin Tarantino \n\nTarantino's story was based on the Star Trek episode \"A Piece of the Action\" (1968), which is set on an alien planet with an \"Earth-like 1920s gangster culture\". A few days after it was announced, Tarantino and Abrams convened a writers room consisting of Mark L. Smith, Lindsey Beer, Drew Pearce and Megan Amram, to hear the idea and begin developing it into a film. One of the group would be chosen to write a screenplay while Tarantino focused on his ninth film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019); Smith was considered to be the frontrunner. As part of their initial discussions, Abrams and Paramount agreed that the film could receive an R-rating like Tarantino's previous films, which would have made it the first R-rated Star Trek film.\n\nSmith was hired to write the screenplay by the end of December. Paramount president Wyck Godfrey gave Tarantino's Star Trek film as an example of how the studio was rejuvenating its existing franchises, believing that \"people's eyes light up\" at the thought of the filmmaker joining the franchise. Previous Star Trek actors Patrick Stewart and William Shatner both expressed interest in returning to the franchise to work with Tarantino on his project. They previously portrayed Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and James T. Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series, respectively. Quinto assumed that the cast of Abrams's films would be starring in Tarantino's, which Simon Pegg, who portrayed Montgomery Scott in the Abrams films, soon reiterated. In April 2018, Tarantino's film was believed to be set in a different timeline from the Beyond sequel, and had the potential to be another reboot of the franchise.\n\nTarantino confirmed in May 2019 that his Star Trek film was still in development, explaining that the script had been written and he would return to the project following the release of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood that July. A month later, he said he would be giving notes on the script once he had the chance to and confirmed that the film would be rated R. In July, Tarantino said he had read Smith's script and liked it, but there were elements that he wanted to work on. He described the film as \"Pulp Fiction in space\". He also said that he was a fan of the performances of Pine and Quinto in Abrams's films and wanted them to star in his film, but he wanted his story to be a direct prequel to the original Star Trek series rather than being set in an alternate timeline like Abrams's films are; when discussing the different timelines with Abrams, Tarantino had said \"I don't understand this, I don't like it\", and Abrams encouraged him to ignore them entirely.\n\nWhen asked how a Star Trek film would fit into his ten film plan, Tarantino acknowledged that he could use a loophole by saying \"Star Trek doesn't count\" and then make a tenth original film, but suggested that he would rather commit to making ten films whether that tenth film is part of the Star Trek franchise or not. In December 2019, Tarantino said he was \"steering away\" from directing the film but had made no official decision. A month later, he confirmed that he was not going to direct the film. He did think it was a good idea for a Star Trek film and suggested that it still be made, offering to give notes on the first cut.\n\nS. J. Clarkson \n\nS. J. Clarkson entered talks to direct the Beyond sequel in April 2018. Abrams and Paramount had held an extensive search for a female director, and Clarkson would have been the first woman to direct a Star Trek film. Payne and McKay had completed the screenplay, but Paramount had yet to sign new contracts for the main cast outside of Pine and Quinto, including Urban, Pegg, John Cho (Hikaru Sulu), and Zoe Saldaña (Nyota Uhura). After Clarkson joined the film, Quinto said the project was entering the \"logistical kind of phase\" and expressed excitement at working with the director again after they both worked on the television series Heroes. In July 2018, Jennifer Morrison expressed interest in reprising her role as George Kirk's wife Winona from Star Trek (2009), and Danai Gurira was close to being cast in the film. Pegg met with Clarkson to discuss the project and expected production to begin in early 2019.\n\nContract negotiations between Pine, Hemsworth, and the studios ended with Pine and Hemsworth leaving the film in August 2018. The pair had existing deals for the film after Pine had signed on in June 2015 and Hemsworth had been attached in July 2016, but Paramount and Skydance wanted to lower the budget for the film following the financial underperformance of Beyond, and wanted to decrease the actors' salaries as part of this. Development of the film was expected to continue without Pine and Hemsworth, as it was considered a priority project for the studios. Negotiations with Saldaña, Quinto, Urban, Pegg, and Cho had not yet begun by that point, as they had been waiting until talks with Pine and Hemsworth had been completed. At the end of the month, Urban said production for the film was expected to take place in the United Kingdom, where Clarkson is based, and that it was just waiting on negotiations with Pine and Hemsworth to resume. Pine said a month later that he still wanted to make the film, adding, \"we will see what happens\". Despite this, the film had been cancelled by January 2019 and Clarkson moved on to other projects. That May, Hemsworth said he had turned down the film because he was underwhelmed by the script.\n\nNoah Hawley \n\nNoah Hawley was hired to write and direct a new Star Trek film for Paramount in November 2019, which he would produce under his 26 Keys Production company alongside Abrams. The film was set to feature a new plot different from the George Kirk time travel premise and also separate from Tarantino's story idea, though the film was expected to be a sequel to Beyond and see Pine, Quinto, Urban, and Saldaña all return. Paramount and Skydance were hopeful that negotiations with the cast would be more successful without Hemsworth and with a new story.\n\nIn January 2020, Hawley said he would begin work on the film after completing the fourth season of his television series Fargo. He added that calling the film Star Trek 4 was a misnomer and reports of the Beyond cast returning were not necessarily correct, explaining that he had approached Paramount with his own vision for the franchise that was going to be different from previous films, and would likely involve new characters. It was important to Hawley to tell a new story that was respectful of the source material as he did with Fargo and Legion, and he specifically talked about evoking the Star Trek values of \"exploration and humanity at its best, and diversity and creative problem solving\". He referenced a scene from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) in which Kirk \"puts on his reading glasses and lowers Khan's shields. It doesn't cost anything. But it's that triumphant feeling about [out]smarting your enemy\" that Hawley wanted to recreate. Hawley discussed the film with his frequent composer Jeff Russo, who coincidentally was already the composer for the television series Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard. Russo was excited about the possibility of working on Hawley's film, and said they discussed Hawley's story and intentions for the film's music. Russo began composing musical themes for the film.\n\nIn February, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said Paramount was only developing one new Star Trek film. Hawley was still working on the film in May, during the COVID-19 pandemic. That July, Robert Sallin—the producer of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan—revealed that he had a concept for a new Star Trek film that he was writing a script for. He said it would be \"unlike anything that has been done in Star Trek\" before. Sallin had discussed his concept with Paramount, but had been told that the studio would not consider any other pitches for Star Trek films until they had seen Hawley's script. Hawley's project was placed on hold in August 2020 by new Paramount Pictures president Emma Watts, whose top priority at the studio was to figure out the direction of the Star Trek franchise. Hawley still intended to direct the film, and later confirmed that it was going to feature new characters. His added that his story had an explicit connection to the existing Star Trek canon in a similar way to how the first season of Fargo has a story connection to the 1996 film of the same name. The screenplay also reportedly featured a deadly virus plot that could be considered \"awkward\" due to the pandemic. Hawley said the film was \"very close to production\" when Watts put it on hold, with casting underway, filming set to take place in Australia, and Hawley preparing to move to that country at the time.\n\nRe-assessment \nIn addition to Hawley's film, Watts was considering two other options for the future of the franchise: a new attempt at a sequel to Beyond featuring the cast of the previous films, or a new film that revisited Tarantino's story idea but with a new director. Deadline Hollywoods Mike Fleming Jr suggested that a film featuring the previous cast may have the \"cleanest path\" forward, with the Hawley and Tarantino films deemed more suitable as spin-offs from the core franchise akin to the X-Men franchise's Logan (2017). Fleming added that the next film would need \"an emphasis on boosting overseas gross numbers which have never been the franchise's strong suit\". In September 2020, Hawley said his film was \"still alive, just in stasis\", but that November he said it did not \"appear to be in [his] immediate future\" anymore. Also during 2020, The Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer wrote a detailed proposal with his producing partner Steven-Charles Jaffe for a new Star Trek project, including a treatment and illustrations. Meyer said the project was not connected to any of the franchise's previous films and was set in a gap in the Star Trek timeline where an original story could be told with new characters. He described the project as a feature film, but said it could also be a television series or a combination of television and film. Meyer and Jaffe presented this proposal to Star Trek television producer Alex Kurtzman, Abrams, and Watts, but had not heard anything back from Paramount by March 2021. At that time, Paramount set Star Trek: Discovery writer Kalinda Vazquez to write the script for a new Star Trek film, based on her own original idea, with Abrams's Bad Robot producing. A month later, the studio scheduled an untitled Star Trek film for release on June 9, 2023.\n\nMatt Shakman \nAfter his success directing the television miniseries WandaVision (2021), Matt Shakman turned down several offers in favor of directing the next Star Trek film, signing a deal by mid-July 2021. Watts had pushed hard to hire Shakman for the project, and his signing was considered to be a coup for her. Abrams was confirmed to be producing the film, with a screenplay written by Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet that was separate from the script that Vazquez was hired to write. Shakman's film was set for the June 2023 release date, and was said to be moving at \"warp speed\" after his hiring ahead of a planned filming start in early to mid-2022. No deals with cast members had been made at that point, but Paramount hoped for Pine and the other main cast from his previous films to return. Due to the length of time with no new Star Trek films after Beyond, the studio decided to do market research to determine whether audiences were still interested in the previous cast. Paramount chose to bring them back after determining that there was \"lasting audience enthusiasm\" for the group. In November 2021, the film's release was pushed to December 22, 2023, to make room in Paramount's schedule for the delayed Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. By then, Josh Friedman and Cameron Squires were re-writing the film's script.\n\nAbrams and new Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins announced during a Paramount investor event in February 2022 that the main cast from the previous three Star Trek films would be returning, including Pine, Quinto, Pegg, Urban, Saldaña, and Cho. Borys Kit and Aaron Couch of The Hollywood Reporter said the announcement was a breakthrough following the previous failed attempts to continue the franchise, though it came as a surprise to the actors and their agents as negotiations had not yet begun for their return. Pine would be the first cast member to subsequently enter early negotiations because he was considered to be the \"lynchpin\" for the project. Kit and Mia Galuppo explained for The Hollywood Reporter that the script was still being worked on and an official budget or green light had yet to be given by Paramount. The budget would now likely need to take into account larger actor deals since Paramount had given up its negotiating leverage by making the announcement first. The studio chose to do that so they could promote the film during the investor event, and was willing to pay more for the cast than during initial negotiations with Pine in 2018 due to the different entertainment landscape: larger acting deals had become more common in the streaming era, Paramount had new executives and was in a stronger financial position, and the studio needed to provide content for the streaming service Paramount+. Star Trek was considered to be a key franchise in the service's international expansion due to its science fiction storytelling and diverse cast.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\nBad Robot Productions films\nParamount Pictures films\nSkydance Media films\nStar Trek (film franchise)", "The Star Theatre was the first purpose-built cinema in Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. Destroyed during Cyclone Tracy, it was the centre of Darwin's social life between the 1930s and 1960s.\n\nConstruction\n\nThe partially open air theatre was built by Snell and Gordon, the company of well-known Darwin builder Harold Snell, in the 1920s. The theatre's design was innovative at the time, in particular the roof structure, which Snell had studied in England. Only the rear rows at the back and upstairs dress circle was covered by a roof. The stage was on wheels to be moved for boxing matches and the floor was concrete in anticipation of future roller-skating events and social dances. It could seat 860 people.\n\nCentre of social life\nThe Star Theatre finally opened on 14 September 1929. The first film shown was The Cat and the Canary which had a film reel that was reported to be 10,000 feet long. The film was shown \"without the slightest hitch except that Mr Allwright while attending to the engine got his hand caught in a rapidly moving belt and badly lacerated several fingers\".\n\nThe business was leased to manager Tom Harris who later purchased the theatre. Harris was a popular figure in Darwin.\n\nThe balcony was reserved for Darwin high society while working class and Aboriginal people, who were given permission from the Chief Protector of Aborigines to break their night-time town curfew so they could attend, were expected to sit downstairs. It cost 2/6 pence to sit upstairs and only a shilling to \"sit in the blacks\".\n\nThe Australian film Jedda had its world premiere at the Star Theatre on 3 January 1955. Harris arranged for a member of the Warhiti tribe \"to sing songs and burn sticks to prevent any unwanted rainfalls during the screening. He decorated the theatre for the opening with pandanus, grass mats and Aboriginal artefacts. Large crowds gathered along Smith Street to catch a glimpse of the film's stars Ngarla Kunoth and Robert Tudawali, better known as Bob Wilson, who were permitted to sit in the balcony with the Northern Territory Administrator Frank Wise and his wife. Tudawali decided to sit downstairs. It was reported that a number of Aborigines who were invited had paddled in from Bathurst Island to attend.\n\nThe Star lost popularity during the 1960s when two new cinemas opened in Darwin by Michael Paspalis, the open-air Parap Theatre and the drive-in cinema at Nightcliff in 1964.\n\nCurrent use\nThe Star Theatre was destroyed during Cyclone Tracy in 1974 and never reopened. Manager Tom Harris had died the year before after 40 years in the Northern Territory. His son, Tom Harris Junior, renovated the theatre, turning the projector room into a flat where he and his wife would live for a number of years.\n\nThe Star was renovated again and turned into a small shopping village containing a number of small shops and cafes. It continues to be a shopping arcade, now known as Star Village. The original projector is still on display near the entrance to the arcade.\n\nAn application to heritage list the theatre was made in 1995 but was unsuccessful due to opposition from the owners.\n\nReferences\n\nBuildings and structures in Darwin, Northern Territory\nTheatres in the Northern Territory" ]
[ "Pink Floyd – The Wall", "Concept", "what was the concept of the wall", "Stars--film stars, rock 'n' roll stars--represent, in myth anyway,", "how was the film to be made", "I don't know.", "who was to star in the film", "Pink Floyd" ]
C_b62e7e335a114491b7a8de96e7d5746d_1
who made the film
4
who made the film for Pink Floyd's The Wall ?
Pink Floyd – The Wall
In the mid-1970s, as Pink Floyd gained mainstream fame, Waters began feeling increasingly alienated from their audiences: Audiences at those vast concerts are there for an excitement which, I think, has to do with the love of success. When a band or a person becomes an idol, it can have to do with the success that that person manifests, not the quality of work he produces. You don't become a fanatic because somebody's work is good, you become a fanatic to be touched vicariously by their glamour and fame. Stars--film stars, rock 'n' roll stars--represent, in myth anyway, the life as we'd all like to live it. They seem at the very centre of life. And that's why audiences still spend large sums of money at concerts where they are a long, long way from the stage, where they are often very uncomfortable, and where the sound is often very bad. Waters was also dismayed by the "executive approach", which was only about success, not even attempting to get acquainted with the actual persons of whom the band was comprised (addressed in an earlier song from Wish You Were Here, "Have a Cigar"). The concept of the wall, along with the decision to name the lead character "Pink", partly grew out of that approach, combined with the issue of the growing alienation between the band and their fans. This symbolised a new era for rock bands, as Pink Floyd "explored (... ) the hard realities of 'being where we are'", drawing upon existentialists, namely Jean-Paul Sartre. CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Pink Floyd – The Wall is a 1982 British musical psychological drama film directed by Alan Parker, based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall. The screenplay was written by Pink Floyd vocalist and bassist Roger Waters. Boomtown Rats vocalist Bob Geldof plays rock star Pink, who, driven into insanity by the death of his father, constructs a physical and emotional wall to protect himself. Like the album, the film is highly metaphorical, and symbolic imagery and sound are present most commonly. The film is mostly driven by music and features little dialogue from the characters. Despite its turbulent production and the creators voicing their discontent about the final product, the film received generally positive reviews and has an established cult following. Plot Pink is a depressed rock star whom, at the beginning of the film, appears motionless and expressionless while remembering his father. While Pink imagines a crowd of fans entering one of his concerts, but him receiving them in a fascist alter ego, a flashback reveals how his father was killed defending the Anzio beachhead during World War II, in Pink's infancy. The aftermath of the battle is seen, and thus, Pink's mother raises him alone, which affects Pink's childhood. A young Pink later discovers relics from his father's military service and death. An animation depicts the war, showing that the death of the people was for nothing. Pink places a bullet on the track of an oncoming train within a tunnel, and the train that passes has children peering out of the windows wearing face masks. At school, he is caught writing poems in class and is humiliated by the teacher who reads a poem from Pink's book. However, it is revealed that the bad treatment of the students is because of the unhappiness of the teacher's marriage. Pink imagines an oppressive school system in which children fall into a meat grinder. Pink then fantasizes about the children rising in rebellion and burning down the school, throwing the teacher onto a bonfire. As an adult now, Pink remembers his overprotective mother, and when he got married. After a phone call, Pink discovers that his wife is cheating on him, and another animation shows that every traumatic experience he has had is represented as a "brick" in the metaphorical wall he constructs around himself that divides him from all society. Pink then comes back to the hotel room with a groupie, only for her to annoy Pink to the point where he destroys the room in a fit of violence, scaring her away. Depressed, he thinks about his wife, and feels trapped in his room. He then remembers every "brick" of his wall. His wall shown to be complete, and the film returns to the first scene. Now inside his wall, he does not leave his hotel room, and begins to lose his mind to metaphorical "worms". He shaves all his body hair, and watches television. A flashback shows young Pink searching through trenches of the war, eventually finding himself as an adult. Young Pink runs in terror, and appears in a station, with the people demanding that the soldiers return home. Returning to the present, Pink's manager finds him in his hotel room, drugged and unresponsive. A paramedic injects him to enable him to perform. In this state, Pink dreams that he is a dictator and his concert is a fascist rally. His followers proceed to attack people. He then holds a rally in suburban London, indicating his mind has taken over. The scene includes images of animated marching hammers that goose-step across ruins. Pink then stops hallucinating and screams "STOP!", deciding he no longer wants to be in the wall. He is then seen cowering in a bathroom stall, silently singing to himself as a security guard walks past him. In a climactic animated sequence, Pink, as a rag doll, is on trial for "showing feelings of an almost human nature", and his sentence is "to be exposed before his peers". His teacher and wife accuse him, while his mother tries to take him home. The judge gives the order to "tear down the wall!". Following a prolonged silence, the wall is smashed as Pink can be heard screaming. Pink is never seen again after this. Several children are seen cleaning up a pile of debris, with a freeze-frame on one of the children emptying a Molotov cocktail, after which the film ends. Cast Bob Geldof as Pink Kevin McKeon as Young Pink David Bingham as Little Pink Christine Hargreaves as Pink's mother Eleanor David as Pink's wife Alex McAvoy as Teacher Bob Hoskins as Rock manager Michael Ensign as Hotel manager James Laurenson as Pink's father Jenny Wright as American groupie Margery Mason as Teacher's wife Ellis Dale as English doctor James Hazeldine as Lover Ray Mort as Playground father Robert Bridges as American doctor Joanne Whalley, Nell Campbell, Emma Longfellow, and Lorna Barton as Groupies Philip Davis and Gary Olsen as Roadies Production Concept In the mid-1970s, as Pink Floyd gained mainstream fame, songwriter Roger Waters began feeling increasingly alienated from their audiences:Audiences at those vast concerts are there for an excitement which, I think, has to do with the love of success. When a band or a person becomes an idol, it can have to do with the success that that person manifests, not the quality of work he produces. You don't become a fanatic because somebody's work is good, you become a fanatic to be touched vicariously by their glamour and fame. Stars—film stars, rock 'n' roll stars—represent, in myth anyway, the life as we'd all like to live it. They seem at the very centre of life. And that's why audiences still spend large sums of money at concerts where they are a long, long way from the stage, where they are often very uncomfortable, and where the sound is often very bad. Waters was also dismayed by the "executive approach", which was only about success, not even attempting to get acquainted with the actual persons of whom the band was composed (addressed in an earlier song from Wish You Were Here, "Have a Cigar"). The concept of the wall, along with the decision to name the lead character "Pink", partly grew out of that approach, combined with the issue of the growing alienation between the band and their fans. This symbolised a new era for rock bands, as Pink Floyd explored “the hard realities of 'being where we are'", echoing ideas of alienation described by existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre. Development Even before the original Pink Floyd album was recorded, the intention was to make a film from it. The original plan was for the film to be live footage from the album's tour, together with Scarfe's animation and extra scenes, and for Waters himself to star. EMI did not intend to make the film, as they did not understand the concept. Director Alan Parker, a Pink Floyd fan, asked EMI whether The Wall could be adapted to film. EMI suggested that Parker talk to Waters, who had asked Parker to direct the film. Parker instead suggested that he produce it and give the directing task to Gerald Scarfe and Michael Seresin, a cinematographer. Waters began work on the film's screenplay after studying scriptwriting books. He and Scarfe produced a special-edition book containing the screenplay and art to pitch the project to investors. While the book depicted Waters in the role of Pink, after screen tests, he was removed from the starring role and replaced with new wave musician and frontman of the Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof. In Behind the Wall, both Waters and Geldof later admitted to a story during casting where Geldof and his manager took a taxi to an airport, and Geldof's manager pitched the role to the singer, who continued to reject the offer and express his contempt for the project throughout the fare, unaware that the taxi driver was Waters' brother, who told Waters about Geldof's opinion. Since Waters was no longer in the starring role, it no longer made sense for the feature to include Pink Floyd footage, so the live film aspect was dropped. The footage culled from the five Wall concerts at Earl's Court from 13–17 June 1981 that were held specifically for filming was deemed unusable also for technical reasons as the fast Panavision lenses needed for the low light levels turned out to have insufficient resolution for the movie screen. Complex parts such as "Hey You" still had not been properly shot by the end of the live shows. Parker convinced Waters and Scarfe that the concert footage was too theatrical and that it would jar with the animation and stage live action. After the concert footage was dropped, Seresin left the project and Parker became sole director. Filming Parker, Waters and Scarfe frequently clashed during production, and Parker described the filming as "one of the most miserable experiences of my creative life." Scarfe declared that he would drive to Pinewood Studios carrying a bottle of Jack Daniel's, because "I had to have a slug before I went in the morning, because I knew what was coming up, and I knew I had to fortify myself in some way." Waters said that filming was "a very unnerving and unpleasant experience". During production, while filming the destruction of a hotel room, Geldof suffered a cut to his hand as he pulled away the Venetian blinds. The footage remains in the film. It was discovered while filming the pool scenes that Geldof did not know how to swim. Interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios, and it was suggested that they suspend Geldof in Christopher Reeve's clear cast used for the Superman flying sequences, but his frame was too small by comparison; it was then decided to make a smaller rig that was a more acceptable fit, and he lay on his back. In Nicholas Schaffner's book Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey (1991) it is claimed that the body cast from the film Supergirl (1984) was actually used instead. The war scenes were shot on Saunton Sands in North Devon, which was also featured on the cover of Pink Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason six years later. Release The film was shown out of competition during the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. The film's official premiere was at the Empire, Leicester Square in London, on 14 July 1982. It was attended by Waters and fellow Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason, but not Richard Wright, who was no longer a member of the band. It was also attended by various celebrities including Geldof, Scarfe, Paula Yates, Pete Townshend, Sting, Roger Taylor, James Hunt, Lulu and Andy Summers. Box office and critical reception The Wall opened with a limited release on 6 August 1982 and entered at No. 28 of the US box office charts despite only playing in one theatre on its first weekend, grossing over $68,000, a rare feat even by today's standards. The film then spent just over a month below the top 20 while still in the top 30. The film later expanded to over 600 theatres on 10 September, achieving No. 3 at the box office charts, below E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and An Officer and a Gentleman. The film eventually earned $22 million before closing in early 1983. The film received generally positive reviews. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film the approval rating of 69% based on 26 critic reviews, with the average score of 7.2 out of 10. The critical consensus reads "Pink Floyd's expression of generational angst is given striking visual form The Wall, although this ambitious feature's narrative struggles to marry its provocative images and psychedelic soundtrack into a compelling whole." On Metacritic, the film holds the weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 13 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Reviewing The Wall on their television programme At the Movies in 1982, film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave the film "two thumbs up". Ebert described The Wall as "a stunning vision of self-destruction" and "one of the most horrifying musicals of all time ... but the movie is effective. The music is strong and true, the images are like sledge hammers, and for once, the rock and roll hero isn't just a spoiled narcissist, but a real, suffering image of all the despair of this nuclear age. This is a real good movie." Siskel was more reserved in his judgement, stating that he felt that the film's imagery was too repetitive. However, he admitted that the "central image" of the fascist rally sequence "will stay with me for an awful long time." In February 2010, Ebert added The Wall to his Great Movies list, describing the film as "without question the best of all serious fiction films devoted to rock. Seeing it now in more timid times, it looks more daring than it did in 1982, when I saw it at Cannes ... It's disquieting and depressing and very good." It was chosen for the opening night of Ebertfest 2010. Danny Peary wrote that the "picture is unrelentingly downbeat and at times repulsive ... but I don't find it unwatchable – which is more than I could say if Ken Russell had directed this. The cinematography by Peter Biziou is extremely impressive and a few of the individual scenes have undeniable power." It earned two British Academy Awards: Best Sound for James Guthrie, Eddy Joseph, Clive Winter, Graham Hartstone and Nicholas Le Messurier, and Best Original Song for Waters. Waters said of the film: "I found it was so unremitting in its onslaught upon the senses, that it didn't give me, anyway, as an audience, a chance to get involved with it," although he had nothing but praise for Geldof's performance. Gilmour stated (on the "In the Studio with Redbeard" episodes of The Wall, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and On an Island) that the conflict between him and Waters started with the making of the film. Gilmour also stated on the documentary Behind The Wall (which was aired on the BBC in the UK and VH1 in the US) that "the movie was the less successful telling of The Wall story as opposed to the album and concert versions." Although the symbol of the crossed hammers used in the film was not related to any real group, it was adopted by white supremacist group the Hammerskins in the late 1980s. Themes and analysis It has been suggested that the protagonist stands for Waters. Beyond the obvious parallel of them both being rock stars, Waters lost his father while he was an infant and had marital problems, divorcing several times. It has also been suggested that Pink represents former lead singer, writer and founding member Syd Barrett, both in his appearance as well as in several incidents and anecdotes related to Barrett's descent from pop stardom due to his struggles with mental illness and self-medicating with drugs. One seemingly blatant reference is Pink's detachment from the world as he locks himself away in his room before a show and shaves himself down while suffering a mental break. During a mental breakdown, Barrett shaved his head and face before showing up to a band rehearsal (after already having been removed from the band). However, Bob Geldof, who plays Pink in the film, refused to shave his head for this part of the performance. Another influence was the declining state of pianist, Richard Wright, who was allegedly struggling with cocaine addiction at the time. This is referenced in the song Nobody Home: Got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains. Romero and Cabo place the Nazism and imperialism related symbols in the context of Margaret Thatcher's government and British foreign policy especially concerning the Falklands issue. "There's a scene in the movie of The Wall where the guy smashes up a hotel room and tries to put it together," remarked Trent Reznor, explaining the theme of Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile. "As he tries, it's obviously not right, but he's trying to make semblance [sic] of things. That's a visual that I've used in my head. It's helped me." Awards Documentary A documentary was produced about the making of Pink Floyd – The Wall entitled The Other Side of the Wall that includes interviews with Parker, Scarfe, and clips of Waters; it originally aired on MTV in 1982. A second documentary about the film was produced in 1999 entitled Retrospective: Looking Back at The Wall that includes interviews with Waters, Parker, Scarfe, and other members of the film's production team. Both are featured on The Wall DVD as extras. Soundtrack The film soundtrack contains most songs from the album, albeit with several changes, as well as additional material (see table below). The only songs from the album not used in the film are "Hey You" and "The Show Must Go On". "Hey You" was deleted as Waters and Parker felt the footage was too repetitive (eighty percent of the footage appears in montage sequences elsewhere) but a workprint version of the scene is included as a bonus feature on the DVD release. A soundtrack album from Columbia Records was listed in the film's end credits, but only a single containing "When the Tigers Broke Free" and the rerecorded "Bring the Boys Back Home" were released. "When the Tigers Broke Free" later became a bonus track on the 1983 album The Final Cut. Guitarist David Gilmour dismissed the album as a collection of songs that had been rejected for The Wall project, but were being recycled. The song, in the edit used for the single, also appears on the 2001 compilation album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd. In addition to the above, Vera Lynn's rendition of "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" was used as background music during the opening scenes. Chart positions Certifications References External links A Complete Analysis of Pink Floyd – The Wall by Bret Urick Original screenplay by Roger Waters Pink Floyd films The Wall (rock opera) 1982 films 1982 animated films 1980s musical drama films 1980s psychological drama films British films English-language films British animated films British drama films British musical films Adultery in films Allegory BAFTA winners (films) Fiction with unreliable narrators Films scored by Michael Kamen Films about fascists Films based on albums Films directed by Alan Parker Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1970s Films with live action and animation Mental illness in films British nonlinear narrative films Sung-through musical films Rock operas Films shot at Pinewood Studios Goldcrest Films films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films about depression Films about solitude 1982 drama films Pink Floyd video albums
false
[ "The Man Who Laughs is a romantic novel by Victor Hugo originally published in June 1869 under the French title L'homme qui rit.\n\nThe Man Who Laughs may also refer to:\n\nFilms\n The Man Who Laughs, a 1909 lost film made in France; see 1909 in film\n The Grinning Face, a 1921 Austrian-German silent horror film, also known as The Man Who Laughs\n The Man Who Laughs (1928 film), an American silent film\n The Man Who Laughs (1966 film) (L'uomo che ride), an Italian-French film directed by Sergio Corbucci\n L'homme qui rit, a 1971 TV movie directed by Jean Kerchbron and starring Xavier Depraz as Ursus\n The Man Who Laughs (2012 film), a French film\n\nOther\n Batman: The Man Who Laughs, a 2005 graphic novel\n \"The Man Who Laughs\", a song by Rob Zombie from the 2010 album Hellbilly Deluxe 2", "The Man Who Wouldn't Die may refer to:\n\nThe Man Who Wouldn't Die (1942 film), starring Lloyd Nolan\nThe Man Who Wouldn't Die (1995 film), a made-for-television movie featuring Roger Moore\n\"The Man Who Couldn't Die\", an episode of the western television series The Virginian\n\nSee also\nThe Woman Who Wouldn't Die, an alternate title for the 1965 British film Catacombs" ]
[ "Pink Floyd – The Wall", "Concept", "what was the concept of the wall", "Stars--film stars, rock 'n' roll stars--represent, in myth anyway,", "how was the film to be made", "I don't know.", "who was to star in the film", "Pink Floyd", "who made the film", "I don't know." ]
C_b62e7e335a114491b7a8de96e7d5746d_1
when was the film released
5
when was the film Pink Floyd's The Wall released?
Pink Floyd – The Wall
In the mid-1970s, as Pink Floyd gained mainstream fame, Waters began feeling increasingly alienated from their audiences: Audiences at those vast concerts are there for an excitement which, I think, has to do with the love of success. When a band or a person becomes an idol, it can have to do with the success that that person manifests, not the quality of work he produces. You don't become a fanatic because somebody's work is good, you become a fanatic to be touched vicariously by their glamour and fame. Stars--film stars, rock 'n' roll stars--represent, in myth anyway, the life as we'd all like to live it. They seem at the very centre of life. And that's why audiences still spend large sums of money at concerts where they are a long, long way from the stage, where they are often very uncomfortable, and where the sound is often very bad. Waters was also dismayed by the "executive approach", which was only about success, not even attempting to get acquainted with the actual persons of whom the band was comprised (addressed in an earlier song from Wish You Were Here, "Have a Cigar"). The concept of the wall, along with the decision to name the lead character "Pink", partly grew out of that approach, combined with the issue of the growing alienation between the band and their fans. This symbolised a new era for rock bands, as Pink Floyd "explored (... ) the hard realities of 'being where we are'", drawing upon existentialists, namely Jean-Paul Sartre. CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Pink Floyd – The Wall is a 1982 British musical psychological drama film directed by Alan Parker, based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall. The screenplay was written by Pink Floyd vocalist and bassist Roger Waters. Boomtown Rats vocalist Bob Geldof plays rock star Pink, who, driven into insanity by the death of his father, constructs a physical and emotional wall to protect himself. Like the album, the film is highly metaphorical, and symbolic imagery and sound are present most commonly. The film is mostly driven by music and features little dialogue from the characters. Despite its turbulent production and the creators voicing their discontent about the final product, the film received generally positive reviews and has an established cult following. Plot Pink is a depressed rock star whom, at the beginning of the film, appears motionless and expressionless while remembering his father. While Pink imagines a crowd of fans entering one of his concerts, but him receiving them in a fascist alter ego, a flashback reveals how his father was killed defending the Anzio beachhead during World War II, in Pink's infancy. The aftermath of the battle is seen, and thus, Pink's mother raises him alone, which affects Pink's childhood. A young Pink later discovers relics from his father's military service and death. An animation depicts the war, showing that the death of the people was for nothing. Pink places a bullet on the track of an oncoming train within a tunnel, and the train that passes has children peering out of the windows wearing face masks. At school, he is caught writing poems in class and is humiliated by the teacher who reads a poem from Pink's book. However, it is revealed that the bad treatment of the students is because of the unhappiness of the teacher's marriage. Pink imagines an oppressive school system in which children fall into a meat grinder. Pink then fantasizes about the children rising in rebellion and burning down the school, throwing the teacher onto a bonfire. As an adult now, Pink remembers his overprotective mother, and when he got married. After a phone call, Pink discovers that his wife is cheating on him, and another animation shows that every traumatic experience he has had is represented as a "brick" in the metaphorical wall he constructs around himself that divides him from all society. Pink then comes back to the hotel room with a groupie, only for her to annoy Pink to the point where he destroys the room in a fit of violence, scaring her away. Depressed, he thinks about his wife, and feels trapped in his room. He then remembers every "brick" of his wall. His wall shown to be complete, and the film returns to the first scene. Now inside his wall, he does not leave his hotel room, and begins to lose his mind to metaphorical "worms". He shaves all his body hair, and watches television. A flashback shows young Pink searching through trenches of the war, eventually finding himself as an adult. Young Pink runs in terror, and appears in a station, with the people demanding that the soldiers return home. Returning to the present, Pink's manager finds him in his hotel room, drugged and unresponsive. A paramedic injects him to enable him to perform. In this state, Pink dreams that he is a dictator and his concert is a fascist rally. His followers proceed to attack people. He then holds a rally in suburban London, indicating his mind has taken over. The scene includes images of animated marching hammers that goose-step across ruins. Pink then stops hallucinating and screams "STOP!", deciding he no longer wants to be in the wall. He is then seen cowering in a bathroom stall, silently singing to himself as a security guard walks past him. In a climactic animated sequence, Pink, as a rag doll, is on trial for "showing feelings of an almost human nature", and his sentence is "to be exposed before his peers". His teacher and wife accuse him, while his mother tries to take him home. The judge gives the order to "tear down the wall!". Following a prolonged silence, the wall is smashed as Pink can be heard screaming. Pink is never seen again after this. Several children are seen cleaning up a pile of debris, with a freeze-frame on one of the children emptying a Molotov cocktail, after which the film ends. Cast Bob Geldof as Pink Kevin McKeon as Young Pink David Bingham as Little Pink Christine Hargreaves as Pink's mother Eleanor David as Pink's wife Alex McAvoy as Teacher Bob Hoskins as Rock manager Michael Ensign as Hotel manager James Laurenson as Pink's father Jenny Wright as American groupie Margery Mason as Teacher's wife Ellis Dale as English doctor James Hazeldine as Lover Ray Mort as Playground father Robert Bridges as American doctor Joanne Whalley, Nell Campbell, Emma Longfellow, and Lorna Barton as Groupies Philip Davis and Gary Olsen as Roadies Production Concept In the mid-1970s, as Pink Floyd gained mainstream fame, songwriter Roger Waters began feeling increasingly alienated from their audiences:Audiences at those vast concerts are there for an excitement which, I think, has to do with the love of success. When a band or a person becomes an idol, it can have to do with the success that that person manifests, not the quality of work he produces. You don't become a fanatic because somebody's work is good, you become a fanatic to be touched vicariously by their glamour and fame. Stars—film stars, rock 'n' roll stars—represent, in myth anyway, the life as we'd all like to live it. They seem at the very centre of life. And that's why audiences still spend large sums of money at concerts where they are a long, long way from the stage, where they are often very uncomfortable, and where the sound is often very bad. Waters was also dismayed by the "executive approach", which was only about success, not even attempting to get acquainted with the actual persons of whom the band was composed (addressed in an earlier song from Wish You Were Here, "Have a Cigar"). The concept of the wall, along with the decision to name the lead character "Pink", partly grew out of that approach, combined with the issue of the growing alienation between the band and their fans. This symbolised a new era for rock bands, as Pink Floyd explored “the hard realities of 'being where we are'", echoing ideas of alienation described by existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre. Development Even before the original Pink Floyd album was recorded, the intention was to make a film from it. The original plan was for the film to be live footage from the album's tour, together with Scarfe's animation and extra scenes, and for Waters himself to star. EMI did not intend to make the film, as they did not understand the concept. Director Alan Parker, a Pink Floyd fan, asked EMI whether The Wall could be adapted to film. EMI suggested that Parker talk to Waters, who had asked Parker to direct the film. Parker instead suggested that he produce it and give the directing task to Gerald Scarfe and Michael Seresin, a cinematographer. Waters began work on the film's screenplay after studying scriptwriting books. He and Scarfe produced a special-edition book containing the screenplay and art to pitch the project to investors. While the book depicted Waters in the role of Pink, after screen tests, he was removed from the starring role and replaced with new wave musician and frontman of the Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof. In Behind the Wall, both Waters and Geldof later admitted to a story during casting where Geldof and his manager took a taxi to an airport, and Geldof's manager pitched the role to the singer, who continued to reject the offer and express his contempt for the project throughout the fare, unaware that the taxi driver was Waters' brother, who told Waters about Geldof's opinion. Since Waters was no longer in the starring role, it no longer made sense for the feature to include Pink Floyd footage, so the live film aspect was dropped. The footage culled from the five Wall concerts at Earl's Court from 13–17 June 1981 that were held specifically for filming was deemed unusable also for technical reasons as the fast Panavision lenses needed for the low light levels turned out to have insufficient resolution for the movie screen. Complex parts such as "Hey You" still had not been properly shot by the end of the live shows. Parker convinced Waters and Scarfe that the concert footage was too theatrical and that it would jar with the animation and stage live action. After the concert footage was dropped, Seresin left the project and Parker became sole director. Filming Parker, Waters and Scarfe frequently clashed during production, and Parker described the filming as "one of the most miserable experiences of my creative life." Scarfe declared that he would drive to Pinewood Studios carrying a bottle of Jack Daniel's, because "I had to have a slug before I went in the morning, because I knew what was coming up, and I knew I had to fortify myself in some way." Waters said that filming was "a very unnerving and unpleasant experience". During production, while filming the destruction of a hotel room, Geldof suffered a cut to his hand as he pulled away the Venetian blinds. The footage remains in the film. It was discovered while filming the pool scenes that Geldof did not know how to swim. Interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios, and it was suggested that they suspend Geldof in Christopher Reeve's clear cast used for the Superman flying sequences, but his frame was too small by comparison; it was then decided to make a smaller rig that was a more acceptable fit, and he lay on his back. In Nicholas Schaffner's book Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey (1991) it is claimed that the body cast from the film Supergirl (1984) was actually used instead. The war scenes were shot on Saunton Sands in North Devon, which was also featured on the cover of Pink Floyd's A Momentary Lapse of Reason six years later. Release The film was shown out of competition during the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. The film's official premiere was at the Empire, Leicester Square in London, on 14 July 1982. It was attended by Waters and fellow Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason, but not Richard Wright, who was no longer a member of the band. It was also attended by various celebrities including Geldof, Scarfe, Paula Yates, Pete Townshend, Sting, Roger Taylor, James Hunt, Lulu and Andy Summers. Box office and critical reception The Wall opened with a limited release on 6 August 1982 and entered at No. 28 of the US box office charts despite only playing in one theatre on its first weekend, grossing over $68,000, a rare feat even by today's standards. The film then spent just over a month below the top 20 while still in the top 30. The film later expanded to over 600 theatres on 10 September, achieving No. 3 at the box office charts, below E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and An Officer and a Gentleman. The film eventually earned $22 million before closing in early 1983. The film received generally positive reviews. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film the approval rating of 69% based on 26 critic reviews, with the average score of 7.2 out of 10. The critical consensus reads "Pink Floyd's expression of generational angst is given striking visual form The Wall, although this ambitious feature's narrative struggles to marry its provocative images and psychedelic soundtrack into a compelling whole." On Metacritic, the film holds the weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 13 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Reviewing The Wall on their television programme At the Movies in 1982, film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave the film "two thumbs up". Ebert described The Wall as "a stunning vision of self-destruction" and "one of the most horrifying musicals of all time ... but the movie is effective. The music is strong and true, the images are like sledge hammers, and for once, the rock and roll hero isn't just a spoiled narcissist, but a real, suffering image of all the despair of this nuclear age. This is a real good movie." Siskel was more reserved in his judgement, stating that he felt that the film's imagery was too repetitive. However, he admitted that the "central image" of the fascist rally sequence "will stay with me for an awful long time." In February 2010, Ebert added The Wall to his Great Movies list, describing the film as "without question the best of all serious fiction films devoted to rock. Seeing it now in more timid times, it looks more daring than it did in 1982, when I saw it at Cannes ... It's disquieting and depressing and very good." It was chosen for the opening night of Ebertfest 2010. Danny Peary wrote that the "picture is unrelentingly downbeat and at times repulsive ... but I don't find it unwatchable – which is more than I could say if Ken Russell had directed this. The cinematography by Peter Biziou is extremely impressive and a few of the individual scenes have undeniable power." It earned two British Academy Awards: Best Sound for James Guthrie, Eddy Joseph, Clive Winter, Graham Hartstone and Nicholas Le Messurier, and Best Original Song for Waters. Waters said of the film: "I found it was so unremitting in its onslaught upon the senses, that it didn't give me, anyway, as an audience, a chance to get involved with it," although he had nothing but praise for Geldof's performance. Gilmour stated (on the "In the Studio with Redbeard" episodes of The Wall, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and On an Island) that the conflict between him and Waters started with the making of the film. Gilmour also stated on the documentary Behind The Wall (which was aired on the BBC in the UK and VH1 in the US) that "the movie was the less successful telling of The Wall story as opposed to the album and concert versions." Although the symbol of the crossed hammers used in the film was not related to any real group, it was adopted by white supremacist group the Hammerskins in the late 1980s. Themes and analysis It has been suggested that the protagonist stands for Waters. Beyond the obvious parallel of them both being rock stars, Waters lost his father while he was an infant and had marital problems, divorcing several times. It has also been suggested that Pink represents former lead singer, writer and founding member Syd Barrett, both in his appearance as well as in several incidents and anecdotes related to Barrett's descent from pop stardom due to his struggles with mental illness and self-medicating with drugs. One seemingly blatant reference is Pink's detachment from the world as he locks himself away in his room before a show and shaves himself down while suffering a mental break. During a mental breakdown, Barrett shaved his head and face before showing up to a band rehearsal (after already having been removed from the band). However, Bob Geldof, who plays Pink in the film, refused to shave his head for this part of the performance. Another influence was the declining state of pianist, Richard Wright, who was allegedly struggling with cocaine addiction at the time. This is referenced in the song Nobody Home: Got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains. Romero and Cabo place the Nazism and imperialism related symbols in the context of Margaret Thatcher's government and British foreign policy especially concerning the Falklands issue. "There's a scene in the movie of The Wall where the guy smashes up a hotel room and tries to put it together," remarked Trent Reznor, explaining the theme of Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile. "As he tries, it's obviously not right, but he's trying to make semblance [sic] of things. That's a visual that I've used in my head. It's helped me." Awards Documentary A documentary was produced about the making of Pink Floyd – The Wall entitled The Other Side of the Wall that includes interviews with Parker, Scarfe, and clips of Waters; it originally aired on MTV in 1982. A second documentary about the film was produced in 1999 entitled Retrospective: Looking Back at The Wall that includes interviews with Waters, Parker, Scarfe, and other members of the film's production team. Both are featured on The Wall DVD as extras. Soundtrack The film soundtrack contains most songs from the album, albeit with several changes, as well as additional material (see table below). The only songs from the album not used in the film are "Hey You" and "The Show Must Go On". "Hey You" was deleted as Waters and Parker felt the footage was too repetitive (eighty percent of the footage appears in montage sequences elsewhere) but a workprint version of the scene is included as a bonus feature on the DVD release. A soundtrack album from Columbia Records was listed in the film's end credits, but only a single containing "When the Tigers Broke Free" and the rerecorded "Bring the Boys Back Home" were released. "When the Tigers Broke Free" later became a bonus track on the 1983 album The Final Cut. Guitarist David Gilmour dismissed the album as a collection of songs that had been rejected for The Wall project, but were being recycled. The song, in the edit used for the single, also appears on the 2001 compilation album Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd. In addition to the above, Vera Lynn's rendition of "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" was used as background music during the opening scenes. Chart positions Certifications References External links A Complete Analysis of Pink Floyd – The Wall by Bret Urick Original screenplay by Roger Waters Pink Floyd films The Wall (rock opera) 1982 films 1982 animated films 1980s musical drama films 1980s psychological drama films British films English-language films British animated films British drama films British musical films Adultery in films Allegory BAFTA winners (films) Fiction with unreliable narrators Films scored by Michael Kamen Films about fascists Films based on albums Films directed by Alan Parker Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1970s Films with live action and animation Mental illness in films British nonlinear narrative films Sung-through musical films Rock operas Films shot at Pinewood Studios Goldcrest Films films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films about depression Films about solitude 1982 drama films Pink Floyd video albums
false
[ "\"When the Shit Goes Down\" (\"When the Ship Goes Down\" on edited versions) is a song by American hip hop group Cypress Hill. The song was released as the second single from the group's second studio album, Black Sunday. The single was released exclusively in Australia and Europe.\n\nTrack listing\nEuropean 12\"\n\nEuropean promo single\n\nEuropean maxi single\n\nAustralian maxi single\n\nCharts\n\nIn popular culture\n The song was used in the 2001 film Bully.\n An edited version of the song was used in the 2007 film Freedom Writers.\n The song was used in the pilot episode of Hello Ladies.\n The song was featured in the 2013 film This Is the End.\n The song was used in a second-season episode of The Affair.\n The song was featured in the 2018 film Mid90s.\n The song was used in the episode \"Ezekiel Patrol\" of the 2019 TV series Doom Patrol.\nThe song was used in the 2019 film Guns Akimbo.\n\nReferences\n\n1993 songs\n1993 singles\nCypress Hill songs\nRuffhouse Records singles\nColumbia Records singles\nHardcore hip hop songs\nSongs written by DJ Muggs\nSongs written by B-Real\nSong recordings produced by DJ Muggs", "\"With A Flair\" is a song written by Robert and Richard Sherman for the 1971, Walt Disney musical film production Bedknobs and Broomsticks. David Tomlinson sings the song; however, the song was cut in the final cut of the motion picture. It was considered \"lost and forgotten\" until twenty-five years later, in 1996, when the film was reconstructed and the song was resurrected for the 1990s remastered CD. The song was also included on the original LP Soundtrack released when the film was released in 1971.\n\nStory Placement\nIn the Sherman Brothers' co-autobiography, Walt's Time, the authors discuss the song's place in the film:\n\"As thrilled as we were to have Angela Lansbury on board, we were equally delighted when the wonderful David Tomlinson accepted the role as Professor Emelius Browne. David was a great actor as we learned when he played the role of Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins. He can perform comedy brilliantly, but he can also handle the dramatic undertones a role like this one calls for. He once told us, ' There's a difference between comedians and clowns. A clown does funny things and a comedian does things funny. In 'With A Flair\", we meet Emelius Browne, who is selling people on the street his dubious magic tricks. We asked our pal Milt Larsen, who, along with being a fine comedy writer, is also an expert on magic, to come in and create a comedy magic act. He taught all the tricks to David, and even has a part in the film as the stooge who gets a hatful of milk dumped on his head. To our dismay, when Bedknobs was first released, the whole 'With A Flair' sequence was cut from the film- except for a brief scene where Milt walks by, inexplicably covered in spilled milk!\"\n\nThe 1971 Oscars\nAnother song from the film sung by Angela Lansbury; \"The Age of Not Believing\" was nominated for a Best Song Oscar. The Sherman Brothers' entire musical score was also nominated for an Oscar that year as well. These two nominations represent the songwriters' fourth and fifth Oscar bids respectively.\n\nThe reconstruction also marks the first time the film was presented in stereophonic sound. Though the musical score was recorded in stereo and the soundtrack album was presented that way, the film was released in mono sound.\n\nLiterary Sources\n Sherman, Robert B. Walt's Time: from before to beyond. Santa Clarita: Camphor Tree Publishers, 1998.\n\nReferences \n\n1971 songs\nSongs from Bedknobs and Broomsticks\nSongs written by the Sherman Brothers" ]
[ "Timur", "Rise to power" ]
C_e6592fba22cd4733b7119e8ca671f8d1_0
How did he begin to attain power?
1
How did Timur begin to attain power?
Timur
It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers in joint adventures, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them began to become strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tishnet. Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. At around 1370 Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. One day Aksak Temur spoke thusly: "Khan Zudei (in China) rules over the city. We now number fifty to sixty men, so let us elect a leader." So they drove a stake into the ground and said: "We shall run thither and he among us who is the first to reach the stake, may he become our leader". So they ran and Aksak Timur, as he was lame, lagged behind, but before the others reached the stake he threw his cap onto it. Those who arrived first said: "We are the leaders." ["But,"] Aksak Timur said: "My head came in first, I am the leader." Meanwhile, an old man arrived and said: "The leadership should belong to Aksak Timur; your feet have arrived but, before then, his head reached the goal." So they made Aksak Timur their prince. CANNOTANSWER
Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads
Timur ( Temür, 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( Temür Küregen), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. As an undefeated commander, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest military leaders and tacticians in history. Timur is also considered a great patron of art and architecture as he interacted with intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i Abru and his reign introduced the Timurid Renaissance. Born into the Barlas confederation in Transoxiana (in modern-day Uzbekistan) on 9 April 1336, Timur gained control of the western Chagatai Khanate by 1370. From that base, he led military campaigns across Western, South and Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Southern Russia, defeating in the process the Khans of the Golden Horde, the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire, and the late Delhi Sultanate of India and emerging as the most powerful ruler in the Islamic World. From these conquests, he founded the Timurid Empire, but this empire fragmented shortly after his death. Timur was the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe, and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lasting Islamic gunpowder empires in the 16th and 17th centuries. Timur was of both Turkic and Mongol descent, and, while unlikely a direct descendant on either side, he shared a common ancestor with Genghis Khan on his father's side, though some authors have suggested his mother may have been a descendant of Khan. He clearly sought to invoke the legacy of the latter's conquests during his lifetime. Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan (died 1227) and according to Gérard Chaliand, saw himself as Genghis Khan's heir. According to Beatrice Forbes Manz, "in his formal correspondence Temur continued throughout his life to portray himself as the restorer of Chinggisid rights. He justified his Iranian, Mamluk, and Ottoman campaigns as a re-imposition of legitimate Mongol control over lands taken by usurpers." To legitimize his conquests, Timur relied on Islamic symbols and language, referred to himself as the "Sword of Islam". He was a patron of educational and religious institutions. He converted nearly all the Borjigin leaders to Islam during his lifetime. Timur decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaller at the Siege of Smyrna, styling himself a ghazi. By the end of his reign, Timur had gained complete control over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, the Ilkhanate, and the Golden Horde, and even attempted to restore the Yuan dynasty in China. Timur's armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and were feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe, sizable parts of which his campaigns laid waste. Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population at the time. Of all the areas he conquered, Khwarazm suffered the most from his expeditions, as it rose several times against him. Timur was the grandfather of the Timurid sultan, astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire, which then ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent. Ancestry Through his father, Timur claimed to be a descendant of Tumanay Khan, a male-line ancestor he shared with Genghis Khan. Tumanay's great-great grandson Qarachar Noyan was a minister for the emperor who later assisted the latter's son Chagatai in the governorship of Transoxiana. Though there are not many mentions of Qarachar in 13th and 14th century records, later Timurid sources greatly emphasised his role in the early history of the Mongol Empire. These histories also state that Genghis Khan later established the "bond of fatherhood and sonship" by marrying Chagatai's daughter to Qarachar. Through his alleged descent from this marriage, Timur claimed kinship with the Chagatai Khans. The origins of Timur's mother, Tekina Khatun, are less clear. The Zafarnama merely states her name without giving any information regarding her background. Writing in 1403, Johannes de Galonifontibus, Archbishop of Sultaniyya, claimed that she was of lowly origin. The Mu'izz al-Ansab, written decades later, says that she was related to the Yasa'uri tribe, whose lands bordered that of the Barlas. Ibn Khaldun recounted that Timur himself described to him his mother's descent from the legendary Persian hero Manuchehr. Ibn Arabshah suggested that she was a descendant of Genghis Khan. The 18th century Books of Timur identify her as the daughter of 'Sadr al-Sharia', which is believed to refer to the Hanafi scholar Ubayd Allah al-Mahbubi of Bukhara. Early life Timur was born in Transoxiana near the city of Kesh (modern Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan), some south of Samarkand, part of what was then the Chagatai Khanate. His name Temur means "Iron" in the Chagatai language, his mother-tongue (cf. Uzbek Temir, Turkish Demir). It is cognate with Genghis Khan's birth name of Temüjin. Later Timurid dynastic histories claim that Timur was born on 8 April 1336, but most sources from his lifetime give ages that are consistent with a birthdate in the late 1320s. Historian Beatrice Forbes Manz suspects the 1336 date was designed to tie Timur to the legacy of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, the last ruler of the Ilkhanate descended from Hulagu Khan, who died in that year. He was a member of the Barlas, a Mongolian tribe that had been turkified in many aspects. His father, Taraghai was described as a minor noble of this tribe. However, Manz believes that Timur may have later understated the social position of his father, so as to make his own successes appear more remarkable. She states that though he is not believed to have been especially powerful, Taraghai was reasonably wealthy and influential. This is shown by Timur later returning to his birthplace following the death of his father in 1360, suggesting concern over his estate. Taraghai's social significance is further hinted at by Arabshah, who described him as a magnate in the court of Amir Husayn Qara'unas. In addition to this, the father of the great Amir Hamid Kereyid of Moghulistan is stated as a friend of Taraghai's. In his childhood, Timur and a small band of followers raided travelers for goods, especially animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle. Around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows, one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he lost two fingers. Both injuries crippled him for life. Some believe that Timur suffered his crippling injuries while serving as a mercenary to the khan of Sistan in what is today the Dashti Margo in southwest Afghanistan. Timur's injuries have given him the names of Timur the Lame and Tamerlane by Europeans. Military leader About 1360, Timur gained prominence as a military leader whose troops were mostly Turkic tribesmen of the region. He took part in campaigns in Transoxiana with the Khan of the Chagatai Khanate. Allying himself both in cause and by family connection with Qazaghan, the dethroner and destroyer of Volga Bulgaria, he invaded Khorasan at the head of a thousand horsemen. This was the second military expedition that he led, and its success led to further operations, among them the subjugation of Khwarezm and Urgench. Following Qazaghan's murder, disputes arose among the many claimants to sovereign power. Tughlugh Timur of Kashgar, the Khan of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, another descendant of Genghis Khan, invaded, interrupting this infighting. Timur was sent to negotiate with the invader but joined with him instead and was rewarded with Transoxania. At about this time, his father died and Timur also became chief of the Berlas. Tughlugh then attempted to set his son Ilyas Khoja over Transoxania, but Timur repelled this invasion with a smaller force. Rise to power It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Amir Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them became strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tashkent. Timur gained followers in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. Around 1370, Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. Legitimization of Timur's rule Timur's Turco-Mongolian heritage provided opportunities and challenges as he sought to rule the Mongol Empire and the Muslim world. According to the Mongol traditions, Timur could not claim the title of khan or rule the Mongol Empire because he was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Therefore, Timur set up a puppet Chaghatay Khan, Suyurghatmish, as the nominal ruler of Balkh as he pretended to act as a "protector of the member of a Chinggisid line, that of Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi". Timur instead used the title of Amir meaning general, and acting in the name of the Chagatai ruler of Transoxania. To reinforce this position, Timur claimed the title Guregen (royal son-in-law) when he married Saray Mulk Khanum, a princess of Chinggisid descent. As with the title of Khan, Timur similarly could not claim the supreme title of the Islamic world, Caliph, because the "office was limited to the Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad". Therefore, Timur reacted to the challenge by creating a myth and image of himself as a "supernatural personal power" ordained by God. Otherwise he was described as a spiritual descendant of Ali, thus taken lineage of both to Genghis Khan and the Quraysh. Period of expansion Timur spent the next 35 years in various wars and expeditions. He not only consolidated his rule at home by the subjugation of his foes, but sought extension of territory by encroachments upon the lands of foreign potentates. His conquests to the west and northwest led him to the lands near the Caspian Sea and to the banks of the Ural and the Volga. Conquests in the south and south-West encompassed almost every province in Persia, including Baghdad, Karbala and Northern Iraq. One of the most formidable of Timur's opponents was another Mongol ruler, a descendant of Genghis Khan named Tokhtamysh. After having been a refugee in Timur's court, Tokhtamysh became ruler both of the eastern Kipchak and the Golden Horde. After his accession, he quarreled with Timur over the possession of Khwarizm and Azerbaijan. However, Timur still supported him against the Russians and in 1382 Tokhtamysh invaded the Muscovite dominion and burned Moscow. Orthodox tradition states that later, in 1395 Timur, having reached the frontier of the Principality of Ryazan, had taken Elets and started advancing towards Moscow. Great Prince Vasily I of Moscow went with an army to Kolomna and halted at the banks of the Oka River. The clergy brought the famed Theotokos of Vladimir icon from Vladimir to Moscow. Along the way people prayed kneeling: "O Mother of God, save the land of Russia!" Suddenly, Timur's armies retreated. In memory of this miraculous deliverance of the Russian land from Timur on 26 August, the all-Russian celebration in honor of the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was established. Conquest of Persia After the death of Abu Sa'id, ruler of the Ilkhanate, in 1335, there was a power vacuum in Persia. In the end, Persia was split amongst the Muzaffarids, Kartids, Eretnids, Chobanids, Injuids, Jalayirids, and Sarbadars. In 1383, Timur started his lengthy military conquest of Persia, though he already ruled over much of Persian Khorasan by 1381, after Khwaja Mas'ud, of the Sarbadar dynasty surrendered. Timur began his Persian campaign with Herat, capital of the Kartid dynasty. When Herat did not surrender he reduced the city to rubble and massacred most of its citizens; it remained in ruins until Shah Rukh ordered its reconstruction around 1415. Timur then sent a General to capture rebellious Kandahar. With the capture of Herat the Kartid kingdom surrendered and became vassals of Timur; it would later be annexed outright less than a decade later in 1389 by Timur's son Miran Shah. Timur then headed west to capture the Zagros Mountains, passing through Mazandaran. During his travel through the north of Persia, he captured the then town of Tehran, which surrendered and was thus treated mercifully. He laid siege to Soltaniyeh in 1384. Khorasan revolted one year later, so Timur destroyed Isfizar, and the prisoners were cemented into the walls alive. The next year the kingdom of Sistan, under the Mihrabanid dynasty, was ravaged, and its capital at Zaranj was destroyed. Timur then returned to his capital of Samarkand, where he began planning for his Georgian campaign and Golden Horde invasion. In 1386, Timur passed through Mazandaran as he had when trying to capture the Zagros. He went near the city of Soltaniyeh, which he had previously captured but instead turned north and captured Tabriz with little resistance, along with Maragha. He ordered heavy taxation of the people, which was collected by Adil Aqa, who was also given control over Soltaniyeh. Adil was later executed because Timur suspected him of corruption. Timur then went north to begin his Georgian and Golden Horde campaigns, pausing his full-scale invasion of Persia. When he returned, he found his generals had done well in protecting the cities and lands he had conquered in Persia. Though many rebelled, and his son Miran Shah, who may have been regent, was forced to annex rebellious vassal dynasties, his holdings remained. So he proceeded to capture the rest of Persia, specifically the two major southern cities of Isfahan and Shiraz. When he arrived with his army at Isfahan in 1387, the city immediately surrendered; he treated it with relative mercy as he normally did with cities that surrendered (unlike Herat). However, after Isfahan revolted against Timur's taxes by killing the tax collectors and some of Timur's soldiers, he ordered the massacre of the city's citizens; the death toll is reckoned at between 100,000 and 200,000. An eye-witness counted more than 28 towers constructed of about 1,500 heads each. This has been described as a "systematic use of terror against towns...an integral element of Tamerlane's strategic element", which he viewed as preventing bloodshed by discouraging resistance. His massacres were selective and he spared the artistic and educated. This would later influence the next great Persian conqueror: Nader Shah. Timur then began a five-year campaign to the west in 1392, attacking Persian Kurdistan. In 1393, Shiraz was captured after surrendering, and the Muzaffarids became vassals of Timur, though prince Shah Mansur rebelled but was defeated, and the Muzafarids were annexed. Shortly after Georgia was devastated so that the Golden Horde could not use it to threaten northern Iran. In the same year, Timur caught Baghdad by surprise in August by marching there in only eight days from Shiraz. Sultan Ahmad Jalayir fled to Syria, where the Mamluk Sultan Barquq protected him and killed Timur's envoys. Timur left the Sarbadar prince Khwaja Mas'ud to govern Baghdad, but he was driven out when Ahmad Jalayir returned. Ahmad was unpopular but got help from Qara Yusuf of the Kara Koyunlu; he fled again in 1399, this time to the Ottomans. Tokhtamysh–Timur war In the meantime, Tokhtamysh, now khan of the Golden Horde, turned against his patron and in 1385 invaded Azerbaijan. The inevitable response by Timur resulted in the Tokhtamysh–Timur war. In the initial stage of the war, Timur won a victory at the Battle of the Kondurcha River. After the battle Tokhtamysh and some of his army were allowed to escape. After Tokhtamysh's initial defeat, Timur invaded Muscovy to the north of Tokhtamysh's holdings. Timur's army burned Ryazan and advanced on Moscow. He was pulled away before reaching the Oka River by Tokhtamysh's renewed campaign in the south. In the first phase of the conflict with Tokhtamysh, Timur led an army of over 100,000 men north for more than 700 miles into the steppe. He then rode west about 1,000 miles advancing in a front more than 10 miles wide. During this advance, Timur's army got far enough north to be in a region of very long summer days causing complaints by his Muslim soldiers about keeping a long schedule of prayers. It was then that Tokhtamysh's army was boxed in against the east bank of the Volga River in the Orenburg region and destroyed at the Battle of the Kondurcha River, in 1391. In the second phase of the conflict, Timur took a different route against the enemy by invading the realm of Tokhtamysh via the Caucasus region. In 1395, Timur defeated Tokhtamysh in the Battle of the Terek River, concluding the struggle between the two monarchs. Tokhtamysh was unable to restore his power or prestige, and he was killed about a decade later in the area of present-day Tyumen. During the course of Timur's campaigns, his army destroyed Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and Astrakhan, subsequently disrupting the Golden Horde's Silk Road. The Golden Horde no longer held power after their losses to Timur. Ismailis In May 1393, Timur's army invaded the Anjudan, crippling the Ismaili village only a year after his assault on the Ismailis in Mazandaran. The village was prepared for the attack, evidenced by its fortress and system of tunnels. Undeterred, Timur's soldiers flooded the tunnels by cutting into a channel overhead. Timur's reasons for attacking this village are not yet well understood. However, it has been suggested that his religious persuasions and view of himself as an executor of divine will may have contributed to his motivations. The Persian historian Khwandamir explains that an Ismaili presence was growing more politically powerful in Persian Iraq. A group of locals in the region was dissatisfied with this and, Khwandamir writes, these locals assembled and brought up their complaint with Timur, possibly provoking his attack on the Ismailis there. Campaign against the Tughlaq dynasty In 1398, Timur invaded northern India, attacking the Delhi Sultanate ruled by Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq of the Tughlaq dynasty. After crossing the Indus River on 30 September 1398, he sacked Tulamba and massacred its inhabitants. Then he advanced and captured Multan by October. His invasion was unopposed as most of the Indian nobility surrendered without a fight, however he did encounter resistance from the united army of Rajputs and Muslims at Bhatner under the command of the Rajput king Dulachand, Dulachand initially opposed Timur but when hard-pressed he considered surrender. He was locked outside the walls of Bhatner by his brother and was later killed by Timur. The garrison of Bhatner then fought and were slaughtered to the last man. Bhatner was looted and burned to the ground. While on his march towards Delhi, Timur was opposed by the Jat peasantry, who would loot caravans and then disappear in the forests, Timur had 2,000 Jats killed and many taken captive. But the Sultanate at Delhi did nothing to stop his advance. Capture of Delhi (1398) The battle took place on 17 December 1398. Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq and the army of Mallu Iqbal had war elephants armored with chain mail and poison on their tusks. As his Tatar forces were afraid of the elephants, Timur ordered his men to dig a trench in front of their positions. Timur then loaded his camels with as much wood and hay as they could carry. When the war elephants charged, Timur set the hay on fire and prodded the camels with iron sticks, causing them to charge at the elephants, howling in pain: Timur had understood that elephants were easily panicked. Faced with the strange spectacle of camels flying straight at them with flames leaping from their backs, the elephants turned around and stampeded back toward their own lines. Timur capitalized on the subsequent disruption in the forces of Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq, securing an easy victory. Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq fled with remnants of his forces. Delhi was sacked and left in ruins. Before the battle for Delhi, Timur executed 100,000 captives. The capture of the Delhi Sultanate was one of Timur's greatest victories, as at that time, Delhi was one of the richest cities in the world. After Delhi fell to Timur's army, uprisings by its citizens against the Turkic-Mongols began to occur, causing a retaliatory bloody massacre within the city walls. After three days of citizens uprising within Delhi, it was said that the city reeked of the decomposing bodies of its citizens with their heads being erected like structures and the bodies left as food for the birds by Timur's soldiers. Timur's invasion and destruction of Delhi continued the chaos that was still consuming India, and the city would not be able to recover from the great loss it suffered for almost a century. Campaigns in the Levant Before the end of 1399, Timur started a war with Bayezid I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and the Mamluk sultan of Egypt Nasir-ad-Din Faraj. Bayezid began annexing the territory of Turkmen and Muslim rulers in Anatolia. As Timur claimed sovereignty over the Turkoman rulers, they took refuge behind him. In 1400, Timur invaded Armenia and Georgia. Of the surviving population, more than 60,000 of the local people were captured as slaves, and many districts were depopulated. He also sacked Sivas in Asia Minor. Then Timur turned his attention to Syria, sacking Aleppo, and Damascus. The city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans, who were deported to Samarkand. Timur invaded Baghdad in June 1401. After the capture of the city, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred. Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him. When they ran out of men to kill, many warriors killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign, and when they ran out of prisoners to kill, many resorted to beheading their own wives. Invasion of Anatolia In the meantime, years of insulting letters had passed between Timur and Bayezid. Both rulers insulted each other in their own way while Timur preferred to undermine Bayezid's position as a ruler and play down the significance of his military successes. This is the excerpt from one of Timur's letters addressed to Ottoman sultan: "Believe me, you are but pismire ant: don't seek to fight the elephants for they'll crush you under their feet. Shall a petty prince such as you are contend with us? But your rodomontades (braggadocio) are not extraordinary; for a Turcoman never spake with judgement. If you don't follow our counsels you will regret it". Finally, Timur invaded Anatolia and defeated Bayezid in the Battle of Ankara on 20 July 1402. Bayezid was captured in battle and subsequently died in captivity, initiating the twelve-year Ottoman Interregnum period. Timur's stated motivation for attacking Bayezid and the Ottoman Empire was the restoration of Seljuq authority. Timur saw the Seljuks as the rightful rulers of Anatolia as they had been granted rule by Mongol conquerors, illustrating again Timur's interest with Genghizid legitimacy. In December 1402, Timur besieged and took the city of Smyrna, a stronghold of the Christian Knights Hospitalers, thus he referred to himself as ghazi or "Warrior of Islam". A mass beheading was carried out in Smyrna by Timur's soldiers. With the Treaty of Gallipoli in February 1402, Timur was furious with the Genoese and Venetians, as their ships ferried the Ottoman army to safety in Thrace. As Lord Kinross reported in The Ottoman Centuries, the Italians preferred the enemy they could handle to the one they could not. During the early interregnum, Bayezid I's son acted as Timur's vassal. Unlike other princes, Mehmed minted coins that had Timur's name stamped as "Demur han Gürgân" (), alongside his own as "Mehmed bin Bayezid han" (). This was probably an attempt on Mehmed's part to justify to Timur his conquest of Bursa after the Battle of Ulubad. After Mehmed established himself in Rum, Timur had already begun preparations for his return to Central Asia, and took no further steps to interfere with the status quo in Anatolia. While Timur was still in Anatolia, Qara Yusuf assaulted Baghdad and captured it in 1402. Timur returned to Persia and sent his grandson Abu Bakr ibn Miran Shah to reconquer Baghdad, which he proceeded to do. Timur then spent some time in Ardabil, where he gave Ali Safavi, leader of the Safaviyya, a number of captives. Subsequently, he marched to Khorasan and then to Samarkhand, where he spent nine months celebrating and preparing to invade Mongolia and China. Attempts to attack the Ming dynasty By 1368, Han Chinese forces had driven the Mongols out of China. The first of the new Ming dynasty's emperors, the Hongwu Emperor, and his son, the Yongle Emperor, produced tributary states of many Central Asian countries. The suzerain-vassal relationship between Ming empire and Timurid existed for a long time. In 1394, Hongwu's ambassadors eventually presented Timur with a letter addressing him as a subject. He had the ambassadors Fu An, Guo Ji, and Liu Wei detained. Neither Hongwu's next ambassador, Chen Dewen (1397), nor the delegation announcing the accession of the Yongle Emperor fared any better. Timur eventually planned to invade China. To this end Timur made an alliance with surviving Mongol tribes based in Mongolia and prepared all the way to Bukhara. Engke Khan sent his grandson Öljei Temür Khan, also known as "Buyanshir Khan" after he converted to Islam while at the court of Timur in Samarkand. Death Timur preferred to fight his battles in the spring. However, he died en route during an uncharacteristic winter campaign. In December 1404, Timur began military campaigns against Ming China and detained a Ming envoy. He suffered illness while encamped on the farther side of the Syr Daria and died at Farab on 17 February 1405, before ever reaching the Chinese border. After his death the Ming envoys such as Fu An and the remaining entourage were released by his grandson Khalil Sultan. Geographer Clements Markham, in his introduction to the narrative of Clavijo's embassy, states that, after Timur died, his body "was embalmed with musk and rose water, wrapped in linen, laid in an ebony coffin and sent to Samarkand, where it was buried". His tomb, the Gur-e-Amir, still stands in Samarkand, though it has been heavily restored in recent years. Succession Timur had twice previously appointed an heir apparent to succeed him, both of whom he had outlived. The first, his son Jahangir, died of illness in 1376. The second, his grandson Muhammad Sultan, had succumbed to battle wounds in 1403. After the latter's death, Timur did nothing to replace him. It was only when he was on his own death-bed that he appointed Muhammad Sultan's younger brother, Pir Muhammad as his successor. Pir Muhammad was unable to gain sufficient support from his relatives and a bitter civil war erupted amongst Timur's descendants, with multiple princes pursuing their claims. It was not until 1409 that Timur's youngest son, Shah Rukh was able to overcome his rivals and take the throne as Timur's successor. Wives and concubines Timur had forty-three wives and concubines, all of these women were also his consorts. Timur made dozens of women his wives and concubines as he conquered their fathers' or erstwhile husbands' lands. Turmish Agha, mother of Jahangir Mirza, Jahanshah Mirza and Aka Begi; Oljay Turkhan Agha (m. 1357/58), daughter of Amir Mashlah and granddaughter of Amir Qazaghan; Saray Mulk Khanum (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Qazan Khan; Islam Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Bayan Salduz; Ulus Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Khizr Yasuri; Dilshad Agha (m. 1374), daughter of Shams ed-Din and his wife Bujan Agha; Touman Agha (m. 1377), daughter of Amir Musa and his wife Arzu Mulk Agha, daughter of Amir Bayezid Jalayir; Chulpan Mulk Agha, daughter of Haji Beg of Jetah; Tukal Khanum (m. 1397), daughter of Mongol Khan Khizr Khawaja Oglan; Tolun Agha, concubine, and mother of Umar Shaikh Mirza I; Mengli Agha, concubine, and mother of Miran Shah; Toghay Turkhan Agha, lady from the Kara Khitai, widow of Amir Husain, and mother of Shah Rukh; Tughdi Bey Agha, daughter of Aq Sufi Qongirat; Sultan Aray Agha, a Nukuz lady; Malikanshah Agha, a Filuni lady; Khand Malik Agha, mother of Ibrahim Mirza; Sultan Agha, mother of a son who died in infancy; His other wives and concubines included: Dawlat Tarkan Agha, Burhan Agha, Jani Beg Agha, Tini Beg Agha, Durr Sultan Agha, Munduz Agha, Bakht Sultan Agha, Nowruz Agha, Jahan Bakht Agha, Nigar Agha, Ruhparwar Agha, Dil Beg Agha, Dilshad Agha, Murad Beg Agha, Piruzbakht Agha, Khoshkeldi Agha, Dilkhosh Agha, Barat Bey Agha, Sevinch Malik Agha, Arzu Bey Agha, Yadgar Sultan Agha, Khudadad Agha, Bakht Nigar Agha, Qutlu Bey Agha, and another Nigar Agha . Descendants Sons of Timur Umar Shaikh Mirza I – with Tolun Agha Jahangir Mirza – with Turmish Agha Miran Shah Mirza – with Mengli Agha Shah Rukh Mirza – with Toghay Turkhan Agha Daughters of Timur Aka Begi (died 1382) – by Turmish Agha. Married to Muhammad Beg, son of Amir Musa Tayichiud Sultan Husayn Tayichiud Sultan Bakht Begum (died 1429/30) – by Oljay Turkhan Agha. Married first Muhammad Mirke Apardi, married second, 1389/90, Sulayman Shah Dughlat Sa'adat Sultan – by Dilshad Agha Bikijan – by Mengli Agha Qutlugh Sultan Agha – by Toghay Turkhan Agha Sons of Umar Shaikh Mirza I Pir Muhammad Iskandar Rustam Bayqara I Mansur Sultan Husayn Bayqarah Badi' al-Zaman Muhammed Mu'min Muhammad Zaman Mirza Muzaffar Hussein Ibrahim Hussein Sons of Jahangir Muhammad Sultan Mirza Pir Muhammad Sons of Miran Shah Khalil Sultan Abu Bakr Muhammad Mirza Abu Sa'id Mirza Umar Shaikh Mirza II Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur the Mughals Jahangir Mirza II Sons of Shah Rukh Mirza Mirza Muhammad Taraghay – better known as Ulugh Beg Abdul-Latif Ghiyath-al-Din Baysunghur Ala al-Dawla Mirza Ibrahim Mirza Sultan Muhammad Yadigar Muhammad Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza Sultan Ibrahim Mirza Abdullah Mirza Mirza Soyurghatmïsh Khan Muhammad Juki Religious views Timur was a practicing Sunni Muslim, possibly belonging to the Naqshbandi school, which was influential in Transoxiana. His chief official religious counsellor and adviser was the Hanafi scholar 'Abdu 'l-Jabbar Khwarazmi. In Tirmidh, he had come under the influence of his spiritual mentor Sayyid Baraka, a leader from Balkh who is buried alongside Timur in Gur-e-Amir. Timur was known to hold Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt in high regard and has been noted by various scholars for his "pro-Shia" stance. However, he also punished Shias for desecrating the memories of the Sahaba. Timur was also noted for attacking the Shia with Sunni apologism, while at other times he attacked Sunnis on religious grounds as well. In contrast, Timur held the Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar in high regard for attacking the Ismailis at Alamut, while Timur's own attack on Ismailis at Anjudan was equally brutal. Personality Timur is regarded as a military genius and as a brilliant tactician with an uncanny ability to work within a highly fluid political structure to win and maintain a loyal following of nomads during his rule in Central Asia. He was also considered extraordinarily intelligentnot only intuitively but also intellectually. In Samarkand and his many travels, Timur, under the guidance of distinguished scholars, was able to learn the Persian, Mongolian, and Turkish languages (according to Ahmad ibn Arabshah, Timur could not speak Arabic). According to John Joseph Saunders, Timur was "the product of an Islamized and Iranized society", and not steppe nomadic. More importantly, Timur was characterized as an opportunist. Taking advantage of his Turco-Mongolian heritage, Timur frequently used either the Islamic religion or the sharia law, fiqh, and traditions of the Mongol Empire to achieve his military goals or domestic political aims. Timur was a learned king, and enjoyed the company of scholars; he was tolerant and generous to them. He was a contemporary of the Persian poet Hafez, and a story of their meeting explains that Timur summoned Hafiz, who had written a ghazal with the following verse: For the black mole on thy cheek I would give the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. Timur upbraided him for this verse and said, "By the blows of my well tempered sword I have conquered the greater part of the world to enlarge Samarkand and Bukhara, my capitals and residences; and you, pitiful creature, would exchange these two cities for a mole." Hafez, undaunted, replied, "It is by similar generosity that I have been reduced, as you see, to my present state of poverty." It is reported that the King was pleased by the witty answer and the poet departed with magnificent gifts. There is a shared view that Timur's real motive for his campaigns was his imperialistic ambition, as expressed by his statement: "The whole expanse of the inhabited part of the world is not large enough to have two kings." However, besides Iran, Timur simply plundered the states he invaded with a purpose of enriching his native Samarqand and neglected the conquered areas, which may have resulted in a relatively quick disintegration of his Empire after his death. Timur used Persian expressions in his conversations often, and his motto was the Persian phrase rāstī rustī (, meaning "truth is safety" or "veritas salus"). He is credited with the invention of the Tamerlane chess variant, played on a 10×11 board. Exchanges with Europe Timur had numerous and diplomatic exchanges with various European states, especially Spain and France. Relations between the court of Henry III of Castile and that of Timur played an important part in medieval Castilian diplomacy. In 1402, the time of the Battle of Ankara, two Spanish ambassadors were already with Timur: Pelayo de Sotomayor and Fernando de Palazuelos. Later, Timur sent to the court of the Kingdom of León and Castile a Chagatai ambassador named Hajji Muhammad al-Qazi with letters and gifts. In return, Henry III of Castile sent a famous embassy to Timur's court in Samarkand in 1403–06, led by Ruy González de Clavijo, with two other ambassadors, Alfonso Paez and Gomez de Salazar. On their return, Timur affirmed that he regarded the king of Castile "as his very own son". According to Clavijo, Timur's good treatment of the Spanish delegation contrasted with the disdain shown by his host toward the envoys of the "lord of Cathay" (i.e., the Yongle Emperor), the Chinese ruler. Clavijo's visit to Samarkand allowed him to report to the European audience on the news from Cathay (China), which few Europeans had been able to visit directly in the century that had passed since the travels of Marco Polo. The French archives preserve: A 30 July 1402 letter from Timur to Charles VI of France, suggesting that he send traders to Asia. It is written in Persian. A May 1403 letter. This is a Latin transcription of a letter from Timur to Charles VI, and another from Miran Shah, his son, to the Christian princes, announcing their victory over Bayezid I at Smyrna. A copy has been kept of the answer of Charles VI to Timur, dated 15 June 1403. In addition, Byzantine John VII Palaiologos who was a regent during his uncle's absence in the West, sent a Dominican friar in August 1401 to Timur, to pay his respect and propose paying tribute to him instead of the Turks, once he managed to defeat them. Legacy Timur's legacy is a mixed one. While Central Asia blossomed under his reign, other places, such as Baghdad, Damascus, Delhi and other Arab, Georgian, Persian, and Indian cities were sacked and destroyed and their populations massacred. Thus, while Timur still retains a positive image in Muslim Central Asia, he is vilified by many in Arabia, Iraq, Persia, and India, where some of his greatest atrocities were carried out. However, Ibn Khaldun praises Timur for having unified much of the Muslim world when other conquerors of the time could not. The next great conqueror of the Middle East, Nader Shah, was greatly influenced by Timur and almost re-enacted Timur's conquests and battle strategies in his own campaigns. Like Timur, Nader Shah conquered most of Caucasia, Persia, and Central Asia along with also sacking Delhi. Timur's short-lived empire also melded the Turko-Persian tradition in Transoxiana, and in most of the territories that he incorporated into his fiefdom, Persian became the primary language of administration and literary culture (diwan), regardless of ethnicity. In addition, during his reign, some contributions to Turkic literature were penned, with Turkic cultural influence expanding and flourishing as a result. A literary form of Chagatai Turkic came into use alongside Persian as both a cultural and an official language. Tamerlane virtually exterminated the Church of the East, which had previously been a major branch of Christianity but afterwards became largely confined to a small area now known as the Assyrian Triangle. Timur became a relatively popular figure in Europe for centuries after his death, mainly because of his victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid. The Ottoman armies were at the time invading Eastern Europe and Timur was seen as an ally. Timur is officially recognized as a national hero in Uzbekistan. His monument in Tashkent now occupies the place where Karl Marx's statue once stood. Muhammad Iqbal, a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement, composed a notable poem entitled Dream of Timur, the poem itself was inspired by a prayer of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II: In 1794, Sake Dean Mahomed published his travel book, The Travels of Dean Mahomet. The book begins with the praise of Genghis Khan, Timur, and particularly the first Mughal emperor, Babur. He also gives important details on the then incumbent Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. Historical sources The earliest known history of his reign was Nizam ad-Din Shami's Zafarnama, which was written during Timur's lifetime. Between 1424 and 1428, Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi wrote a second Zafarnama drawing heavily on Shami's earlier work. Ahmad ibn Arabshah wrote a much less favorable history in Arabic. Arabshah's history was translated into Latin by the Dutch Orientalist Jacobus Golius in 1636. As Timurid-sponsored histories, the two Zafarnamas present a dramatically different picture from Arabshah's chronicle. William Jones remarked that the former presented Timur as a "liberal, benevolent and illustrious prince" while the latter painted him as "deformed and impious, of a low birth and detestable principles". Malfuzat-i Timuri The Malfuzat-i Timurī and the appended Tuzūk-i Tīmūrī, supposedly Timur's own autobiography, are almost certainly 17th-century fabrications. The scholar Abu Taleb Hosayni presented the texts to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, a distant descendant of Timur, in 1637–38, supposedly after discovering the Chagatai language originals in the library of a Yemeni ruler. Due to the distance between Yemen and Timur's base in Transoxiana and the lack of any other evidence of the originals, most historians consider the story highly implausible, and suspect Hosayni of inventing both the text and its origin story. European views Timur arguably had a significant impact on the Renaissance culture and early modern Europe. His achievements both fascinated and horrified Europeans from the fifteenth century to the early nineteenth century. European views of Timur were mixed throughout the fifteenth century, with some European countries calling him an ally and others seeing him as a threat to Europe because of his rapid expansion and brutality. When Timur captured the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid at Ankara, he was often praised and seen as a trusted ally by European rulers, such as Charles VI of France and Henry IV of England, because they believed he was saving Christianity from the Turkic Empire in the Middle East. Those two kings also praised him because his victory at Ankara allowed Christian merchants to remain in the Middle East and allowed for their safe return home to both France and England. Timur was also praised because it was believed that he helped restore the right of passage for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Other Europeans viewed Timur as a barbaric enemy who presented a threat to both European culture and the religion of Christianity. His rise to power moved many leaders, such as Henry III of Castile, to send embassies to Samarkand to scout out Timur, learn about his people, make alliances with him, and try to convince him to convert to Christianity in order to avoid war. In the introduction to a 1723 translation of Yazdi's Zafarnama, the translator wrote: Exhumation and alleged curse Timur's body was exhumed from his tomb on 19 June 1941 and his remains examined by the Soviet anthropologists Mikhail M. Gerasimov, Lev V. Oshanin and V. Ia. Zezenkova. Gerasimov reconstructed the likeness of Timur from his skull and found that his facial characteristics displayed "typical Mongoloid features", i.e. East Asian in modern terms. An anthropologic study of Timur's cranium shows that he belonged predominately to the South Siberian Mongoloid type. At , Timur was tall for his era. The examinations confirmed that Timur was lame and had a withered right arm due to his injuries. His right thighbone had knitted together with his kneecap, and the configuration of the knee joint suggests that he had kept his leg bent at all times and therefore would have had a pronounced limp. He appears to have been broad-chested and his hair and beard were red. It is alleged that Timur's tomb was inscribed with the words, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble." It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." Even though people close to Gerasimov claim that this story is a fabrication, the legend persists. In any case, three days after Gerasimov began the exhumation, Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. In the arts Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II (English, 1563–1594): play by Christopher Marlowe Tamerlan ou la mort de Bajazet [Tamerlane or the Death of Bajazet] (1675): play by Jacques Pradon. Tamerlane (1701): play by Nicholas Rowe (English) Tamerlano (1724): opera by George Frideric Handel, in Italian, based on the 1675 Pradon play. Bajazet (1735): opera by Antonio Vivaldi, portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Il gran Tamerlano (1772): opera by Josef Myslivecek which also portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Timour the Tartar (1811): equestrian drama by Matthew Lewis Tamerlane (published 1827): first published poem of Edgar Allan Poe. Turandot (1924): opera by Giacomo Puccini (libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni) in which Timur is the deposed, blind former King of Tartary and father of the protagonist Calaf. Lord of Samarkand (The Lame Man; published 1932): story by Robert E. Howard in which Timour appears. Nesimi (1973): Azerbaijani film in which Timur was portrayed by Yusif Veliyev. Tamerlan (2003): Spanish-language novel by Colombian writer Enrique Serrano Day Watch (2006): Russian film in which Tamerlane in his youth is portrayed by Emir Baygazin, and in maturity by Gani Kulzhanov. Tamburlaine: Shadow of God (broadcast 2008): a BBC Radio 3 play by John Fletcher presenting a fictitious encounter between Tamburlaine, Ibn Khaldun, and Hafez. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (2019): a video game containing a six-chapter campaign titled "Tamerlane". Examples of Timurid architecture See also List of largest empires Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent Timuri Timurid conquests and invasions Timurlengia Notes References Further reading Abazov, Rafis. "Timur (Tamerlane) and the Timurid Empire in Central Asia." The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia. Palgrave Macmillan US, 2008. 56–57. Marlowe, Christopher. Tamburlaine the Great. Ed. J. S. Cunningham. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1981. Manz, Beatrice Forbes. "Temür and the Problem of a Conqueror's Legacy," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Apr. 1998) Marozzi, Justin. Tamerlane: sword of Islam, conqueror of the world, London: HarperCollins, 2004 Marozzi, Justin. "Tamerlane", in: The Art of War: great commanders of the ancient and medieval world, Andrew Roberts (editor), London: Quercus Military History, 2008. Novosel'tsev, A. P. "On the Historical Evaluation of Tamerlane." Soviet studies in history 12.3 (1973): 37–70. Shterenshis, Michael V. "Approach to Tamerlane: Tradition and Innovation." Central Asia and the Caucasus 2 (2000). Sykes, P. M. "Tamerlane" Journal of the Central Asian Society 2.1 (1915): 17–33. YÜKSEL, Musa Şamil. "Timur’un Yükselişi ve Batı’nın Diplomatik Cevabı, 1390–1405." Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 1.18 (2005): 231–243. External links Forbes, Andrew, & Henley, David: Timur's Legacy: The Architecture of Bukhara and Samarkand (CPA Media) Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez De Clavijo to the Court of Timour, at Samarcand, A.D. 1403–6 – . Ruy González de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403–1406, translated by Guy Le Strange, with a new Introduction by Caroline Stone (Hardinge Simpole, 2009). Nationality or Religion: Views of Central Asian Islam Timurid dynasty 1336 births 1405 deaths Muslim monarchs Samarkand Royalty and nobility with disabilities Founding monarchs
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[ "Prapanna is a sanskrit word that means complete surrender/dedication.\n\nRaamaanuja of the Vishishtadvaita school said that a person has to be just a 'prapanna', meaning completely surrendered to God. This is called 'Prapatti'. If a person completely trusts God and surrenders himself in thought, word and deed, then he or she can attain the highest point \"Vishnoh Paramam Padam\".\n\nPrapanna is mentioned many times in the Bhagavata Purana. A prapanna is expected to fulfill some or all of the five a~ngas to attain prapatti. 'Prapanna' is the one who surrenders herself/himself to God and how she/he deals with life treading a path of purity.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n www.srivaishnava.org gives an in depth view about the life a 'Prapanna' is expected to follow to attain moksha.\n\nHindu philosophical concepts", "The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) is a rule by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that requires member states of the United States to reduce power plant emissions that contribute to ozone and/or fine particle pollution in other states. The EPA describes this rule as one that \"protects the health of millions of Americans by helping states reduce air pollution and attain clean air standards.\"\n\nDetails\nThe CSAPR requires 23 United States states to reduce their annual emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) to help downwind states attain the 24-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards, and 25 states to reduce ozone season nitrogen oxide emissions to help downwind states attain the 8-hour NAAQS.\n\nThe states that are required to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions are divided into two groups, both of which must reduce their emissions in 2012. Group 1 is required to make additional emissions reductions by 2014.\n\nHistory\n\nReception\nThe CSAPR has been defended by environmental groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund, progressive think tanks such as ThinkProgress, and publications such as the Huffington Post.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Official ruling\n\nAir pollution in the United States\nUnited States federal environmental legislation" ]
[ "Timur", "Rise to power", "How did he begin to attain power?", "Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads" ]
C_e6592fba22cd4733b7119e8ca671f8d1_0
Did he accomplish that through battle or subterfuge?
2
Did Timur accomplish reducing the Chagatai khans to figureheads through battle or subterfuge?
Timur
It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers in joint adventures, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them began to become strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tishnet. Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. At around 1370 Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. One day Aksak Temur spoke thusly: "Khan Zudei (in China) rules over the city. We now number fifty to sixty men, so let us elect a leader." So they drove a stake into the ground and said: "We shall run thither and he among us who is the first to reach the stake, may he become our leader". So they ran and Aksak Timur, as he was lame, lagged behind, but before the others reached the stake he threw his cap onto it. Those who arrived first said: "We are the leaders." ["But,"] Aksak Timur said: "My head came in first, I am the leader." Meanwhile, an old man arrived and said: "The leadership should belong to Aksak Timur; your feet have arrived but, before then, his head reached the goal." So they made Aksak Timur their prince. CANNOTANSWER
he ruled in their name.
Timur ( Temür, 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( Temür Küregen), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. As an undefeated commander, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest military leaders and tacticians in history. Timur is also considered a great patron of art and architecture as he interacted with intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i Abru and his reign introduced the Timurid Renaissance. Born into the Barlas confederation in Transoxiana (in modern-day Uzbekistan) on 9 April 1336, Timur gained control of the western Chagatai Khanate by 1370. From that base, he led military campaigns across Western, South and Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Southern Russia, defeating in the process the Khans of the Golden Horde, the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire, and the late Delhi Sultanate of India and emerging as the most powerful ruler in the Islamic World. From these conquests, he founded the Timurid Empire, but this empire fragmented shortly after his death. Timur was the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe, and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lasting Islamic gunpowder empires in the 16th and 17th centuries. Timur was of both Turkic and Mongol descent, and, while unlikely a direct descendant on either side, he shared a common ancestor with Genghis Khan on his father's side, though some authors have suggested his mother may have been a descendant of Khan. He clearly sought to invoke the legacy of the latter's conquests during his lifetime. Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan (died 1227) and according to Gérard Chaliand, saw himself as Genghis Khan's heir. According to Beatrice Forbes Manz, "in his formal correspondence Temur continued throughout his life to portray himself as the restorer of Chinggisid rights. He justified his Iranian, Mamluk, and Ottoman campaigns as a re-imposition of legitimate Mongol control over lands taken by usurpers." To legitimize his conquests, Timur relied on Islamic symbols and language, referred to himself as the "Sword of Islam". He was a patron of educational and religious institutions. He converted nearly all the Borjigin leaders to Islam during his lifetime. Timur decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaller at the Siege of Smyrna, styling himself a ghazi. By the end of his reign, Timur had gained complete control over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, the Ilkhanate, and the Golden Horde, and even attempted to restore the Yuan dynasty in China. Timur's armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and were feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe, sizable parts of which his campaigns laid waste. Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population at the time. Of all the areas he conquered, Khwarazm suffered the most from his expeditions, as it rose several times against him. Timur was the grandfather of the Timurid sultan, astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire, which then ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent. Ancestry Through his father, Timur claimed to be a descendant of Tumanay Khan, a male-line ancestor he shared with Genghis Khan. Tumanay's great-great grandson Qarachar Noyan was a minister for the emperor who later assisted the latter's son Chagatai in the governorship of Transoxiana. Though there are not many mentions of Qarachar in 13th and 14th century records, later Timurid sources greatly emphasised his role in the early history of the Mongol Empire. These histories also state that Genghis Khan later established the "bond of fatherhood and sonship" by marrying Chagatai's daughter to Qarachar. Through his alleged descent from this marriage, Timur claimed kinship with the Chagatai Khans. The origins of Timur's mother, Tekina Khatun, are less clear. The Zafarnama merely states her name without giving any information regarding her background. Writing in 1403, Johannes de Galonifontibus, Archbishop of Sultaniyya, claimed that she was of lowly origin. The Mu'izz al-Ansab, written decades later, says that she was related to the Yasa'uri tribe, whose lands bordered that of the Barlas. Ibn Khaldun recounted that Timur himself described to him his mother's descent from the legendary Persian hero Manuchehr. Ibn Arabshah suggested that she was a descendant of Genghis Khan. The 18th century Books of Timur identify her as the daughter of 'Sadr al-Sharia', which is believed to refer to the Hanafi scholar Ubayd Allah al-Mahbubi of Bukhara. Early life Timur was born in Transoxiana near the city of Kesh (modern Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan), some south of Samarkand, part of what was then the Chagatai Khanate. His name Temur means "Iron" in the Chagatai language, his mother-tongue (cf. Uzbek Temir, Turkish Demir). It is cognate with Genghis Khan's birth name of Temüjin. Later Timurid dynastic histories claim that Timur was born on 8 April 1336, but most sources from his lifetime give ages that are consistent with a birthdate in the late 1320s. Historian Beatrice Forbes Manz suspects the 1336 date was designed to tie Timur to the legacy of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, the last ruler of the Ilkhanate descended from Hulagu Khan, who died in that year. He was a member of the Barlas, a Mongolian tribe that had been turkified in many aspects. His father, Taraghai was described as a minor noble of this tribe. However, Manz believes that Timur may have later understated the social position of his father, so as to make his own successes appear more remarkable. She states that though he is not believed to have been especially powerful, Taraghai was reasonably wealthy and influential. This is shown by Timur later returning to his birthplace following the death of his father in 1360, suggesting concern over his estate. Taraghai's social significance is further hinted at by Arabshah, who described him as a magnate in the court of Amir Husayn Qara'unas. In addition to this, the father of the great Amir Hamid Kereyid of Moghulistan is stated as a friend of Taraghai's. In his childhood, Timur and a small band of followers raided travelers for goods, especially animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle. Around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows, one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he lost two fingers. Both injuries crippled him for life. Some believe that Timur suffered his crippling injuries while serving as a mercenary to the khan of Sistan in what is today the Dashti Margo in southwest Afghanistan. Timur's injuries have given him the names of Timur the Lame and Tamerlane by Europeans. Military leader About 1360, Timur gained prominence as a military leader whose troops were mostly Turkic tribesmen of the region. He took part in campaigns in Transoxiana with the Khan of the Chagatai Khanate. Allying himself both in cause and by family connection with Qazaghan, the dethroner and destroyer of Volga Bulgaria, he invaded Khorasan at the head of a thousand horsemen. This was the second military expedition that he led, and its success led to further operations, among them the subjugation of Khwarezm and Urgench. Following Qazaghan's murder, disputes arose among the many claimants to sovereign power. Tughlugh Timur of Kashgar, the Khan of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, another descendant of Genghis Khan, invaded, interrupting this infighting. Timur was sent to negotiate with the invader but joined with him instead and was rewarded with Transoxania. At about this time, his father died and Timur also became chief of the Berlas. Tughlugh then attempted to set his son Ilyas Khoja over Transoxania, but Timur repelled this invasion with a smaller force. Rise to power It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Amir Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them became strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tashkent. Timur gained followers in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. Around 1370, Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. Legitimization of Timur's rule Timur's Turco-Mongolian heritage provided opportunities and challenges as he sought to rule the Mongol Empire and the Muslim world. According to the Mongol traditions, Timur could not claim the title of khan or rule the Mongol Empire because he was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Therefore, Timur set up a puppet Chaghatay Khan, Suyurghatmish, as the nominal ruler of Balkh as he pretended to act as a "protector of the member of a Chinggisid line, that of Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi". Timur instead used the title of Amir meaning general, and acting in the name of the Chagatai ruler of Transoxania. To reinforce this position, Timur claimed the title Guregen (royal son-in-law) when he married Saray Mulk Khanum, a princess of Chinggisid descent. As with the title of Khan, Timur similarly could not claim the supreme title of the Islamic world, Caliph, because the "office was limited to the Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad". Therefore, Timur reacted to the challenge by creating a myth and image of himself as a "supernatural personal power" ordained by God. Otherwise he was described as a spiritual descendant of Ali, thus taken lineage of both to Genghis Khan and the Quraysh. Period of expansion Timur spent the next 35 years in various wars and expeditions. He not only consolidated his rule at home by the subjugation of his foes, but sought extension of territory by encroachments upon the lands of foreign potentates. His conquests to the west and northwest led him to the lands near the Caspian Sea and to the banks of the Ural and the Volga. Conquests in the south and south-West encompassed almost every province in Persia, including Baghdad, Karbala and Northern Iraq. One of the most formidable of Timur's opponents was another Mongol ruler, a descendant of Genghis Khan named Tokhtamysh. After having been a refugee in Timur's court, Tokhtamysh became ruler both of the eastern Kipchak and the Golden Horde. After his accession, he quarreled with Timur over the possession of Khwarizm and Azerbaijan. However, Timur still supported him against the Russians and in 1382 Tokhtamysh invaded the Muscovite dominion and burned Moscow. Orthodox tradition states that later, in 1395 Timur, having reached the frontier of the Principality of Ryazan, had taken Elets and started advancing towards Moscow. Great Prince Vasily I of Moscow went with an army to Kolomna and halted at the banks of the Oka River. The clergy brought the famed Theotokos of Vladimir icon from Vladimir to Moscow. Along the way people prayed kneeling: "O Mother of God, save the land of Russia!" Suddenly, Timur's armies retreated. In memory of this miraculous deliverance of the Russian land from Timur on 26 August, the all-Russian celebration in honor of the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was established. Conquest of Persia After the death of Abu Sa'id, ruler of the Ilkhanate, in 1335, there was a power vacuum in Persia. In the end, Persia was split amongst the Muzaffarids, Kartids, Eretnids, Chobanids, Injuids, Jalayirids, and Sarbadars. In 1383, Timur started his lengthy military conquest of Persia, though he already ruled over much of Persian Khorasan by 1381, after Khwaja Mas'ud, of the Sarbadar dynasty surrendered. Timur began his Persian campaign with Herat, capital of the Kartid dynasty. When Herat did not surrender he reduced the city to rubble and massacred most of its citizens; it remained in ruins until Shah Rukh ordered its reconstruction around 1415. Timur then sent a General to capture rebellious Kandahar. With the capture of Herat the Kartid kingdom surrendered and became vassals of Timur; it would later be annexed outright less than a decade later in 1389 by Timur's son Miran Shah. Timur then headed west to capture the Zagros Mountains, passing through Mazandaran. During his travel through the north of Persia, he captured the then town of Tehran, which surrendered and was thus treated mercifully. He laid siege to Soltaniyeh in 1384. Khorasan revolted one year later, so Timur destroyed Isfizar, and the prisoners were cemented into the walls alive. The next year the kingdom of Sistan, under the Mihrabanid dynasty, was ravaged, and its capital at Zaranj was destroyed. Timur then returned to his capital of Samarkand, where he began planning for his Georgian campaign and Golden Horde invasion. In 1386, Timur passed through Mazandaran as he had when trying to capture the Zagros. He went near the city of Soltaniyeh, which he had previously captured but instead turned north and captured Tabriz with little resistance, along with Maragha. He ordered heavy taxation of the people, which was collected by Adil Aqa, who was also given control over Soltaniyeh. Adil was later executed because Timur suspected him of corruption. Timur then went north to begin his Georgian and Golden Horde campaigns, pausing his full-scale invasion of Persia. When he returned, he found his generals had done well in protecting the cities and lands he had conquered in Persia. Though many rebelled, and his son Miran Shah, who may have been regent, was forced to annex rebellious vassal dynasties, his holdings remained. So he proceeded to capture the rest of Persia, specifically the two major southern cities of Isfahan and Shiraz. When he arrived with his army at Isfahan in 1387, the city immediately surrendered; he treated it with relative mercy as he normally did with cities that surrendered (unlike Herat). However, after Isfahan revolted against Timur's taxes by killing the tax collectors and some of Timur's soldiers, he ordered the massacre of the city's citizens; the death toll is reckoned at between 100,000 and 200,000. An eye-witness counted more than 28 towers constructed of about 1,500 heads each. This has been described as a "systematic use of terror against towns...an integral element of Tamerlane's strategic element", which he viewed as preventing bloodshed by discouraging resistance. His massacres were selective and he spared the artistic and educated. This would later influence the next great Persian conqueror: Nader Shah. Timur then began a five-year campaign to the west in 1392, attacking Persian Kurdistan. In 1393, Shiraz was captured after surrendering, and the Muzaffarids became vassals of Timur, though prince Shah Mansur rebelled but was defeated, and the Muzafarids were annexed. Shortly after Georgia was devastated so that the Golden Horde could not use it to threaten northern Iran. In the same year, Timur caught Baghdad by surprise in August by marching there in only eight days from Shiraz. Sultan Ahmad Jalayir fled to Syria, where the Mamluk Sultan Barquq protected him and killed Timur's envoys. Timur left the Sarbadar prince Khwaja Mas'ud to govern Baghdad, but he was driven out when Ahmad Jalayir returned. Ahmad was unpopular but got help from Qara Yusuf of the Kara Koyunlu; he fled again in 1399, this time to the Ottomans. Tokhtamysh–Timur war In the meantime, Tokhtamysh, now khan of the Golden Horde, turned against his patron and in 1385 invaded Azerbaijan. The inevitable response by Timur resulted in the Tokhtamysh–Timur war. In the initial stage of the war, Timur won a victory at the Battle of the Kondurcha River. After the battle Tokhtamysh and some of his army were allowed to escape. After Tokhtamysh's initial defeat, Timur invaded Muscovy to the north of Tokhtamysh's holdings. Timur's army burned Ryazan and advanced on Moscow. He was pulled away before reaching the Oka River by Tokhtamysh's renewed campaign in the south. In the first phase of the conflict with Tokhtamysh, Timur led an army of over 100,000 men north for more than 700 miles into the steppe. He then rode west about 1,000 miles advancing in a front more than 10 miles wide. During this advance, Timur's army got far enough north to be in a region of very long summer days causing complaints by his Muslim soldiers about keeping a long schedule of prayers. It was then that Tokhtamysh's army was boxed in against the east bank of the Volga River in the Orenburg region and destroyed at the Battle of the Kondurcha River, in 1391. In the second phase of the conflict, Timur took a different route against the enemy by invading the realm of Tokhtamysh via the Caucasus region. In 1395, Timur defeated Tokhtamysh in the Battle of the Terek River, concluding the struggle between the two monarchs. Tokhtamysh was unable to restore his power or prestige, and he was killed about a decade later in the area of present-day Tyumen. During the course of Timur's campaigns, his army destroyed Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and Astrakhan, subsequently disrupting the Golden Horde's Silk Road. The Golden Horde no longer held power after their losses to Timur. Ismailis In May 1393, Timur's army invaded the Anjudan, crippling the Ismaili village only a year after his assault on the Ismailis in Mazandaran. The village was prepared for the attack, evidenced by its fortress and system of tunnels. Undeterred, Timur's soldiers flooded the tunnels by cutting into a channel overhead. Timur's reasons for attacking this village are not yet well understood. However, it has been suggested that his religious persuasions and view of himself as an executor of divine will may have contributed to his motivations. The Persian historian Khwandamir explains that an Ismaili presence was growing more politically powerful in Persian Iraq. A group of locals in the region was dissatisfied with this and, Khwandamir writes, these locals assembled and brought up their complaint with Timur, possibly provoking his attack on the Ismailis there. Campaign against the Tughlaq dynasty In 1398, Timur invaded northern India, attacking the Delhi Sultanate ruled by Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq of the Tughlaq dynasty. After crossing the Indus River on 30 September 1398, he sacked Tulamba and massacred its inhabitants. Then he advanced and captured Multan by October. His invasion was unopposed as most of the Indian nobility surrendered without a fight, however he did encounter resistance from the united army of Rajputs and Muslims at Bhatner under the command of the Rajput king Dulachand, Dulachand initially opposed Timur but when hard-pressed he considered surrender. He was locked outside the walls of Bhatner by his brother and was later killed by Timur. The garrison of Bhatner then fought and were slaughtered to the last man. Bhatner was looted and burned to the ground. While on his march towards Delhi, Timur was opposed by the Jat peasantry, who would loot caravans and then disappear in the forests, Timur had 2,000 Jats killed and many taken captive. But the Sultanate at Delhi did nothing to stop his advance. Capture of Delhi (1398) The battle took place on 17 December 1398. Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq and the army of Mallu Iqbal had war elephants armored with chain mail and poison on their tusks. As his Tatar forces were afraid of the elephants, Timur ordered his men to dig a trench in front of their positions. Timur then loaded his camels with as much wood and hay as they could carry. When the war elephants charged, Timur set the hay on fire and prodded the camels with iron sticks, causing them to charge at the elephants, howling in pain: Timur had understood that elephants were easily panicked. Faced with the strange spectacle of camels flying straight at them with flames leaping from their backs, the elephants turned around and stampeded back toward their own lines. Timur capitalized on the subsequent disruption in the forces of Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq, securing an easy victory. Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq fled with remnants of his forces. Delhi was sacked and left in ruins. Before the battle for Delhi, Timur executed 100,000 captives. The capture of the Delhi Sultanate was one of Timur's greatest victories, as at that time, Delhi was one of the richest cities in the world. After Delhi fell to Timur's army, uprisings by its citizens against the Turkic-Mongols began to occur, causing a retaliatory bloody massacre within the city walls. After three days of citizens uprising within Delhi, it was said that the city reeked of the decomposing bodies of its citizens with their heads being erected like structures and the bodies left as food for the birds by Timur's soldiers. Timur's invasion and destruction of Delhi continued the chaos that was still consuming India, and the city would not be able to recover from the great loss it suffered for almost a century. Campaigns in the Levant Before the end of 1399, Timur started a war with Bayezid I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and the Mamluk sultan of Egypt Nasir-ad-Din Faraj. Bayezid began annexing the territory of Turkmen and Muslim rulers in Anatolia. As Timur claimed sovereignty over the Turkoman rulers, they took refuge behind him. In 1400, Timur invaded Armenia and Georgia. Of the surviving population, more than 60,000 of the local people were captured as slaves, and many districts were depopulated. He also sacked Sivas in Asia Minor. Then Timur turned his attention to Syria, sacking Aleppo, and Damascus. The city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans, who were deported to Samarkand. Timur invaded Baghdad in June 1401. After the capture of the city, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred. Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him. When they ran out of men to kill, many warriors killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign, and when they ran out of prisoners to kill, many resorted to beheading their own wives. Invasion of Anatolia In the meantime, years of insulting letters had passed between Timur and Bayezid. Both rulers insulted each other in their own way while Timur preferred to undermine Bayezid's position as a ruler and play down the significance of his military successes. This is the excerpt from one of Timur's letters addressed to Ottoman sultan: "Believe me, you are but pismire ant: don't seek to fight the elephants for they'll crush you under their feet. Shall a petty prince such as you are contend with us? But your rodomontades (braggadocio) are not extraordinary; for a Turcoman never spake with judgement. If you don't follow our counsels you will regret it". Finally, Timur invaded Anatolia and defeated Bayezid in the Battle of Ankara on 20 July 1402. Bayezid was captured in battle and subsequently died in captivity, initiating the twelve-year Ottoman Interregnum period. Timur's stated motivation for attacking Bayezid and the Ottoman Empire was the restoration of Seljuq authority. Timur saw the Seljuks as the rightful rulers of Anatolia as they had been granted rule by Mongol conquerors, illustrating again Timur's interest with Genghizid legitimacy. In December 1402, Timur besieged and took the city of Smyrna, a stronghold of the Christian Knights Hospitalers, thus he referred to himself as ghazi or "Warrior of Islam". A mass beheading was carried out in Smyrna by Timur's soldiers. With the Treaty of Gallipoli in February 1402, Timur was furious with the Genoese and Venetians, as their ships ferried the Ottoman army to safety in Thrace. As Lord Kinross reported in The Ottoman Centuries, the Italians preferred the enemy they could handle to the one they could not. During the early interregnum, Bayezid I's son acted as Timur's vassal. Unlike other princes, Mehmed minted coins that had Timur's name stamped as "Demur han Gürgân" (), alongside his own as "Mehmed bin Bayezid han" (). This was probably an attempt on Mehmed's part to justify to Timur his conquest of Bursa after the Battle of Ulubad. After Mehmed established himself in Rum, Timur had already begun preparations for his return to Central Asia, and took no further steps to interfere with the status quo in Anatolia. While Timur was still in Anatolia, Qara Yusuf assaulted Baghdad and captured it in 1402. Timur returned to Persia and sent his grandson Abu Bakr ibn Miran Shah to reconquer Baghdad, which he proceeded to do. Timur then spent some time in Ardabil, where he gave Ali Safavi, leader of the Safaviyya, a number of captives. Subsequently, he marched to Khorasan and then to Samarkhand, where he spent nine months celebrating and preparing to invade Mongolia and China. Attempts to attack the Ming dynasty By 1368, Han Chinese forces had driven the Mongols out of China. The first of the new Ming dynasty's emperors, the Hongwu Emperor, and his son, the Yongle Emperor, produced tributary states of many Central Asian countries. The suzerain-vassal relationship between Ming empire and Timurid existed for a long time. In 1394, Hongwu's ambassadors eventually presented Timur with a letter addressing him as a subject. He had the ambassadors Fu An, Guo Ji, and Liu Wei detained. Neither Hongwu's next ambassador, Chen Dewen (1397), nor the delegation announcing the accession of the Yongle Emperor fared any better. Timur eventually planned to invade China. To this end Timur made an alliance with surviving Mongol tribes based in Mongolia and prepared all the way to Bukhara. Engke Khan sent his grandson Öljei Temür Khan, also known as "Buyanshir Khan" after he converted to Islam while at the court of Timur in Samarkand. Death Timur preferred to fight his battles in the spring. However, he died en route during an uncharacteristic winter campaign. In December 1404, Timur began military campaigns against Ming China and detained a Ming envoy. He suffered illness while encamped on the farther side of the Syr Daria and died at Farab on 17 February 1405, before ever reaching the Chinese border. After his death the Ming envoys such as Fu An and the remaining entourage were released by his grandson Khalil Sultan. Geographer Clements Markham, in his introduction to the narrative of Clavijo's embassy, states that, after Timur died, his body "was embalmed with musk and rose water, wrapped in linen, laid in an ebony coffin and sent to Samarkand, where it was buried". His tomb, the Gur-e-Amir, still stands in Samarkand, though it has been heavily restored in recent years. Succession Timur had twice previously appointed an heir apparent to succeed him, both of whom he had outlived. The first, his son Jahangir, died of illness in 1376. The second, his grandson Muhammad Sultan, had succumbed to battle wounds in 1403. After the latter's death, Timur did nothing to replace him. It was only when he was on his own death-bed that he appointed Muhammad Sultan's younger brother, Pir Muhammad as his successor. Pir Muhammad was unable to gain sufficient support from his relatives and a bitter civil war erupted amongst Timur's descendants, with multiple princes pursuing their claims. It was not until 1409 that Timur's youngest son, Shah Rukh was able to overcome his rivals and take the throne as Timur's successor. Wives and concubines Timur had forty-three wives and concubines, all of these women were also his consorts. Timur made dozens of women his wives and concubines as he conquered their fathers' or erstwhile husbands' lands. Turmish Agha, mother of Jahangir Mirza, Jahanshah Mirza and Aka Begi; Oljay Turkhan Agha (m. 1357/58), daughter of Amir Mashlah and granddaughter of Amir Qazaghan; Saray Mulk Khanum (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Qazan Khan; Islam Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Bayan Salduz; Ulus Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Khizr Yasuri; Dilshad Agha (m. 1374), daughter of Shams ed-Din and his wife Bujan Agha; Touman Agha (m. 1377), daughter of Amir Musa and his wife Arzu Mulk Agha, daughter of Amir Bayezid Jalayir; Chulpan Mulk Agha, daughter of Haji Beg of Jetah; Tukal Khanum (m. 1397), daughter of Mongol Khan Khizr Khawaja Oglan; Tolun Agha, concubine, and mother of Umar Shaikh Mirza I; Mengli Agha, concubine, and mother of Miran Shah; Toghay Turkhan Agha, lady from the Kara Khitai, widow of Amir Husain, and mother of Shah Rukh; Tughdi Bey Agha, daughter of Aq Sufi Qongirat; Sultan Aray Agha, a Nukuz lady; Malikanshah Agha, a Filuni lady; Khand Malik Agha, mother of Ibrahim Mirza; Sultan Agha, mother of a son who died in infancy; His other wives and concubines included: Dawlat Tarkan Agha, Burhan Agha, Jani Beg Agha, Tini Beg Agha, Durr Sultan Agha, Munduz Agha, Bakht Sultan Agha, Nowruz Agha, Jahan Bakht Agha, Nigar Agha, Ruhparwar Agha, Dil Beg Agha, Dilshad Agha, Murad Beg Agha, Piruzbakht Agha, Khoshkeldi Agha, Dilkhosh Agha, Barat Bey Agha, Sevinch Malik Agha, Arzu Bey Agha, Yadgar Sultan Agha, Khudadad Agha, Bakht Nigar Agha, Qutlu Bey Agha, and another Nigar Agha . Descendants Sons of Timur Umar Shaikh Mirza I – with Tolun Agha Jahangir Mirza – with Turmish Agha Miran Shah Mirza – with Mengli Agha Shah Rukh Mirza – with Toghay Turkhan Agha Daughters of Timur Aka Begi (died 1382) – by Turmish Agha. Married to Muhammad Beg, son of Amir Musa Tayichiud Sultan Husayn Tayichiud Sultan Bakht Begum (died 1429/30) – by Oljay Turkhan Agha. Married first Muhammad Mirke Apardi, married second, 1389/90, Sulayman Shah Dughlat Sa'adat Sultan – by Dilshad Agha Bikijan – by Mengli Agha Qutlugh Sultan Agha – by Toghay Turkhan Agha Sons of Umar Shaikh Mirza I Pir Muhammad Iskandar Rustam Bayqara I Mansur Sultan Husayn Bayqarah Badi' al-Zaman Muhammed Mu'min Muhammad Zaman Mirza Muzaffar Hussein Ibrahim Hussein Sons of Jahangir Muhammad Sultan Mirza Pir Muhammad Sons of Miran Shah Khalil Sultan Abu Bakr Muhammad Mirza Abu Sa'id Mirza Umar Shaikh Mirza II Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur the Mughals Jahangir Mirza II Sons of Shah Rukh Mirza Mirza Muhammad Taraghay – better known as Ulugh Beg Abdul-Latif Ghiyath-al-Din Baysunghur Ala al-Dawla Mirza Ibrahim Mirza Sultan Muhammad Yadigar Muhammad Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza Sultan Ibrahim Mirza Abdullah Mirza Mirza Soyurghatmïsh Khan Muhammad Juki Religious views Timur was a practicing Sunni Muslim, possibly belonging to the Naqshbandi school, which was influential in Transoxiana. His chief official religious counsellor and adviser was the Hanafi scholar 'Abdu 'l-Jabbar Khwarazmi. In Tirmidh, he had come under the influence of his spiritual mentor Sayyid Baraka, a leader from Balkh who is buried alongside Timur in Gur-e-Amir. Timur was known to hold Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt in high regard and has been noted by various scholars for his "pro-Shia" stance. However, he also punished Shias for desecrating the memories of the Sahaba. Timur was also noted for attacking the Shia with Sunni apologism, while at other times he attacked Sunnis on religious grounds as well. In contrast, Timur held the Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar in high regard for attacking the Ismailis at Alamut, while Timur's own attack on Ismailis at Anjudan was equally brutal. Personality Timur is regarded as a military genius and as a brilliant tactician with an uncanny ability to work within a highly fluid political structure to win and maintain a loyal following of nomads during his rule in Central Asia. He was also considered extraordinarily intelligentnot only intuitively but also intellectually. In Samarkand and his many travels, Timur, under the guidance of distinguished scholars, was able to learn the Persian, Mongolian, and Turkish languages (according to Ahmad ibn Arabshah, Timur could not speak Arabic). According to John Joseph Saunders, Timur was "the product of an Islamized and Iranized society", and not steppe nomadic. More importantly, Timur was characterized as an opportunist. Taking advantage of his Turco-Mongolian heritage, Timur frequently used either the Islamic religion or the sharia law, fiqh, and traditions of the Mongol Empire to achieve his military goals or domestic political aims. Timur was a learned king, and enjoyed the company of scholars; he was tolerant and generous to them. He was a contemporary of the Persian poet Hafez, and a story of their meeting explains that Timur summoned Hafiz, who had written a ghazal with the following verse: For the black mole on thy cheek I would give the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. Timur upbraided him for this verse and said, "By the blows of my well tempered sword I have conquered the greater part of the world to enlarge Samarkand and Bukhara, my capitals and residences; and you, pitiful creature, would exchange these two cities for a mole." Hafez, undaunted, replied, "It is by similar generosity that I have been reduced, as you see, to my present state of poverty." It is reported that the King was pleased by the witty answer and the poet departed with magnificent gifts. There is a shared view that Timur's real motive for his campaigns was his imperialistic ambition, as expressed by his statement: "The whole expanse of the inhabited part of the world is not large enough to have two kings." However, besides Iran, Timur simply plundered the states he invaded with a purpose of enriching his native Samarqand and neglected the conquered areas, which may have resulted in a relatively quick disintegration of his Empire after his death. Timur used Persian expressions in his conversations often, and his motto was the Persian phrase rāstī rustī (, meaning "truth is safety" or "veritas salus"). He is credited with the invention of the Tamerlane chess variant, played on a 10×11 board. Exchanges with Europe Timur had numerous and diplomatic exchanges with various European states, especially Spain and France. Relations between the court of Henry III of Castile and that of Timur played an important part in medieval Castilian diplomacy. In 1402, the time of the Battle of Ankara, two Spanish ambassadors were already with Timur: Pelayo de Sotomayor and Fernando de Palazuelos. Later, Timur sent to the court of the Kingdom of León and Castile a Chagatai ambassador named Hajji Muhammad al-Qazi with letters and gifts. In return, Henry III of Castile sent a famous embassy to Timur's court in Samarkand in 1403–06, led by Ruy González de Clavijo, with two other ambassadors, Alfonso Paez and Gomez de Salazar. On their return, Timur affirmed that he regarded the king of Castile "as his very own son". According to Clavijo, Timur's good treatment of the Spanish delegation contrasted with the disdain shown by his host toward the envoys of the "lord of Cathay" (i.e., the Yongle Emperor), the Chinese ruler. Clavijo's visit to Samarkand allowed him to report to the European audience on the news from Cathay (China), which few Europeans had been able to visit directly in the century that had passed since the travels of Marco Polo. The French archives preserve: A 30 July 1402 letter from Timur to Charles VI of France, suggesting that he send traders to Asia. It is written in Persian. A May 1403 letter. This is a Latin transcription of a letter from Timur to Charles VI, and another from Miran Shah, his son, to the Christian princes, announcing their victory over Bayezid I at Smyrna. A copy has been kept of the answer of Charles VI to Timur, dated 15 June 1403. In addition, Byzantine John VII Palaiologos who was a regent during his uncle's absence in the West, sent a Dominican friar in August 1401 to Timur, to pay his respect and propose paying tribute to him instead of the Turks, once he managed to defeat them. Legacy Timur's legacy is a mixed one. While Central Asia blossomed under his reign, other places, such as Baghdad, Damascus, Delhi and other Arab, Georgian, Persian, and Indian cities were sacked and destroyed and their populations massacred. Thus, while Timur still retains a positive image in Muslim Central Asia, he is vilified by many in Arabia, Iraq, Persia, and India, where some of his greatest atrocities were carried out. However, Ibn Khaldun praises Timur for having unified much of the Muslim world when other conquerors of the time could not. The next great conqueror of the Middle East, Nader Shah, was greatly influenced by Timur and almost re-enacted Timur's conquests and battle strategies in his own campaigns. Like Timur, Nader Shah conquered most of Caucasia, Persia, and Central Asia along with also sacking Delhi. Timur's short-lived empire also melded the Turko-Persian tradition in Transoxiana, and in most of the territories that he incorporated into his fiefdom, Persian became the primary language of administration and literary culture (diwan), regardless of ethnicity. In addition, during his reign, some contributions to Turkic literature were penned, with Turkic cultural influence expanding and flourishing as a result. A literary form of Chagatai Turkic came into use alongside Persian as both a cultural and an official language. Tamerlane virtually exterminated the Church of the East, which had previously been a major branch of Christianity but afterwards became largely confined to a small area now known as the Assyrian Triangle. Timur became a relatively popular figure in Europe for centuries after his death, mainly because of his victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid. The Ottoman armies were at the time invading Eastern Europe and Timur was seen as an ally. Timur is officially recognized as a national hero in Uzbekistan. His monument in Tashkent now occupies the place where Karl Marx's statue once stood. Muhammad Iqbal, a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement, composed a notable poem entitled Dream of Timur, the poem itself was inspired by a prayer of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II: In 1794, Sake Dean Mahomed published his travel book, The Travels of Dean Mahomet. The book begins with the praise of Genghis Khan, Timur, and particularly the first Mughal emperor, Babur. He also gives important details on the then incumbent Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. Historical sources The earliest known history of his reign was Nizam ad-Din Shami's Zafarnama, which was written during Timur's lifetime. Between 1424 and 1428, Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi wrote a second Zafarnama drawing heavily on Shami's earlier work. Ahmad ibn Arabshah wrote a much less favorable history in Arabic. Arabshah's history was translated into Latin by the Dutch Orientalist Jacobus Golius in 1636. As Timurid-sponsored histories, the two Zafarnamas present a dramatically different picture from Arabshah's chronicle. William Jones remarked that the former presented Timur as a "liberal, benevolent and illustrious prince" while the latter painted him as "deformed and impious, of a low birth and detestable principles". Malfuzat-i Timuri The Malfuzat-i Timurī and the appended Tuzūk-i Tīmūrī, supposedly Timur's own autobiography, are almost certainly 17th-century fabrications. The scholar Abu Taleb Hosayni presented the texts to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, a distant descendant of Timur, in 1637–38, supposedly after discovering the Chagatai language originals in the library of a Yemeni ruler. Due to the distance between Yemen and Timur's base in Transoxiana and the lack of any other evidence of the originals, most historians consider the story highly implausible, and suspect Hosayni of inventing both the text and its origin story. European views Timur arguably had a significant impact on the Renaissance culture and early modern Europe. His achievements both fascinated and horrified Europeans from the fifteenth century to the early nineteenth century. European views of Timur were mixed throughout the fifteenth century, with some European countries calling him an ally and others seeing him as a threat to Europe because of his rapid expansion and brutality. When Timur captured the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid at Ankara, he was often praised and seen as a trusted ally by European rulers, such as Charles VI of France and Henry IV of England, because they believed he was saving Christianity from the Turkic Empire in the Middle East. Those two kings also praised him because his victory at Ankara allowed Christian merchants to remain in the Middle East and allowed for their safe return home to both France and England. Timur was also praised because it was believed that he helped restore the right of passage for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Other Europeans viewed Timur as a barbaric enemy who presented a threat to both European culture and the religion of Christianity. His rise to power moved many leaders, such as Henry III of Castile, to send embassies to Samarkand to scout out Timur, learn about his people, make alliances with him, and try to convince him to convert to Christianity in order to avoid war. In the introduction to a 1723 translation of Yazdi's Zafarnama, the translator wrote: Exhumation and alleged curse Timur's body was exhumed from his tomb on 19 June 1941 and his remains examined by the Soviet anthropologists Mikhail M. Gerasimov, Lev V. Oshanin and V. Ia. Zezenkova. Gerasimov reconstructed the likeness of Timur from his skull and found that his facial characteristics displayed "typical Mongoloid features", i.e. East Asian in modern terms. An anthropologic study of Timur's cranium shows that he belonged predominately to the South Siberian Mongoloid type. At , Timur was tall for his era. The examinations confirmed that Timur was lame and had a withered right arm due to his injuries. His right thighbone had knitted together with his kneecap, and the configuration of the knee joint suggests that he had kept his leg bent at all times and therefore would have had a pronounced limp. He appears to have been broad-chested and his hair and beard were red. It is alleged that Timur's tomb was inscribed with the words, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble." It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." Even though people close to Gerasimov claim that this story is a fabrication, the legend persists. In any case, three days after Gerasimov began the exhumation, Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. In the arts Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II (English, 1563–1594): play by Christopher Marlowe Tamerlan ou la mort de Bajazet [Tamerlane or the Death of Bajazet] (1675): play by Jacques Pradon. Tamerlane (1701): play by Nicholas Rowe (English) Tamerlano (1724): opera by George Frideric Handel, in Italian, based on the 1675 Pradon play. Bajazet (1735): opera by Antonio Vivaldi, portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Il gran Tamerlano (1772): opera by Josef Myslivecek which also portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Timour the Tartar (1811): equestrian drama by Matthew Lewis Tamerlane (published 1827): first published poem of Edgar Allan Poe. Turandot (1924): opera by Giacomo Puccini (libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni) in which Timur is the deposed, blind former King of Tartary and father of the protagonist Calaf. Lord of Samarkand (The Lame Man; published 1932): story by Robert E. Howard in which Timour appears. Nesimi (1973): Azerbaijani film in which Timur was portrayed by Yusif Veliyev. Tamerlan (2003): Spanish-language novel by Colombian writer Enrique Serrano Day Watch (2006): Russian film in which Tamerlane in his youth is portrayed by Emir Baygazin, and in maturity by Gani Kulzhanov. Tamburlaine: Shadow of God (broadcast 2008): a BBC Radio 3 play by John Fletcher presenting a fictitious encounter between Tamburlaine, Ibn Khaldun, and Hafez. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (2019): a video game containing a six-chapter campaign titled "Tamerlane". Examples of Timurid architecture See also List of largest empires Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent Timuri Timurid conquests and invasions Timurlengia Notes References Further reading Abazov, Rafis. "Timur (Tamerlane) and the Timurid Empire in Central Asia." The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia. Palgrave Macmillan US, 2008. 56–57. Marlowe, Christopher. Tamburlaine the Great. Ed. J. S. Cunningham. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1981. Manz, Beatrice Forbes. "Temür and the Problem of a Conqueror's Legacy," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Apr. 1998) Marozzi, Justin. Tamerlane: sword of Islam, conqueror of the world, London: HarperCollins, 2004 Marozzi, Justin. "Tamerlane", in: The Art of War: great commanders of the ancient and medieval world, Andrew Roberts (editor), London: Quercus Military History, 2008. Novosel'tsev, A. P. "On the Historical Evaluation of Tamerlane." Soviet studies in history 12.3 (1973): 37–70. Shterenshis, Michael V. "Approach to Tamerlane: Tradition and Innovation." Central Asia and the Caucasus 2 (2000). Sykes, P. M. "Tamerlane" Journal of the Central Asian Society 2.1 (1915): 17–33. YÜKSEL, Musa Şamil. "Timur’un Yükselişi ve Batı’nın Diplomatik Cevabı, 1390–1405." Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 1.18 (2005): 231–243. External links Forbes, Andrew, & Henley, David: Timur's Legacy: The Architecture of Bukhara and Samarkand (CPA Media) Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez De Clavijo to the Court of Timour, at Samarcand, A.D. 1403–6 – . Ruy González de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403–1406, translated by Guy Le Strange, with a new Introduction by Caroline Stone (Hardinge Simpole, 2009). Nationality or Religion: Views of Central Asian Islam Timurid dynasty 1336 births 1405 deaths Muslim monarchs Samarkand Royalty and nobility with disabilities Founding monarchs
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[ "Subterfuge may refer to:\n\nMusic\n\"Subterfuge\", track from The Hidden Land album by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones\n\"Subterfuge\", track from Demolition (Judas Priest album)\n\"Subterfuge\", track from Black Fire (album)\n\"Subterfuge\", track from Oppressing the Masses\n\"Subterfuge\", track from Run Cold album from Diva Destruction\n\"Subterfuge\", track from Zeno Beach\n\"Subterfuge\", a music video by Dååth\n\nFilm\nSubterfuge (1968 film), a British film starring Joan Collins\nSubterfuge (1996 film), an American film starring Matt McColm\nSubterfuge (1912 film), an American silent film\n\"The Subterfuge\", an episode from The Fatal Ring, a 1917 American action film serial\n\nOther\n\"Subterfuge\", a 1959 science fiction story by Charles Eric Maine\n\"Subterfuge\", a 1943 short story by Ray Bradbury published in Astonishing Stories\nSubterfuge (video game), a 2015 mobile game\n A nickname for the United Kingdom's Central Government War Headquarters\n\nSee also\nDeception", "Subterfuge is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ron Carmel and Noel Llopis. It is loosely based on the strategic board game Diplomacy.\n\nThe game takes place in an underwater world where players use diplomacy and tactics to defeat their opponents. It features minimalist art, except for the specialist portraits, which were drawn by Shane Nakamura.\n\nGameplay\nSubterfuge takes place in real time to allow for diplomacy; an average game lasts for about a week but can be longer or shorter. Despite taking a week to play, the developers claimed the game was still \"short\". A game can have anywhere from 2 to 10 players. Diplomacy is highly encouraged in Subterfuge, and players only communicate through in-game messages that can be sent to other players. This allows for negotiation of strategy and teamwork which is vital for players to win. To win a normal game, a player must gain 200 neptunium, through mines which can be made through the use of combat units. Throughout the game, players fight over outposts spread across the map in an attempt to increase production capacity and rate for combat units. \"Dominion rules\" are also available, where instead of getting Neptunium, the goal is to control a certain amount of outposts.\n\nTime machine\n\nDue to the 24 hour nature of the game, Subterfuge does not require a player to be in the game to issue moves (orders); players can instead plan orders in advance using the time machine. This feature allows for complex maneuvers to be performed. The time machine also allows the viewing of past events and a prediction of the future based on player knowledge. The time machine works by letting players go to the time they wish to have the order executed; they then play the game as if it were in the present. When the set amount of time has passed, the order will be carried out, even if the player is not present. Developer Ron Carmel said that he implemented this feature based on previous experience playing \"Neptune's Pride\", which lacked this feature, leading to inconvenience. While most players can only schedule four moves using the time machine, players who have bought the full game can issue an unlimited amount of future orders. The time machine also moves forward when you launch a submarine, which shows the player what the map will look like when the sub arrives.\n\nReception\n\nSubterfuge has been met with mostly positive reception; it has been praised for having simplicity and tactical depth. Pocket Tactics gave it the award for the best multiplayer game of 2015. Three weeks after launch, Subterfuge had been installed 113,000 times on Android and 107,000 times on iOS; it earned $23,000 in the three-week period.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n2015 video games\nScience fiction video games\nReal-time strategy video games\nMultiplayer video games\nIOS games\nAndroid (operating system) games\nEnglish-language-only video games\nVideo games developed in the United States" ]
[ "Timur", "Rise to power", "How did he begin to attain power?", "Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads", "Did he accomplish that through battle or subterfuge?", "he ruled in their name." ]
C_e6592fba22cd4733b7119e8ca671f8d1_0
Did he go on to expand his people's lands?
3
Did Timur go on to expand his people's lands?
Timur
It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers in joint adventures, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them began to become strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tishnet. Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. At around 1370 Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. One day Aksak Temur spoke thusly: "Khan Zudei (in China) rules over the city. We now number fifty to sixty men, so let us elect a leader." So they drove a stake into the ground and said: "We shall run thither and he among us who is the first to reach the stake, may he become our leader". So they ran and Aksak Timur, as he was lame, lagged behind, but before the others reached the stake he threw his cap onto it. Those who arrived first said: "We are the leaders." ["But,"] Aksak Timur said: "My head came in first, I am the leader." Meanwhile, an old man arrived and said: "The leadership should belong to Aksak Timur; your feet have arrived but, before then, his head reached the goal." So they made Aksak Timur their prince. CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Timur ( Temür, 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( Temür Küregen), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. As an undefeated commander, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest military leaders and tacticians in history. Timur is also considered a great patron of art and architecture as he interacted with intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i Abru and his reign introduced the Timurid Renaissance. Born into the Barlas confederation in Transoxiana (in modern-day Uzbekistan) on 9 April 1336, Timur gained control of the western Chagatai Khanate by 1370. From that base, he led military campaigns across Western, South and Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Southern Russia, defeating in the process the Khans of the Golden Horde, the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire, and the late Delhi Sultanate of India and emerging as the most powerful ruler in the Islamic World. From these conquests, he founded the Timurid Empire, but this empire fragmented shortly after his death. Timur was the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe, and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lasting Islamic gunpowder empires in the 16th and 17th centuries. Timur was of both Turkic and Mongol descent, and, while unlikely a direct descendant on either side, he shared a common ancestor with Genghis Khan on his father's side, though some authors have suggested his mother may have been a descendant of Khan. He clearly sought to invoke the legacy of the latter's conquests during his lifetime. Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan (died 1227) and according to Gérard Chaliand, saw himself as Genghis Khan's heir. According to Beatrice Forbes Manz, "in his formal correspondence Temur continued throughout his life to portray himself as the restorer of Chinggisid rights. He justified his Iranian, Mamluk, and Ottoman campaigns as a re-imposition of legitimate Mongol control over lands taken by usurpers." To legitimize his conquests, Timur relied on Islamic symbols and language, referred to himself as the "Sword of Islam". He was a patron of educational and religious institutions. He converted nearly all the Borjigin leaders to Islam during his lifetime. Timur decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaller at the Siege of Smyrna, styling himself a ghazi. By the end of his reign, Timur had gained complete control over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, the Ilkhanate, and the Golden Horde, and even attempted to restore the Yuan dynasty in China. Timur's armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and were feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe, sizable parts of which his campaigns laid waste. Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population at the time. Of all the areas he conquered, Khwarazm suffered the most from his expeditions, as it rose several times against him. Timur was the grandfather of the Timurid sultan, astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire, which then ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent. Ancestry Through his father, Timur claimed to be a descendant of Tumanay Khan, a male-line ancestor he shared with Genghis Khan. Tumanay's great-great grandson Qarachar Noyan was a minister for the emperor who later assisted the latter's son Chagatai in the governorship of Transoxiana. Though there are not many mentions of Qarachar in 13th and 14th century records, later Timurid sources greatly emphasised his role in the early history of the Mongol Empire. These histories also state that Genghis Khan later established the "bond of fatherhood and sonship" by marrying Chagatai's daughter to Qarachar. Through his alleged descent from this marriage, Timur claimed kinship with the Chagatai Khans. The origins of Timur's mother, Tekina Khatun, are less clear. The Zafarnama merely states her name without giving any information regarding her background. Writing in 1403, Johannes de Galonifontibus, Archbishop of Sultaniyya, claimed that she was of lowly origin. The Mu'izz al-Ansab, written decades later, says that she was related to the Yasa'uri tribe, whose lands bordered that of the Barlas. Ibn Khaldun recounted that Timur himself described to him his mother's descent from the legendary Persian hero Manuchehr. Ibn Arabshah suggested that she was a descendant of Genghis Khan. The 18th century Books of Timur identify her as the daughter of 'Sadr al-Sharia', which is believed to refer to the Hanafi scholar Ubayd Allah al-Mahbubi of Bukhara. Early life Timur was born in Transoxiana near the city of Kesh (modern Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan), some south of Samarkand, part of what was then the Chagatai Khanate. His name Temur means "Iron" in the Chagatai language, his mother-tongue (cf. Uzbek Temir, Turkish Demir). It is cognate with Genghis Khan's birth name of Temüjin. Later Timurid dynastic histories claim that Timur was born on 8 April 1336, but most sources from his lifetime give ages that are consistent with a birthdate in the late 1320s. Historian Beatrice Forbes Manz suspects the 1336 date was designed to tie Timur to the legacy of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, the last ruler of the Ilkhanate descended from Hulagu Khan, who died in that year. He was a member of the Barlas, a Mongolian tribe that had been turkified in many aspects. His father, Taraghai was described as a minor noble of this tribe. However, Manz believes that Timur may have later understated the social position of his father, so as to make his own successes appear more remarkable. She states that though he is not believed to have been especially powerful, Taraghai was reasonably wealthy and influential. This is shown by Timur later returning to his birthplace following the death of his father in 1360, suggesting concern over his estate. Taraghai's social significance is further hinted at by Arabshah, who described him as a magnate in the court of Amir Husayn Qara'unas. In addition to this, the father of the great Amir Hamid Kereyid of Moghulistan is stated as a friend of Taraghai's. In his childhood, Timur and a small band of followers raided travelers for goods, especially animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle. Around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows, one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he lost two fingers. Both injuries crippled him for life. Some believe that Timur suffered his crippling injuries while serving as a mercenary to the khan of Sistan in what is today the Dashti Margo in southwest Afghanistan. Timur's injuries have given him the names of Timur the Lame and Tamerlane by Europeans. Military leader About 1360, Timur gained prominence as a military leader whose troops were mostly Turkic tribesmen of the region. He took part in campaigns in Transoxiana with the Khan of the Chagatai Khanate. Allying himself both in cause and by family connection with Qazaghan, the dethroner and destroyer of Volga Bulgaria, he invaded Khorasan at the head of a thousand horsemen. This was the second military expedition that he led, and its success led to further operations, among them the subjugation of Khwarezm and Urgench. Following Qazaghan's murder, disputes arose among the many claimants to sovereign power. Tughlugh Timur of Kashgar, the Khan of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, another descendant of Genghis Khan, invaded, interrupting this infighting. Timur was sent to negotiate with the invader but joined with him instead and was rewarded with Transoxania. At about this time, his father died and Timur also became chief of the Berlas. Tughlugh then attempted to set his son Ilyas Khoja over Transoxania, but Timur repelled this invasion with a smaller force. Rise to power It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Amir Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them became strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tashkent. Timur gained followers in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. Around 1370, Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. Legitimization of Timur's rule Timur's Turco-Mongolian heritage provided opportunities and challenges as he sought to rule the Mongol Empire and the Muslim world. According to the Mongol traditions, Timur could not claim the title of khan or rule the Mongol Empire because he was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Therefore, Timur set up a puppet Chaghatay Khan, Suyurghatmish, as the nominal ruler of Balkh as he pretended to act as a "protector of the member of a Chinggisid line, that of Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi". Timur instead used the title of Amir meaning general, and acting in the name of the Chagatai ruler of Transoxania. To reinforce this position, Timur claimed the title Guregen (royal son-in-law) when he married Saray Mulk Khanum, a princess of Chinggisid descent. As with the title of Khan, Timur similarly could not claim the supreme title of the Islamic world, Caliph, because the "office was limited to the Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad". Therefore, Timur reacted to the challenge by creating a myth and image of himself as a "supernatural personal power" ordained by God. Otherwise he was described as a spiritual descendant of Ali, thus taken lineage of both to Genghis Khan and the Quraysh. Period of expansion Timur spent the next 35 years in various wars and expeditions. He not only consolidated his rule at home by the subjugation of his foes, but sought extension of territory by encroachments upon the lands of foreign potentates. His conquests to the west and northwest led him to the lands near the Caspian Sea and to the banks of the Ural and the Volga. Conquests in the south and south-West encompassed almost every province in Persia, including Baghdad, Karbala and Northern Iraq. One of the most formidable of Timur's opponents was another Mongol ruler, a descendant of Genghis Khan named Tokhtamysh. After having been a refugee in Timur's court, Tokhtamysh became ruler both of the eastern Kipchak and the Golden Horde. After his accession, he quarreled with Timur over the possession of Khwarizm and Azerbaijan. However, Timur still supported him against the Russians and in 1382 Tokhtamysh invaded the Muscovite dominion and burned Moscow. Orthodox tradition states that later, in 1395 Timur, having reached the frontier of the Principality of Ryazan, had taken Elets and started advancing towards Moscow. Great Prince Vasily I of Moscow went with an army to Kolomna and halted at the banks of the Oka River. The clergy brought the famed Theotokos of Vladimir icon from Vladimir to Moscow. Along the way people prayed kneeling: "O Mother of God, save the land of Russia!" Suddenly, Timur's armies retreated. In memory of this miraculous deliverance of the Russian land from Timur on 26 August, the all-Russian celebration in honor of the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was established. Conquest of Persia After the death of Abu Sa'id, ruler of the Ilkhanate, in 1335, there was a power vacuum in Persia. In the end, Persia was split amongst the Muzaffarids, Kartids, Eretnids, Chobanids, Injuids, Jalayirids, and Sarbadars. In 1383, Timur started his lengthy military conquest of Persia, though he already ruled over much of Persian Khorasan by 1381, after Khwaja Mas'ud, of the Sarbadar dynasty surrendered. Timur began his Persian campaign with Herat, capital of the Kartid dynasty. When Herat did not surrender he reduced the city to rubble and massacred most of its citizens; it remained in ruins until Shah Rukh ordered its reconstruction around 1415. Timur then sent a General to capture rebellious Kandahar. With the capture of Herat the Kartid kingdom surrendered and became vassals of Timur; it would later be annexed outright less than a decade later in 1389 by Timur's son Miran Shah. Timur then headed west to capture the Zagros Mountains, passing through Mazandaran. During his travel through the north of Persia, he captured the then town of Tehran, which surrendered and was thus treated mercifully. He laid siege to Soltaniyeh in 1384. Khorasan revolted one year later, so Timur destroyed Isfizar, and the prisoners were cemented into the walls alive. The next year the kingdom of Sistan, under the Mihrabanid dynasty, was ravaged, and its capital at Zaranj was destroyed. Timur then returned to his capital of Samarkand, where he began planning for his Georgian campaign and Golden Horde invasion. In 1386, Timur passed through Mazandaran as he had when trying to capture the Zagros. He went near the city of Soltaniyeh, which he had previously captured but instead turned north and captured Tabriz with little resistance, along with Maragha. He ordered heavy taxation of the people, which was collected by Adil Aqa, who was also given control over Soltaniyeh. Adil was later executed because Timur suspected him of corruption. Timur then went north to begin his Georgian and Golden Horde campaigns, pausing his full-scale invasion of Persia. When he returned, he found his generals had done well in protecting the cities and lands he had conquered in Persia. Though many rebelled, and his son Miran Shah, who may have been regent, was forced to annex rebellious vassal dynasties, his holdings remained. So he proceeded to capture the rest of Persia, specifically the two major southern cities of Isfahan and Shiraz. When he arrived with his army at Isfahan in 1387, the city immediately surrendered; he treated it with relative mercy as he normally did with cities that surrendered (unlike Herat). However, after Isfahan revolted against Timur's taxes by killing the tax collectors and some of Timur's soldiers, he ordered the massacre of the city's citizens; the death toll is reckoned at between 100,000 and 200,000. An eye-witness counted more than 28 towers constructed of about 1,500 heads each. This has been described as a "systematic use of terror against towns...an integral element of Tamerlane's strategic element", which he viewed as preventing bloodshed by discouraging resistance. His massacres were selective and he spared the artistic and educated. This would later influence the next great Persian conqueror: Nader Shah. Timur then began a five-year campaign to the west in 1392, attacking Persian Kurdistan. In 1393, Shiraz was captured after surrendering, and the Muzaffarids became vassals of Timur, though prince Shah Mansur rebelled but was defeated, and the Muzafarids were annexed. Shortly after Georgia was devastated so that the Golden Horde could not use it to threaten northern Iran. In the same year, Timur caught Baghdad by surprise in August by marching there in only eight days from Shiraz. Sultan Ahmad Jalayir fled to Syria, where the Mamluk Sultan Barquq protected him and killed Timur's envoys. Timur left the Sarbadar prince Khwaja Mas'ud to govern Baghdad, but he was driven out when Ahmad Jalayir returned. Ahmad was unpopular but got help from Qara Yusuf of the Kara Koyunlu; he fled again in 1399, this time to the Ottomans. Tokhtamysh–Timur war In the meantime, Tokhtamysh, now khan of the Golden Horde, turned against his patron and in 1385 invaded Azerbaijan. The inevitable response by Timur resulted in the Tokhtamysh–Timur war. In the initial stage of the war, Timur won a victory at the Battle of the Kondurcha River. After the battle Tokhtamysh and some of his army were allowed to escape. After Tokhtamysh's initial defeat, Timur invaded Muscovy to the north of Tokhtamysh's holdings. Timur's army burned Ryazan and advanced on Moscow. He was pulled away before reaching the Oka River by Tokhtamysh's renewed campaign in the south. In the first phase of the conflict with Tokhtamysh, Timur led an army of over 100,000 men north for more than 700 miles into the steppe. He then rode west about 1,000 miles advancing in a front more than 10 miles wide. During this advance, Timur's army got far enough north to be in a region of very long summer days causing complaints by his Muslim soldiers about keeping a long schedule of prayers. It was then that Tokhtamysh's army was boxed in against the east bank of the Volga River in the Orenburg region and destroyed at the Battle of the Kondurcha River, in 1391. In the second phase of the conflict, Timur took a different route against the enemy by invading the realm of Tokhtamysh via the Caucasus region. In 1395, Timur defeated Tokhtamysh in the Battle of the Terek River, concluding the struggle between the two monarchs. Tokhtamysh was unable to restore his power or prestige, and he was killed about a decade later in the area of present-day Tyumen. During the course of Timur's campaigns, his army destroyed Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and Astrakhan, subsequently disrupting the Golden Horde's Silk Road. The Golden Horde no longer held power after their losses to Timur. Ismailis In May 1393, Timur's army invaded the Anjudan, crippling the Ismaili village only a year after his assault on the Ismailis in Mazandaran. The village was prepared for the attack, evidenced by its fortress and system of tunnels. Undeterred, Timur's soldiers flooded the tunnels by cutting into a channel overhead. Timur's reasons for attacking this village are not yet well understood. However, it has been suggested that his religious persuasions and view of himself as an executor of divine will may have contributed to his motivations. The Persian historian Khwandamir explains that an Ismaili presence was growing more politically powerful in Persian Iraq. A group of locals in the region was dissatisfied with this and, Khwandamir writes, these locals assembled and brought up their complaint with Timur, possibly provoking his attack on the Ismailis there. Campaign against the Tughlaq dynasty In 1398, Timur invaded northern India, attacking the Delhi Sultanate ruled by Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq of the Tughlaq dynasty. After crossing the Indus River on 30 September 1398, he sacked Tulamba and massacred its inhabitants. Then he advanced and captured Multan by October. His invasion was unopposed as most of the Indian nobility surrendered without a fight, however he did encounter resistance from the united army of Rajputs and Muslims at Bhatner under the command of the Rajput king Dulachand, Dulachand initially opposed Timur but when hard-pressed he considered surrender. He was locked outside the walls of Bhatner by his brother and was later killed by Timur. The garrison of Bhatner then fought and were slaughtered to the last man. Bhatner was looted and burned to the ground. While on his march towards Delhi, Timur was opposed by the Jat peasantry, who would loot caravans and then disappear in the forests, Timur had 2,000 Jats killed and many taken captive. But the Sultanate at Delhi did nothing to stop his advance. Capture of Delhi (1398) The battle took place on 17 December 1398. Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq and the army of Mallu Iqbal had war elephants armored with chain mail and poison on their tusks. As his Tatar forces were afraid of the elephants, Timur ordered his men to dig a trench in front of their positions. Timur then loaded his camels with as much wood and hay as they could carry. When the war elephants charged, Timur set the hay on fire and prodded the camels with iron sticks, causing them to charge at the elephants, howling in pain: Timur had understood that elephants were easily panicked. Faced with the strange spectacle of camels flying straight at them with flames leaping from their backs, the elephants turned around and stampeded back toward their own lines. Timur capitalized on the subsequent disruption in the forces of Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq, securing an easy victory. Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq fled with remnants of his forces. Delhi was sacked and left in ruins. Before the battle for Delhi, Timur executed 100,000 captives. The capture of the Delhi Sultanate was one of Timur's greatest victories, as at that time, Delhi was one of the richest cities in the world. After Delhi fell to Timur's army, uprisings by its citizens against the Turkic-Mongols began to occur, causing a retaliatory bloody massacre within the city walls. After three days of citizens uprising within Delhi, it was said that the city reeked of the decomposing bodies of its citizens with their heads being erected like structures and the bodies left as food for the birds by Timur's soldiers. Timur's invasion and destruction of Delhi continued the chaos that was still consuming India, and the city would not be able to recover from the great loss it suffered for almost a century. Campaigns in the Levant Before the end of 1399, Timur started a war with Bayezid I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and the Mamluk sultan of Egypt Nasir-ad-Din Faraj. Bayezid began annexing the territory of Turkmen and Muslim rulers in Anatolia. As Timur claimed sovereignty over the Turkoman rulers, they took refuge behind him. In 1400, Timur invaded Armenia and Georgia. Of the surviving population, more than 60,000 of the local people were captured as slaves, and many districts were depopulated. He also sacked Sivas in Asia Minor. Then Timur turned his attention to Syria, sacking Aleppo, and Damascus. The city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans, who were deported to Samarkand. Timur invaded Baghdad in June 1401. After the capture of the city, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred. Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him. When they ran out of men to kill, many warriors killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign, and when they ran out of prisoners to kill, many resorted to beheading their own wives. Invasion of Anatolia In the meantime, years of insulting letters had passed between Timur and Bayezid. Both rulers insulted each other in their own way while Timur preferred to undermine Bayezid's position as a ruler and play down the significance of his military successes. This is the excerpt from one of Timur's letters addressed to Ottoman sultan: "Believe me, you are but pismire ant: don't seek to fight the elephants for they'll crush you under their feet. Shall a petty prince such as you are contend with us? But your rodomontades (braggadocio) are not extraordinary; for a Turcoman never spake with judgement. If you don't follow our counsels you will regret it". Finally, Timur invaded Anatolia and defeated Bayezid in the Battle of Ankara on 20 July 1402. Bayezid was captured in battle and subsequently died in captivity, initiating the twelve-year Ottoman Interregnum period. Timur's stated motivation for attacking Bayezid and the Ottoman Empire was the restoration of Seljuq authority. Timur saw the Seljuks as the rightful rulers of Anatolia as they had been granted rule by Mongol conquerors, illustrating again Timur's interest with Genghizid legitimacy. In December 1402, Timur besieged and took the city of Smyrna, a stronghold of the Christian Knights Hospitalers, thus he referred to himself as ghazi or "Warrior of Islam". A mass beheading was carried out in Smyrna by Timur's soldiers. With the Treaty of Gallipoli in February 1402, Timur was furious with the Genoese and Venetians, as their ships ferried the Ottoman army to safety in Thrace. As Lord Kinross reported in The Ottoman Centuries, the Italians preferred the enemy they could handle to the one they could not. During the early interregnum, Bayezid I's son acted as Timur's vassal. Unlike other princes, Mehmed minted coins that had Timur's name stamped as "Demur han Gürgân" (), alongside his own as "Mehmed bin Bayezid han" (). This was probably an attempt on Mehmed's part to justify to Timur his conquest of Bursa after the Battle of Ulubad. After Mehmed established himself in Rum, Timur had already begun preparations for his return to Central Asia, and took no further steps to interfere with the status quo in Anatolia. While Timur was still in Anatolia, Qara Yusuf assaulted Baghdad and captured it in 1402. Timur returned to Persia and sent his grandson Abu Bakr ibn Miran Shah to reconquer Baghdad, which he proceeded to do. Timur then spent some time in Ardabil, where he gave Ali Safavi, leader of the Safaviyya, a number of captives. Subsequently, he marched to Khorasan and then to Samarkhand, where he spent nine months celebrating and preparing to invade Mongolia and China. Attempts to attack the Ming dynasty By 1368, Han Chinese forces had driven the Mongols out of China. The first of the new Ming dynasty's emperors, the Hongwu Emperor, and his son, the Yongle Emperor, produced tributary states of many Central Asian countries. The suzerain-vassal relationship between Ming empire and Timurid existed for a long time. In 1394, Hongwu's ambassadors eventually presented Timur with a letter addressing him as a subject. He had the ambassadors Fu An, Guo Ji, and Liu Wei detained. Neither Hongwu's next ambassador, Chen Dewen (1397), nor the delegation announcing the accession of the Yongle Emperor fared any better. Timur eventually planned to invade China. To this end Timur made an alliance with surviving Mongol tribes based in Mongolia and prepared all the way to Bukhara. Engke Khan sent his grandson Öljei Temür Khan, also known as "Buyanshir Khan" after he converted to Islam while at the court of Timur in Samarkand. Death Timur preferred to fight his battles in the spring. However, he died en route during an uncharacteristic winter campaign. In December 1404, Timur began military campaigns against Ming China and detained a Ming envoy. He suffered illness while encamped on the farther side of the Syr Daria and died at Farab on 17 February 1405, before ever reaching the Chinese border. After his death the Ming envoys such as Fu An and the remaining entourage were released by his grandson Khalil Sultan. Geographer Clements Markham, in his introduction to the narrative of Clavijo's embassy, states that, after Timur died, his body "was embalmed with musk and rose water, wrapped in linen, laid in an ebony coffin and sent to Samarkand, where it was buried". His tomb, the Gur-e-Amir, still stands in Samarkand, though it has been heavily restored in recent years. Succession Timur had twice previously appointed an heir apparent to succeed him, both of whom he had outlived. The first, his son Jahangir, died of illness in 1376. The second, his grandson Muhammad Sultan, had succumbed to battle wounds in 1403. After the latter's death, Timur did nothing to replace him. It was only when he was on his own death-bed that he appointed Muhammad Sultan's younger brother, Pir Muhammad as his successor. Pir Muhammad was unable to gain sufficient support from his relatives and a bitter civil war erupted amongst Timur's descendants, with multiple princes pursuing their claims. It was not until 1409 that Timur's youngest son, Shah Rukh was able to overcome his rivals and take the throne as Timur's successor. Wives and concubines Timur had forty-three wives and concubines, all of these women were also his consorts. Timur made dozens of women his wives and concubines as he conquered their fathers' or erstwhile husbands' lands. Turmish Agha, mother of Jahangir Mirza, Jahanshah Mirza and Aka Begi; Oljay Turkhan Agha (m. 1357/58), daughter of Amir Mashlah and granddaughter of Amir Qazaghan; Saray Mulk Khanum (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Qazan Khan; Islam Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Bayan Salduz; Ulus Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Khizr Yasuri; Dilshad Agha (m. 1374), daughter of Shams ed-Din and his wife Bujan Agha; Touman Agha (m. 1377), daughter of Amir Musa and his wife Arzu Mulk Agha, daughter of Amir Bayezid Jalayir; Chulpan Mulk Agha, daughter of Haji Beg of Jetah; Tukal Khanum (m. 1397), daughter of Mongol Khan Khizr Khawaja Oglan; Tolun Agha, concubine, and mother of Umar Shaikh Mirza I; Mengli Agha, concubine, and mother of Miran Shah; Toghay Turkhan Agha, lady from the Kara Khitai, widow of Amir Husain, and mother of Shah Rukh; Tughdi Bey Agha, daughter of Aq Sufi Qongirat; Sultan Aray Agha, a Nukuz lady; Malikanshah Agha, a Filuni lady; Khand Malik Agha, mother of Ibrahim Mirza; Sultan Agha, mother of a son who died in infancy; His other wives and concubines included: Dawlat Tarkan Agha, Burhan Agha, Jani Beg Agha, Tini Beg Agha, Durr Sultan Agha, Munduz Agha, Bakht Sultan Agha, Nowruz Agha, Jahan Bakht Agha, Nigar Agha, Ruhparwar Agha, Dil Beg Agha, Dilshad Agha, Murad Beg Agha, Piruzbakht Agha, Khoshkeldi Agha, Dilkhosh Agha, Barat Bey Agha, Sevinch Malik Agha, Arzu Bey Agha, Yadgar Sultan Agha, Khudadad Agha, Bakht Nigar Agha, Qutlu Bey Agha, and another Nigar Agha . Descendants Sons of Timur Umar Shaikh Mirza I – with Tolun Agha Jahangir Mirza – with Turmish Agha Miran Shah Mirza – with Mengli Agha Shah Rukh Mirza – with Toghay Turkhan Agha Daughters of Timur Aka Begi (died 1382) – by Turmish Agha. Married to Muhammad Beg, son of Amir Musa Tayichiud Sultan Husayn Tayichiud Sultan Bakht Begum (died 1429/30) – by Oljay Turkhan Agha. Married first Muhammad Mirke Apardi, married second, 1389/90, Sulayman Shah Dughlat Sa'adat Sultan – by Dilshad Agha Bikijan – by Mengli Agha Qutlugh Sultan Agha – by Toghay Turkhan Agha Sons of Umar Shaikh Mirza I Pir Muhammad Iskandar Rustam Bayqara I Mansur Sultan Husayn Bayqarah Badi' al-Zaman Muhammed Mu'min Muhammad Zaman Mirza Muzaffar Hussein Ibrahim Hussein Sons of Jahangir Muhammad Sultan Mirza Pir Muhammad Sons of Miran Shah Khalil Sultan Abu Bakr Muhammad Mirza Abu Sa'id Mirza Umar Shaikh Mirza II Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur the Mughals Jahangir Mirza II Sons of Shah Rukh Mirza Mirza Muhammad Taraghay – better known as Ulugh Beg Abdul-Latif Ghiyath-al-Din Baysunghur Ala al-Dawla Mirza Ibrahim Mirza Sultan Muhammad Yadigar Muhammad Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza Sultan Ibrahim Mirza Abdullah Mirza Mirza Soyurghatmïsh Khan Muhammad Juki Religious views Timur was a practicing Sunni Muslim, possibly belonging to the Naqshbandi school, which was influential in Transoxiana. His chief official religious counsellor and adviser was the Hanafi scholar 'Abdu 'l-Jabbar Khwarazmi. In Tirmidh, he had come under the influence of his spiritual mentor Sayyid Baraka, a leader from Balkh who is buried alongside Timur in Gur-e-Amir. Timur was known to hold Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt in high regard and has been noted by various scholars for his "pro-Shia" stance. However, he also punished Shias for desecrating the memories of the Sahaba. Timur was also noted for attacking the Shia with Sunni apologism, while at other times he attacked Sunnis on religious grounds as well. In contrast, Timur held the Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar in high regard for attacking the Ismailis at Alamut, while Timur's own attack on Ismailis at Anjudan was equally brutal. Personality Timur is regarded as a military genius and as a brilliant tactician with an uncanny ability to work within a highly fluid political structure to win and maintain a loyal following of nomads during his rule in Central Asia. He was also considered extraordinarily intelligentnot only intuitively but also intellectually. In Samarkand and his many travels, Timur, under the guidance of distinguished scholars, was able to learn the Persian, Mongolian, and Turkish languages (according to Ahmad ibn Arabshah, Timur could not speak Arabic). According to John Joseph Saunders, Timur was "the product of an Islamized and Iranized society", and not steppe nomadic. More importantly, Timur was characterized as an opportunist. Taking advantage of his Turco-Mongolian heritage, Timur frequently used either the Islamic religion or the sharia law, fiqh, and traditions of the Mongol Empire to achieve his military goals or domestic political aims. Timur was a learned king, and enjoyed the company of scholars; he was tolerant and generous to them. He was a contemporary of the Persian poet Hafez, and a story of their meeting explains that Timur summoned Hafiz, who had written a ghazal with the following verse: For the black mole on thy cheek I would give the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. Timur upbraided him for this verse and said, "By the blows of my well tempered sword I have conquered the greater part of the world to enlarge Samarkand and Bukhara, my capitals and residences; and you, pitiful creature, would exchange these two cities for a mole." Hafez, undaunted, replied, "It is by similar generosity that I have been reduced, as you see, to my present state of poverty." It is reported that the King was pleased by the witty answer and the poet departed with magnificent gifts. There is a shared view that Timur's real motive for his campaigns was his imperialistic ambition, as expressed by his statement: "The whole expanse of the inhabited part of the world is not large enough to have two kings." However, besides Iran, Timur simply plundered the states he invaded with a purpose of enriching his native Samarqand and neglected the conquered areas, which may have resulted in a relatively quick disintegration of his Empire after his death. Timur used Persian expressions in his conversations often, and his motto was the Persian phrase rāstī rustī (, meaning "truth is safety" or "veritas salus"). He is credited with the invention of the Tamerlane chess variant, played on a 10×11 board. Exchanges with Europe Timur had numerous and diplomatic exchanges with various European states, especially Spain and France. Relations between the court of Henry III of Castile and that of Timur played an important part in medieval Castilian diplomacy. In 1402, the time of the Battle of Ankara, two Spanish ambassadors were already with Timur: Pelayo de Sotomayor and Fernando de Palazuelos. Later, Timur sent to the court of the Kingdom of León and Castile a Chagatai ambassador named Hajji Muhammad al-Qazi with letters and gifts. In return, Henry III of Castile sent a famous embassy to Timur's court in Samarkand in 1403–06, led by Ruy González de Clavijo, with two other ambassadors, Alfonso Paez and Gomez de Salazar. On their return, Timur affirmed that he regarded the king of Castile "as his very own son". According to Clavijo, Timur's good treatment of the Spanish delegation contrasted with the disdain shown by his host toward the envoys of the "lord of Cathay" (i.e., the Yongle Emperor), the Chinese ruler. Clavijo's visit to Samarkand allowed him to report to the European audience on the news from Cathay (China), which few Europeans had been able to visit directly in the century that had passed since the travels of Marco Polo. The French archives preserve: A 30 July 1402 letter from Timur to Charles VI of France, suggesting that he send traders to Asia. It is written in Persian. A May 1403 letter. This is a Latin transcription of a letter from Timur to Charles VI, and another from Miran Shah, his son, to the Christian princes, announcing their victory over Bayezid I at Smyrna. A copy has been kept of the answer of Charles VI to Timur, dated 15 June 1403. In addition, Byzantine John VII Palaiologos who was a regent during his uncle's absence in the West, sent a Dominican friar in August 1401 to Timur, to pay his respect and propose paying tribute to him instead of the Turks, once he managed to defeat them. Legacy Timur's legacy is a mixed one. While Central Asia blossomed under his reign, other places, such as Baghdad, Damascus, Delhi and other Arab, Georgian, Persian, and Indian cities were sacked and destroyed and their populations massacred. Thus, while Timur still retains a positive image in Muslim Central Asia, he is vilified by many in Arabia, Iraq, Persia, and India, where some of his greatest atrocities were carried out. However, Ibn Khaldun praises Timur for having unified much of the Muslim world when other conquerors of the time could not. The next great conqueror of the Middle East, Nader Shah, was greatly influenced by Timur and almost re-enacted Timur's conquests and battle strategies in his own campaigns. Like Timur, Nader Shah conquered most of Caucasia, Persia, and Central Asia along with also sacking Delhi. Timur's short-lived empire also melded the Turko-Persian tradition in Transoxiana, and in most of the territories that he incorporated into his fiefdom, Persian became the primary language of administration and literary culture (diwan), regardless of ethnicity. In addition, during his reign, some contributions to Turkic literature were penned, with Turkic cultural influence expanding and flourishing as a result. A literary form of Chagatai Turkic came into use alongside Persian as both a cultural and an official language. Tamerlane virtually exterminated the Church of the East, which had previously been a major branch of Christianity but afterwards became largely confined to a small area now known as the Assyrian Triangle. Timur became a relatively popular figure in Europe for centuries after his death, mainly because of his victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid. The Ottoman armies were at the time invading Eastern Europe and Timur was seen as an ally. Timur is officially recognized as a national hero in Uzbekistan. His monument in Tashkent now occupies the place where Karl Marx's statue once stood. Muhammad Iqbal, a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement, composed a notable poem entitled Dream of Timur, the poem itself was inspired by a prayer of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II: In 1794, Sake Dean Mahomed published his travel book, The Travels of Dean Mahomet. The book begins with the praise of Genghis Khan, Timur, and particularly the first Mughal emperor, Babur. He also gives important details on the then incumbent Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. Historical sources The earliest known history of his reign was Nizam ad-Din Shami's Zafarnama, which was written during Timur's lifetime. Between 1424 and 1428, Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi wrote a second Zafarnama drawing heavily on Shami's earlier work. Ahmad ibn Arabshah wrote a much less favorable history in Arabic. Arabshah's history was translated into Latin by the Dutch Orientalist Jacobus Golius in 1636. As Timurid-sponsored histories, the two Zafarnamas present a dramatically different picture from Arabshah's chronicle. William Jones remarked that the former presented Timur as a "liberal, benevolent and illustrious prince" while the latter painted him as "deformed and impious, of a low birth and detestable principles". Malfuzat-i Timuri The Malfuzat-i Timurī and the appended Tuzūk-i Tīmūrī, supposedly Timur's own autobiography, are almost certainly 17th-century fabrications. The scholar Abu Taleb Hosayni presented the texts to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, a distant descendant of Timur, in 1637–38, supposedly after discovering the Chagatai language originals in the library of a Yemeni ruler. Due to the distance between Yemen and Timur's base in Transoxiana and the lack of any other evidence of the originals, most historians consider the story highly implausible, and suspect Hosayni of inventing both the text and its origin story. European views Timur arguably had a significant impact on the Renaissance culture and early modern Europe. His achievements both fascinated and horrified Europeans from the fifteenth century to the early nineteenth century. European views of Timur were mixed throughout the fifteenth century, with some European countries calling him an ally and others seeing him as a threat to Europe because of his rapid expansion and brutality. When Timur captured the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid at Ankara, he was often praised and seen as a trusted ally by European rulers, such as Charles VI of France and Henry IV of England, because they believed he was saving Christianity from the Turkic Empire in the Middle East. Those two kings also praised him because his victory at Ankara allowed Christian merchants to remain in the Middle East and allowed for their safe return home to both France and England. Timur was also praised because it was believed that he helped restore the right of passage for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Other Europeans viewed Timur as a barbaric enemy who presented a threat to both European culture and the religion of Christianity. His rise to power moved many leaders, such as Henry III of Castile, to send embassies to Samarkand to scout out Timur, learn about his people, make alliances with him, and try to convince him to convert to Christianity in order to avoid war. In the introduction to a 1723 translation of Yazdi's Zafarnama, the translator wrote: Exhumation and alleged curse Timur's body was exhumed from his tomb on 19 June 1941 and his remains examined by the Soviet anthropologists Mikhail M. Gerasimov, Lev V. Oshanin and V. Ia. Zezenkova. Gerasimov reconstructed the likeness of Timur from his skull and found that his facial characteristics displayed "typical Mongoloid features", i.e. East Asian in modern terms. An anthropologic study of Timur's cranium shows that he belonged predominately to the South Siberian Mongoloid type. At , Timur was tall for his era. The examinations confirmed that Timur was lame and had a withered right arm due to his injuries. His right thighbone had knitted together with his kneecap, and the configuration of the knee joint suggests that he had kept his leg bent at all times and therefore would have had a pronounced limp. He appears to have been broad-chested and his hair and beard were red. It is alleged that Timur's tomb was inscribed with the words, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble." It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." Even though people close to Gerasimov claim that this story is a fabrication, the legend persists. In any case, three days after Gerasimov began the exhumation, Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. In the arts Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II (English, 1563–1594): play by Christopher Marlowe Tamerlan ou la mort de Bajazet [Tamerlane or the Death of Bajazet] (1675): play by Jacques Pradon. Tamerlane (1701): play by Nicholas Rowe (English) Tamerlano (1724): opera by George Frideric Handel, in Italian, based on the 1675 Pradon play. Bajazet (1735): opera by Antonio Vivaldi, portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Il gran Tamerlano (1772): opera by Josef Myslivecek which also portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Timour the Tartar (1811): equestrian drama by Matthew Lewis Tamerlane (published 1827): first published poem of Edgar Allan Poe. Turandot (1924): opera by Giacomo Puccini (libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni) in which Timur is the deposed, blind former King of Tartary and father of the protagonist Calaf. Lord of Samarkand (The Lame Man; published 1932): story by Robert E. Howard in which Timour appears. Nesimi (1973): Azerbaijani film in which Timur was portrayed by Yusif Veliyev. Tamerlan (2003): Spanish-language novel by Colombian writer Enrique Serrano Day Watch (2006): Russian film in which Tamerlane in his youth is portrayed by Emir Baygazin, and in maturity by Gani Kulzhanov. Tamburlaine: Shadow of God (broadcast 2008): a BBC Radio 3 play by John Fletcher presenting a fictitious encounter between Tamburlaine, Ibn Khaldun, and Hafez. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (2019): a video game containing a six-chapter campaign titled "Tamerlane". Examples of Timurid architecture See also List of largest empires Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent Timuri Timurid conquests and invasions Timurlengia Notes References Further reading Abazov, Rafis. "Timur (Tamerlane) and the Timurid Empire in Central Asia." The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia. Palgrave Macmillan US, 2008. 56–57. Marlowe, Christopher. Tamburlaine the Great. Ed. J. S. Cunningham. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1981. Manz, Beatrice Forbes. "Temür and the Problem of a Conqueror's Legacy," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Apr. 1998) Marozzi, Justin. Tamerlane: sword of Islam, conqueror of the world, London: HarperCollins, 2004 Marozzi, Justin. "Tamerlane", in: The Art of War: great commanders of the ancient and medieval world, Andrew Roberts (editor), London: Quercus Military History, 2008. Novosel'tsev, A. P. "On the Historical Evaluation of Tamerlane." Soviet studies in history 12.3 (1973): 37–70. Shterenshis, Michael V. "Approach to Tamerlane: Tradition and Innovation." Central Asia and the Caucasus 2 (2000). Sykes, P. M. "Tamerlane" Journal of the Central Asian Society 2.1 (1915): 17–33. YÜKSEL, Musa Şamil. "Timur’un Yükselişi ve Batı’nın Diplomatik Cevabı, 1390–1405." Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 1.18 (2005): 231–243. External links Forbes, Andrew, & Henley, David: Timur's Legacy: The Architecture of Bukhara and Samarkand (CPA Media) Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez De Clavijo to the Court of Timour, at Samarcand, A.D. 1403–6 – . Ruy González de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403–1406, translated by Guy Le Strange, with a new Introduction by Caroline Stone (Hardinge Simpole, 2009). Nationality or Religion: Views of Central Asian Islam Timurid dynasty 1336 births 1405 deaths Muslim monarchs Samarkand Royalty and nobility with disabilities Founding monarchs
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[ "Ivan Brovkin on the State Farm () is a 1959 Soviet comedy film directed by Ivan Lukinsky, sequel to the film Private Ivan. The film was a box-office success, it was seen by 44,6 million viewers in the USSR.\n\nPlot\nIvan Brovkin completes military service with the rank of sergeant, and with a group of friends decides to go after demobilization to the developed virgin lands. He arrives to his native kolkhoz and is greeted by a cool reception: the collective farm chairman, bride Lyubasha and her mother regard him as traitor. The planned wedding is canceled and Brovkin leaves for the virgin land.\n\nBrovkin comes to the virgin soil at the time of the plowing of the land. He joins the team. During everyday work winter passes. In letters home he writes that all is well. News of how Ivan lives spreads through the village. Lyubasha seriously thinks about how to escape from her home to the virgin lands.\n\nIn spring Brovkin is already appointed as foreman of the tractor brigade.\n\nHarvest time is approaching. Brovkin considers to go back to his native farm because he misses his Lyubasha. Director of the farm knows this, and wishing to keep a valuable employee insistently recommends him to build a house. And then finally Brovkin's mother arrives to check up on him. Learning this the director instructs the driver to simulate breakdown of the engine on Brovkin's way from the airport to the farm, and he organizes a double-time construction of a house for the state farm foreman during a subbotnik.\n\nZahar Silich comes to the sovkhoz to pick up his bride Polina (who has also left for the virgin lands) home. But seeing the situation at the state farm he decides to stay on the virgin lands. Soon Zahar Silich has a wedding with his beloved.\n\nLeader of production Ivan Brovkin is awarded with the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.\n\nAfter the harvest, Zahar Silich with his wife and Ivan Brovkin come to visit their native village for a short time. Ivan marries his Lyubasha and together they go to the virgin lands.\n\nProduction\nThe picture was shot on virgin lands of the Orenburg Oblast in the sovkhoz \"Komsomolskiy\".\n\nCast\n Leonid Kharitonov\n Sergei Blinnikov\n Tatyana Pelttser\n Anna Kolomiytseva\n Vera Orlova\n Mikhail Pugovkin\n Vera Orlova as Polina Grebeshkova\n Konstantin Sinitsyn as Sergey Barabanov\n Tanat Zhailibekov as Mukhtar Abayev\n Sofya Zaykova as Dr. Irina Nikolayevna\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nSoviet films\nSoviet musical comedy films\n1959 musical comedy films\n1959 films\nGorky Film Studio films\nRussian sequel films", "The Fruit Height Lands Conveyance Act () is a bill that was introduced in the 113th United States Congress that would transfer 100 acres of land that currently belongs to the United States Forest Service to the city of Fruit Heights, Utah. The bill passed in the United States House of Representatives on June 11, 2013.\n\nBackground\nThe city in question, Fruit Heights, Utah, is currently surrounded by federal land and unable to expand or build a community cemetery. This legislation would change this.\n\nProvisions/Elements of the bill\n\nH.R. 993 would direct the United States Department of Agriculture to convey, without consideration, certain lands in Utah to the town of Fruit Heights City. Based on information from the Forest Service, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that implementing the legislation would have no significant impact on the federal budget. Enacting H.R. 993 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.\n\nUnder the bill, the Secretary of Agriculture would be required to convey about 100 acres of land within the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest to Fruit Heights City, Utah. The conveyed land could be used by the town for public purposes only and would revert to the federal government if used for other purposes. The affected lands do not currently generate offsetting receipts for the federal government and are not expected to generate such receipts over the next 10 years. Any costs to survey the affected lands would be paid by the town.\n\nProcedural history\n\nHouse\nThe Fruit Heights Land Conveyance Act was introduced into the House by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) on March 6, 2013. It was referred to the United States House Committee on Natural Resources and the United States House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation. On June 11, 2013, the Fruit Heights Land Conveyance Act passed the House by a voice vote.\n\nSee also\nList of bills in the 113th United States Congress\nFruit Heights, Utah\n\nNotes/References\n\nExternal links\n\nLibrary of Congress - Thomas H.R. 993\nbeta.congress.gov H.R. 993\nGovTrack.us H.R. 993\nOpenCongress.org H.R. 993\nWashingtonWatch.com H.R. 993\nCongressional Budget Office's report on H.R. 993\nHouse Republicans' report on H.R. 993\n\nProposed legislation of the 113th United States Congress\nGovernment of Utah\nUnited States Forest Service" ]
[ "Timur", "Rise to power", "How did he begin to attain power?", "Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads", "Did he accomplish that through battle or subterfuge?", "he ruled in their name.", "Did he go on to expand his people's lands?", "I don't know." ]
C_e6592fba22cd4733b7119e8ca671f8d1_0
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
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Besides Timure reducing the Chagatai Khans to figureheads, Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
Timur
It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers in joint adventures, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them began to become strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tishnet. Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. At around 1370 Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. One day Aksak Temur spoke thusly: "Khan Zudei (in China) rules over the city. We now number fifty to sixty men, so let us elect a leader." So they drove a stake into the ground and said: "We shall run thither and he among us who is the first to reach the stake, may he become our leader". So they ran and Aksak Timur, as he was lame, lagged behind, but before the others reached the stake he threw his cap onto it. Those who arrived first said: "We are the leaders." ["But,"] Aksak Timur said: "My head came in first, I am the leader." Meanwhile, an old man arrived and said: "The leadership should belong to Aksak Timur; your feet have arrived but, before then, his head reached the goal." So they made Aksak Timur their prince. CANNOTANSWER
Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh,
Timur ( Temür, 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( Temür Küregen), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. As an undefeated commander, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest military leaders and tacticians in history. Timur is also considered a great patron of art and architecture as he interacted with intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i Abru and his reign introduced the Timurid Renaissance. Born into the Barlas confederation in Transoxiana (in modern-day Uzbekistan) on 9 April 1336, Timur gained control of the western Chagatai Khanate by 1370. From that base, he led military campaigns across Western, South and Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Southern Russia, defeating in the process the Khans of the Golden Horde, the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire, and the late Delhi Sultanate of India and emerging as the most powerful ruler in the Islamic World. From these conquests, he founded the Timurid Empire, but this empire fragmented shortly after his death. Timur was the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe, and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lasting Islamic gunpowder empires in the 16th and 17th centuries. Timur was of both Turkic and Mongol descent, and, while unlikely a direct descendant on either side, he shared a common ancestor with Genghis Khan on his father's side, though some authors have suggested his mother may have been a descendant of Khan. He clearly sought to invoke the legacy of the latter's conquests during his lifetime. Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan (died 1227) and according to Gérard Chaliand, saw himself as Genghis Khan's heir. According to Beatrice Forbes Manz, "in his formal correspondence Temur continued throughout his life to portray himself as the restorer of Chinggisid rights. He justified his Iranian, Mamluk, and Ottoman campaigns as a re-imposition of legitimate Mongol control over lands taken by usurpers." To legitimize his conquests, Timur relied on Islamic symbols and language, referred to himself as the "Sword of Islam". He was a patron of educational and religious institutions. He converted nearly all the Borjigin leaders to Islam during his lifetime. Timur decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaller at the Siege of Smyrna, styling himself a ghazi. By the end of his reign, Timur had gained complete control over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, the Ilkhanate, and the Golden Horde, and even attempted to restore the Yuan dynasty in China. Timur's armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and were feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe, sizable parts of which his campaigns laid waste. Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population at the time. Of all the areas he conquered, Khwarazm suffered the most from his expeditions, as it rose several times against him. Timur was the grandfather of the Timurid sultan, astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire, which then ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent. Ancestry Through his father, Timur claimed to be a descendant of Tumanay Khan, a male-line ancestor he shared with Genghis Khan. Tumanay's great-great grandson Qarachar Noyan was a minister for the emperor who later assisted the latter's son Chagatai in the governorship of Transoxiana. Though there are not many mentions of Qarachar in 13th and 14th century records, later Timurid sources greatly emphasised his role in the early history of the Mongol Empire. These histories also state that Genghis Khan later established the "bond of fatherhood and sonship" by marrying Chagatai's daughter to Qarachar. Through his alleged descent from this marriage, Timur claimed kinship with the Chagatai Khans. The origins of Timur's mother, Tekina Khatun, are less clear. The Zafarnama merely states her name without giving any information regarding her background. Writing in 1403, Johannes de Galonifontibus, Archbishop of Sultaniyya, claimed that she was of lowly origin. The Mu'izz al-Ansab, written decades later, says that she was related to the Yasa'uri tribe, whose lands bordered that of the Barlas. Ibn Khaldun recounted that Timur himself described to him his mother's descent from the legendary Persian hero Manuchehr. Ibn Arabshah suggested that she was a descendant of Genghis Khan. The 18th century Books of Timur identify her as the daughter of 'Sadr al-Sharia', which is believed to refer to the Hanafi scholar Ubayd Allah al-Mahbubi of Bukhara. Early life Timur was born in Transoxiana near the city of Kesh (modern Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan), some south of Samarkand, part of what was then the Chagatai Khanate. His name Temur means "Iron" in the Chagatai language, his mother-tongue (cf. Uzbek Temir, Turkish Demir). It is cognate with Genghis Khan's birth name of Temüjin. Later Timurid dynastic histories claim that Timur was born on 8 April 1336, but most sources from his lifetime give ages that are consistent with a birthdate in the late 1320s. Historian Beatrice Forbes Manz suspects the 1336 date was designed to tie Timur to the legacy of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, the last ruler of the Ilkhanate descended from Hulagu Khan, who died in that year. He was a member of the Barlas, a Mongolian tribe that had been turkified in many aspects. His father, Taraghai was described as a minor noble of this tribe. However, Manz believes that Timur may have later understated the social position of his father, so as to make his own successes appear more remarkable. She states that though he is not believed to have been especially powerful, Taraghai was reasonably wealthy and influential. This is shown by Timur later returning to his birthplace following the death of his father in 1360, suggesting concern over his estate. Taraghai's social significance is further hinted at by Arabshah, who described him as a magnate in the court of Amir Husayn Qara'unas. In addition to this, the father of the great Amir Hamid Kereyid of Moghulistan is stated as a friend of Taraghai's. In his childhood, Timur and a small band of followers raided travelers for goods, especially animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle. Around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows, one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he lost two fingers. Both injuries crippled him for life. Some believe that Timur suffered his crippling injuries while serving as a mercenary to the khan of Sistan in what is today the Dashti Margo in southwest Afghanistan. Timur's injuries have given him the names of Timur the Lame and Tamerlane by Europeans. Military leader About 1360, Timur gained prominence as a military leader whose troops were mostly Turkic tribesmen of the region. He took part in campaigns in Transoxiana with the Khan of the Chagatai Khanate. Allying himself both in cause and by family connection with Qazaghan, the dethroner and destroyer of Volga Bulgaria, he invaded Khorasan at the head of a thousand horsemen. This was the second military expedition that he led, and its success led to further operations, among them the subjugation of Khwarezm and Urgench. Following Qazaghan's murder, disputes arose among the many claimants to sovereign power. Tughlugh Timur of Kashgar, the Khan of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, another descendant of Genghis Khan, invaded, interrupting this infighting. Timur was sent to negotiate with the invader but joined with him instead and was rewarded with Transoxania. At about this time, his father died and Timur also became chief of the Berlas. Tughlugh then attempted to set his son Ilyas Khoja over Transoxania, but Timur repelled this invasion with a smaller force. Rise to power It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Amir Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them became strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tashkent. Timur gained followers in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. Around 1370, Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. Legitimization of Timur's rule Timur's Turco-Mongolian heritage provided opportunities and challenges as he sought to rule the Mongol Empire and the Muslim world. According to the Mongol traditions, Timur could not claim the title of khan or rule the Mongol Empire because he was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Therefore, Timur set up a puppet Chaghatay Khan, Suyurghatmish, as the nominal ruler of Balkh as he pretended to act as a "protector of the member of a Chinggisid line, that of Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi". Timur instead used the title of Amir meaning general, and acting in the name of the Chagatai ruler of Transoxania. To reinforce this position, Timur claimed the title Guregen (royal son-in-law) when he married Saray Mulk Khanum, a princess of Chinggisid descent. As with the title of Khan, Timur similarly could not claim the supreme title of the Islamic world, Caliph, because the "office was limited to the Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad". Therefore, Timur reacted to the challenge by creating a myth and image of himself as a "supernatural personal power" ordained by God. Otherwise he was described as a spiritual descendant of Ali, thus taken lineage of both to Genghis Khan and the Quraysh. Period of expansion Timur spent the next 35 years in various wars and expeditions. He not only consolidated his rule at home by the subjugation of his foes, but sought extension of territory by encroachments upon the lands of foreign potentates. His conquests to the west and northwest led him to the lands near the Caspian Sea and to the banks of the Ural and the Volga. Conquests in the south and south-West encompassed almost every province in Persia, including Baghdad, Karbala and Northern Iraq. One of the most formidable of Timur's opponents was another Mongol ruler, a descendant of Genghis Khan named Tokhtamysh. After having been a refugee in Timur's court, Tokhtamysh became ruler both of the eastern Kipchak and the Golden Horde. After his accession, he quarreled with Timur over the possession of Khwarizm and Azerbaijan. However, Timur still supported him against the Russians and in 1382 Tokhtamysh invaded the Muscovite dominion and burned Moscow. Orthodox tradition states that later, in 1395 Timur, having reached the frontier of the Principality of Ryazan, had taken Elets and started advancing towards Moscow. Great Prince Vasily I of Moscow went with an army to Kolomna and halted at the banks of the Oka River. The clergy brought the famed Theotokos of Vladimir icon from Vladimir to Moscow. Along the way people prayed kneeling: "O Mother of God, save the land of Russia!" Suddenly, Timur's armies retreated. In memory of this miraculous deliverance of the Russian land from Timur on 26 August, the all-Russian celebration in honor of the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was established. Conquest of Persia After the death of Abu Sa'id, ruler of the Ilkhanate, in 1335, there was a power vacuum in Persia. In the end, Persia was split amongst the Muzaffarids, Kartids, Eretnids, Chobanids, Injuids, Jalayirids, and Sarbadars. In 1383, Timur started his lengthy military conquest of Persia, though he already ruled over much of Persian Khorasan by 1381, after Khwaja Mas'ud, of the Sarbadar dynasty surrendered. Timur began his Persian campaign with Herat, capital of the Kartid dynasty. When Herat did not surrender he reduced the city to rubble and massacred most of its citizens; it remained in ruins until Shah Rukh ordered its reconstruction around 1415. Timur then sent a General to capture rebellious Kandahar. With the capture of Herat the Kartid kingdom surrendered and became vassals of Timur; it would later be annexed outright less than a decade later in 1389 by Timur's son Miran Shah. Timur then headed west to capture the Zagros Mountains, passing through Mazandaran. During his travel through the north of Persia, he captured the then town of Tehran, which surrendered and was thus treated mercifully. He laid siege to Soltaniyeh in 1384. Khorasan revolted one year later, so Timur destroyed Isfizar, and the prisoners were cemented into the walls alive. The next year the kingdom of Sistan, under the Mihrabanid dynasty, was ravaged, and its capital at Zaranj was destroyed. Timur then returned to his capital of Samarkand, where he began planning for his Georgian campaign and Golden Horde invasion. In 1386, Timur passed through Mazandaran as he had when trying to capture the Zagros. He went near the city of Soltaniyeh, which he had previously captured but instead turned north and captured Tabriz with little resistance, along with Maragha. He ordered heavy taxation of the people, which was collected by Adil Aqa, who was also given control over Soltaniyeh. Adil was later executed because Timur suspected him of corruption. Timur then went north to begin his Georgian and Golden Horde campaigns, pausing his full-scale invasion of Persia. When he returned, he found his generals had done well in protecting the cities and lands he had conquered in Persia. Though many rebelled, and his son Miran Shah, who may have been regent, was forced to annex rebellious vassal dynasties, his holdings remained. So he proceeded to capture the rest of Persia, specifically the two major southern cities of Isfahan and Shiraz. When he arrived with his army at Isfahan in 1387, the city immediately surrendered; he treated it with relative mercy as he normally did with cities that surrendered (unlike Herat). However, after Isfahan revolted against Timur's taxes by killing the tax collectors and some of Timur's soldiers, he ordered the massacre of the city's citizens; the death toll is reckoned at between 100,000 and 200,000. An eye-witness counted more than 28 towers constructed of about 1,500 heads each. This has been described as a "systematic use of terror against towns...an integral element of Tamerlane's strategic element", which he viewed as preventing bloodshed by discouraging resistance. His massacres were selective and he spared the artistic and educated. This would later influence the next great Persian conqueror: Nader Shah. Timur then began a five-year campaign to the west in 1392, attacking Persian Kurdistan. In 1393, Shiraz was captured after surrendering, and the Muzaffarids became vassals of Timur, though prince Shah Mansur rebelled but was defeated, and the Muzafarids were annexed. Shortly after Georgia was devastated so that the Golden Horde could not use it to threaten northern Iran. In the same year, Timur caught Baghdad by surprise in August by marching there in only eight days from Shiraz. Sultan Ahmad Jalayir fled to Syria, where the Mamluk Sultan Barquq protected him and killed Timur's envoys. Timur left the Sarbadar prince Khwaja Mas'ud to govern Baghdad, but he was driven out when Ahmad Jalayir returned. Ahmad was unpopular but got help from Qara Yusuf of the Kara Koyunlu; he fled again in 1399, this time to the Ottomans. Tokhtamysh–Timur war In the meantime, Tokhtamysh, now khan of the Golden Horde, turned against his patron and in 1385 invaded Azerbaijan. The inevitable response by Timur resulted in the Tokhtamysh–Timur war. In the initial stage of the war, Timur won a victory at the Battle of the Kondurcha River. After the battle Tokhtamysh and some of his army were allowed to escape. After Tokhtamysh's initial defeat, Timur invaded Muscovy to the north of Tokhtamysh's holdings. Timur's army burned Ryazan and advanced on Moscow. He was pulled away before reaching the Oka River by Tokhtamysh's renewed campaign in the south. In the first phase of the conflict with Tokhtamysh, Timur led an army of over 100,000 men north for more than 700 miles into the steppe. He then rode west about 1,000 miles advancing in a front more than 10 miles wide. During this advance, Timur's army got far enough north to be in a region of very long summer days causing complaints by his Muslim soldiers about keeping a long schedule of prayers. It was then that Tokhtamysh's army was boxed in against the east bank of the Volga River in the Orenburg region and destroyed at the Battle of the Kondurcha River, in 1391. In the second phase of the conflict, Timur took a different route against the enemy by invading the realm of Tokhtamysh via the Caucasus region. In 1395, Timur defeated Tokhtamysh in the Battle of the Terek River, concluding the struggle between the two monarchs. Tokhtamysh was unable to restore his power or prestige, and he was killed about a decade later in the area of present-day Tyumen. During the course of Timur's campaigns, his army destroyed Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and Astrakhan, subsequently disrupting the Golden Horde's Silk Road. The Golden Horde no longer held power after their losses to Timur. Ismailis In May 1393, Timur's army invaded the Anjudan, crippling the Ismaili village only a year after his assault on the Ismailis in Mazandaran. The village was prepared for the attack, evidenced by its fortress and system of tunnels. Undeterred, Timur's soldiers flooded the tunnels by cutting into a channel overhead. Timur's reasons for attacking this village are not yet well understood. However, it has been suggested that his religious persuasions and view of himself as an executor of divine will may have contributed to his motivations. The Persian historian Khwandamir explains that an Ismaili presence was growing more politically powerful in Persian Iraq. A group of locals in the region was dissatisfied with this and, Khwandamir writes, these locals assembled and brought up their complaint with Timur, possibly provoking his attack on the Ismailis there. Campaign against the Tughlaq dynasty In 1398, Timur invaded northern India, attacking the Delhi Sultanate ruled by Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq of the Tughlaq dynasty. After crossing the Indus River on 30 September 1398, he sacked Tulamba and massacred its inhabitants. Then he advanced and captured Multan by October. His invasion was unopposed as most of the Indian nobility surrendered without a fight, however he did encounter resistance from the united army of Rajputs and Muslims at Bhatner under the command of the Rajput king Dulachand, Dulachand initially opposed Timur but when hard-pressed he considered surrender. He was locked outside the walls of Bhatner by his brother and was later killed by Timur. The garrison of Bhatner then fought and were slaughtered to the last man. Bhatner was looted and burned to the ground. While on his march towards Delhi, Timur was opposed by the Jat peasantry, who would loot caravans and then disappear in the forests, Timur had 2,000 Jats killed and many taken captive. But the Sultanate at Delhi did nothing to stop his advance. Capture of Delhi (1398) The battle took place on 17 December 1398. Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq and the army of Mallu Iqbal had war elephants armored with chain mail and poison on their tusks. As his Tatar forces were afraid of the elephants, Timur ordered his men to dig a trench in front of their positions. Timur then loaded his camels with as much wood and hay as they could carry. When the war elephants charged, Timur set the hay on fire and prodded the camels with iron sticks, causing them to charge at the elephants, howling in pain: Timur had understood that elephants were easily panicked. Faced with the strange spectacle of camels flying straight at them with flames leaping from their backs, the elephants turned around and stampeded back toward their own lines. Timur capitalized on the subsequent disruption in the forces of Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq, securing an easy victory. Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq fled with remnants of his forces. Delhi was sacked and left in ruins. Before the battle for Delhi, Timur executed 100,000 captives. The capture of the Delhi Sultanate was one of Timur's greatest victories, as at that time, Delhi was one of the richest cities in the world. After Delhi fell to Timur's army, uprisings by its citizens against the Turkic-Mongols began to occur, causing a retaliatory bloody massacre within the city walls. After three days of citizens uprising within Delhi, it was said that the city reeked of the decomposing bodies of its citizens with their heads being erected like structures and the bodies left as food for the birds by Timur's soldiers. Timur's invasion and destruction of Delhi continued the chaos that was still consuming India, and the city would not be able to recover from the great loss it suffered for almost a century. Campaigns in the Levant Before the end of 1399, Timur started a war with Bayezid I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and the Mamluk sultan of Egypt Nasir-ad-Din Faraj. Bayezid began annexing the territory of Turkmen and Muslim rulers in Anatolia. As Timur claimed sovereignty over the Turkoman rulers, they took refuge behind him. In 1400, Timur invaded Armenia and Georgia. Of the surviving population, more than 60,000 of the local people were captured as slaves, and many districts were depopulated. He also sacked Sivas in Asia Minor. Then Timur turned his attention to Syria, sacking Aleppo, and Damascus. The city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans, who were deported to Samarkand. Timur invaded Baghdad in June 1401. After the capture of the city, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred. Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him. When they ran out of men to kill, many warriors killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign, and when they ran out of prisoners to kill, many resorted to beheading their own wives. Invasion of Anatolia In the meantime, years of insulting letters had passed between Timur and Bayezid. Both rulers insulted each other in their own way while Timur preferred to undermine Bayezid's position as a ruler and play down the significance of his military successes. This is the excerpt from one of Timur's letters addressed to Ottoman sultan: "Believe me, you are but pismire ant: don't seek to fight the elephants for they'll crush you under their feet. Shall a petty prince such as you are contend with us? But your rodomontades (braggadocio) are not extraordinary; for a Turcoman never spake with judgement. If you don't follow our counsels you will regret it". Finally, Timur invaded Anatolia and defeated Bayezid in the Battle of Ankara on 20 July 1402. Bayezid was captured in battle and subsequently died in captivity, initiating the twelve-year Ottoman Interregnum period. Timur's stated motivation for attacking Bayezid and the Ottoman Empire was the restoration of Seljuq authority. Timur saw the Seljuks as the rightful rulers of Anatolia as they had been granted rule by Mongol conquerors, illustrating again Timur's interest with Genghizid legitimacy. In December 1402, Timur besieged and took the city of Smyrna, a stronghold of the Christian Knights Hospitalers, thus he referred to himself as ghazi or "Warrior of Islam". A mass beheading was carried out in Smyrna by Timur's soldiers. With the Treaty of Gallipoli in February 1402, Timur was furious with the Genoese and Venetians, as their ships ferried the Ottoman army to safety in Thrace. As Lord Kinross reported in The Ottoman Centuries, the Italians preferred the enemy they could handle to the one they could not. During the early interregnum, Bayezid I's son acted as Timur's vassal. Unlike other princes, Mehmed minted coins that had Timur's name stamped as "Demur han Gürgân" (), alongside his own as "Mehmed bin Bayezid han" (). This was probably an attempt on Mehmed's part to justify to Timur his conquest of Bursa after the Battle of Ulubad. After Mehmed established himself in Rum, Timur had already begun preparations for his return to Central Asia, and took no further steps to interfere with the status quo in Anatolia. While Timur was still in Anatolia, Qara Yusuf assaulted Baghdad and captured it in 1402. Timur returned to Persia and sent his grandson Abu Bakr ibn Miran Shah to reconquer Baghdad, which he proceeded to do. Timur then spent some time in Ardabil, where he gave Ali Safavi, leader of the Safaviyya, a number of captives. Subsequently, he marched to Khorasan and then to Samarkhand, where he spent nine months celebrating and preparing to invade Mongolia and China. Attempts to attack the Ming dynasty By 1368, Han Chinese forces had driven the Mongols out of China. The first of the new Ming dynasty's emperors, the Hongwu Emperor, and his son, the Yongle Emperor, produced tributary states of many Central Asian countries. The suzerain-vassal relationship between Ming empire and Timurid existed for a long time. In 1394, Hongwu's ambassadors eventually presented Timur with a letter addressing him as a subject. He had the ambassadors Fu An, Guo Ji, and Liu Wei detained. Neither Hongwu's next ambassador, Chen Dewen (1397), nor the delegation announcing the accession of the Yongle Emperor fared any better. Timur eventually planned to invade China. To this end Timur made an alliance with surviving Mongol tribes based in Mongolia and prepared all the way to Bukhara. Engke Khan sent his grandson Öljei Temür Khan, also known as "Buyanshir Khan" after he converted to Islam while at the court of Timur in Samarkand. Death Timur preferred to fight his battles in the spring. However, he died en route during an uncharacteristic winter campaign. In December 1404, Timur began military campaigns against Ming China and detained a Ming envoy. He suffered illness while encamped on the farther side of the Syr Daria and died at Farab on 17 February 1405, before ever reaching the Chinese border. After his death the Ming envoys such as Fu An and the remaining entourage were released by his grandson Khalil Sultan. Geographer Clements Markham, in his introduction to the narrative of Clavijo's embassy, states that, after Timur died, his body "was embalmed with musk and rose water, wrapped in linen, laid in an ebony coffin and sent to Samarkand, where it was buried". His tomb, the Gur-e-Amir, still stands in Samarkand, though it has been heavily restored in recent years. Succession Timur had twice previously appointed an heir apparent to succeed him, both of whom he had outlived. The first, his son Jahangir, died of illness in 1376. The second, his grandson Muhammad Sultan, had succumbed to battle wounds in 1403. After the latter's death, Timur did nothing to replace him. It was only when he was on his own death-bed that he appointed Muhammad Sultan's younger brother, Pir Muhammad as his successor. Pir Muhammad was unable to gain sufficient support from his relatives and a bitter civil war erupted amongst Timur's descendants, with multiple princes pursuing their claims. It was not until 1409 that Timur's youngest son, Shah Rukh was able to overcome his rivals and take the throne as Timur's successor. Wives and concubines Timur had forty-three wives and concubines, all of these women were also his consorts. Timur made dozens of women his wives and concubines as he conquered their fathers' or erstwhile husbands' lands. Turmish Agha, mother of Jahangir Mirza, Jahanshah Mirza and Aka Begi; Oljay Turkhan Agha (m. 1357/58), daughter of Amir Mashlah and granddaughter of Amir Qazaghan; Saray Mulk Khanum (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Qazan Khan; Islam Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Bayan Salduz; Ulus Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Khizr Yasuri; Dilshad Agha (m. 1374), daughter of Shams ed-Din and his wife Bujan Agha; Touman Agha (m. 1377), daughter of Amir Musa and his wife Arzu Mulk Agha, daughter of Amir Bayezid Jalayir; Chulpan Mulk Agha, daughter of Haji Beg of Jetah; Tukal Khanum (m. 1397), daughter of Mongol Khan Khizr Khawaja Oglan; Tolun Agha, concubine, and mother of Umar Shaikh Mirza I; Mengli Agha, concubine, and mother of Miran Shah; Toghay Turkhan Agha, lady from the Kara Khitai, widow of Amir Husain, and mother of Shah Rukh; Tughdi Bey Agha, daughter of Aq Sufi Qongirat; Sultan Aray Agha, a Nukuz lady; Malikanshah Agha, a Filuni lady; Khand Malik Agha, mother of Ibrahim Mirza; Sultan Agha, mother of a son who died in infancy; His other wives and concubines included: Dawlat Tarkan Agha, Burhan Agha, Jani Beg Agha, Tini Beg Agha, Durr Sultan Agha, Munduz Agha, Bakht Sultan Agha, Nowruz Agha, Jahan Bakht Agha, Nigar Agha, Ruhparwar Agha, Dil Beg Agha, Dilshad Agha, Murad Beg Agha, Piruzbakht Agha, Khoshkeldi Agha, Dilkhosh Agha, Barat Bey Agha, Sevinch Malik Agha, Arzu Bey Agha, Yadgar Sultan Agha, Khudadad Agha, Bakht Nigar Agha, Qutlu Bey Agha, and another Nigar Agha . Descendants Sons of Timur Umar Shaikh Mirza I – with Tolun Agha Jahangir Mirza – with Turmish Agha Miran Shah Mirza – with Mengli Agha Shah Rukh Mirza – with Toghay Turkhan Agha Daughters of Timur Aka Begi (died 1382) – by Turmish Agha. Married to Muhammad Beg, son of Amir Musa Tayichiud Sultan Husayn Tayichiud Sultan Bakht Begum (died 1429/30) – by Oljay Turkhan Agha. Married first Muhammad Mirke Apardi, married second, 1389/90, Sulayman Shah Dughlat Sa'adat Sultan – by Dilshad Agha Bikijan – by Mengli Agha Qutlugh Sultan Agha – by Toghay Turkhan Agha Sons of Umar Shaikh Mirza I Pir Muhammad Iskandar Rustam Bayqara I Mansur Sultan Husayn Bayqarah Badi' al-Zaman Muhammed Mu'min Muhammad Zaman Mirza Muzaffar Hussein Ibrahim Hussein Sons of Jahangir Muhammad Sultan Mirza Pir Muhammad Sons of Miran Shah Khalil Sultan Abu Bakr Muhammad Mirza Abu Sa'id Mirza Umar Shaikh Mirza II Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur the Mughals Jahangir Mirza II Sons of Shah Rukh Mirza Mirza Muhammad Taraghay – better known as Ulugh Beg Abdul-Latif Ghiyath-al-Din Baysunghur Ala al-Dawla Mirza Ibrahim Mirza Sultan Muhammad Yadigar Muhammad Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza Sultan Ibrahim Mirza Abdullah Mirza Mirza Soyurghatmïsh Khan Muhammad Juki Religious views Timur was a practicing Sunni Muslim, possibly belonging to the Naqshbandi school, which was influential in Transoxiana. His chief official religious counsellor and adviser was the Hanafi scholar 'Abdu 'l-Jabbar Khwarazmi. In Tirmidh, he had come under the influence of his spiritual mentor Sayyid Baraka, a leader from Balkh who is buried alongside Timur in Gur-e-Amir. Timur was known to hold Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt in high regard and has been noted by various scholars for his "pro-Shia" stance. However, he also punished Shias for desecrating the memories of the Sahaba. Timur was also noted for attacking the Shia with Sunni apologism, while at other times he attacked Sunnis on religious grounds as well. In contrast, Timur held the Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar in high regard for attacking the Ismailis at Alamut, while Timur's own attack on Ismailis at Anjudan was equally brutal. Personality Timur is regarded as a military genius and as a brilliant tactician with an uncanny ability to work within a highly fluid political structure to win and maintain a loyal following of nomads during his rule in Central Asia. He was also considered extraordinarily intelligentnot only intuitively but also intellectually. In Samarkand and his many travels, Timur, under the guidance of distinguished scholars, was able to learn the Persian, Mongolian, and Turkish languages (according to Ahmad ibn Arabshah, Timur could not speak Arabic). According to John Joseph Saunders, Timur was "the product of an Islamized and Iranized society", and not steppe nomadic. More importantly, Timur was characterized as an opportunist. Taking advantage of his Turco-Mongolian heritage, Timur frequently used either the Islamic religion or the sharia law, fiqh, and traditions of the Mongol Empire to achieve his military goals or domestic political aims. Timur was a learned king, and enjoyed the company of scholars; he was tolerant and generous to them. He was a contemporary of the Persian poet Hafez, and a story of their meeting explains that Timur summoned Hafiz, who had written a ghazal with the following verse: For the black mole on thy cheek I would give the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. Timur upbraided him for this verse and said, "By the blows of my well tempered sword I have conquered the greater part of the world to enlarge Samarkand and Bukhara, my capitals and residences; and you, pitiful creature, would exchange these two cities for a mole." Hafez, undaunted, replied, "It is by similar generosity that I have been reduced, as you see, to my present state of poverty." It is reported that the King was pleased by the witty answer and the poet departed with magnificent gifts. There is a shared view that Timur's real motive for his campaigns was his imperialistic ambition, as expressed by his statement: "The whole expanse of the inhabited part of the world is not large enough to have two kings." However, besides Iran, Timur simply plundered the states he invaded with a purpose of enriching his native Samarqand and neglected the conquered areas, which may have resulted in a relatively quick disintegration of his Empire after his death. Timur used Persian expressions in his conversations often, and his motto was the Persian phrase rāstī rustī (, meaning "truth is safety" or "veritas salus"). He is credited with the invention of the Tamerlane chess variant, played on a 10×11 board. Exchanges with Europe Timur had numerous and diplomatic exchanges with various European states, especially Spain and France. Relations between the court of Henry III of Castile and that of Timur played an important part in medieval Castilian diplomacy. In 1402, the time of the Battle of Ankara, two Spanish ambassadors were already with Timur: Pelayo de Sotomayor and Fernando de Palazuelos. Later, Timur sent to the court of the Kingdom of León and Castile a Chagatai ambassador named Hajji Muhammad al-Qazi with letters and gifts. In return, Henry III of Castile sent a famous embassy to Timur's court in Samarkand in 1403–06, led by Ruy González de Clavijo, with two other ambassadors, Alfonso Paez and Gomez de Salazar. On their return, Timur affirmed that he regarded the king of Castile "as his very own son". According to Clavijo, Timur's good treatment of the Spanish delegation contrasted with the disdain shown by his host toward the envoys of the "lord of Cathay" (i.e., the Yongle Emperor), the Chinese ruler. Clavijo's visit to Samarkand allowed him to report to the European audience on the news from Cathay (China), which few Europeans had been able to visit directly in the century that had passed since the travels of Marco Polo. The French archives preserve: A 30 July 1402 letter from Timur to Charles VI of France, suggesting that he send traders to Asia. It is written in Persian. A May 1403 letter. This is a Latin transcription of a letter from Timur to Charles VI, and another from Miran Shah, his son, to the Christian princes, announcing their victory over Bayezid I at Smyrna. A copy has been kept of the answer of Charles VI to Timur, dated 15 June 1403. In addition, Byzantine John VII Palaiologos who was a regent during his uncle's absence in the West, sent a Dominican friar in August 1401 to Timur, to pay his respect and propose paying tribute to him instead of the Turks, once he managed to defeat them. Legacy Timur's legacy is a mixed one. While Central Asia blossomed under his reign, other places, such as Baghdad, Damascus, Delhi and other Arab, Georgian, Persian, and Indian cities were sacked and destroyed and their populations massacred. Thus, while Timur still retains a positive image in Muslim Central Asia, he is vilified by many in Arabia, Iraq, Persia, and India, where some of his greatest atrocities were carried out. However, Ibn Khaldun praises Timur for having unified much of the Muslim world when other conquerors of the time could not. The next great conqueror of the Middle East, Nader Shah, was greatly influenced by Timur and almost re-enacted Timur's conquests and battle strategies in his own campaigns. Like Timur, Nader Shah conquered most of Caucasia, Persia, and Central Asia along with also sacking Delhi. Timur's short-lived empire also melded the Turko-Persian tradition in Transoxiana, and in most of the territories that he incorporated into his fiefdom, Persian became the primary language of administration and literary culture (diwan), regardless of ethnicity. In addition, during his reign, some contributions to Turkic literature were penned, with Turkic cultural influence expanding and flourishing as a result. A literary form of Chagatai Turkic came into use alongside Persian as both a cultural and an official language. Tamerlane virtually exterminated the Church of the East, which had previously been a major branch of Christianity but afterwards became largely confined to a small area now known as the Assyrian Triangle. Timur became a relatively popular figure in Europe for centuries after his death, mainly because of his victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid. The Ottoman armies were at the time invading Eastern Europe and Timur was seen as an ally. Timur is officially recognized as a national hero in Uzbekistan. His monument in Tashkent now occupies the place where Karl Marx's statue once stood. Muhammad Iqbal, a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement, composed a notable poem entitled Dream of Timur, the poem itself was inspired by a prayer of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II: In 1794, Sake Dean Mahomed published his travel book, The Travels of Dean Mahomet. The book begins with the praise of Genghis Khan, Timur, and particularly the first Mughal emperor, Babur. He also gives important details on the then incumbent Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. Historical sources The earliest known history of his reign was Nizam ad-Din Shami's Zafarnama, which was written during Timur's lifetime. Between 1424 and 1428, Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi wrote a second Zafarnama drawing heavily on Shami's earlier work. Ahmad ibn Arabshah wrote a much less favorable history in Arabic. Arabshah's history was translated into Latin by the Dutch Orientalist Jacobus Golius in 1636. As Timurid-sponsored histories, the two Zafarnamas present a dramatically different picture from Arabshah's chronicle. William Jones remarked that the former presented Timur as a "liberal, benevolent and illustrious prince" while the latter painted him as "deformed and impious, of a low birth and detestable principles". Malfuzat-i Timuri The Malfuzat-i Timurī and the appended Tuzūk-i Tīmūrī, supposedly Timur's own autobiography, are almost certainly 17th-century fabrications. The scholar Abu Taleb Hosayni presented the texts to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, a distant descendant of Timur, in 1637–38, supposedly after discovering the Chagatai language originals in the library of a Yemeni ruler. Due to the distance between Yemen and Timur's base in Transoxiana and the lack of any other evidence of the originals, most historians consider the story highly implausible, and suspect Hosayni of inventing both the text and its origin story. European views Timur arguably had a significant impact on the Renaissance culture and early modern Europe. His achievements both fascinated and horrified Europeans from the fifteenth century to the early nineteenth century. European views of Timur were mixed throughout the fifteenth century, with some European countries calling him an ally and others seeing him as a threat to Europe because of his rapid expansion and brutality. When Timur captured the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid at Ankara, he was often praised and seen as a trusted ally by European rulers, such as Charles VI of France and Henry IV of England, because they believed he was saving Christianity from the Turkic Empire in the Middle East. Those two kings also praised him because his victory at Ankara allowed Christian merchants to remain in the Middle East and allowed for their safe return home to both France and England. Timur was also praised because it was believed that he helped restore the right of passage for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Other Europeans viewed Timur as a barbaric enemy who presented a threat to both European culture and the religion of Christianity. His rise to power moved many leaders, such as Henry III of Castile, to send embassies to Samarkand to scout out Timur, learn about his people, make alliances with him, and try to convince him to convert to Christianity in order to avoid war. In the introduction to a 1723 translation of Yazdi's Zafarnama, the translator wrote: Exhumation and alleged curse Timur's body was exhumed from his tomb on 19 June 1941 and his remains examined by the Soviet anthropologists Mikhail M. Gerasimov, Lev V. Oshanin and V. Ia. Zezenkova. Gerasimov reconstructed the likeness of Timur from his skull and found that his facial characteristics displayed "typical Mongoloid features", i.e. East Asian in modern terms. An anthropologic study of Timur's cranium shows that he belonged predominately to the South Siberian Mongoloid type. At , Timur was tall for his era. The examinations confirmed that Timur was lame and had a withered right arm due to his injuries. His right thighbone had knitted together with his kneecap, and the configuration of the knee joint suggests that he had kept his leg bent at all times and therefore would have had a pronounced limp. He appears to have been broad-chested and his hair and beard were red. It is alleged that Timur's tomb was inscribed with the words, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble." It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." Even though people close to Gerasimov claim that this story is a fabrication, the legend persists. In any case, three days after Gerasimov began the exhumation, Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. In the arts Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II (English, 1563–1594): play by Christopher Marlowe Tamerlan ou la mort de Bajazet [Tamerlane or the Death of Bajazet] (1675): play by Jacques Pradon. Tamerlane (1701): play by Nicholas Rowe (English) Tamerlano (1724): opera by George Frideric Handel, in Italian, based on the 1675 Pradon play. Bajazet (1735): opera by Antonio Vivaldi, portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Il gran Tamerlano (1772): opera by Josef Myslivecek which also portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Timour the Tartar (1811): equestrian drama by Matthew Lewis Tamerlane (published 1827): first published poem of Edgar Allan Poe. Turandot (1924): opera by Giacomo Puccini (libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni) in which Timur is the deposed, blind former King of Tartary and father of the protagonist Calaf. Lord of Samarkand (The Lame Man; published 1932): story by Robert E. Howard in which Timour appears. Nesimi (1973): Azerbaijani film in which Timur was portrayed by Yusif Veliyev. Tamerlan (2003): Spanish-language novel by Colombian writer Enrique Serrano Day Watch (2006): Russian film in which Tamerlane in his youth is portrayed by Emir Baygazin, and in maturity by Gani Kulzhanov. Tamburlaine: Shadow of God (broadcast 2008): a BBC Radio 3 play by John Fletcher presenting a fictitious encounter between Tamburlaine, Ibn Khaldun, and Hafez. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (2019): a video game containing a six-chapter campaign titled "Tamerlane". Examples of Timurid architecture See also List of largest empires Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent Timuri Timurid conquests and invasions Timurlengia Notes References Further reading Abazov, Rafis. "Timur (Tamerlane) and the Timurid Empire in Central Asia." The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia. Palgrave Macmillan US, 2008. 56–57. Marlowe, Christopher. Tamburlaine the Great. Ed. J. S. Cunningham. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1981. Manz, Beatrice Forbes. "Temür and the Problem of a Conqueror's Legacy," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Apr. 1998) Marozzi, Justin. Tamerlane: sword of Islam, conqueror of the world, London: HarperCollins, 2004 Marozzi, Justin. "Tamerlane", in: The Art of War: great commanders of the ancient and medieval world, Andrew Roberts (editor), London: Quercus Military History, 2008. Novosel'tsev, A. P. "On the Historical Evaluation of Tamerlane." Soviet studies in history 12.3 (1973): 37–70. Shterenshis, Michael V. "Approach to Tamerlane: Tradition and Innovation." Central Asia and the Caucasus 2 (2000). Sykes, P. M. "Tamerlane" Journal of the Central Asian Society 2.1 (1915): 17–33. YÜKSEL, Musa Şamil. "Timur’un Yükselişi ve Batı’nın Diplomatik Cevabı, 1390–1405." Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 1.18 (2005): 231–243. External links Forbes, Andrew, & Henley, David: Timur's Legacy: The Architecture of Bukhara and Samarkand (CPA Media) Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez De Clavijo to the Court of Timour, at Samarcand, A.D. 1403–6 – . Ruy González de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403–1406, translated by Guy Le Strange, with a new Introduction by Caroline Stone (Hardinge Simpole, 2009). Nationality or Religion: Views of Central Asian Islam Timurid dynasty 1336 births 1405 deaths Muslim monarchs Samarkand Royalty and nobility with disabilities Founding monarchs
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" ]
[ "Timur", "Rise to power", "How did he begin to attain power?", "Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads", "Did he accomplish that through battle or subterfuge?", "he ruled in their name.", "Did he go on to expand his people's lands?", "I don't know.", "Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?", "Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh," ]
C_e6592fba22cd4733b7119e8ca671f8d1_0
What was the result of his popularity in Balkh?
5
What was the result of Timur's popularity in Balkh?
Timur
It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers in joint adventures, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them began to become strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tishnet. Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. At around 1370 Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. One day Aksak Temur spoke thusly: "Khan Zudei (in China) rules over the city. We now number fifty to sixty men, so let us elect a leader." So they drove a stake into the ground and said: "We shall run thither and he among us who is the first to reach the stake, may he become our leader". So they ran and Aksak Timur, as he was lame, lagged behind, but before the others reached the stake he threw his cap onto it. Those who arrived first said: "We are the leaders." ["But,"] Aksak Timur said: "My head came in first, I am the leader." Meanwhile, an old man arrived and said: "The leadership should belong to Aksak Timur; your feet have arrived but, before then, his head reached the goal." So they made Aksak Timur their prince. CANNOTANSWER
sharing his belongings with them.
Timur ( Temür, 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( Temür Küregen), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. As an undefeated commander, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest military leaders and tacticians in history. Timur is also considered a great patron of art and architecture as he interacted with intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i Abru and his reign introduced the Timurid Renaissance. Born into the Barlas confederation in Transoxiana (in modern-day Uzbekistan) on 9 April 1336, Timur gained control of the western Chagatai Khanate by 1370. From that base, he led military campaigns across Western, South and Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Southern Russia, defeating in the process the Khans of the Golden Horde, the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire, and the late Delhi Sultanate of India and emerging as the most powerful ruler in the Islamic World. From these conquests, he founded the Timurid Empire, but this empire fragmented shortly after his death. Timur was the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe, and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lasting Islamic gunpowder empires in the 16th and 17th centuries. Timur was of both Turkic and Mongol descent, and, while unlikely a direct descendant on either side, he shared a common ancestor with Genghis Khan on his father's side, though some authors have suggested his mother may have been a descendant of Khan. He clearly sought to invoke the legacy of the latter's conquests during his lifetime. Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan (died 1227) and according to Gérard Chaliand, saw himself as Genghis Khan's heir. According to Beatrice Forbes Manz, "in his formal correspondence Temur continued throughout his life to portray himself as the restorer of Chinggisid rights. He justified his Iranian, Mamluk, and Ottoman campaigns as a re-imposition of legitimate Mongol control over lands taken by usurpers." To legitimize his conquests, Timur relied on Islamic symbols and language, referred to himself as the "Sword of Islam". He was a patron of educational and religious institutions. He converted nearly all the Borjigin leaders to Islam during his lifetime. Timur decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaller at the Siege of Smyrna, styling himself a ghazi. By the end of his reign, Timur had gained complete control over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, the Ilkhanate, and the Golden Horde, and even attempted to restore the Yuan dynasty in China. Timur's armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and were feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe, sizable parts of which his campaigns laid waste. Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population at the time. Of all the areas he conquered, Khwarazm suffered the most from his expeditions, as it rose several times against him. Timur was the grandfather of the Timurid sultan, astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire, which then ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent. Ancestry Through his father, Timur claimed to be a descendant of Tumanay Khan, a male-line ancestor he shared with Genghis Khan. Tumanay's great-great grandson Qarachar Noyan was a minister for the emperor who later assisted the latter's son Chagatai in the governorship of Transoxiana. Though there are not many mentions of Qarachar in 13th and 14th century records, later Timurid sources greatly emphasised his role in the early history of the Mongol Empire. These histories also state that Genghis Khan later established the "bond of fatherhood and sonship" by marrying Chagatai's daughter to Qarachar. Through his alleged descent from this marriage, Timur claimed kinship with the Chagatai Khans. The origins of Timur's mother, Tekina Khatun, are less clear. The Zafarnama merely states her name without giving any information regarding her background. Writing in 1403, Johannes de Galonifontibus, Archbishop of Sultaniyya, claimed that she was of lowly origin. The Mu'izz al-Ansab, written decades later, says that she was related to the Yasa'uri tribe, whose lands bordered that of the Barlas. Ibn Khaldun recounted that Timur himself described to him his mother's descent from the legendary Persian hero Manuchehr. Ibn Arabshah suggested that she was a descendant of Genghis Khan. The 18th century Books of Timur identify her as the daughter of 'Sadr al-Sharia', which is believed to refer to the Hanafi scholar Ubayd Allah al-Mahbubi of Bukhara. Early life Timur was born in Transoxiana near the city of Kesh (modern Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan), some south of Samarkand, part of what was then the Chagatai Khanate. His name Temur means "Iron" in the Chagatai language, his mother-tongue (cf. Uzbek Temir, Turkish Demir). It is cognate with Genghis Khan's birth name of Temüjin. Later Timurid dynastic histories claim that Timur was born on 8 April 1336, but most sources from his lifetime give ages that are consistent with a birthdate in the late 1320s. Historian Beatrice Forbes Manz suspects the 1336 date was designed to tie Timur to the legacy of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, the last ruler of the Ilkhanate descended from Hulagu Khan, who died in that year. He was a member of the Barlas, a Mongolian tribe that had been turkified in many aspects. His father, Taraghai was described as a minor noble of this tribe. However, Manz believes that Timur may have later understated the social position of his father, so as to make his own successes appear more remarkable. She states that though he is not believed to have been especially powerful, Taraghai was reasonably wealthy and influential. This is shown by Timur later returning to his birthplace following the death of his father in 1360, suggesting concern over his estate. Taraghai's social significance is further hinted at by Arabshah, who described him as a magnate in the court of Amir Husayn Qara'unas. In addition to this, the father of the great Amir Hamid Kereyid of Moghulistan is stated as a friend of Taraghai's. In his childhood, Timur and a small band of followers raided travelers for goods, especially animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle. Around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows, one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he lost two fingers. Both injuries crippled him for life. Some believe that Timur suffered his crippling injuries while serving as a mercenary to the khan of Sistan in what is today the Dashti Margo in southwest Afghanistan. Timur's injuries have given him the names of Timur the Lame and Tamerlane by Europeans. Military leader About 1360, Timur gained prominence as a military leader whose troops were mostly Turkic tribesmen of the region. He took part in campaigns in Transoxiana with the Khan of the Chagatai Khanate. Allying himself both in cause and by family connection with Qazaghan, the dethroner and destroyer of Volga Bulgaria, he invaded Khorasan at the head of a thousand horsemen. This was the second military expedition that he led, and its success led to further operations, among them the subjugation of Khwarezm and Urgench. Following Qazaghan's murder, disputes arose among the many claimants to sovereign power. Tughlugh Timur of Kashgar, the Khan of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, another descendant of Genghis Khan, invaded, interrupting this infighting. Timur was sent to negotiate with the invader but joined with him instead and was rewarded with Transoxania. At about this time, his father died and Timur also became chief of the Berlas. Tughlugh then attempted to set his son Ilyas Khoja over Transoxania, but Timur repelled this invasion with a smaller force. Rise to power It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Amir Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them became strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tashkent. Timur gained followers in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. Around 1370, Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. Legitimization of Timur's rule Timur's Turco-Mongolian heritage provided opportunities and challenges as he sought to rule the Mongol Empire and the Muslim world. According to the Mongol traditions, Timur could not claim the title of khan or rule the Mongol Empire because he was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Therefore, Timur set up a puppet Chaghatay Khan, Suyurghatmish, as the nominal ruler of Balkh as he pretended to act as a "protector of the member of a Chinggisid line, that of Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi". Timur instead used the title of Amir meaning general, and acting in the name of the Chagatai ruler of Transoxania. To reinforce this position, Timur claimed the title Guregen (royal son-in-law) when he married Saray Mulk Khanum, a princess of Chinggisid descent. As with the title of Khan, Timur similarly could not claim the supreme title of the Islamic world, Caliph, because the "office was limited to the Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad". Therefore, Timur reacted to the challenge by creating a myth and image of himself as a "supernatural personal power" ordained by God. Otherwise he was described as a spiritual descendant of Ali, thus taken lineage of both to Genghis Khan and the Quraysh. Period of expansion Timur spent the next 35 years in various wars and expeditions. He not only consolidated his rule at home by the subjugation of his foes, but sought extension of territory by encroachments upon the lands of foreign potentates. His conquests to the west and northwest led him to the lands near the Caspian Sea and to the banks of the Ural and the Volga. Conquests in the south and south-West encompassed almost every province in Persia, including Baghdad, Karbala and Northern Iraq. One of the most formidable of Timur's opponents was another Mongol ruler, a descendant of Genghis Khan named Tokhtamysh. After having been a refugee in Timur's court, Tokhtamysh became ruler both of the eastern Kipchak and the Golden Horde. After his accession, he quarreled with Timur over the possession of Khwarizm and Azerbaijan. However, Timur still supported him against the Russians and in 1382 Tokhtamysh invaded the Muscovite dominion and burned Moscow. Orthodox tradition states that later, in 1395 Timur, having reached the frontier of the Principality of Ryazan, had taken Elets and started advancing towards Moscow. Great Prince Vasily I of Moscow went with an army to Kolomna and halted at the banks of the Oka River. The clergy brought the famed Theotokos of Vladimir icon from Vladimir to Moscow. Along the way people prayed kneeling: "O Mother of God, save the land of Russia!" Suddenly, Timur's armies retreated. In memory of this miraculous deliverance of the Russian land from Timur on 26 August, the all-Russian celebration in honor of the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was established. Conquest of Persia After the death of Abu Sa'id, ruler of the Ilkhanate, in 1335, there was a power vacuum in Persia. In the end, Persia was split amongst the Muzaffarids, Kartids, Eretnids, Chobanids, Injuids, Jalayirids, and Sarbadars. In 1383, Timur started his lengthy military conquest of Persia, though he already ruled over much of Persian Khorasan by 1381, after Khwaja Mas'ud, of the Sarbadar dynasty surrendered. Timur began his Persian campaign with Herat, capital of the Kartid dynasty. When Herat did not surrender he reduced the city to rubble and massacred most of its citizens; it remained in ruins until Shah Rukh ordered its reconstruction around 1415. Timur then sent a General to capture rebellious Kandahar. With the capture of Herat the Kartid kingdom surrendered and became vassals of Timur; it would later be annexed outright less than a decade later in 1389 by Timur's son Miran Shah. Timur then headed west to capture the Zagros Mountains, passing through Mazandaran. During his travel through the north of Persia, he captured the then town of Tehran, which surrendered and was thus treated mercifully. He laid siege to Soltaniyeh in 1384. Khorasan revolted one year later, so Timur destroyed Isfizar, and the prisoners were cemented into the walls alive. The next year the kingdom of Sistan, under the Mihrabanid dynasty, was ravaged, and its capital at Zaranj was destroyed. Timur then returned to his capital of Samarkand, where he began planning for his Georgian campaign and Golden Horde invasion. In 1386, Timur passed through Mazandaran as he had when trying to capture the Zagros. He went near the city of Soltaniyeh, which he had previously captured but instead turned north and captured Tabriz with little resistance, along with Maragha. He ordered heavy taxation of the people, which was collected by Adil Aqa, who was also given control over Soltaniyeh. Adil was later executed because Timur suspected him of corruption. Timur then went north to begin his Georgian and Golden Horde campaigns, pausing his full-scale invasion of Persia. When he returned, he found his generals had done well in protecting the cities and lands he had conquered in Persia. Though many rebelled, and his son Miran Shah, who may have been regent, was forced to annex rebellious vassal dynasties, his holdings remained. So he proceeded to capture the rest of Persia, specifically the two major southern cities of Isfahan and Shiraz. When he arrived with his army at Isfahan in 1387, the city immediately surrendered; he treated it with relative mercy as he normally did with cities that surrendered (unlike Herat). However, after Isfahan revolted against Timur's taxes by killing the tax collectors and some of Timur's soldiers, he ordered the massacre of the city's citizens; the death toll is reckoned at between 100,000 and 200,000. An eye-witness counted more than 28 towers constructed of about 1,500 heads each. This has been described as a "systematic use of terror against towns...an integral element of Tamerlane's strategic element", which he viewed as preventing bloodshed by discouraging resistance. His massacres were selective and he spared the artistic and educated. This would later influence the next great Persian conqueror: Nader Shah. Timur then began a five-year campaign to the west in 1392, attacking Persian Kurdistan. In 1393, Shiraz was captured after surrendering, and the Muzaffarids became vassals of Timur, though prince Shah Mansur rebelled but was defeated, and the Muzafarids were annexed. Shortly after Georgia was devastated so that the Golden Horde could not use it to threaten northern Iran. In the same year, Timur caught Baghdad by surprise in August by marching there in only eight days from Shiraz. Sultan Ahmad Jalayir fled to Syria, where the Mamluk Sultan Barquq protected him and killed Timur's envoys. Timur left the Sarbadar prince Khwaja Mas'ud to govern Baghdad, but he was driven out when Ahmad Jalayir returned. Ahmad was unpopular but got help from Qara Yusuf of the Kara Koyunlu; he fled again in 1399, this time to the Ottomans. Tokhtamysh–Timur war In the meantime, Tokhtamysh, now khan of the Golden Horde, turned against his patron and in 1385 invaded Azerbaijan. The inevitable response by Timur resulted in the Tokhtamysh–Timur war. In the initial stage of the war, Timur won a victory at the Battle of the Kondurcha River. After the battle Tokhtamysh and some of his army were allowed to escape. After Tokhtamysh's initial defeat, Timur invaded Muscovy to the north of Tokhtamysh's holdings. Timur's army burned Ryazan and advanced on Moscow. He was pulled away before reaching the Oka River by Tokhtamysh's renewed campaign in the south. In the first phase of the conflict with Tokhtamysh, Timur led an army of over 100,000 men north for more than 700 miles into the steppe. He then rode west about 1,000 miles advancing in a front more than 10 miles wide. During this advance, Timur's army got far enough north to be in a region of very long summer days causing complaints by his Muslim soldiers about keeping a long schedule of prayers. It was then that Tokhtamysh's army was boxed in against the east bank of the Volga River in the Orenburg region and destroyed at the Battle of the Kondurcha River, in 1391. In the second phase of the conflict, Timur took a different route against the enemy by invading the realm of Tokhtamysh via the Caucasus region. In 1395, Timur defeated Tokhtamysh in the Battle of the Terek River, concluding the struggle between the two monarchs. Tokhtamysh was unable to restore his power or prestige, and he was killed about a decade later in the area of present-day Tyumen. During the course of Timur's campaigns, his army destroyed Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and Astrakhan, subsequently disrupting the Golden Horde's Silk Road. The Golden Horde no longer held power after their losses to Timur. Ismailis In May 1393, Timur's army invaded the Anjudan, crippling the Ismaili village only a year after his assault on the Ismailis in Mazandaran. The village was prepared for the attack, evidenced by its fortress and system of tunnels. Undeterred, Timur's soldiers flooded the tunnels by cutting into a channel overhead. Timur's reasons for attacking this village are not yet well understood. However, it has been suggested that his religious persuasions and view of himself as an executor of divine will may have contributed to his motivations. The Persian historian Khwandamir explains that an Ismaili presence was growing more politically powerful in Persian Iraq. A group of locals in the region was dissatisfied with this and, Khwandamir writes, these locals assembled and brought up their complaint with Timur, possibly provoking his attack on the Ismailis there. Campaign against the Tughlaq dynasty In 1398, Timur invaded northern India, attacking the Delhi Sultanate ruled by Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq of the Tughlaq dynasty. After crossing the Indus River on 30 September 1398, he sacked Tulamba and massacred its inhabitants. Then he advanced and captured Multan by October. His invasion was unopposed as most of the Indian nobility surrendered without a fight, however he did encounter resistance from the united army of Rajputs and Muslims at Bhatner under the command of the Rajput king Dulachand, Dulachand initially opposed Timur but when hard-pressed he considered surrender. He was locked outside the walls of Bhatner by his brother and was later killed by Timur. The garrison of Bhatner then fought and were slaughtered to the last man. Bhatner was looted and burned to the ground. While on his march towards Delhi, Timur was opposed by the Jat peasantry, who would loot caravans and then disappear in the forests, Timur had 2,000 Jats killed and many taken captive. But the Sultanate at Delhi did nothing to stop his advance. Capture of Delhi (1398) The battle took place on 17 December 1398. Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq and the army of Mallu Iqbal had war elephants armored with chain mail and poison on their tusks. As his Tatar forces were afraid of the elephants, Timur ordered his men to dig a trench in front of their positions. Timur then loaded his camels with as much wood and hay as they could carry. When the war elephants charged, Timur set the hay on fire and prodded the camels with iron sticks, causing them to charge at the elephants, howling in pain: Timur had understood that elephants were easily panicked. Faced with the strange spectacle of camels flying straight at them with flames leaping from their backs, the elephants turned around and stampeded back toward their own lines. Timur capitalized on the subsequent disruption in the forces of Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq, securing an easy victory. Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq fled with remnants of his forces. Delhi was sacked and left in ruins. Before the battle for Delhi, Timur executed 100,000 captives. The capture of the Delhi Sultanate was one of Timur's greatest victories, as at that time, Delhi was one of the richest cities in the world. After Delhi fell to Timur's army, uprisings by its citizens against the Turkic-Mongols began to occur, causing a retaliatory bloody massacre within the city walls. After three days of citizens uprising within Delhi, it was said that the city reeked of the decomposing bodies of its citizens with their heads being erected like structures and the bodies left as food for the birds by Timur's soldiers. Timur's invasion and destruction of Delhi continued the chaos that was still consuming India, and the city would not be able to recover from the great loss it suffered for almost a century. Campaigns in the Levant Before the end of 1399, Timur started a war with Bayezid I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and the Mamluk sultan of Egypt Nasir-ad-Din Faraj. Bayezid began annexing the territory of Turkmen and Muslim rulers in Anatolia. As Timur claimed sovereignty over the Turkoman rulers, they took refuge behind him. In 1400, Timur invaded Armenia and Georgia. Of the surviving population, more than 60,000 of the local people were captured as slaves, and many districts were depopulated. He also sacked Sivas in Asia Minor. Then Timur turned his attention to Syria, sacking Aleppo, and Damascus. The city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans, who were deported to Samarkand. Timur invaded Baghdad in June 1401. After the capture of the city, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred. Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him. When they ran out of men to kill, many warriors killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign, and when they ran out of prisoners to kill, many resorted to beheading their own wives. Invasion of Anatolia In the meantime, years of insulting letters had passed between Timur and Bayezid. Both rulers insulted each other in their own way while Timur preferred to undermine Bayezid's position as a ruler and play down the significance of his military successes. This is the excerpt from one of Timur's letters addressed to Ottoman sultan: "Believe me, you are but pismire ant: don't seek to fight the elephants for they'll crush you under their feet. Shall a petty prince such as you are contend with us? But your rodomontades (braggadocio) are not extraordinary; for a Turcoman never spake with judgement. If you don't follow our counsels you will regret it". Finally, Timur invaded Anatolia and defeated Bayezid in the Battle of Ankara on 20 July 1402. Bayezid was captured in battle and subsequently died in captivity, initiating the twelve-year Ottoman Interregnum period. Timur's stated motivation for attacking Bayezid and the Ottoman Empire was the restoration of Seljuq authority. Timur saw the Seljuks as the rightful rulers of Anatolia as they had been granted rule by Mongol conquerors, illustrating again Timur's interest with Genghizid legitimacy. In December 1402, Timur besieged and took the city of Smyrna, a stronghold of the Christian Knights Hospitalers, thus he referred to himself as ghazi or "Warrior of Islam". A mass beheading was carried out in Smyrna by Timur's soldiers. With the Treaty of Gallipoli in February 1402, Timur was furious with the Genoese and Venetians, as their ships ferried the Ottoman army to safety in Thrace. As Lord Kinross reported in The Ottoman Centuries, the Italians preferred the enemy they could handle to the one they could not. During the early interregnum, Bayezid I's son acted as Timur's vassal. Unlike other princes, Mehmed minted coins that had Timur's name stamped as "Demur han Gürgân" (), alongside his own as "Mehmed bin Bayezid han" (). This was probably an attempt on Mehmed's part to justify to Timur his conquest of Bursa after the Battle of Ulubad. After Mehmed established himself in Rum, Timur had already begun preparations for his return to Central Asia, and took no further steps to interfere with the status quo in Anatolia. While Timur was still in Anatolia, Qara Yusuf assaulted Baghdad and captured it in 1402. Timur returned to Persia and sent his grandson Abu Bakr ibn Miran Shah to reconquer Baghdad, which he proceeded to do. Timur then spent some time in Ardabil, where he gave Ali Safavi, leader of the Safaviyya, a number of captives. Subsequently, he marched to Khorasan and then to Samarkhand, where he spent nine months celebrating and preparing to invade Mongolia and China. Attempts to attack the Ming dynasty By 1368, Han Chinese forces had driven the Mongols out of China. The first of the new Ming dynasty's emperors, the Hongwu Emperor, and his son, the Yongle Emperor, produced tributary states of many Central Asian countries. The suzerain-vassal relationship between Ming empire and Timurid existed for a long time. In 1394, Hongwu's ambassadors eventually presented Timur with a letter addressing him as a subject. He had the ambassadors Fu An, Guo Ji, and Liu Wei detained. Neither Hongwu's next ambassador, Chen Dewen (1397), nor the delegation announcing the accession of the Yongle Emperor fared any better. Timur eventually planned to invade China. To this end Timur made an alliance with surviving Mongol tribes based in Mongolia and prepared all the way to Bukhara. Engke Khan sent his grandson Öljei Temür Khan, also known as "Buyanshir Khan" after he converted to Islam while at the court of Timur in Samarkand. Death Timur preferred to fight his battles in the spring. However, he died en route during an uncharacteristic winter campaign. In December 1404, Timur began military campaigns against Ming China and detained a Ming envoy. He suffered illness while encamped on the farther side of the Syr Daria and died at Farab on 17 February 1405, before ever reaching the Chinese border. After his death the Ming envoys such as Fu An and the remaining entourage were released by his grandson Khalil Sultan. Geographer Clements Markham, in his introduction to the narrative of Clavijo's embassy, states that, after Timur died, his body "was embalmed with musk and rose water, wrapped in linen, laid in an ebony coffin and sent to Samarkand, where it was buried". His tomb, the Gur-e-Amir, still stands in Samarkand, though it has been heavily restored in recent years. Succession Timur had twice previously appointed an heir apparent to succeed him, both of whom he had outlived. The first, his son Jahangir, died of illness in 1376. The second, his grandson Muhammad Sultan, had succumbed to battle wounds in 1403. After the latter's death, Timur did nothing to replace him. It was only when he was on his own death-bed that he appointed Muhammad Sultan's younger brother, Pir Muhammad as his successor. Pir Muhammad was unable to gain sufficient support from his relatives and a bitter civil war erupted amongst Timur's descendants, with multiple princes pursuing their claims. It was not until 1409 that Timur's youngest son, Shah Rukh was able to overcome his rivals and take the throne as Timur's successor. Wives and concubines Timur had forty-three wives and concubines, all of these women were also his consorts. Timur made dozens of women his wives and concubines as he conquered their fathers' or erstwhile husbands' lands. Turmish Agha, mother of Jahangir Mirza, Jahanshah Mirza and Aka Begi; Oljay Turkhan Agha (m. 1357/58), daughter of Amir Mashlah and granddaughter of Amir Qazaghan; Saray Mulk Khanum (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Qazan Khan; Islam Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Bayan Salduz; Ulus Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Khizr Yasuri; Dilshad Agha (m. 1374), daughter of Shams ed-Din and his wife Bujan Agha; Touman Agha (m. 1377), daughter of Amir Musa and his wife Arzu Mulk Agha, daughter of Amir Bayezid Jalayir; Chulpan Mulk Agha, daughter of Haji Beg of Jetah; Tukal Khanum (m. 1397), daughter of Mongol Khan Khizr Khawaja Oglan; Tolun Agha, concubine, and mother of Umar Shaikh Mirza I; Mengli Agha, concubine, and mother of Miran Shah; Toghay Turkhan Agha, lady from the Kara Khitai, widow of Amir Husain, and mother of Shah Rukh; Tughdi Bey Agha, daughter of Aq Sufi Qongirat; Sultan Aray Agha, a Nukuz lady; Malikanshah Agha, a Filuni lady; Khand Malik Agha, mother of Ibrahim Mirza; Sultan Agha, mother of a son who died in infancy; His other wives and concubines included: Dawlat Tarkan Agha, Burhan Agha, Jani Beg Agha, Tini Beg Agha, Durr Sultan Agha, Munduz Agha, Bakht Sultan Agha, Nowruz Agha, Jahan Bakht Agha, Nigar Agha, Ruhparwar Agha, Dil Beg Agha, Dilshad Agha, Murad Beg Agha, Piruzbakht Agha, Khoshkeldi Agha, Dilkhosh Agha, Barat Bey Agha, Sevinch Malik Agha, Arzu Bey Agha, Yadgar Sultan Agha, Khudadad Agha, Bakht Nigar Agha, Qutlu Bey Agha, and another Nigar Agha . Descendants Sons of Timur Umar Shaikh Mirza I – with Tolun Agha Jahangir Mirza – with Turmish Agha Miran Shah Mirza – with Mengli Agha Shah Rukh Mirza – with Toghay Turkhan Agha Daughters of Timur Aka Begi (died 1382) – by Turmish Agha. Married to Muhammad Beg, son of Amir Musa Tayichiud Sultan Husayn Tayichiud Sultan Bakht Begum (died 1429/30) – by Oljay Turkhan Agha. Married first Muhammad Mirke Apardi, married second, 1389/90, Sulayman Shah Dughlat Sa'adat Sultan – by Dilshad Agha Bikijan – by Mengli Agha Qutlugh Sultan Agha – by Toghay Turkhan Agha Sons of Umar Shaikh Mirza I Pir Muhammad Iskandar Rustam Bayqara I Mansur Sultan Husayn Bayqarah Badi' al-Zaman Muhammed Mu'min Muhammad Zaman Mirza Muzaffar Hussein Ibrahim Hussein Sons of Jahangir Muhammad Sultan Mirza Pir Muhammad Sons of Miran Shah Khalil Sultan Abu Bakr Muhammad Mirza Abu Sa'id Mirza Umar Shaikh Mirza II Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur the Mughals Jahangir Mirza II Sons of Shah Rukh Mirza Mirza Muhammad Taraghay – better known as Ulugh Beg Abdul-Latif Ghiyath-al-Din Baysunghur Ala al-Dawla Mirza Ibrahim Mirza Sultan Muhammad Yadigar Muhammad Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza Sultan Ibrahim Mirza Abdullah Mirza Mirza Soyurghatmïsh Khan Muhammad Juki Religious views Timur was a practicing Sunni Muslim, possibly belonging to the Naqshbandi school, which was influential in Transoxiana. His chief official religious counsellor and adviser was the Hanafi scholar 'Abdu 'l-Jabbar Khwarazmi. In Tirmidh, he had come under the influence of his spiritual mentor Sayyid Baraka, a leader from Balkh who is buried alongside Timur in Gur-e-Amir. Timur was known to hold Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt in high regard and has been noted by various scholars for his "pro-Shia" stance. However, he also punished Shias for desecrating the memories of the Sahaba. Timur was also noted for attacking the Shia with Sunni apologism, while at other times he attacked Sunnis on religious grounds as well. In contrast, Timur held the Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar in high regard for attacking the Ismailis at Alamut, while Timur's own attack on Ismailis at Anjudan was equally brutal. Personality Timur is regarded as a military genius and as a brilliant tactician with an uncanny ability to work within a highly fluid political structure to win and maintain a loyal following of nomads during his rule in Central Asia. He was also considered extraordinarily intelligentnot only intuitively but also intellectually. In Samarkand and his many travels, Timur, under the guidance of distinguished scholars, was able to learn the Persian, Mongolian, and Turkish languages (according to Ahmad ibn Arabshah, Timur could not speak Arabic). According to John Joseph Saunders, Timur was "the product of an Islamized and Iranized society", and not steppe nomadic. More importantly, Timur was characterized as an opportunist. Taking advantage of his Turco-Mongolian heritage, Timur frequently used either the Islamic religion or the sharia law, fiqh, and traditions of the Mongol Empire to achieve his military goals or domestic political aims. Timur was a learned king, and enjoyed the company of scholars; he was tolerant and generous to them. He was a contemporary of the Persian poet Hafez, and a story of their meeting explains that Timur summoned Hafiz, who had written a ghazal with the following verse: For the black mole on thy cheek I would give the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. Timur upbraided him for this verse and said, "By the blows of my well tempered sword I have conquered the greater part of the world to enlarge Samarkand and Bukhara, my capitals and residences; and you, pitiful creature, would exchange these two cities for a mole." Hafez, undaunted, replied, "It is by similar generosity that I have been reduced, as you see, to my present state of poverty." It is reported that the King was pleased by the witty answer and the poet departed with magnificent gifts. There is a shared view that Timur's real motive for his campaigns was his imperialistic ambition, as expressed by his statement: "The whole expanse of the inhabited part of the world is not large enough to have two kings." However, besides Iran, Timur simply plundered the states he invaded with a purpose of enriching his native Samarqand and neglected the conquered areas, which may have resulted in a relatively quick disintegration of his Empire after his death. Timur used Persian expressions in his conversations often, and his motto was the Persian phrase rāstī rustī (, meaning "truth is safety" or "veritas salus"). He is credited with the invention of the Tamerlane chess variant, played on a 10×11 board. Exchanges with Europe Timur had numerous and diplomatic exchanges with various European states, especially Spain and France. Relations between the court of Henry III of Castile and that of Timur played an important part in medieval Castilian diplomacy. In 1402, the time of the Battle of Ankara, two Spanish ambassadors were already with Timur: Pelayo de Sotomayor and Fernando de Palazuelos. Later, Timur sent to the court of the Kingdom of León and Castile a Chagatai ambassador named Hajji Muhammad al-Qazi with letters and gifts. In return, Henry III of Castile sent a famous embassy to Timur's court in Samarkand in 1403–06, led by Ruy González de Clavijo, with two other ambassadors, Alfonso Paez and Gomez de Salazar. On their return, Timur affirmed that he regarded the king of Castile "as his very own son". According to Clavijo, Timur's good treatment of the Spanish delegation contrasted with the disdain shown by his host toward the envoys of the "lord of Cathay" (i.e., the Yongle Emperor), the Chinese ruler. Clavijo's visit to Samarkand allowed him to report to the European audience on the news from Cathay (China), which few Europeans had been able to visit directly in the century that had passed since the travels of Marco Polo. The French archives preserve: A 30 July 1402 letter from Timur to Charles VI of France, suggesting that he send traders to Asia. It is written in Persian. A May 1403 letter. This is a Latin transcription of a letter from Timur to Charles VI, and another from Miran Shah, his son, to the Christian princes, announcing their victory over Bayezid I at Smyrna. A copy has been kept of the answer of Charles VI to Timur, dated 15 June 1403. In addition, Byzantine John VII Palaiologos who was a regent during his uncle's absence in the West, sent a Dominican friar in August 1401 to Timur, to pay his respect and propose paying tribute to him instead of the Turks, once he managed to defeat them. Legacy Timur's legacy is a mixed one. While Central Asia blossomed under his reign, other places, such as Baghdad, Damascus, Delhi and other Arab, Georgian, Persian, and Indian cities were sacked and destroyed and their populations massacred. Thus, while Timur still retains a positive image in Muslim Central Asia, he is vilified by many in Arabia, Iraq, Persia, and India, where some of his greatest atrocities were carried out. However, Ibn Khaldun praises Timur for having unified much of the Muslim world when other conquerors of the time could not. The next great conqueror of the Middle East, Nader Shah, was greatly influenced by Timur and almost re-enacted Timur's conquests and battle strategies in his own campaigns. Like Timur, Nader Shah conquered most of Caucasia, Persia, and Central Asia along with also sacking Delhi. Timur's short-lived empire also melded the Turko-Persian tradition in Transoxiana, and in most of the territories that he incorporated into his fiefdom, Persian became the primary language of administration and literary culture (diwan), regardless of ethnicity. In addition, during his reign, some contributions to Turkic literature were penned, with Turkic cultural influence expanding and flourishing as a result. A literary form of Chagatai Turkic came into use alongside Persian as both a cultural and an official language. Tamerlane virtually exterminated the Church of the East, which had previously been a major branch of Christianity but afterwards became largely confined to a small area now known as the Assyrian Triangle. Timur became a relatively popular figure in Europe for centuries after his death, mainly because of his victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid. The Ottoman armies were at the time invading Eastern Europe and Timur was seen as an ally. Timur is officially recognized as a national hero in Uzbekistan. His monument in Tashkent now occupies the place where Karl Marx's statue once stood. Muhammad Iqbal, a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement, composed a notable poem entitled Dream of Timur, the poem itself was inspired by a prayer of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II: In 1794, Sake Dean Mahomed published his travel book, The Travels of Dean Mahomet. The book begins with the praise of Genghis Khan, Timur, and particularly the first Mughal emperor, Babur. He also gives important details on the then incumbent Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. Historical sources The earliest known history of his reign was Nizam ad-Din Shami's Zafarnama, which was written during Timur's lifetime. Between 1424 and 1428, Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi wrote a second Zafarnama drawing heavily on Shami's earlier work. Ahmad ibn Arabshah wrote a much less favorable history in Arabic. Arabshah's history was translated into Latin by the Dutch Orientalist Jacobus Golius in 1636. As Timurid-sponsored histories, the two Zafarnamas present a dramatically different picture from Arabshah's chronicle. William Jones remarked that the former presented Timur as a "liberal, benevolent and illustrious prince" while the latter painted him as "deformed and impious, of a low birth and detestable principles". Malfuzat-i Timuri The Malfuzat-i Timurī and the appended Tuzūk-i Tīmūrī, supposedly Timur's own autobiography, are almost certainly 17th-century fabrications. The scholar Abu Taleb Hosayni presented the texts to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, a distant descendant of Timur, in 1637–38, supposedly after discovering the Chagatai language originals in the library of a Yemeni ruler. Due to the distance between Yemen and Timur's base in Transoxiana and the lack of any other evidence of the originals, most historians consider the story highly implausible, and suspect Hosayni of inventing both the text and its origin story. European views Timur arguably had a significant impact on the Renaissance culture and early modern Europe. His achievements both fascinated and horrified Europeans from the fifteenth century to the early nineteenth century. European views of Timur were mixed throughout the fifteenth century, with some European countries calling him an ally and others seeing him as a threat to Europe because of his rapid expansion and brutality. When Timur captured the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid at Ankara, he was often praised and seen as a trusted ally by European rulers, such as Charles VI of France and Henry IV of England, because they believed he was saving Christianity from the Turkic Empire in the Middle East. Those two kings also praised him because his victory at Ankara allowed Christian merchants to remain in the Middle East and allowed for their safe return home to both France and England. Timur was also praised because it was believed that he helped restore the right of passage for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Other Europeans viewed Timur as a barbaric enemy who presented a threat to both European culture and the religion of Christianity. His rise to power moved many leaders, such as Henry III of Castile, to send embassies to Samarkand to scout out Timur, learn about his people, make alliances with him, and try to convince him to convert to Christianity in order to avoid war. In the introduction to a 1723 translation of Yazdi's Zafarnama, the translator wrote: Exhumation and alleged curse Timur's body was exhumed from his tomb on 19 June 1941 and his remains examined by the Soviet anthropologists Mikhail M. Gerasimov, Lev V. Oshanin and V. Ia. Zezenkova. Gerasimov reconstructed the likeness of Timur from his skull and found that his facial characteristics displayed "typical Mongoloid features", i.e. East Asian in modern terms. An anthropologic study of Timur's cranium shows that he belonged predominately to the South Siberian Mongoloid type. At , Timur was tall for his era. The examinations confirmed that Timur was lame and had a withered right arm due to his injuries. His right thighbone had knitted together with his kneecap, and the configuration of the knee joint suggests that he had kept his leg bent at all times and therefore would have had a pronounced limp. He appears to have been broad-chested and his hair and beard were red. It is alleged that Timur's tomb was inscribed with the words, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble." It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." Even though people close to Gerasimov claim that this story is a fabrication, the legend persists. In any case, three days after Gerasimov began the exhumation, Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. In the arts Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II (English, 1563–1594): play by Christopher Marlowe Tamerlan ou la mort de Bajazet [Tamerlane or the Death of Bajazet] (1675): play by Jacques Pradon. Tamerlane (1701): play by Nicholas Rowe (English) Tamerlano (1724): opera by George Frideric Handel, in Italian, based on the 1675 Pradon play. Bajazet (1735): opera by Antonio Vivaldi, portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Il gran Tamerlano (1772): opera by Josef Myslivecek which also portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Timour the Tartar (1811): equestrian drama by Matthew Lewis Tamerlane (published 1827): first published poem of Edgar Allan Poe. Turandot (1924): opera by Giacomo Puccini (libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni) in which Timur is the deposed, blind former King of Tartary and father of the protagonist Calaf. Lord of Samarkand (The Lame Man; published 1932): story by Robert E. Howard in which Timour appears. Nesimi (1973): Azerbaijani film in which Timur was portrayed by Yusif Veliyev. Tamerlan (2003): Spanish-language novel by Colombian writer Enrique Serrano Day Watch (2006): Russian film in which Tamerlane in his youth is portrayed by Emir Baygazin, and in maturity by Gani Kulzhanov. Tamburlaine: Shadow of God (broadcast 2008): a BBC Radio 3 play by John Fletcher presenting a fictitious encounter between Tamburlaine, Ibn Khaldun, and Hafez. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (2019): a video game containing a six-chapter campaign titled "Tamerlane". Examples of Timurid architecture See also List of largest empires Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent Timuri Timurid conquests and invasions Timurlengia Notes References Further reading Abazov, Rafis. "Timur (Tamerlane) and the Timurid Empire in Central Asia." The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia. Palgrave Macmillan US, 2008. 56–57. Marlowe, Christopher. Tamburlaine the Great. Ed. J. S. Cunningham. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1981. Manz, Beatrice Forbes. "Temür and the Problem of a Conqueror's Legacy," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Apr. 1998) Marozzi, Justin. Tamerlane: sword of Islam, conqueror of the world, London: HarperCollins, 2004 Marozzi, Justin. "Tamerlane", in: The Art of War: great commanders of the ancient and medieval world, Andrew Roberts (editor), London: Quercus Military History, 2008. Novosel'tsev, A. P. "On the Historical Evaluation of Tamerlane." Soviet studies in history 12.3 (1973): 37–70. Shterenshis, Michael V. "Approach to Tamerlane: Tradition and Innovation." Central Asia and the Caucasus 2 (2000). Sykes, P. M. "Tamerlane" Journal of the Central Asian Society 2.1 (1915): 17–33. YÜKSEL, Musa Şamil. "Timur’un Yükselişi ve Batı’nın Diplomatik Cevabı, 1390–1405." Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 1.18 (2005): 231–243. External links Forbes, Andrew, & Henley, David: Timur's Legacy: The Architecture of Bukhara and Samarkand (CPA Media) Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez De Clavijo to the Court of Timour, at Samarcand, A.D. 1403–6 – . Ruy González de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403–1406, translated by Guy Le Strange, with a new Introduction by Caroline Stone (Hardinge Simpole, 2009). Nationality or Religion: Views of Central Asian Islam Timurid dynasty 1336 births 1405 deaths Muslim monarchs Samarkand Royalty and nobility with disabilities Founding monarchs
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[ "Mohammad Farhad Azimi (Persian: محمدفرهاد عظیمی, born 1976 in Mazar-e-Sharif, Balkh) is an Afghan politician, who served as governor of Balkh province from 2021 to August 2021. He is also a professor at Balkh University, former chairman of Balkh Provincial Council, and representative of the people of Balkh in the 16th term of the House of Representatives. He was the chairman and member of Legislative Affairs Commission in the 16th term of House of Representatives of Afghanistan and was the Ambassador and special plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to Kazakhstan.\n\nEarly life \nMohammad Farhad Azimi was born in 1976 in Mazar-e-Sharif, Balkh province. He completed his high school at Bakhtar High School in Mazar-e-Sharif. He received his bachelor’s degree in law and political science from Balkh University in 1993. He lived as a refugee in the Netherlands for some time and returned to Afghanistan in 2005.\n\nCareer \nWhile in Netherlands, Azimi worked as a computer programmer. Upon returning to Afghanistan, Azimi was taught at the law faculty of Bakh University between 2005 and 2010.\n\nPolitical career \nHe chaired the Balkh Provincial Council until 2010. Azimi was elected into House of Representatives during the 2010 Afghan parliamentary election. On 24 October 2018, he was appointed as the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Kazakhstan.\n\nIn 2020, Azimi was appointed as the governor for the Balkh province.\n\nReferences\n\nMembers of the House of the People (Afghanistan)\nGovernors of Balkh Province\n\n1976 births\nLiving people\nAmbassadors of Afghanistan to Kazakhstan", "Balkh (; Pashto/, Balkh; , Báktra; , Bakhlo) is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan, about northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some south of the Amu Darya river and the Uzbekistan border. Its population was recently estimated to be 138,594.\n\nBalkh was historically an ancient place of religions, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism, and one of the wealthiest and largest cities of Khorasan, since the latter's earliest history. The city was known to Persians as Zariaspa and to the Ancient Greeks as Bactra, giving its name to Bactria (Greeks called the city also Zariaspa). It was mostly known as the center and capital of Bactria or Tokharistan. Marco Polo described Balkh as a \"noble and great city\". Balkh is now for the most part a mass of ruins, situated some from the right bank of the seasonally flowing Balkh River, at an elevation of about .\n\nFrench Buddhist Alexandra David-Néel associated Shambhala with Balkh, also offering the Persian Sham-i-Bala (\"elevated candle\") as an etymology of its name. In a similar vein, the Gurdjieffian J. G. Bennett published speculation that Shambalha was Shams-i-Balkh, a Bactrian sun temple.\n\nEtymology\nThe old name of Balkh was Bami which was named after the Indo-Scythian Naga queen, Bami. The Bactrian language name of the city was . In Middle Persian texts, it was named Baxl (). The name of the province or country also appears in the Old Persian inscriptions (B.h.i 16; Dar Pers e.16; Nr. a.23) as Bāxtri, i.e. Bakhtri (). It is written in the Avesta as Bāxδi () . From this came the intermediate form Bāxli, Sanskrit Bahlīka (also Balhika) for \"Bactrian\", and by transposition the modern Persian Balx, i.e. Balkh, and Armenian Bahl.\n\nAn earlier name for Balkh or a term for part of the city was , which may derive from the important Zoroastrian fire temple Azar-i-Asp or from a Median name meaning \"having gold-coloured horses\".\n\nThe nickname of Balkh is \"the Mother of All Cities\".\n\nHistory\n\nBalkh was earlier considered to be the first city to which the Iranian tribes moved from north of the Amu Darya, between 2000 and 1500 BC. However it was only recently that archaeological remains prior to 500 BC were found by French archaeologists led by Johanna Lhullier and Julio Bendezu-Sarmiento in the section called Bala Hissar, which is the citadel of the site. They dated this first settlement to the Early Iron Age (Yaz I period, c. 1500-1000 BC) continuing until pre-Achaemenid times (Yaz II period, c. 1000-540 BC). Bala Hissar is located at the north of the site and is oval in shape, having an area of around 1,500 by 1,000 m2 (c. 150 hectares) and to the south is the lower town. Another mound of the site, known as Tepe Zargaran, and the Northern Fortification Wall of Balkh, were occupied at a large extension in Achaemenid times (Yaz III period, c. 540-330 BC). \n\nSince the Iranians built their first kingdom in Balkh (Bactria, Daxia, Bukhdi) some scholars believe that it was from this area that different waves of Iranians spread to north-east Iran and Seistan region, where they, in part, became today's Persians, Tajiks, Pashtuns and Baluch people of the region. The changing climate has led to desertification since antiquity, when the region was very fertile. Its foundation is mythically ascribed to Keyumars, the first king of the world in Persian legend; and it is at least certain that, at a very early date, it was the rival of Ecbatana, Nineveh and Babylon.\n\nThe Arabs called it Umm Al-Bilad or Mother of Cities, on account of its antiquity. The city was traditionally a center of Zoroastrianism.\n\nFor a long time the city and country was the central seat of the dualistic Zoroastrian religion, the founder of which, Zoroaster, died within the walls according to the Persian poet Firdowsi. Armenian sources state that the Arsacid Dynasty of the Parthian Empire established its capital in Balkh. There is a long-standing tradition that an ancient shrine of Anahita was to be found here, a temple so rich it invited plunder. Alexander the Great married Roxana of Bactria after killing the king of Balkh. The city was the capital of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and was besieged for three years by the Seleucid Empire (208–206 BC). After the demise of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, it was ruled by Indo-Scythians, Parthians, Indo-Parthians, Kushan Empire, Indo-Sassanids, Kidarites, Hephthalite Empire and Sassanid Persians before the arrival of the Arabs.\n\nBactrian religion\nBactrian documents - in the Bactrian language, written from the fourth to eighth centuries - consistently evoke the name of local deities, such as Kamird and Wakhsh, for example, as witnesses to contracts. The documents come from an area between Balkh and Bamiyan, which is part of Bactria.\n\nBuddhism\n\nBalkh is well known to Buddhists as the hometown of Trapusa and Bahalika, two merchants who, according to scripture, became Buddha's first disciples. They were the first to offer Buddha food after he attained enlightenment, and in return Buddha gave them eight of his hairs to remember him by. According to some accounts, Trapusa and Bahalika returned to Balkh, and built two stupas in the way Buddha instructed. Balkh is therefore named after Bahalika, who is credited with introducing Buddhism to the city. This is reflected in literature, where the town has been called Balhika, Bahlika or Valhika. The first Buddhist monastery (vihara) at Balkh was built for Bahalika when he returned home after becoming a Buddhist monk. \n\nThe Chinese pilgrim Faxian (337-422 CE) traveled to the region in the early 5th century, and found Hinayana Buddhism prevalent in Shan Shan, Kucha, Kashgar, Osh, Udayana and Gandhara. Later, the Chinese monk Xuanzang (602–664 CE) visited Balkh in 630 CE, when it was a flourishing centre of Hinayana Buddhism. According to his memoirs, there were about a hundred Buddhist convents in the city or its vicinity at the time of his visit. There were 3,000 monks and a large number of stupas and other religious monuments. Xuanzang also remarked that Buddhism was widely practiced by the Hunnish rulers of Balkh, who were descended from Indian royal stock.\n\nDuring the 8th century, the Korean monk and traveler Hyecho (704–787 CE) recorded that even after the Arab invasion, the residents of Balkh continued to practice Buddhism and followed a Buddhist king. He noted that the king of Balkh at the time had fled to nearby Badakshan.\n\nThe most remarkable Buddhist monastery was the Nava Vihara (\"New Temple\"), which possessed a gigantic statue of Gautama Buddha. Located near the city of Balkh, it served as a pilgrimage centre for political leaders who came from far and wide to pay homage to it. Shortly before the Arab conquest, the monastery became a Zoroastrian fire-temple. A curious reference to this building is found in the writings of the geographer Ibn Hawqal, an Arab traveler of the 10th century, who describes Balkh as built of clay, with ramparts and six gates, and extending for half a parasang. He also mentions a castle and a mosque.\n\nA large number of Sanskrit medical, pharmacological, and toxicological texts were translated into Arabic under the patronage of Khalid, the vizier of Al-Mansur. Khalid was the son of a chief priest of a Buddhist monastery. Some of the family were killed when the Arabs captured Balkh; others including Khalid survived by converting to Islam. They would later come to be known as the Barmakids of Baghdad.\n\nJudaism\n\nAn ancient Jewish community existed in Balkh as recorded by the Arab historian Al-Maqrizi who wrote that the community was established by the transfer of Jews to Balkh by the Assyrian King Sennacherib. A Bāb al-Yahūd (Gate of Jews) and al-Yahūdiyya (Jewish town) in Balkh is attested to by Arab geographers. Muslim tradition stated that the prophet Jeremiah fled to Balkh and that Ezekiel was buried there.\n\nThis Jewish community was noted in the eleventh century as the Jews of the city were forced to maintain a garden for the Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni for which they paid a tax of 500 dirhems. According to Jewish oral history, Timur gave the Jews of Balkh a city quarter of their own with a gate to close it.\n\nThe Jewish community in Balkh was reported as late as the nineteenth century where Jews still resided in a special quarter of the city.\n\nThe famed Jewish exegete Hiwi al-Balkhi was from Balkh.\n\nArab Conquest\n\nAt the time of the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century, however, Balkh had provided an outpost of resistance and a safe haven for the Persian emperor Yazdegerd III who fled there from the armies of Umar. Later, in the 9th century, during the reign of Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar, Islam became firmly rooted in the local population.\n\nArabs occupied Persia in 642 (during the Caliphate of Uthman, 644–656 AD). Attracted by the grandeur and wealth of Balkh, they attacked it in 645 AD. It was only in 653 when Arab commander al-Ahnaf raided the town again and compelled it to pay tribute. The Arab hold over the town, however, remained tenuous. The area was brought under Arab control only after it was reconquered by Muawiya in 663 AD. Prof. Upasak describes the effect of this conquest in these words: \"The Arabs plundered the town and killed the people indiscriminately. It is said that they raided the famous Buddhist shrine of Nava-Vihara, which the Arab historians call 'Nava Bahara' and describe it as one of the magnificent places, which comprised a range of 360 cells around the high stupas'. They plundered the gems and jewels that were studded on many images and stupas and took away the wealth accumulated in the Vihara but probably did no considerable harm to other monastic buildings or to the monks residing there\".\n\nThe Arab attacks had little effect on the normal ecclesiastical life in the monasteries or Balkh Buddhist population outside. Buddhism continued to flourish with their monasteries as the centres of Buddhist learning and training. Scholars, monks and pilgrims from China, India and Korea continued to visit this place.\n\nSeveral revolts were made against the Arab rule in Balkh.\n\nThe Arabs' control over Balkh did not last long as it soon came under the rule of a local prince, a zealous Buddhist called Nazak (or Nizak) Tarkhan. He expelled the Arabs from his territories in 670 or 671. He is said to have not only reprimanded the Chief Priest (Barmak) of Nava-Vihara but beheaded him for embracing Islam. As per another account, when Balkh was conquered by the Arabs, the head priest of the Nava-Vihara had gone to the capital and became a Muslim. This displeased the people of the Balkh. He was deposed and his son was placed in his position.\n\nNazak Tarkhan is also said to have murdered not only the Chief Priest but also his sons. Only a young son was saved. He was taken by his mother to Kashmir where he was given training in medicine, astronomy and other sciences. Later they returned to Balkh. Prof. Maqbool Ahmed observes \"One is tempted to think that the family originated from Kashmir, for in time of distress, they took refuge in the Valley. Whatever it be, their Kashmiri origin is undoubted and this also explains the deep interest of the Barmaks, in later years, in Kashmir, for we know they were responsible for inviting several scholars and physicians from Kashmir to the Court of Abbasids.\" Prof. Maqbool also refers to the descriptions of Kashmir contained in the report prepared by the envoy of Yahya bin Barmak. He surmises that the envoy could have possibly visited Kashmir during the reign of Samgramapida II (797–801). Reference has been made to sages and arts.\n\nThe Arabs managed to bring Balkh under their control only in 715 AD, in spite of strong resistance offered by the Balkh people during the Umayyad period. Qutayba ibn Muslim al-Bahili, an Arab General was Governor of Khurasan and the east from 705 to 715. He established a firm hold over lands beyond the Oxus for the Arabs. He fought and killed Tarkhan Nizak in Tokharistan (Bactria) in 715. In the wake of Arab conquest, the resident monks of the Vihara were either killed or forced to abandon their faith. The Viharas were razed to the ground. Priceless treasures in the form of manuscripts in the libraries of monasteries were consigned to ashes. Presently, only the ancient wall of the town, which once encircled it, stands partially. Nava-Vihara stands in ruins, near Takhta-i-Rustam. In 726, the Umayyad governor Asad ibn Abdallah al-Qasri rebuilt Balkh and installed in it an Arab garrison, while in his second governorship, a decade later, he transferred the provincial capital there.\n\nThe Umayyad period lasted until 747, when Abu Muslim captured it for the Abbasids (next Sunni Caliphate dynasty) during the Abbasid Revolution. The city remained in Abbasid hands until 821, when it was taken over by the Tahirid dynasty, albeit still in the Abbasids' name. In 870, the Saffarids captured it.\n\nFrom Saffarids to Khwarezmshahs\nIn 870, Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar rebelled against Abbasid rule and founded the Saffarid dynasty at Sistan. He captured present Afghanistan and most of present Iran. His successor Amr ibn al-Layth, tried to capture Transoxiana from the Samanids, who were nominally vassals of Abbasids, but he was defeated and captured by Ismail Samani at Battle of Balkh in 900. He was sent to the Abbasid Caliph as a prisoner and was executed in 902. The power of Saffarids was diminished and they became vassals of the Samanids. Thus Balkh now passed to them.\n\nSamanid rule in Balkh lasted until 997, when their former subordinates, the Ghaznavids, captured it. In 1006, Balkh was captured by Karakhanids, but Ghaznavids recaptured it 1008. Finally, the Seljuks conquered Balkh in 1059. In 1115, it was occupied and looted by irregular Oghuz Turks. Between 1141 and 1142, Balkh was captured by Atsiz, Shah of Khwarezm, after the Seljuks were defeated by the Kara-Khitan Khanate at the Battle of Qatwan. Ahmad Sanjar decisively defeated a Ghurid army, commanded by Ala al-Din Husayn and he took him prisoner for two years before releasing him as a vassal of the Seljuks. The next year, he marched against rebellious Oghuz Turks from Khuttal and Tukharistan. But he was defeated twice and was captured after a second battle in Merv. The Oghuzs looted Khorasan after their victory.\n\nBalkh was nominally ruled by Mahmud Khan, the former khan of Western Karakhanids, but the real power was held by Muayyid al-Din Ay Aba, amir of Nishabur for three years. Sanjar finally escaped from captivity and returned to Merv through Termez. He died in 1157 and control of Balkh passed to Mahmud Khan until his death in 1162. It was captured by Khwarezmshahs in 1162, by the Kara Khitans in 1165, by the Ghurids in 1198 and again by Khwarezmshahs in 1206.\n\nMuhammad al-Idrisi, in the 12th century, speaks of its possessing a variety of educational establishments, and carrying on an active trade. There were several important commercial routes from the city, stretching as far east as India and China. The late 12th-century local chronicle The Merits of Balkh (Fada'il-i-Balkh), by Abu Bakr Abdullah al-Wa'iz al-Balkhi, states that a woman known only as the khatun (lady) of Davud, from 848 appointed governor of Balkh, had taken over from him with \"particular responsibility for the city and people\" while he was busy building himself an elaborate pleasure palace called Nawshǎd (New Joy).\n\nMongol invasion\nIn 1220 Genghis Khan sacked Balkh, butchered its inhabitants and levelled all the buildings capable of defence – treatment to which it was again subjected in the 14th century by Timur. Notwithstanding this, however, Marco Polo (probably referring to its past) could still describe it as \"a noble city and a great seat of learning.\" For when Ibn Battuta visited Balkh around 1333 during the rule of the Kartids, who were Tadjik vassals of the Persia-based Mongol Ilkhanate until 1335, he described it as a city still in ruins: \"It is completely dilapidated and uninhabited, but anyone seeing it would think it to be inhabited because of the solidity of its construction (for it was a vast and important city), and its mosques and colleges preserve their outward appearance even now, with the inscriptions on their buildings incised with lapis-blue paints.\"\n\nIt was not reconstructed until 1338. It was captured by Tamerlane in 1389 and its citadel was destroyed, but Shah Rukh, his successor, rebuilt the citadel in 1407.\n\n16th to 19th centuries\n\nIn 1506 Uzbeks entered Balkh under the command of Muhammad Shaybani. They were briefly expelled by the Safavids in 1510. Babur ruled Balkh between 1511 and 1512 as a vassal of the Persian Safavids. But he was defeated twice by the Khanate of Bukhara and was forced to retire to Kabul. Balkh was ruled by Bukhara except for Safavid rule between 1598 and 1601.\n\nThe Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan fruitlessly fought them there for several years in the 1640s. Nevertheless, Balkh was ruled by the Mughal Empire from 1641 and turned into a subah (imperial top-level province) in 1646 by Shah Jahan, only to be lost in 1647, just like the neighboring Badakhshan Subah. Balkh was the government seat of Aurangzeb in his youth. In 1736 it was conquered by Nader Shah. After his assassination, local Uzbek Hadji Khan declared the independence of Balkh in 1747, under the Maimana Khanate.\n\nUnder the Durani monarchy it fell into the hands of the Afghans in 1752. In 1850, Dost Mohammad Khan, the Emir of Afghanistan, captured Balkh, and from that time it remained under Afghan rule. In 1866, after a malaria outbreak during the flood season, Balkh lost its administrative status to the neighbouring city of Mazar-i-Sharif (Mazār-e Šarīf).\n\n20th to 21st centuries\n\nIn 1911 Balkh comprised a settlement of about 500 houses of Afghan settlers, a colony of Jews and a small bazaar set in the midst of a waste of ruins and acres of debris. Entering by the west (Akcha) gate, one passed under three arches, in which the compilers recognized the remnants of the former Jama Masjid (, Friday Mosque). The outer walls, mostly in utter disrepair, were estimated about in perimeter. In the south-east, they were set high on a mound or rampart, which indicated a Mongol origin to the compilers.\n\nThe fort and citadel to the north-east were built well above the town on a barren mound and were walled and moated. There was, however, little left of them but the remains of a few pillars. The Green Mosque (), named for its green-tiled dome (see photograph top right corner) and said to be the tomb of the Khwaja Abu Nasr Parsa, had nothing but the arched entrance remaining of the former madrasah (, school).\n\nThe town was garrisoned as of 1911 by a few thousand irregulars (kasidars), the regular troops of Afghan Turkestan being cantoned at Takhtapul, near Mazari Sharif. The gardens to the north-east contained a caravanserai that formed one side of a courtyard, which was shaded by a group of chenar trees Platanus orientalis.\n\nA project of modernization was undertaken in 1934, in which eight streets were laid out, housing and bazaars built. Modern Balkh is a centre of the cotton industry, of the skins known commonly in the West as \"Persian lamb\" (Karakul), and for agricultural produce like almonds and melons.\n\nThe site and the museum have suffered from looting and uncontrolled digging during the 1990s civil war. After the Taliban's fall in 2001 some poor residents dug in an attempt to sell ancient treasures. The provisional Afghan government said in January 2002 that it had stopped the looting.\n\nMain sights\n\nAncient ruins of Balkh\n\nThe earlier Buddhist constructions have proved more durable than the Islamic buildings. The Top-Rustam is in diameter at the base and at the top, circular and about high. Four circular vaults are sunk in the interior and four passages have been pierced below from the outside, which probably lead to them. The base of the building is constructed of sun-dried bricks about square and thick. The Takht-e Rustam is wedge-shaped in plan with uneven sides. It is apparently built of pisé mud (i.e. mud mixed with straw and puddled). It is possible that in these ruins we may recognize the Nava Vihara described by the Chinese traveller Xuanzang. There are the remains of many other topes (or stupas) in the neighbourhood.\n\nThe mounds of ruins on the road to Mazar-e Sharif probably represent the site of a city yet older than those on which stands the modern Balkh.\n\nOthers\nNumerous places of interest are to be seen today aside from the ancient ruins and fortifications:\nThe madrasa of Sayed Subhan Quli Khan.\nBala-Hesar, the shrine and mosque of Khwaja Nasr Parsa.\nThe tomb of the poet Rabi'a Balkhi.\nThe Nine Domes Mosque (Masjid-e Noh Gonbad). This exquisitely ornamented mosque, also referred to as Haji Piyada, is the earliest Islamic monument yet identified in Afghanistan.\nTepe Rustam and Takht-e Rustam\n\nBalkh Museum\nThe museum was formerly the second largest museum in the country, but its collection has suffered from looting in recent times.\n\nThe museum is also known as the Museum of the Blue Mosque, from the building it shares with a religious library. As well as exhibits from the ancient ruins of Balkh, the collection includes works of Islamic art including a 13th-century Quran, and examples of Afghan decorative and folk art.\n\nCultural role\nBalkh had a major role in the development of the Persian language and literature. The early works of Persian literature were written by poets and writers who were originally from Balkh. Many famous Persian poets came from Balkh. Furthermore, the city was a cultural centre for science and had notable scientists working in or originating from that region.\n\nNotable people\n\nPoets\n\n Abu-Shakur Balkhi 10th century Persian poet\n Abul Moayyad Balkhi 10th century Persian poet\nAbu Ali Balkhi, author of a Shah-nama, according to Biruni\n Rabi'a Balkhi, 10th century Persian poetess, first woman poet in the history of Persian poetry\n Abu Mansur Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Daqiqi, 10th century Persian poet, Balkh is one of his suggested places of birth\n Ma'ruf Balkhi, 10th century Persian poet, one of the first to compose poems in New Persian\n Abu-Shakur Balkhi, 10th century Persian poet\n Sani Balkhi, 10th century Persian Rubaʿi poet\n Unsuri Balkhi, 10th/11th century Persian royal poet at the court of the Ghaznavids\nManuchihri Damghani, 11th century Persian royal poet at the court of the Ghaznavids, born in Balkh, according to Dawlat Shah Samarkandi\nRashid al-Din Vatvat, 11th century Persian secretary, poet and philologist\n Anvari, 12th century Persian poet and scientist, considered to be one of the greatest figures in Persian literature, lived and died in Balkh\n Mawlānā Jalal ad-Din Rūmī Balkhi 13th century Persian poet, one of the most famous and influential Persian writers, born in Balkh \n Amir Khusraw (Dehlavi), from the 13th century, the greatest Persian-writing poet of medieval India whose father, Amir Saifuddin, was from Balkh\n Wasef Bakhtari, Afghan contemporary poet of the Persian language, literary figure and intellectual, one of the first Persian poets to introduce she’r-e nimaa'i (\"Nimaic poetry\") to Afghan-Persian literature, born in Balkh\n\nScientists\n\n Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi, 8th century Persian astrologer, astronomer and philosopher, thought to be the greatest astrologer of the Abbasid court in Baghdad\n Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, 9th century Persian polymath: geographer, mathematician, physician, psychologist and scientist, introduced the Concept of Mental Health In Psychology\n Avicenna or Ibn Sina, 10th/11th century philosopher and scientist, one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age and father of early modern medicine, whose father Abdullah was a Balkh native\nAli ibn Yusuf al-Ilaqi, 11th century Persian physician from Khorasan, Avicenna's direct student, worked in Balkh\nAl-Isfizari, 12th century, mathematician from Khorasan, worked in Balkh\n Ibn Balkhi, a conventional name for a 12th-century Iranian historian and author of the Persian book Fārs-Nāma\n\nRulers and emperors\n\n Vishtaspa, ancient king of Balkh and early follower of Zoroaster, and his patron\n Khalid ibn Barmak, 8th century wazir of the Abbasid Caliphate and member of the prominent Barmakid family\n Saman Khuda, progenitor of the Samanids and founder of the Samaind dynasty was born in Saman a village near Balkh\nSabuktigin, founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty, died in Balkh\nTimur, Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire, crowned in Balkh\n\nReligious figures\nZoroaster, ancient Iranian prophet (spiritual leader) from 1500 to 500 BCE, founded what is now known as Zoroastrianism, Balkh was one of his main preaching centres, according to some historians he was born and/or died in Balkh\nMuqatil ibn Sulayman Al-Balkhi, 8th-century story teller of the Quran, wrote one of the earliest, if not first, commentaries (tafsir) of the Qur'an\n Ibrahim ibn Adham Balkhi, 8th century Sufi saint and reputedly ruler of Balkh, one of the most prominent of the early ascetic Sufi saints.\nHiwi al-Balkhi, 9th century Bukharan Jewish exegete and Biblical critic\nShahid Balkhi 10th century Persian theologian, philosopher, poet and sufi\nAbdullah, father of Avicenna and respected Ismaili scholar\nMuhammad ibn Husayn al Khatibi al Balkhi also known as Baha al-Din Walad, father of Rumi (Balkhi) and respected theologian, jurist and mystic from Balkh\n\nSee also\nThe Bahlikas\nBalhae\nHiwi al-Balkhi\nThe Barmakids, who were from that city.\nKumargah\nMount Imeon\nVishtaspa\nRoxana\nSilk Road transmission of Buddhism\nBalkh Province\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\nPublished in the 19th century\n\nPublished in the 21st century\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Balkh Art and Cultural Heritage Project housed at the Oriental Institute at the University of Oxford\nMazar-i-Sharif (Balkh) \nExplore Balkh with Google Earth on Global Heritage Network\nIndigenous Indian civilization prevailed in Balkh, Afghanistan till the second half of tenth century AD\n\nBalkh\nPopulated places established in the 2nd millennium BC\nPopulated places in Balkh Province\nPopulated places along the Silk Road\nFormer populated places in Afghanistan\nAncient Iranian cities\nDistricts of Balkh Province\nBuddhism in Afghanistan\nPlaces in Shahnameh" ]
[ "Timur", "Rise to power", "How did he begin to attain power?", "Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads", "Did he accomplish that through battle or subterfuge?", "he ruled in their name.", "Did he go on to expand his people's lands?", "I don't know.", "Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?", "Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh,", "What was the result of his popularity in Balkh?", "sharing his belongings with them." ]
C_e6592fba22cd4733b7119e8ca671f8d1_0
Did he end up ruling Balkh?
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Did Timur end up ruling Balkh?
Timur
It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers in joint adventures, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them began to become strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tishnet. Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. At around 1370 Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. One day Aksak Temur spoke thusly: "Khan Zudei (in China) rules over the city. We now number fifty to sixty men, so let us elect a leader." So they drove a stake into the ground and said: "We shall run thither and he among us who is the first to reach the stake, may he become our leader". So they ran and Aksak Timur, as he was lame, lagged behind, but before the others reached the stake he threw his cap onto it. Those who arrived first said: "We are the leaders." ["But,"] Aksak Timur said: "My head came in first, I am the leader." Meanwhile, an old man arrived and said: "The leadership should belong to Aksak Timur; your feet have arrived but, before then, his head reached the goal." So they made Aksak Timur their prince. CANNOTANSWER
allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe.
Timur ( Temür, 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( Temür Küregen), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. As an undefeated commander, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest military leaders and tacticians in history. Timur is also considered a great patron of art and architecture as he interacted with intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i Abru and his reign introduced the Timurid Renaissance. Born into the Barlas confederation in Transoxiana (in modern-day Uzbekistan) on 9 April 1336, Timur gained control of the western Chagatai Khanate by 1370. From that base, he led military campaigns across Western, South and Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Southern Russia, defeating in the process the Khans of the Golden Horde, the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire, and the late Delhi Sultanate of India and emerging as the most powerful ruler in the Islamic World. From these conquests, he founded the Timurid Empire, but this empire fragmented shortly after his death. Timur was the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe, and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lasting Islamic gunpowder empires in the 16th and 17th centuries. Timur was of both Turkic and Mongol descent, and, while unlikely a direct descendant on either side, he shared a common ancestor with Genghis Khan on his father's side, though some authors have suggested his mother may have been a descendant of Khan. He clearly sought to invoke the legacy of the latter's conquests during his lifetime. Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan (died 1227) and according to Gérard Chaliand, saw himself as Genghis Khan's heir. According to Beatrice Forbes Manz, "in his formal correspondence Temur continued throughout his life to portray himself as the restorer of Chinggisid rights. He justified his Iranian, Mamluk, and Ottoman campaigns as a re-imposition of legitimate Mongol control over lands taken by usurpers." To legitimize his conquests, Timur relied on Islamic symbols and language, referred to himself as the "Sword of Islam". He was a patron of educational and religious institutions. He converted nearly all the Borjigin leaders to Islam during his lifetime. Timur decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaller at the Siege of Smyrna, styling himself a ghazi. By the end of his reign, Timur had gained complete control over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, the Ilkhanate, and the Golden Horde, and even attempted to restore the Yuan dynasty in China. Timur's armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and were feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe, sizable parts of which his campaigns laid waste. Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population at the time. Of all the areas he conquered, Khwarazm suffered the most from his expeditions, as it rose several times against him. Timur was the grandfather of the Timurid sultan, astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire, which then ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent. Ancestry Through his father, Timur claimed to be a descendant of Tumanay Khan, a male-line ancestor he shared with Genghis Khan. Tumanay's great-great grandson Qarachar Noyan was a minister for the emperor who later assisted the latter's son Chagatai in the governorship of Transoxiana. Though there are not many mentions of Qarachar in 13th and 14th century records, later Timurid sources greatly emphasised his role in the early history of the Mongol Empire. These histories also state that Genghis Khan later established the "bond of fatherhood and sonship" by marrying Chagatai's daughter to Qarachar. Through his alleged descent from this marriage, Timur claimed kinship with the Chagatai Khans. The origins of Timur's mother, Tekina Khatun, are less clear. The Zafarnama merely states her name without giving any information regarding her background. Writing in 1403, Johannes de Galonifontibus, Archbishop of Sultaniyya, claimed that she was of lowly origin. The Mu'izz al-Ansab, written decades later, says that she was related to the Yasa'uri tribe, whose lands bordered that of the Barlas. Ibn Khaldun recounted that Timur himself described to him his mother's descent from the legendary Persian hero Manuchehr. Ibn Arabshah suggested that she was a descendant of Genghis Khan. The 18th century Books of Timur identify her as the daughter of 'Sadr al-Sharia', which is believed to refer to the Hanafi scholar Ubayd Allah al-Mahbubi of Bukhara. Early life Timur was born in Transoxiana near the city of Kesh (modern Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan), some south of Samarkand, part of what was then the Chagatai Khanate. His name Temur means "Iron" in the Chagatai language, his mother-tongue (cf. Uzbek Temir, Turkish Demir). It is cognate with Genghis Khan's birth name of Temüjin. Later Timurid dynastic histories claim that Timur was born on 8 April 1336, but most sources from his lifetime give ages that are consistent with a birthdate in the late 1320s. Historian Beatrice Forbes Manz suspects the 1336 date was designed to tie Timur to the legacy of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, the last ruler of the Ilkhanate descended from Hulagu Khan, who died in that year. He was a member of the Barlas, a Mongolian tribe that had been turkified in many aspects. His father, Taraghai was described as a minor noble of this tribe. However, Manz believes that Timur may have later understated the social position of his father, so as to make his own successes appear more remarkable. She states that though he is not believed to have been especially powerful, Taraghai was reasonably wealthy and influential. This is shown by Timur later returning to his birthplace following the death of his father in 1360, suggesting concern over his estate. Taraghai's social significance is further hinted at by Arabshah, who described him as a magnate in the court of Amir Husayn Qara'unas. In addition to this, the father of the great Amir Hamid Kereyid of Moghulistan is stated as a friend of Taraghai's. In his childhood, Timur and a small band of followers raided travelers for goods, especially animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle. Around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows, one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he lost two fingers. Both injuries crippled him for life. Some believe that Timur suffered his crippling injuries while serving as a mercenary to the khan of Sistan in what is today the Dashti Margo in southwest Afghanistan. Timur's injuries have given him the names of Timur the Lame and Tamerlane by Europeans. Military leader About 1360, Timur gained prominence as a military leader whose troops were mostly Turkic tribesmen of the region. He took part in campaigns in Transoxiana with the Khan of the Chagatai Khanate. Allying himself both in cause and by family connection with Qazaghan, the dethroner and destroyer of Volga Bulgaria, he invaded Khorasan at the head of a thousand horsemen. This was the second military expedition that he led, and its success led to further operations, among them the subjugation of Khwarezm and Urgench. Following Qazaghan's murder, disputes arose among the many claimants to sovereign power. Tughlugh Timur of Kashgar, the Khan of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, another descendant of Genghis Khan, invaded, interrupting this infighting. Timur was sent to negotiate with the invader but joined with him instead and was rewarded with Transoxania. At about this time, his father died and Timur also became chief of the Berlas. Tughlugh then attempted to set his son Ilyas Khoja over Transoxania, but Timur repelled this invasion with a smaller force. Rise to power It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Amir Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them became strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tashkent. Timur gained followers in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. Around 1370, Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. Legitimization of Timur's rule Timur's Turco-Mongolian heritage provided opportunities and challenges as he sought to rule the Mongol Empire and the Muslim world. According to the Mongol traditions, Timur could not claim the title of khan or rule the Mongol Empire because he was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Therefore, Timur set up a puppet Chaghatay Khan, Suyurghatmish, as the nominal ruler of Balkh as he pretended to act as a "protector of the member of a Chinggisid line, that of Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi". Timur instead used the title of Amir meaning general, and acting in the name of the Chagatai ruler of Transoxania. To reinforce this position, Timur claimed the title Guregen (royal son-in-law) when he married Saray Mulk Khanum, a princess of Chinggisid descent. As with the title of Khan, Timur similarly could not claim the supreme title of the Islamic world, Caliph, because the "office was limited to the Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad". Therefore, Timur reacted to the challenge by creating a myth and image of himself as a "supernatural personal power" ordained by God. Otherwise he was described as a spiritual descendant of Ali, thus taken lineage of both to Genghis Khan and the Quraysh. Period of expansion Timur spent the next 35 years in various wars and expeditions. He not only consolidated his rule at home by the subjugation of his foes, but sought extension of territory by encroachments upon the lands of foreign potentates. His conquests to the west and northwest led him to the lands near the Caspian Sea and to the banks of the Ural and the Volga. Conquests in the south and south-West encompassed almost every province in Persia, including Baghdad, Karbala and Northern Iraq. One of the most formidable of Timur's opponents was another Mongol ruler, a descendant of Genghis Khan named Tokhtamysh. After having been a refugee in Timur's court, Tokhtamysh became ruler both of the eastern Kipchak and the Golden Horde. After his accession, he quarreled with Timur over the possession of Khwarizm and Azerbaijan. However, Timur still supported him against the Russians and in 1382 Tokhtamysh invaded the Muscovite dominion and burned Moscow. Orthodox tradition states that later, in 1395 Timur, having reached the frontier of the Principality of Ryazan, had taken Elets and started advancing towards Moscow. Great Prince Vasily I of Moscow went with an army to Kolomna and halted at the banks of the Oka River. The clergy brought the famed Theotokos of Vladimir icon from Vladimir to Moscow. Along the way people prayed kneeling: "O Mother of God, save the land of Russia!" Suddenly, Timur's armies retreated. In memory of this miraculous deliverance of the Russian land from Timur on 26 August, the all-Russian celebration in honor of the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was established. Conquest of Persia After the death of Abu Sa'id, ruler of the Ilkhanate, in 1335, there was a power vacuum in Persia. In the end, Persia was split amongst the Muzaffarids, Kartids, Eretnids, Chobanids, Injuids, Jalayirids, and Sarbadars. In 1383, Timur started his lengthy military conquest of Persia, though he already ruled over much of Persian Khorasan by 1381, after Khwaja Mas'ud, of the Sarbadar dynasty surrendered. Timur began his Persian campaign with Herat, capital of the Kartid dynasty. When Herat did not surrender he reduced the city to rubble and massacred most of its citizens; it remained in ruins until Shah Rukh ordered its reconstruction around 1415. Timur then sent a General to capture rebellious Kandahar. With the capture of Herat the Kartid kingdom surrendered and became vassals of Timur; it would later be annexed outright less than a decade later in 1389 by Timur's son Miran Shah. Timur then headed west to capture the Zagros Mountains, passing through Mazandaran. During his travel through the north of Persia, he captured the then town of Tehran, which surrendered and was thus treated mercifully. He laid siege to Soltaniyeh in 1384. Khorasan revolted one year later, so Timur destroyed Isfizar, and the prisoners were cemented into the walls alive. The next year the kingdom of Sistan, under the Mihrabanid dynasty, was ravaged, and its capital at Zaranj was destroyed. Timur then returned to his capital of Samarkand, where he began planning for his Georgian campaign and Golden Horde invasion. In 1386, Timur passed through Mazandaran as he had when trying to capture the Zagros. He went near the city of Soltaniyeh, which he had previously captured but instead turned north and captured Tabriz with little resistance, along with Maragha. He ordered heavy taxation of the people, which was collected by Adil Aqa, who was also given control over Soltaniyeh. Adil was later executed because Timur suspected him of corruption. Timur then went north to begin his Georgian and Golden Horde campaigns, pausing his full-scale invasion of Persia. When he returned, he found his generals had done well in protecting the cities and lands he had conquered in Persia. Though many rebelled, and his son Miran Shah, who may have been regent, was forced to annex rebellious vassal dynasties, his holdings remained. So he proceeded to capture the rest of Persia, specifically the two major southern cities of Isfahan and Shiraz. When he arrived with his army at Isfahan in 1387, the city immediately surrendered; he treated it with relative mercy as he normally did with cities that surrendered (unlike Herat). However, after Isfahan revolted against Timur's taxes by killing the tax collectors and some of Timur's soldiers, he ordered the massacre of the city's citizens; the death toll is reckoned at between 100,000 and 200,000. An eye-witness counted more than 28 towers constructed of about 1,500 heads each. This has been described as a "systematic use of terror against towns...an integral element of Tamerlane's strategic element", which he viewed as preventing bloodshed by discouraging resistance. His massacres were selective and he spared the artistic and educated. This would later influence the next great Persian conqueror: Nader Shah. Timur then began a five-year campaign to the west in 1392, attacking Persian Kurdistan. In 1393, Shiraz was captured after surrendering, and the Muzaffarids became vassals of Timur, though prince Shah Mansur rebelled but was defeated, and the Muzafarids were annexed. Shortly after Georgia was devastated so that the Golden Horde could not use it to threaten northern Iran. In the same year, Timur caught Baghdad by surprise in August by marching there in only eight days from Shiraz. Sultan Ahmad Jalayir fled to Syria, where the Mamluk Sultan Barquq protected him and killed Timur's envoys. Timur left the Sarbadar prince Khwaja Mas'ud to govern Baghdad, but he was driven out when Ahmad Jalayir returned. Ahmad was unpopular but got help from Qara Yusuf of the Kara Koyunlu; he fled again in 1399, this time to the Ottomans. Tokhtamysh–Timur war In the meantime, Tokhtamysh, now khan of the Golden Horde, turned against his patron and in 1385 invaded Azerbaijan. The inevitable response by Timur resulted in the Tokhtamysh–Timur war. In the initial stage of the war, Timur won a victory at the Battle of the Kondurcha River. After the battle Tokhtamysh and some of his army were allowed to escape. After Tokhtamysh's initial defeat, Timur invaded Muscovy to the north of Tokhtamysh's holdings. Timur's army burned Ryazan and advanced on Moscow. He was pulled away before reaching the Oka River by Tokhtamysh's renewed campaign in the south. In the first phase of the conflict with Tokhtamysh, Timur led an army of over 100,000 men north for more than 700 miles into the steppe. He then rode west about 1,000 miles advancing in a front more than 10 miles wide. During this advance, Timur's army got far enough north to be in a region of very long summer days causing complaints by his Muslim soldiers about keeping a long schedule of prayers. It was then that Tokhtamysh's army was boxed in against the east bank of the Volga River in the Orenburg region and destroyed at the Battle of the Kondurcha River, in 1391. In the second phase of the conflict, Timur took a different route against the enemy by invading the realm of Tokhtamysh via the Caucasus region. In 1395, Timur defeated Tokhtamysh in the Battle of the Terek River, concluding the struggle between the two monarchs. Tokhtamysh was unable to restore his power or prestige, and he was killed about a decade later in the area of present-day Tyumen. During the course of Timur's campaigns, his army destroyed Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and Astrakhan, subsequently disrupting the Golden Horde's Silk Road. The Golden Horde no longer held power after their losses to Timur. Ismailis In May 1393, Timur's army invaded the Anjudan, crippling the Ismaili village only a year after his assault on the Ismailis in Mazandaran. The village was prepared for the attack, evidenced by its fortress and system of tunnels. Undeterred, Timur's soldiers flooded the tunnels by cutting into a channel overhead. Timur's reasons for attacking this village are not yet well understood. However, it has been suggested that his religious persuasions and view of himself as an executor of divine will may have contributed to his motivations. The Persian historian Khwandamir explains that an Ismaili presence was growing more politically powerful in Persian Iraq. A group of locals in the region was dissatisfied with this and, Khwandamir writes, these locals assembled and brought up their complaint with Timur, possibly provoking his attack on the Ismailis there. Campaign against the Tughlaq dynasty In 1398, Timur invaded northern India, attacking the Delhi Sultanate ruled by Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq of the Tughlaq dynasty. After crossing the Indus River on 30 September 1398, he sacked Tulamba and massacred its inhabitants. Then he advanced and captured Multan by October. His invasion was unopposed as most of the Indian nobility surrendered without a fight, however he did encounter resistance from the united army of Rajputs and Muslims at Bhatner under the command of the Rajput king Dulachand, Dulachand initially opposed Timur but when hard-pressed he considered surrender. He was locked outside the walls of Bhatner by his brother and was later killed by Timur. The garrison of Bhatner then fought and were slaughtered to the last man. Bhatner was looted and burned to the ground. While on his march towards Delhi, Timur was opposed by the Jat peasantry, who would loot caravans and then disappear in the forests, Timur had 2,000 Jats killed and many taken captive. But the Sultanate at Delhi did nothing to stop his advance. Capture of Delhi (1398) The battle took place on 17 December 1398. Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq and the army of Mallu Iqbal had war elephants armored with chain mail and poison on their tusks. As his Tatar forces were afraid of the elephants, Timur ordered his men to dig a trench in front of their positions. Timur then loaded his camels with as much wood and hay as they could carry. When the war elephants charged, Timur set the hay on fire and prodded the camels with iron sticks, causing them to charge at the elephants, howling in pain: Timur had understood that elephants were easily panicked. Faced with the strange spectacle of camels flying straight at them with flames leaping from their backs, the elephants turned around and stampeded back toward their own lines. Timur capitalized on the subsequent disruption in the forces of Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq, securing an easy victory. Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq fled with remnants of his forces. Delhi was sacked and left in ruins. Before the battle for Delhi, Timur executed 100,000 captives. The capture of the Delhi Sultanate was one of Timur's greatest victories, as at that time, Delhi was one of the richest cities in the world. After Delhi fell to Timur's army, uprisings by its citizens against the Turkic-Mongols began to occur, causing a retaliatory bloody massacre within the city walls. After three days of citizens uprising within Delhi, it was said that the city reeked of the decomposing bodies of its citizens with their heads being erected like structures and the bodies left as food for the birds by Timur's soldiers. Timur's invasion and destruction of Delhi continued the chaos that was still consuming India, and the city would not be able to recover from the great loss it suffered for almost a century. Campaigns in the Levant Before the end of 1399, Timur started a war with Bayezid I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and the Mamluk sultan of Egypt Nasir-ad-Din Faraj. Bayezid began annexing the territory of Turkmen and Muslim rulers in Anatolia. As Timur claimed sovereignty over the Turkoman rulers, they took refuge behind him. In 1400, Timur invaded Armenia and Georgia. Of the surviving population, more than 60,000 of the local people were captured as slaves, and many districts were depopulated. He also sacked Sivas in Asia Minor. Then Timur turned his attention to Syria, sacking Aleppo, and Damascus. The city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans, who were deported to Samarkand. Timur invaded Baghdad in June 1401. After the capture of the city, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred. Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him. When they ran out of men to kill, many warriors killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign, and when they ran out of prisoners to kill, many resorted to beheading their own wives. Invasion of Anatolia In the meantime, years of insulting letters had passed between Timur and Bayezid. Both rulers insulted each other in their own way while Timur preferred to undermine Bayezid's position as a ruler and play down the significance of his military successes. This is the excerpt from one of Timur's letters addressed to Ottoman sultan: "Believe me, you are but pismire ant: don't seek to fight the elephants for they'll crush you under their feet. Shall a petty prince such as you are contend with us? But your rodomontades (braggadocio) are not extraordinary; for a Turcoman never spake with judgement. If you don't follow our counsels you will regret it". Finally, Timur invaded Anatolia and defeated Bayezid in the Battle of Ankara on 20 July 1402. Bayezid was captured in battle and subsequently died in captivity, initiating the twelve-year Ottoman Interregnum period. Timur's stated motivation for attacking Bayezid and the Ottoman Empire was the restoration of Seljuq authority. Timur saw the Seljuks as the rightful rulers of Anatolia as they had been granted rule by Mongol conquerors, illustrating again Timur's interest with Genghizid legitimacy. In December 1402, Timur besieged and took the city of Smyrna, a stronghold of the Christian Knights Hospitalers, thus he referred to himself as ghazi or "Warrior of Islam". A mass beheading was carried out in Smyrna by Timur's soldiers. With the Treaty of Gallipoli in February 1402, Timur was furious with the Genoese and Venetians, as their ships ferried the Ottoman army to safety in Thrace. As Lord Kinross reported in The Ottoman Centuries, the Italians preferred the enemy they could handle to the one they could not. During the early interregnum, Bayezid I's son acted as Timur's vassal. Unlike other princes, Mehmed minted coins that had Timur's name stamped as "Demur han Gürgân" (), alongside his own as "Mehmed bin Bayezid han" (). This was probably an attempt on Mehmed's part to justify to Timur his conquest of Bursa after the Battle of Ulubad. After Mehmed established himself in Rum, Timur had already begun preparations for his return to Central Asia, and took no further steps to interfere with the status quo in Anatolia. While Timur was still in Anatolia, Qara Yusuf assaulted Baghdad and captured it in 1402. Timur returned to Persia and sent his grandson Abu Bakr ibn Miran Shah to reconquer Baghdad, which he proceeded to do. Timur then spent some time in Ardabil, where he gave Ali Safavi, leader of the Safaviyya, a number of captives. Subsequently, he marched to Khorasan and then to Samarkhand, where he spent nine months celebrating and preparing to invade Mongolia and China. Attempts to attack the Ming dynasty By 1368, Han Chinese forces had driven the Mongols out of China. The first of the new Ming dynasty's emperors, the Hongwu Emperor, and his son, the Yongle Emperor, produced tributary states of many Central Asian countries. The suzerain-vassal relationship between Ming empire and Timurid existed for a long time. In 1394, Hongwu's ambassadors eventually presented Timur with a letter addressing him as a subject. He had the ambassadors Fu An, Guo Ji, and Liu Wei detained. Neither Hongwu's next ambassador, Chen Dewen (1397), nor the delegation announcing the accession of the Yongle Emperor fared any better. Timur eventually planned to invade China. To this end Timur made an alliance with surviving Mongol tribes based in Mongolia and prepared all the way to Bukhara. Engke Khan sent his grandson Öljei Temür Khan, also known as "Buyanshir Khan" after he converted to Islam while at the court of Timur in Samarkand. Death Timur preferred to fight his battles in the spring. However, he died en route during an uncharacteristic winter campaign. In December 1404, Timur began military campaigns against Ming China and detained a Ming envoy. He suffered illness while encamped on the farther side of the Syr Daria and died at Farab on 17 February 1405, before ever reaching the Chinese border. After his death the Ming envoys such as Fu An and the remaining entourage were released by his grandson Khalil Sultan. Geographer Clements Markham, in his introduction to the narrative of Clavijo's embassy, states that, after Timur died, his body "was embalmed with musk and rose water, wrapped in linen, laid in an ebony coffin and sent to Samarkand, where it was buried". His tomb, the Gur-e-Amir, still stands in Samarkand, though it has been heavily restored in recent years. Succession Timur had twice previously appointed an heir apparent to succeed him, both of whom he had outlived. The first, his son Jahangir, died of illness in 1376. The second, his grandson Muhammad Sultan, had succumbed to battle wounds in 1403. After the latter's death, Timur did nothing to replace him. It was only when he was on his own death-bed that he appointed Muhammad Sultan's younger brother, Pir Muhammad as his successor. Pir Muhammad was unable to gain sufficient support from his relatives and a bitter civil war erupted amongst Timur's descendants, with multiple princes pursuing their claims. It was not until 1409 that Timur's youngest son, Shah Rukh was able to overcome his rivals and take the throne as Timur's successor. Wives and concubines Timur had forty-three wives and concubines, all of these women were also his consorts. Timur made dozens of women his wives and concubines as he conquered their fathers' or erstwhile husbands' lands. Turmish Agha, mother of Jahangir Mirza, Jahanshah Mirza and Aka Begi; Oljay Turkhan Agha (m. 1357/58), daughter of Amir Mashlah and granddaughter of Amir Qazaghan; Saray Mulk Khanum (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Qazan Khan; Islam Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Bayan Salduz; Ulus Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Khizr Yasuri; Dilshad Agha (m. 1374), daughter of Shams ed-Din and his wife Bujan Agha; Touman Agha (m. 1377), daughter of Amir Musa and his wife Arzu Mulk Agha, daughter of Amir Bayezid Jalayir; Chulpan Mulk Agha, daughter of Haji Beg of Jetah; Tukal Khanum (m. 1397), daughter of Mongol Khan Khizr Khawaja Oglan; Tolun Agha, concubine, and mother of Umar Shaikh Mirza I; Mengli Agha, concubine, and mother of Miran Shah; Toghay Turkhan Agha, lady from the Kara Khitai, widow of Amir Husain, and mother of Shah Rukh; Tughdi Bey Agha, daughter of Aq Sufi Qongirat; Sultan Aray Agha, a Nukuz lady; Malikanshah Agha, a Filuni lady; Khand Malik Agha, mother of Ibrahim Mirza; Sultan Agha, mother of a son who died in infancy; His other wives and concubines included: Dawlat Tarkan Agha, Burhan Agha, Jani Beg Agha, Tini Beg Agha, Durr Sultan Agha, Munduz Agha, Bakht Sultan Agha, Nowruz Agha, Jahan Bakht Agha, Nigar Agha, Ruhparwar Agha, Dil Beg Agha, Dilshad Agha, Murad Beg Agha, Piruzbakht Agha, Khoshkeldi Agha, Dilkhosh Agha, Barat Bey Agha, Sevinch Malik Agha, Arzu Bey Agha, Yadgar Sultan Agha, Khudadad Agha, Bakht Nigar Agha, Qutlu Bey Agha, and another Nigar Agha . Descendants Sons of Timur Umar Shaikh Mirza I – with Tolun Agha Jahangir Mirza – with Turmish Agha Miran Shah Mirza – with Mengli Agha Shah Rukh Mirza – with Toghay Turkhan Agha Daughters of Timur Aka Begi (died 1382) – by Turmish Agha. Married to Muhammad Beg, son of Amir Musa Tayichiud Sultan Husayn Tayichiud Sultan Bakht Begum (died 1429/30) – by Oljay Turkhan Agha. Married first Muhammad Mirke Apardi, married second, 1389/90, Sulayman Shah Dughlat Sa'adat Sultan – by Dilshad Agha Bikijan – by Mengli Agha Qutlugh Sultan Agha – by Toghay Turkhan Agha Sons of Umar Shaikh Mirza I Pir Muhammad Iskandar Rustam Bayqara I Mansur Sultan Husayn Bayqarah Badi' al-Zaman Muhammed Mu'min Muhammad Zaman Mirza Muzaffar Hussein Ibrahim Hussein Sons of Jahangir Muhammad Sultan Mirza Pir Muhammad Sons of Miran Shah Khalil Sultan Abu Bakr Muhammad Mirza Abu Sa'id Mirza Umar Shaikh Mirza II Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur the Mughals Jahangir Mirza II Sons of Shah Rukh Mirza Mirza Muhammad Taraghay – better known as Ulugh Beg Abdul-Latif Ghiyath-al-Din Baysunghur Ala al-Dawla Mirza Ibrahim Mirza Sultan Muhammad Yadigar Muhammad Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza Sultan Ibrahim Mirza Abdullah Mirza Mirza Soyurghatmïsh Khan Muhammad Juki Religious views Timur was a practicing Sunni Muslim, possibly belonging to the Naqshbandi school, which was influential in Transoxiana. His chief official religious counsellor and adviser was the Hanafi scholar 'Abdu 'l-Jabbar Khwarazmi. In Tirmidh, he had come under the influence of his spiritual mentor Sayyid Baraka, a leader from Balkh who is buried alongside Timur in Gur-e-Amir. Timur was known to hold Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt in high regard and has been noted by various scholars for his "pro-Shia" stance. However, he also punished Shias for desecrating the memories of the Sahaba. Timur was also noted for attacking the Shia with Sunni apologism, while at other times he attacked Sunnis on religious grounds as well. In contrast, Timur held the Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar in high regard for attacking the Ismailis at Alamut, while Timur's own attack on Ismailis at Anjudan was equally brutal. Personality Timur is regarded as a military genius and as a brilliant tactician with an uncanny ability to work within a highly fluid political structure to win and maintain a loyal following of nomads during his rule in Central Asia. He was also considered extraordinarily intelligentnot only intuitively but also intellectually. In Samarkand and his many travels, Timur, under the guidance of distinguished scholars, was able to learn the Persian, Mongolian, and Turkish languages (according to Ahmad ibn Arabshah, Timur could not speak Arabic). According to John Joseph Saunders, Timur was "the product of an Islamized and Iranized society", and not steppe nomadic. More importantly, Timur was characterized as an opportunist. Taking advantage of his Turco-Mongolian heritage, Timur frequently used either the Islamic religion or the sharia law, fiqh, and traditions of the Mongol Empire to achieve his military goals or domestic political aims. Timur was a learned king, and enjoyed the company of scholars; he was tolerant and generous to them. He was a contemporary of the Persian poet Hafez, and a story of their meeting explains that Timur summoned Hafiz, who had written a ghazal with the following verse: For the black mole on thy cheek I would give the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. Timur upbraided him for this verse and said, "By the blows of my well tempered sword I have conquered the greater part of the world to enlarge Samarkand and Bukhara, my capitals and residences; and you, pitiful creature, would exchange these two cities for a mole." Hafez, undaunted, replied, "It is by similar generosity that I have been reduced, as you see, to my present state of poverty." It is reported that the King was pleased by the witty answer and the poet departed with magnificent gifts. There is a shared view that Timur's real motive for his campaigns was his imperialistic ambition, as expressed by his statement: "The whole expanse of the inhabited part of the world is not large enough to have two kings." However, besides Iran, Timur simply plundered the states he invaded with a purpose of enriching his native Samarqand and neglected the conquered areas, which may have resulted in a relatively quick disintegration of his Empire after his death. Timur used Persian expressions in his conversations often, and his motto was the Persian phrase rāstī rustī (, meaning "truth is safety" or "veritas salus"). He is credited with the invention of the Tamerlane chess variant, played on a 10×11 board. Exchanges with Europe Timur had numerous and diplomatic exchanges with various European states, especially Spain and France. Relations between the court of Henry III of Castile and that of Timur played an important part in medieval Castilian diplomacy. In 1402, the time of the Battle of Ankara, two Spanish ambassadors were already with Timur: Pelayo de Sotomayor and Fernando de Palazuelos. Later, Timur sent to the court of the Kingdom of León and Castile a Chagatai ambassador named Hajji Muhammad al-Qazi with letters and gifts. In return, Henry III of Castile sent a famous embassy to Timur's court in Samarkand in 1403–06, led by Ruy González de Clavijo, with two other ambassadors, Alfonso Paez and Gomez de Salazar. On their return, Timur affirmed that he regarded the king of Castile "as his very own son". According to Clavijo, Timur's good treatment of the Spanish delegation contrasted with the disdain shown by his host toward the envoys of the "lord of Cathay" (i.e., the Yongle Emperor), the Chinese ruler. Clavijo's visit to Samarkand allowed him to report to the European audience on the news from Cathay (China), which few Europeans had been able to visit directly in the century that had passed since the travels of Marco Polo. The French archives preserve: A 30 July 1402 letter from Timur to Charles VI of France, suggesting that he send traders to Asia. It is written in Persian. A May 1403 letter. This is a Latin transcription of a letter from Timur to Charles VI, and another from Miran Shah, his son, to the Christian princes, announcing their victory over Bayezid I at Smyrna. A copy has been kept of the answer of Charles VI to Timur, dated 15 June 1403. In addition, Byzantine John VII Palaiologos who was a regent during his uncle's absence in the West, sent a Dominican friar in August 1401 to Timur, to pay his respect and propose paying tribute to him instead of the Turks, once he managed to defeat them. Legacy Timur's legacy is a mixed one. While Central Asia blossomed under his reign, other places, such as Baghdad, Damascus, Delhi and other Arab, Georgian, Persian, and Indian cities were sacked and destroyed and their populations massacred. Thus, while Timur still retains a positive image in Muslim Central Asia, he is vilified by many in Arabia, Iraq, Persia, and India, where some of his greatest atrocities were carried out. However, Ibn Khaldun praises Timur for having unified much of the Muslim world when other conquerors of the time could not. The next great conqueror of the Middle East, Nader Shah, was greatly influenced by Timur and almost re-enacted Timur's conquests and battle strategies in his own campaigns. Like Timur, Nader Shah conquered most of Caucasia, Persia, and Central Asia along with also sacking Delhi. Timur's short-lived empire also melded the Turko-Persian tradition in Transoxiana, and in most of the territories that he incorporated into his fiefdom, Persian became the primary language of administration and literary culture (diwan), regardless of ethnicity. In addition, during his reign, some contributions to Turkic literature were penned, with Turkic cultural influence expanding and flourishing as a result. A literary form of Chagatai Turkic came into use alongside Persian as both a cultural and an official language. Tamerlane virtually exterminated the Church of the East, which had previously been a major branch of Christianity but afterwards became largely confined to a small area now known as the Assyrian Triangle. Timur became a relatively popular figure in Europe for centuries after his death, mainly because of his victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid. The Ottoman armies were at the time invading Eastern Europe and Timur was seen as an ally. Timur is officially recognized as a national hero in Uzbekistan. His monument in Tashkent now occupies the place where Karl Marx's statue once stood. Muhammad Iqbal, a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement, composed a notable poem entitled Dream of Timur, the poem itself was inspired by a prayer of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II: In 1794, Sake Dean Mahomed published his travel book, The Travels of Dean Mahomet. The book begins with the praise of Genghis Khan, Timur, and particularly the first Mughal emperor, Babur. He also gives important details on the then incumbent Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. Historical sources The earliest known history of his reign was Nizam ad-Din Shami's Zafarnama, which was written during Timur's lifetime. Between 1424 and 1428, Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi wrote a second Zafarnama drawing heavily on Shami's earlier work. Ahmad ibn Arabshah wrote a much less favorable history in Arabic. Arabshah's history was translated into Latin by the Dutch Orientalist Jacobus Golius in 1636. As Timurid-sponsored histories, the two Zafarnamas present a dramatically different picture from Arabshah's chronicle. William Jones remarked that the former presented Timur as a "liberal, benevolent and illustrious prince" while the latter painted him as "deformed and impious, of a low birth and detestable principles". Malfuzat-i Timuri The Malfuzat-i Timurī and the appended Tuzūk-i Tīmūrī, supposedly Timur's own autobiography, are almost certainly 17th-century fabrications. The scholar Abu Taleb Hosayni presented the texts to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, a distant descendant of Timur, in 1637–38, supposedly after discovering the Chagatai language originals in the library of a Yemeni ruler. Due to the distance between Yemen and Timur's base in Transoxiana and the lack of any other evidence of the originals, most historians consider the story highly implausible, and suspect Hosayni of inventing both the text and its origin story. European views Timur arguably had a significant impact on the Renaissance culture and early modern Europe. His achievements both fascinated and horrified Europeans from the fifteenth century to the early nineteenth century. European views of Timur were mixed throughout the fifteenth century, with some European countries calling him an ally and others seeing him as a threat to Europe because of his rapid expansion and brutality. When Timur captured the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid at Ankara, he was often praised and seen as a trusted ally by European rulers, such as Charles VI of France and Henry IV of England, because they believed he was saving Christianity from the Turkic Empire in the Middle East. Those two kings also praised him because his victory at Ankara allowed Christian merchants to remain in the Middle East and allowed for their safe return home to both France and England. Timur was also praised because it was believed that he helped restore the right of passage for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Other Europeans viewed Timur as a barbaric enemy who presented a threat to both European culture and the religion of Christianity. His rise to power moved many leaders, such as Henry III of Castile, to send embassies to Samarkand to scout out Timur, learn about his people, make alliances with him, and try to convince him to convert to Christianity in order to avoid war. In the introduction to a 1723 translation of Yazdi's Zafarnama, the translator wrote: Exhumation and alleged curse Timur's body was exhumed from his tomb on 19 June 1941 and his remains examined by the Soviet anthropologists Mikhail M. Gerasimov, Lev V. Oshanin and V. Ia. Zezenkova. Gerasimov reconstructed the likeness of Timur from his skull and found that his facial characteristics displayed "typical Mongoloid features", i.e. East Asian in modern terms. An anthropologic study of Timur's cranium shows that he belonged predominately to the South Siberian Mongoloid type. At , Timur was tall for his era. The examinations confirmed that Timur was lame and had a withered right arm due to his injuries. His right thighbone had knitted together with his kneecap, and the configuration of the knee joint suggests that he had kept his leg bent at all times and therefore would have had a pronounced limp. He appears to have been broad-chested and his hair and beard were red. It is alleged that Timur's tomb was inscribed with the words, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble." It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." Even though people close to Gerasimov claim that this story is a fabrication, the legend persists. In any case, three days after Gerasimov began the exhumation, Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. In the arts Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II (English, 1563–1594): play by Christopher Marlowe Tamerlan ou la mort de Bajazet [Tamerlane or the Death of Bajazet] (1675): play by Jacques Pradon. Tamerlane (1701): play by Nicholas Rowe (English) Tamerlano (1724): opera by George Frideric Handel, in Italian, based on the 1675 Pradon play. Bajazet (1735): opera by Antonio Vivaldi, portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Il gran Tamerlano (1772): opera by Josef Myslivecek which also portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Timour the Tartar (1811): equestrian drama by Matthew Lewis Tamerlane (published 1827): first published poem of Edgar Allan Poe. Turandot (1924): opera by Giacomo Puccini (libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni) in which Timur is the deposed, blind former King of Tartary and father of the protagonist Calaf. Lord of Samarkand (The Lame Man; published 1932): story by Robert E. Howard in which Timour appears. Nesimi (1973): Azerbaijani film in which Timur was portrayed by Yusif Veliyev. Tamerlan (2003): Spanish-language novel by Colombian writer Enrique Serrano Day Watch (2006): Russian film in which Tamerlane in his youth is portrayed by Emir Baygazin, and in maturity by Gani Kulzhanov. Tamburlaine: Shadow of God (broadcast 2008): a BBC Radio 3 play by John Fletcher presenting a fictitious encounter between Tamburlaine, Ibn Khaldun, and Hafez. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (2019): a video game containing a six-chapter campaign titled "Tamerlane". Examples of Timurid architecture See also List of largest empires Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent Timuri Timurid conquests and invasions Timurlengia Notes References Further reading Abazov, Rafis. "Timur (Tamerlane) and the Timurid Empire in Central Asia." The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia. Palgrave Macmillan US, 2008. 56–57. Marlowe, Christopher. Tamburlaine the Great. Ed. J. S. Cunningham. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1981. Manz, Beatrice Forbes. "Temür and the Problem of a Conqueror's Legacy," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Apr. 1998) Marozzi, Justin. Tamerlane: sword of Islam, conqueror of the world, London: HarperCollins, 2004 Marozzi, Justin. "Tamerlane", in: The Art of War: great commanders of the ancient and medieval world, Andrew Roberts (editor), London: Quercus Military History, 2008. Novosel'tsev, A. P. "On the Historical Evaluation of Tamerlane." Soviet studies in history 12.3 (1973): 37–70. Shterenshis, Michael V. "Approach to Tamerlane: Tradition and Innovation." Central Asia and the Caucasus 2 (2000). Sykes, P. M. "Tamerlane" Journal of the Central Asian Society 2.1 (1915): 17–33. YÜKSEL, Musa Şamil. "Timur’un Yükselişi ve Batı’nın Diplomatik Cevabı, 1390–1405." Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 1.18 (2005): 231–243. External links Forbes, Andrew, & Henley, David: Timur's Legacy: The Architecture of Bukhara and Samarkand (CPA Media) Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez De Clavijo to the Court of Timour, at Samarcand, A.D. 1403–6 – . Ruy González de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403–1406, translated by Guy Le Strange, with a new Introduction by Caroline Stone (Hardinge Simpole, 2009). Nationality or Religion: Views of Central Asian Islam Timurid dynasty 1336 births 1405 deaths Muslim monarchs Samarkand Royalty and nobility with disabilities Founding monarchs
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[ "Mohammad Farhad Azimi (Persian: محمدفرهاد عظیمی, born 1976 in Mazar-e-Sharif, Balkh) is an Afghan politician, who served as governor of Balkh province from 2021 to August 2021. He is also a professor at Balkh University, former chairman of Balkh Provincial Council, and representative of the people of Balkh in the 16th term of the House of Representatives. He was the chairman and member of Legislative Affairs Commission in the 16th term of House of Representatives of Afghanistan and was the Ambassador and special plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to Kazakhstan.\n\nEarly life \nMohammad Farhad Azimi was born in 1976 in Mazar-e-Sharif, Balkh province. He completed his high school at Bakhtar High School in Mazar-e-Sharif. He received his bachelor’s degree in law and political science from Balkh University in 1993. He lived as a refugee in the Netherlands for some time and returned to Afghanistan in 2005.\n\nCareer \nWhile in Netherlands, Azimi worked as a computer programmer. Upon returning to Afghanistan, Azimi was taught at the law faculty of Bakh University between 2005 and 2010.\n\nPolitical career \nHe chaired the Balkh Provincial Council until 2010. Azimi was elected into House of Representatives during the 2010 Afghan parliamentary election. On 24 October 2018, he was appointed as the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Kazakhstan.\n\nIn 2020, Azimi was appointed as the governor for the Balkh province.\n\nReferences\n\nMembers of the House of the People (Afghanistan)\nGovernors of Balkh Province\n\n1976 births\nLiving people\nAmbassadors of Afghanistan to Kazakhstan", "Marmul () is a small district, located in the central part of Balkh Province in northern Afghanistan. The capital Marmul (also Marmol) is in its southern end on the border with the Chahar Kint district.\n\nReferences\n\nDistricts of Balkh Province" ]
[ "Timur", "Rise to power", "How did he begin to attain power?", "Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads", "Did he accomplish that through battle or subterfuge?", "he ruled in their name.", "Did he go on to expand his people's lands?", "I don't know.", "Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?", "Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh,", "What was the result of his popularity in Balkh?", "sharing his belongings with them.", "Did he end up ruling Balkh?", "allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe." ]
C_e6592fba22cd4733b7119e8ca671f8d1_0
Did he fight any battles?
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Did Timur fight any battles?
Timur
It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers in joint adventures, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them began to become strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tishnet. Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. At around 1370 Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. One day Aksak Temur spoke thusly: "Khan Zudei (in China) rules over the city. We now number fifty to sixty men, so let us elect a leader." So they drove a stake into the ground and said: "We shall run thither and he among us who is the first to reach the stake, may he become our leader". So they ran and Aksak Timur, as he was lame, lagged behind, but before the others reached the stake he threw his cap onto it. Those who arrived first said: "We are the leaders." ["But,"] Aksak Timur said: "My head came in first, I am the leader." Meanwhile, an old man arrived and said: "The leadership should belong to Aksak Timur; your feet have arrived but, before then, his head reached the goal." So they made Aksak Timur their prince. CANNOTANSWER
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Timur ( Temür, 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( Temür Küregen), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. As an undefeated commander, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest military leaders and tacticians in history. Timur is also considered a great patron of art and architecture as he interacted with intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i Abru and his reign introduced the Timurid Renaissance. Born into the Barlas confederation in Transoxiana (in modern-day Uzbekistan) on 9 April 1336, Timur gained control of the western Chagatai Khanate by 1370. From that base, he led military campaigns across Western, South and Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Southern Russia, defeating in the process the Khans of the Golden Horde, the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire, and the late Delhi Sultanate of India and emerging as the most powerful ruler in the Islamic World. From these conquests, he founded the Timurid Empire, but this empire fragmented shortly after his death. Timur was the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe, and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lasting Islamic gunpowder empires in the 16th and 17th centuries. Timur was of both Turkic and Mongol descent, and, while unlikely a direct descendant on either side, he shared a common ancestor with Genghis Khan on his father's side, though some authors have suggested his mother may have been a descendant of Khan. He clearly sought to invoke the legacy of the latter's conquests during his lifetime. Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan (died 1227) and according to Gérard Chaliand, saw himself as Genghis Khan's heir. According to Beatrice Forbes Manz, "in his formal correspondence Temur continued throughout his life to portray himself as the restorer of Chinggisid rights. He justified his Iranian, Mamluk, and Ottoman campaigns as a re-imposition of legitimate Mongol control over lands taken by usurpers." To legitimize his conquests, Timur relied on Islamic symbols and language, referred to himself as the "Sword of Islam". He was a patron of educational and religious institutions. He converted nearly all the Borjigin leaders to Islam during his lifetime. Timur decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaller at the Siege of Smyrna, styling himself a ghazi. By the end of his reign, Timur had gained complete control over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, the Ilkhanate, and the Golden Horde, and even attempted to restore the Yuan dynasty in China. Timur's armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and were feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe, sizable parts of which his campaigns laid waste. Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population at the time. Of all the areas he conquered, Khwarazm suffered the most from his expeditions, as it rose several times against him. Timur was the grandfather of the Timurid sultan, astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire, which then ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent. Ancestry Through his father, Timur claimed to be a descendant of Tumanay Khan, a male-line ancestor he shared with Genghis Khan. Tumanay's great-great grandson Qarachar Noyan was a minister for the emperor who later assisted the latter's son Chagatai in the governorship of Transoxiana. Though there are not many mentions of Qarachar in 13th and 14th century records, later Timurid sources greatly emphasised his role in the early history of the Mongol Empire. These histories also state that Genghis Khan later established the "bond of fatherhood and sonship" by marrying Chagatai's daughter to Qarachar. Through his alleged descent from this marriage, Timur claimed kinship with the Chagatai Khans. The origins of Timur's mother, Tekina Khatun, are less clear. The Zafarnama merely states her name without giving any information regarding her background. Writing in 1403, Johannes de Galonifontibus, Archbishop of Sultaniyya, claimed that she was of lowly origin. The Mu'izz al-Ansab, written decades later, says that she was related to the Yasa'uri tribe, whose lands bordered that of the Barlas. Ibn Khaldun recounted that Timur himself described to him his mother's descent from the legendary Persian hero Manuchehr. Ibn Arabshah suggested that she was a descendant of Genghis Khan. The 18th century Books of Timur identify her as the daughter of 'Sadr al-Sharia', which is believed to refer to the Hanafi scholar Ubayd Allah al-Mahbubi of Bukhara. Early life Timur was born in Transoxiana near the city of Kesh (modern Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan), some south of Samarkand, part of what was then the Chagatai Khanate. His name Temur means "Iron" in the Chagatai language, his mother-tongue (cf. Uzbek Temir, Turkish Demir). It is cognate with Genghis Khan's birth name of Temüjin. Later Timurid dynastic histories claim that Timur was born on 8 April 1336, but most sources from his lifetime give ages that are consistent with a birthdate in the late 1320s. Historian Beatrice Forbes Manz suspects the 1336 date was designed to tie Timur to the legacy of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, the last ruler of the Ilkhanate descended from Hulagu Khan, who died in that year. He was a member of the Barlas, a Mongolian tribe that had been turkified in many aspects. His father, Taraghai was described as a minor noble of this tribe. However, Manz believes that Timur may have later understated the social position of his father, so as to make his own successes appear more remarkable. She states that though he is not believed to have been especially powerful, Taraghai was reasonably wealthy and influential. This is shown by Timur later returning to his birthplace following the death of his father in 1360, suggesting concern over his estate. Taraghai's social significance is further hinted at by Arabshah, who described him as a magnate in the court of Amir Husayn Qara'unas. In addition to this, the father of the great Amir Hamid Kereyid of Moghulistan is stated as a friend of Taraghai's. In his childhood, Timur and a small band of followers raided travelers for goods, especially animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle. Around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows, one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he lost two fingers. Both injuries crippled him for life. Some believe that Timur suffered his crippling injuries while serving as a mercenary to the khan of Sistan in what is today the Dashti Margo in southwest Afghanistan. Timur's injuries have given him the names of Timur the Lame and Tamerlane by Europeans. Military leader About 1360, Timur gained prominence as a military leader whose troops were mostly Turkic tribesmen of the region. He took part in campaigns in Transoxiana with the Khan of the Chagatai Khanate. Allying himself both in cause and by family connection with Qazaghan, the dethroner and destroyer of Volga Bulgaria, he invaded Khorasan at the head of a thousand horsemen. This was the second military expedition that he led, and its success led to further operations, among them the subjugation of Khwarezm and Urgench. Following Qazaghan's murder, disputes arose among the many claimants to sovereign power. Tughlugh Timur of Kashgar, the Khan of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, another descendant of Genghis Khan, invaded, interrupting this infighting. Timur was sent to negotiate with the invader but joined with him instead and was rewarded with Transoxania. At about this time, his father died and Timur also became chief of the Berlas. Tughlugh then attempted to set his son Ilyas Khoja over Transoxania, but Timur repelled this invasion with a smaller force. Rise to power It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Amir Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them became strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tashkent. Timur gained followers in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. Around 1370, Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. Legitimization of Timur's rule Timur's Turco-Mongolian heritage provided opportunities and challenges as he sought to rule the Mongol Empire and the Muslim world. According to the Mongol traditions, Timur could not claim the title of khan or rule the Mongol Empire because he was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Therefore, Timur set up a puppet Chaghatay Khan, Suyurghatmish, as the nominal ruler of Balkh as he pretended to act as a "protector of the member of a Chinggisid line, that of Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi". Timur instead used the title of Amir meaning general, and acting in the name of the Chagatai ruler of Transoxania. To reinforce this position, Timur claimed the title Guregen (royal son-in-law) when he married Saray Mulk Khanum, a princess of Chinggisid descent. As with the title of Khan, Timur similarly could not claim the supreme title of the Islamic world, Caliph, because the "office was limited to the Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad". Therefore, Timur reacted to the challenge by creating a myth and image of himself as a "supernatural personal power" ordained by God. Otherwise he was described as a spiritual descendant of Ali, thus taken lineage of both to Genghis Khan and the Quraysh. Period of expansion Timur spent the next 35 years in various wars and expeditions. He not only consolidated his rule at home by the subjugation of his foes, but sought extension of territory by encroachments upon the lands of foreign potentates. His conquests to the west and northwest led him to the lands near the Caspian Sea and to the banks of the Ural and the Volga. Conquests in the south and south-West encompassed almost every province in Persia, including Baghdad, Karbala and Northern Iraq. One of the most formidable of Timur's opponents was another Mongol ruler, a descendant of Genghis Khan named Tokhtamysh. After having been a refugee in Timur's court, Tokhtamysh became ruler both of the eastern Kipchak and the Golden Horde. After his accession, he quarreled with Timur over the possession of Khwarizm and Azerbaijan. However, Timur still supported him against the Russians and in 1382 Tokhtamysh invaded the Muscovite dominion and burned Moscow. Orthodox tradition states that later, in 1395 Timur, having reached the frontier of the Principality of Ryazan, had taken Elets and started advancing towards Moscow. Great Prince Vasily I of Moscow went with an army to Kolomna and halted at the banks of the Oka River. The clergy brought the famed Theotokos of Vladimir icon from Vladimir to Moscow. Along the way people prayed kneeling: "O Mother of God, save the land of Russia!" Suddenly, Timur's armies retreated. In memory of this miraculous deliverance of the Russian land from Timur on 26 August, the all-Russian celebration in honor of the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was established. Conquest of Persia After the death of Abu Sa'id, ruler of the Ilkhanate, in 1335, there was a power vacuum in Persia. In the end, Persia was split amongst the Muzaffarids, Kartids, Eretnids, Chobanids, Injuids, Jalayirids, and Sarbadars. In 1383, Timur started his lengthy military conquest of Persia, though he already ruled over much of Persian Khorasan by 1381, after Khwaja Mas'ud, of the Sarbadar dynasty surrendered. Timur began his Persian campaign with Herat, capital of the Kartid dynasty. When Herat did not surrender he reduced the city to rubble and massacred most of its citizens; it remained in ruins until Shah Rukh ordered its reconstruction around 1415. Timur then sent a General to capture rebellious Kandahar. With the capture of Herat the Kartid kingdom surrendered and became vassals of Timur; it would later be annexed outright less than a decade later in 1389 by Timur's son Miran Shah. Timur then headed west to capture the Zagros Mountains, passing through Mazandaran. During his travel through the north of Persia, he captured the then town of Tehran, which surrendered and was thus treated mercifully. He laid siege to Soltaniyeh in 1384. Khorasan revolted one year later, so Timur destroyed Isfizar, and the prisoners were cemented into the walls alive. The next year the kingdom of Sistan, under the Mihrabanid dynasty, was ravaged, and its capital at Zaranj was destroyed. Timur then returned to his capital of Samarkand, where he began planning for his Georgian campaign and Golden Horde invasion. In 1386, Timur passed through Mazandaran as he had when trying to capture the Zagros. He went near the city of Soltaniyeh, which he had previously captured but instead turned north and captured Tabriz with little resistance, along with Maragha. He ordered heavy taxation of the people, which was collected by Adil Aqa, who was also given control over Soltaniyeh. Adil was later executed because Timur suspected him of corruption. Timur then went north to begin his Georgian and Golden Horde campaigns, pausing his full-scale invasion of Persia. When he returned, he found his generals had done well in protecting the cities and lands he had conquered in Persia. Though many rebelled, and his son Miran Shah, who may have been regent, was forced to annex rebellious vassal dynasties, his holdings remained. So he proceeded to capture the rest of Persia, specifically the two major southern cities of Isfahan and Shiraz. When he arrived with his army at Isfahan in 1387, the city immediately surrendered; he treated it with relative mercy as he normally did with cities that surrendered (unlike Herat). However, after Isfahan revolted against Timur's taxes by killing the tax collectors and some of Timur's soldiers, he ordered the massacre of the city's citizens; the death toll is reckoned at between 100,000 and 200,000. An eye-witness counted more than 28 towers constructed of about 1,500 heads each. This has been described as a "systematic use of terror against towns...an integral element of Tamerlane's strategic element", which he viewed as preventing bloodshed by discouraging resistance. His massacres were selective and he spared the artistic and educated. This would later influence the next great Persian conqueror: Nader Shah. Timur then began a five-year campaign to the west in 1392, attacking Persian Kurdistan. In 1393, Shiraz was captured after surrendering, and the Muzaffarids became vassals of Timur, though prince Shah Mansur rebelled but was defeated, and the Muzafarids were annexed. Shortly after Georgia was devastated so that the Golden Horde could not use it to threaten northern Iran. In the same year, Timur caught Baghdad by surprise in August by marching there in only eight days from Shiraz. Sultan Ahmad Jalayir fled to Syria, where the Mamluk Sultan Barquq protected him and killed Timur's envoys. Timur left the Sarbadar prince Khwaja Mas'ud to govern Baghdad, but he was driven out when Ahmad Jalayir returned. Ahmad was unpopular but got help from Qara Yusuf of the Kara Koyunlu; he fled again in 1399, this time to the Ottomans. Tokhtamysh–Timur war In the meantime, Tokhtamysh, now khan of the Golden Horde, turned against his patron and in 1385 invaded Azerbaijan. The inevitable response by Timur resulted in the Tokhtamysh–Timur war. In the initial stage of the war, Timur won a victory at the Battle of the Kondurcha River. After the battle Tokhtamysh and some of his army were allowed to escape. After Tokhtamysh's initial defeat, Timur invaded Muscovy to the north of Tokhtamysh's holdings. Timur's army burned Ryazan and advanced on Moscow. He was pulled away before reaching the Oka River by Tokhtamysh's renewed campaign in the south. In the first phase of the conflict with Tokhtamysh, Timur led an army of over 100,000 men north for more than 700 miles into the steppe. He then rode west about 1,000 miles advancing in a front more than 10 miles wide. During this advance, Timur's army got far enough north to be in a region of very long summer days causing complaints by his Muslim soldiers about keeping a long schedule of prayers. It was then that Tokhtamysh's army was boxed in against the east bank of the Volga River in the Orenburg region and destroyed at the Battle of the Kondurcha River, in 1391. In the second phase of the conflict, Timur took a different route against the enemy by invading the realm of Tokhtamysh via the Caucasus region. In 1395, Timur defeated Tokhtamysh in the Battle of the Terek River, concluding the struggle between the two monarchs. Tokhtamysh was unable to restore his power or prestige, and he was killed about a decade later in the area of present-day Tyumen. During the course of Timur's campaigns, his army destroyed Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and Astrakhan, subsequently disrupting the Golden Horde's Silk Road. The Golden Horde no longer held power after their losses to Timur. Ismailis In May 1393, Timur's army invaded the Anjudan, crippling the Ismaili village only a year after his assault on the Ismailis in Mazandaran. The village was prepared for the attack, evidenced by its fortress and system of tunnels. Undeterred, Timur's soldiers flooded the tunnels by cutting into a channel overhead. Timur's reasons for attacking this village are not yet well understood. However, it has been suggested that his religious persuasions and view of himself as an executor of divine will may have contributed to his motivations. The Persian historian Khwandamir explains that an Ismaili presence was growing more politically powerful in Persian Iraq. A group of locals in the region was dissatisfied with this and, Khwandamir writes, these locals assembled and brought up their complaint with Timur, possibly provoking his attack on the Ismailis there. Campaign against the Tughlaq dynasty In 1398, Timur invaded northern India, attacking the Delhi Sultanate ruled by Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq of the Tughlaq dynasty. After crossing the Indus River on 30 September 1398, he sacked Tulamba and massacred its inhabitants. Then he advanced and captured Multan by October. His invasion was unopposed as most of the Indian nobility surrendered without a fight, however he did encounter resistance from the united army of Rajputs and Muslims at Bhatner under the command of the Rajput king Dulachand, Dulachand initially opposed Timur but when hard-pressed he considered surrender. He was locked outside the walls of Bhatner by his brother and was later killed by Timur. The garrison of Bhatner then fought and were slaughtered to the last man. Bhatner was looted and burned to the ground. While on his march towards Delhi, Timur was opposed by the Jat peasantry, who would loot caravans and then disappear in the forests, Timur had 2,000 Jats killed and many taken captive. But the Sultanate at Delhi did nothing to stop his advance. Capture of Delhi (1398) The battle took place on 17 December 1398. Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq and the army of Mallu Iqbal had war elephants armored with chain mail and poison on their tusks. As his Tatar forces were afraid of the elephants, Timur ordered his men to dig a trench in front of their positions. Timur then loaded his camels with as much wood and hay as they could carry. When the war elephants charged, Timur set the hay on fire and prodded the camels with iron sticks, causing them to charge at the elephants, howling in pain: Timur had understood that elephants were easily panicked. Faced with the strange spectacle of camels flying straight at them with flames leaping from their backs, the elephants turned around and stampeded back toward their own lines. Timur capitalized on the subsequent disruption in the forces of Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq, securing an easy victory. Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq fled with remnants of his forces. Delhi was sacked and left in ruins. Before the battle for Delhi, Timur executed 100,000 captives. The capture of the Delhi Sultanate was one of Timur's greatest victories, as at that time, Delhi was one of the richest cities in the world. After Delhi fell to Timur's army, uprisings by its citizens against the Turkic-Mongols began to occur, causing a retaliatory bloody massacre within the city walls. After three days of citizens uprising within Delhi, it was said that the city reeked of the decomposing bodies of its citizens with their heads being erected like structures and the bodies left as food for the birds by Timur's soldiers. Timur's invasion and destruction of Delhi continued the chaos that was still consuming India, and the city would not be able to recover from the great loss it suffered for almost a century. Campaigns in the Levant Before the end of 1399, Timur started a war with Bayezid I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and the Mamluk sultan of Egypt Nasir-ad-Din Faraj. Bayezid began annexing the territory of Turkmen and Muslim rulers in Anatolia. As Timur claimed sovereignty over the Turkoman rulers, they took refuge behind him. In 1400, Timur invaded Armenia and Georgia. Of the surviving population, more than 60,000 of the local people were captured as slaves, and many districts were depopulated. He also sacked Sivas in Asia Minor. Then Timur turned his attention to Syria, sacking Aleppo, and Damascus. The city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans, who were deported to Samarkand. Timur invaded Baghdad in June 1401. After the capture of the city, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred. Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him. When they ran out of men to kill, many warriors killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign, and when they ran out of prisoners to kill, many resorted to beheading their own wives. Invasion of Anatolia In the meantime, years of insulting letters had passed between Timur and Bayezid. Both rulers insulted each other in their own way while Timur preferred to undermine Bayezid's position as a ruler and play down the significance of his military successes. This is the excerpt from one of Timur's letters addressed to Ottoman sultan: "Believe me, you are but pismire ant: don't seek to fight the elephants for they'll crush you under their feet. Shall a petty prince such as you are contend with us? But your rodomontades (braggadocio) are not extraordinary; for a Turcoman never spake with judgement. If you don't follow our counsels you will regret it". Finally, Timur invaded Anatolia and defeated Bayezid in the Battle of Ankara on 20 July 1402. Bayezid was captured in battle and subsequently died in captivity, initiating the twelve-year Ottoman Interregnum period. Timur's stated motivation for attacking Bayezid and the Ottoman Empire was the restoration of Seljuq authority. Timur saw the Seljuks as the rightful rulers of Anatolia as they had been granted rule by Mongol conquerors, illustrating again Timur's interest with Genghizid legitimacy. In December 1402, Timur besieged and took the city of Smyrna, a stronghold of the Christian Knights Hospitalers, thus he referred to himself as ghazi or "Warrior of Islam". A mass beheading was carried out in Smyrna by Timur's soldiers. With the Treaty of Gallipoli in February 1402, Timur was furious with the Genoese and Venetians, as their ships ferried the Ottoman army to safety in Thrace. As Lord Kinross reported in The Ottoman Centuries, the Italians preferred the enemy they could handle to the one they could not. During the early interregnum, Bayezid I's son acted as Timur's vassal. Unlike other princes, Mehmed minted coins that had Timur's name stamped as "Demur han Gürgân" (), alongside his own as "Mehmed bin Bayezid han" (). This was probably an attempt on Mehmed's part to justify to Timur his conquest of Bursa after the Battle of Ulubad. After Mehmed established himself in Rum, Timur had already begun preparations for his return to Central Asia, and took no further steps to interfere with the status quo in Anatolia. While Timur was still in Anatolia, Qara Yusuf assaulted Baghdad and captured it in 1402. Timur returned to Persia and sent his grandson Abu Bakr ibn Miran Shah to reconquer Baghdad, which he proceeded to do. Timur then spent some time in Ardabil, where he gave Ali Safavi, leader of the Safaviyya, a number of captives. Subsequently, he marched to Khorasan and then to Samarkhand, where he spent nine months celebrating and preparing to invade Mongolia and China. Attempts to attack the Ming dynasty By 1368, Han Chinese forces had driven the Mongols out of China. The first of the new Ming dynasty's emperors, the Hongwu Emperor, and his son, the Yongle Emperor, produced tributary states of many Central Asian countries. The suzerain-vassal relationship between Ming empire and Timurid existed for a long time. In 1394, Hongwu's ambassadors eventually presented Timur with a letter addressing him as a subject. He had the ambassadors Fu An, Guo Ji, and Liu Wei detained. Neither Hongwu's next ambassador, Chen Dewen (1397), nor the delegation announcing the accession of the Yongle Emperor fared any better. Timur eventually planned to invade China. To this end Timur made an alliance with surviving Mongol tribes based in Mongolia and prepared all the way to Bukhara. Engke Khan sent his grandson Öljei Temür Khan, also known as "Buyanshir Khan" after he converted to Islam while at the court of Timur in Samarkand. Death Timur preferred to fight his battles in the spring. However, he died en route during an uncharacteristic winter campaign. In December 1404, Timur began military campaigns against Ming China and detained a Ming envoy. He suffered illness while encamped on the farther side of the Syr Daria and died at Farab on 17 February 1405, before ever reaching the Chinese border. After his death the Ming envoys such as Fu An and the remaining entourage were released by his grandson Khalil Sultan. Geographer Clements Markham, in his introduction to the narrative of Clavijo's embassy, states that, after Timur died, his body "was embalmed with musk and rose water, wrapped in linen, laid in an ebony coffin and sent to Samarkand, where it was buried". His tomb, the Gur-e-Amir, still stands in Samarkand, though it has been heavily restored in recent years. Succession Timur had twice previously appointed an heir apparent to succeed him, both of whom he had outlived. The first, his son Jahangir, died of illness in 1376. The second, his grandson Muhammad Sultan, had succumbed to battle wounds in 1403. After the latter's death, Timur did nothing to replace him. It was only when he was on his own death-bed that he appointed Muhammad Sultan's younger brother, Pir Muhammad as his successor. Pir Muhammad was unable to gain sufficient support from his relatives and a bitter civil war erupted amongst Timur's descendants, with multiple princes pursuing their claims. It was not until 1409 that Timur's youngest son, Shah Rukh was able to overcome his rivals and take the throne as Timur's successor. Wives and concubines Timur had forty-three wives and concubines, all of these women were also his consorts. Timur made dozens of women his wives and concubines as he conquered their fathers' or erstwhile husbands' lands. Turmish Agha, mother of Jahangir Mirza, Jahanshah Mirza and Aka Begi; Oljay Turkhan Agha (m. 1357/58), daughter of Amir Mashlah and granddaughter of Amir Qazaghan; Saray Mulk Khanum (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Qazan Khan; Islam Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Bayan Salduz; Ulus Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Khizr Yasuri; Dilshad Agha (m. 1374), daughter of Shams ed-Din and his wife Bujan Agha; Touman Agha (m. 1377), daughter of Amir Musa and his wife Arzu Mulk Agha, daughter of Amir Bayezid Jalayir; Chulpan Mulk Agha, daughter of Haji Beg of Jetah; Tukal Khanum (m. 1397), daughter of Mongol Khan Khizr Khawaja Oglan; Tolun Agha, concubine, and mother of Umar Shaikh Mirza I; Mengli Agha, concubine, and mother of Miran Shah; Toghay Turkhan Agha, lady from the Kara Khitai, widow of Amir Husain, and mother of Shah Rukh; Tughdi Bey Agha, daughter of Aq Sufi Qongirat; Sultan Aray Agha, a Nukuz lady; Malikanshah Agha, a Filuni lady; Khand Malik Agha, mother of Ibrahim Mirza; Sultan Agha, mother of a son who died in infancy; His other wives and concubines included: Dawlat Tarkan Agha, Burhan Agha, Jani Beg Agha, Tini Beg Agha, Durr Sultan Agha, Munduz Agha, Bakht Sultan Agha, Nowruz Agha, Jahan Bakht Agha, Nigar Agha, Ruhparwar Agha, Dil Beg Agha, Dilshad Agha, Murad Beg Agha, Piruzbakht Agha, Khoshkeldi Agha, Dilkhosh Agha, Barat Bey Agha, Sevinch Malik Agha, Arzu Bey Agha, Yadgar Sultan Agha, Khudadad Agha, Bakht Nigar Agha, Qutlu Bey Agha, and another Nigar Agha . Descendants Sons of Timur Umar Shaikh Mirza I – with Tolun Agha Jahangir Mirza – with Turmish Agha Miran Shah Mirza – with Mengli Agha Shah Rukh Mirza – with Toghay Turkhan Agha Daughters of Timur Aka Begi (died 1382) – by Turmish Agha. Married to Muhammad Beg, son of Amir Musa Tayichiud Sultan Husayn Tayichiud Sultan Bakht Begum (died 1429/30) – by Oljay Turkhan Agha. Married first Muhammad Mirke Apardi, married second, 1389/90, Sulayman Shah Dughlat Sa'adat Sultan – by Dilshad Agha Bikijan – by Mengli Agha Qutlugh Sultan Agha – by Toghay Turkhan Agha Sons of Umar Shaikh Mirza I Pir Muhammad Iskandar Rustam Bayqara I Mansur Sultan Husayn Bayqarah Badi' al-Zaman Muhammed Mu'min Muhammad Zaman Mirza Muzaffar Hussein Ibrahim Hussein Sons of Jahangir Muhammad Sultan Mirza Pir Muhammad Sons of Miran Shah Khalil Sultan Abu Bakr Muhammad Mirza Abu Sa'id Mirza Umar Shaikh Mirza II Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur the Mughals Jahangir Mirza II Sons of Shah Rukh Mirza Mirza Muhammad Taraghay – better known as Ulugh Beg Abdul-Latif Ghiyath-al-Din Baysunghur Ala al-Dawla Mirza Ibrahim Mirza Sultan Muhammad Yadigar Muhammad Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza Sultan Ibrahim Mirza Abdullah Mirza Mirza Soyurghatmïsh Khan Muhammad Juki Religious views Timur was a practicing Sunni Muslim, possibly belonging to the Naqshbandi school, which was influential in Transoxiana. His chief official religious counsellor and adviser was the Hanafi scholar 'Abdu 'l-Jabbar Khwarazmi. In Tirmidh, he had come under the influence of his spiritual mentor Sayyid Baraka, a leader from Balkh who is buried alongside Timur in Gur-e-Amir. Timur was known to hold Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt in high regard and has been noted by various scholars for his "pro-Shia" stance. However, he also punished Shias for desecrating the memories of the Sahaba. Timur was also noted for attacking the Shia with Sunni apologism, while at other times he attacked Sunnis on religious grounds as well. In contrast, Timur held the Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar in high regard for attacking the Ismailis at Alamut, while Timur's own attack on Ismailis at Anjudan was equally brutal. Personality Timur is regarded as a military genius and as a brilliant tactician with an uncanny ability to work within a highly fluid political structure to win and maintain a loyal following of nomads during his rule in Central Asia. He was also considered extraordinarily intelligentnot only intuitively but also intellectually. In Samarkand and his many travels, Timur, under the guidance of distinguished scholars, was able to learn the Persian, Mongolian, and Turkish languages (according to Ahmad ibn Arabshah, Timur could not speak Arabic). According to John Joseph Saunders, Timur was "the product of an Islamized and Iranized society", and not steppe nomadic. More importantly, Timur was characterized as an opportunist. Taking advantage of his Turco-Mongolian heritage, Timur frequently used either the Islamic religion or the sharia law, fiqh, and traditions of the Mongol Empire to achieve his military goals or domestic political aims. Timur was a learned king, and enjoyed the company of scholars; he was tolerant and generous to them. He was a contemporary of the Persian poet Hafez, and a story of their meeting explains that Timur summoned Hafiz, who had written a ghazal with the following verse: For the black mole on thy cheek I would give the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. Timur upbraided him for this verse and said, "By the blows of my well tempered sword I have conquered the greater part of the world to enlarge Samarkand and Bukhara, my capitals and residences; and you, pitiful creature, would exchange these two cities for a mole." Hafez, undaunted, replied, "It is by similar generosity that I have been reduced, as you see, to my present state of poverty." It is reported that the King was pleased by the witty answer and the poet departed with magnificent gifts. There is a shared view that Timur's real motive for his campaigns was his imperialistic ambition, as expressed by his statement: "The whole expanse of the inhabited part of the world is not large enough to have two kings." However, besides Iran, Timur simply plundered the states he invaded with a purpose of enriching his native Samarqand and neglected the conquered areas, which may have resulted in a relatively quick disintegration of his Empire after his death. Timur used Persian expressions in his conversations often, and his motto was the Persian phrase rāstī rustī (, meaning "truth is safety" or "veritas salus"). He is credited with the invention of the Tamerlane chess variant, played on a 10×11 board. Exchanges with Europe Timur had numerous and diplomatic exchanges with various European states, especially Spain and France. Relations between the court of Henry III of Castile and that of Timur played an important part in medieval Castilian diplomacy. In 1402, the time of the Battle of Ankara, two Spanish ambassadors were already with Timur: Pelayo de Sotomayor and Fernando de Palazuelos. Later, Timur sent to the court of the Kingdom of León and Castile a Chagatai ambassador named Hajji Muhammad al-Qazi with letters and gifts. In return, Henry III of Castile sent a famous embassy to Timur's court in Samarkand in 1403–06, led by Ruy González de Clavijo, with two other ambassadors, Alfonso Paez and Gomez de Salazar. On their return, Timur affirmed that he regarded the king of Castile "as his very own son". According to Clavijo, Timur's good treatment of the Spanish delegation contrasted with the disdain shown by his host toward the envoys of the "lord of Cathay" (i.e., the Yongle Emperor), the Chinese ruler. Clavijo's visit to Samarkand allowed him to report to the European audience on the news from Cathay (China), which few Europeans had been able to visit directly in the century that had passed since the travels of Marco Polo. The French archives preserve: A 30 July 1402 letter from Timur to Charles VI of France, suggesting that he send traders to Asia. It is written in Persian. A May 1403 letter. This is a Latin transcription of a letter from Timur to Charles VI, and another from Miran Shah, his son, to the Christian princes, announcing their victory over Bayezid I at Smyrna. A copy has been kept of the answer of Charles VI to Timur, dated 15 June 1403. In addition, Byzantine John VII Palaiologos who was a regent during his uncle's absence in the West, sent a Dominican friar in August 1401 to Timur, to pay his respect and propose paying tribute to him instead of the Turks, once he managed to defeat them. Legacy Timur's legacy is a mixed one. While Central Asia blossomed under his reign, other places, such as Baghdad, Damascus, Delhi and other Arab, Georgian, Persian, and Indian cities were sacked and destroyed and their populations massacred. Thus, while Timur still retains a positive image in Muslim Central Asia, he is vilified by many in Arabia, Iraq, Persia, and India, where some of his greatest atrocities were carried out. However, Ibn Khaldun praises Timur for having unified much of the Muslim world when other conquerors of the time could not. The next great conqueror of the Middle East, Nader Shah, was greatly influenced by Timur and almost re-enacted Timur's conquests and battle strategies in his own campaigns. Like Timur, Nader Shah conquered most of Caucasia, Persia, and Central Asia along with also sacking Delhi. Timur's short-lived empire also melded the Turko-Persian tradition in Transoxiana, and in most of the territories that he incorporated into his fiefdom, Persian became the primary language of administration and literary culture (diwan), regardless of ethnicity. In addition, during his reign, some contributions to Turkic literature were penned, with Turkic cultural influence expanding and flourishing as a result. A literary form of Chagatai Turkic came into use alongside Persian as both a cultural and an official language. Tamerlane virtually exterminated the Church of the East, which had previously been a major branch of Christianity but afterwards became largely confined to a small area now known as the Assyrian Triangle. Timur became a relatively popular figure in Europe for centuries after his death, mainly because of his victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid. The Ottoman armies were at the time invading Eastern Europe and Timur was seen as an ally. Timur is officially recognized as a national hero in Uzbekistan. His monument in Tashkent now occupies the place where Karl Marx's statue once stood. Muhammad Iqbal, a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement, composed a notable poem entitled Dream of Timur, the poem itself was inspired by a prayer of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II: In 1794, Sake Dean Mahomed published his travel book, The Travels of Dean Mahomet. The book begins with the praise of Genghis Khan, Timur, and particularly the first Mughal emperor, Babur. He also gives important details on the then incumbent Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. Historical sources The earliest known history of his reign was Nizam ad-Din Shami's Zafarnama, which was written during Timur's lifetime. Between 1424 and 1428, Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi wrote a second Zafarnama drawing heavily on Shami's earlier work. Ahmad ibn Arabshah wrote a much less favorable history in Arabic. Arabshah's history was translated into Latin by the Dutch Orientalist Jacobus Golius in 1636. As Timurid-sponsored histories, the two Zafarnamas present a dramatically different picture from Arabshah's chronicle. William Jones remarked that the former presented Timur as a "liberal, benevolent and illustrious prince" while the latter painted him as "deformed and impious, of a low birth and detestable principles". Malfuzat-i Timuri The Malfuzat-i Timurī and the appended Tuzūk-i Tīmūrī, supposedly Timur's own autobiography, are almost certainly 17th-century fabrications. The scholar Abu Taleb Hosayni presented the texts to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, a distant descendant of Timur, in 1637–38, supposedly after discovering the Chagatai language originals in the library of a Yemeni ruler. Due to the distance between Yemen and Timur's base in Transoxiana and the lack of any other evidence of the originals, most historians consider the story highly implausible, and suspect Hosayni of inventing both the text and its origin story. European views Timur arguably had a significant impact on the Renaissance culture and early modern Europe. His achievements both fascinated and horrified Europeans from the fifteenth century to the early nineteenth century. European views of Timur were mixed throughout the fifteenth century, with some European countries calling him an ally and others seeing him as a threat to Europe because of his rapid expansion and brutality. When Timur captured the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid at Ankara, he was often praised and seen as a trusted ally by European rulers, such as Charles VI of France and Henry IV of England, because they believed he was saving Christianity from the Turkic Empire in the Middle East. Those two kings also praised him because his victory at Ankara allowed Christian merchants to remain in the Middle East and allowed for their safe return home to both France and England. Timur was also praised because it was believed that he helped restore the right of passage for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Other Europeans viewed Timur as a barbaric enemy who presented a threat to both European culture and the religion of Christianity. His rise to power moved many leaders, such as Henry III of Castile, to send embassies to Samarkand to scout out Timur, learn about his people, make alliances with him, and try to convince him to convert to Christianity in order to avoid war. In the introduction to a 1723 translation of Yazdi's Zafarnama, the translator wrote: Exhumation and alleged curse Timur's body was exhumed from his tomb on 19 June 1941 and his remains examined by the Soviet anthropologists Mikhail M. Gerasimov, Lev V. Oshanin and V. Ia. Zezenkova. Gerasimov reconstructed the likeness of Timur from his skull and found that his facial characteristics displayed "typical Mongoloid features", i.e. East Asian in modern terms. An anthropologic study of Timur's cranium shows that he belonged predominately to the South Siberian Mongoloid type. At , Timur was tall for his era. The examinations confirmed that Timur was lame and had a withered right arm due to his injuries. His right thighbone had knitted together with his kneecap, and the configuration of the knee joint suggests that he had kept his leg bent at all times and therefore would have had a pronounced limp. He appears to have been broad-chested and his hair and beard were red. It is alleged that Timur's tomb was inscribed with the words, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble." It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." Even though people close to Gerasimov claim that this story is a fabrication, the legend persists. In any case, three days after Gerasimov began the exhumation, Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. In the arts Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II (English, 1563–1594): play by Christopher Marlowe Tamerlan ou la mort de Bajazet [Tamerlane or the Death of Bajazet] (1675): play by Jacques Pradon. Tamerlane (1701): play by Nicholas Rowe (English) Tamerlano (1724): opera by George Frideric Handel, in Italian, based on the 1675 Pradon play. Bajazet (1735): opera by Antonio Vivaldi, portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Il gran Tamerlano (1772): opera by Josef Myslivecek which also portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Timour the Tartar (1811): equestrian drama by Matthew Lewis Tamerlane (published 1827): first published poem of Edgar Allan Poe. Turandot (1924): opera by Giacomo Puccini (libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni) in which Timur is the deposed, blind former King of Tartary and father of the protagonist Calaf. Lord of Samarkand (The Lame Man; published 1932): story by Robert E. Howard in which Timour appears. Nesimi (1973): Azerbaijani film in which Timur was portrayed by Yusif Veliyev. Tamerlan (2003): Spanish-language novel by Colombian writer Enrique Serrano Day Watch (2006): Russian film in which Tamerlane in his youth is portrayed by Emir Baygazin, and in maturity by Gani Kulzhanov. Tamburlaine: Shadow of God (broadcast 2008): a BBC Radio 3 play by John Fletcher presenting a fictitious encounter between Tamburlaine, Ibn Khaldun, and Hafez. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (2019): a video game containing a six-chapter campaign titled "Tamerlane". Examples of Timurid architecture See also List of largest empires Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent Timuri Timurid conquests and invasions Timurlengia Notes References Further reading Abazov, Rafis. "Timur (Tamerlane) and the Timurid Empire in Central Asia." The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia. Palgrave Macmillan US, 2008. 56–57. Marlowe, Christopher. Tamburlaine the Great. Ed. J. S. Cunningham. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1981. Manz, Beatrice Forbes. "Temür and the Problem of a Conqueror's Legacy," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Apr. 1998) Marozzi, Justin. Tamerlane: sword of Islam, conqueror of the world, London: HarperCollins, 2004 Marozzi, Justin. "Tamerlane", in: The Art of War: great commanders of the ancient and medieval world, Andrew Roberts (editor), London: Quercus Military History, 2008. Novosel'tsev, A. P. "On the Historical Evaluation of Tamerlane." Soviet studies in history 12.3 (1973): 37–70. Shterenshis, Michael V. "Approach to Tamerlane: Tradition and Innovation." Central Asia and the Caucasus 2 (2000). Sykes, P. M. "Tamerlane" Journal of the Central Asian Society 2.1 (1915): 17–33. YÜKSEL, Musa Şamil. "Timur’un Yükselişi ve Batı’nın Diplomatik Cevabı, 1390–1405." Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 1.18 (2005): 231–243. External links Forbes, Andrew, & Henley, David: Timur's Legacy: The Architecture of Bukhara and Samarkand (CPA Media) Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez De Clavijo to the Court of Timour, at Samarcand, A.D. 1403–6 – . Ruy González de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403–1406, translated by Guy Le Strange, with a new Introduction by Caroline Stone (Hardinge Simpole, 2009). Nationality or Religion: Views of Central Asian Islam Timurid dynasty 1336 births 1405 deaths Muslim monarchs Samarkand Royalty and nobility with disabilities Founding monarchs
false
[ "The Battle of Skopje occurred in the vicinity of the city of Skopje in 1004.\n\nBackground\nIn 1003, Basil II launched a campaign against the First Bulgarian Empire and after eight months of siege conquered the important town of Vidin to the north-west. The Bulgarian counter strike in the opposite direction towards Odrin did not distract him from his aim and after seizing Vidin he marched southwards through the valley of the Morava destroying the Bulgarian castles on his way. Eventually, Basil II reached the vicinity of Skopje and learned that the camp of the Bulgarian army was situated very close on the other side of the Vardar river.\n\nBattle\nSamuil of Bulgaria relied on the high waters of the river of Vardar and did not take any serious precautions to secure the camp. Strangely the circumstances were the same as at the battle of Spercheios seven years earlier, and the scenario of the fight was similar. The Byzantines managed to find a fjord, crossed the river and attacked the heedless Bulgarians at night. Unable to resist effectively the Bulgarians soon retreated, leaving the camp and Samuil's tent in the hands of the Byzantines.\nDuring this battle Samuil managed to escape and headed east.\n\nReferences\n Йордан Андреев, Милчо Лалков, Българските ханове и царе, Велико Търново, 1996.\n\n11th century in Bulgaria\n1000s in the Byzantine Empire\nBattles involving the First Bulgarian Empire\nBattles of the Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars in Macedonia\nMilitary history of North Macedonia\nHistory of Skopje\nMedieval Macedonia\nConflicts in 1004\nBattles of Basil II\n1004 in Europe\nNight battles", "Harald Fairhair's campaign in Götaland was an attack that took place in the 870s.\n\nSnorri Sturluson writes in Harald Fairhair's saga that Harald Fairhair disputed the Swedish king Eric Eymundsson's hegemony in what is today southern Norway.\n\nHe attacked and forced Viken to accept his rule and then plundered and burnt in Rånrike. Because of this the Norwegian skald Þorbjörn hornklofi boasted that the Swedes stayed indoors whereas the Norwegians were out on the sea.\n\nThe Gauts (Geats) did not accept this and assembled their forces. In the spring, they put stakes in Göta älv to stop Harald's ships. Harald Fairhair put his ships alongside the stakes and plundered and burnt everything he could reach.\nThe Norwegian skald said of this:\n\nThe Geats arrived to the ships with a great army to fight king Harald, but they lost after great losses.\n\nThen the Norwegians travelled far and wide in Götaland, winning most of the battles. In one of the battles, the Geatish commander Hrani the Geat fell. Harald then proclaimed himself the ruler of all land north of Göta älv and north and west of lake Vänern and placed Guttorm Haraldsson to defend the region with a large force.\n\nReferences\n Sturluson, Snorri. Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, translated Lee M. Hollander. Reprinted University of Texas Press, Austin, 1992. \n\nBattles involving Norway\nBattles involving the Vikings\nG\nGeats\nBattles involving Sweden\nGötaland\n870s conflicts\n9th century in Norway" ]
[ "Timur", "Rise to power", "How did he begin to attain power?", "Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads", "Did he accomplish that through battle or subterfuge?", "he ruled in their name.", "Did he go on to expand his people's lands?", "I don't know.", "Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?", "Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh,", "What was the result of his popularity in Balkh?", "sharing his belongings with them.", "Did he end up ruling Balkh?", "allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe.", "Did he fight any battles?", "I don't know." ]
C_e6592fba22cd4733b7119e8ca671f8d1_0
What other ploys did he use to gain power?
8
Aside from sharing his belongings in Balkh, What other ploys did Timur use to gain power?
Timur
It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers in joint adventures, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them began to become strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tishnet. Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. At around 1370 Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. One day Aksak Temur spoke thusly: "Khan Zudei (in China) rules over the city. We now number fifty to sixty men, so let us elect a leader." So they drove a stake into the ground and said: "We shall run thither and he among us who is the first to reach the stake, may he become our leader". So they ran and Aksak Timur, as he was lame, lagged behind, but before the others reached the stake he threw his cap onto it. Those who arrived first said: "We are the leaders." ["But,"] Aksak Timur said: "My head came in first, I am the leader." Meanwhile, an old man arrived and said: "The leadership should belong to Aksak Timur; your feet have arrived but, before then, his head reached the goal." So they made Aksak Timur their prince. CANNOTANSWER
heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures.
Timur ( Temür, 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( Temür Küregen), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. As an undefeated commander, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest military leaders and tacticians in history. Timur is also considered a great patron of art and architecture as he interacted with intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i Abru and his reign introduced the Timurid Renaissance. Born into the Barlas confederation in Transoxiana (in modern-day Uzbekistan) on 9 April 1336, Timur gained control of the western Chagatai Khanate by 1370. From that base, he led military campaigns across Western, South and Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Southern Russia, defeating in the process the Khans of the Golden Horde, the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire, and the late Delhi Sultanate of India and emerging as the most powerful ruler in the Islamic World. From these conquests, he founded the Timurid Empire, but this empire fragmented shortly after his death. Timur was the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe, and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lasting Islamic gunpowder empires in the 16th and 17th centuries. Timur was of both Turkic and Mongol descent, and, while unlikely a direct descendant on either side, he shared a common ancestor with Genghis Khan on his father's side, though some authors have suggested his mother may have been a descendant of Khan. He clearly sought to invoke the legacy of the latter's conquests during his lifetime. Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan (died 1227) and according to Gérard Chaliand, saw himself as Genghis Khan's heir. According to Beatrice Forbes Manz, "in his formal correspondence Temur continued throughout his life to portray himself as the restorer of Chinggisid rights. He justified his Iranian, Mamluk, and Ottoman campaigns as a re-imposition of legitimate Mongol control over lands taken by usurpers." To legitimize his conquests, Timur relied on Islamic symbols and language, referred to himself as the "Sword of Islam". He was a patron of educational and religious institutions. He converted nearly all the Borjigin leaders to Islam during his lifetime. Timur decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaller at the Siege of Smyrna, styling himself a ghazi. By the end of his reign, Timur had gained complete control over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, the Ilkhanate, and the Golden Horde, and even attempted to restore the Yuan dynasty in China. Timur's armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and were feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe, sizable parts of which his campaigns laid waste. Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population at the time. Of all the areas he conquered, Khwarazm suffered the most from his expeditions, as it rose several times against him. Timur was the grandfather of the Timurid sultan, astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire, which then ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent. Ancestry Through his father, Timur claimed to be a descendant of Tumanay Khan, a male-line ancestor he shared with Genghis Khan. Tumanay's great-great grandson Qarachar Noyan was a minister for the emperor who later assisted the latter's son Chagatai in the governorship of Transoxiana. Though there are not many mentions of Qarachar in 13th and 14th century records, later Timurid sources greatly emphasised his role in the early history of the Mongol Empire. These histories also state that Genghis Khan later established the "bond of fatherhood and sonship" by marrying Chagatai's daughter to Qarachar. Through his alleged descent from this marriage, Timur claimed kinship with the Chagatai Khans. The origins of Timur's mother, Tekina Khatun, are less clear. The Zafarnama merely states her name without giving any information regarding her background. Writing in 1403, Johannes de Galonifontibus, Archbishop of Sultaniyya, claimed that she was of lowly origin. The Mu'izz al-Ansab, written decades later, says that she was related to the Yasa'uri tribe, whose lands bordered that of the Barlas. Ibn Khaldun recounted that Timur himself described to him his mother's descent from the legendary Persian hero Manuchehr. Ibn Arabshah suggested that she was a descendant of Genghis Khan. The 18th century Books of Timur identify her as the daughter of 'Sadr al-Sharia', which is believed to refer to the Hanafi scholar Ubayd Allah al-Mahbubi of Bukhara. Early life Timur was born in Transoxiana near the city of Kesh (modern Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan), some south of Samarkand, part of what was then the Chagatai Khanate. His name Temur means "Iron" in the Chagatai language, his mother-tongue (cf. Uzbek Temir, Turkish Demir). It is cognate with Genghis Khan's birth name of Temüjin. Later Timurid dynastic histories claim that Timur was born on 8 April 1336, but most sources from his lifetime give ages that are consistent with a birthdate in the late 1320s. Historian Beatrice Forbes Manz suspects the 1336 date was designed to tie Timur to the legacy of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, the last ruler of the Ilkhanate descended from Hulagu Khan, who died in that year. He was a member of the Barlas, a Mongolian tribe that had been turkified in many aspects. His father, Taraghai was described as a minor noble of this tribe. However, Manz believes that Timur may have later understated the social position of his father, so as to make his own successes appear more remarkable. She states that though he is not believed to have been especially powerful, Taraghai was reasonably wealthy and influential. This is shown by Timur later returning to his birthplace following the death of his father in 1360, suggesting concern over his estate. Taraghai's social significance is further hinted at by Arabshah, who described him as a magnate in the court of Amir Husayn Qara'unas. In addition to this, the father of the great Amir Hamid Kereyid of Moghulistan is stated as a friend of Taraghai's. In his childhood, Timur and a small band of followers raided travelers for goods, especially animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle. Around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows, one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he lost two fingers. Both injuries crippled him for life. Some believe that Timur suffered his crippling injuries while serving as a mercenary to the khan of Sistan in what is today the Dashti Margo in southwest Afghanistan. Timur's injuries have given him the names of Timur the Lame and Tamerlane by Europeans. Military leader About 1360, Timur gained prominence as a military leader whose troops were mostly Turkic tribesmen of the region. He took part in campaigns in Transoxiana with the Khan of the Chagatai Khanate. Allying himself both in cause and by family connection with Qazaghan, the dethroner and destroyer of Volga Bulgaria, he invaded Khorasan at the head of a thousand horsemen. This was the second military expedition that he led, and its success led to further operations, among them the subjugation of Khwarezm and Urgench. Following Qazaghan's murder, disputes arose among the many claimants to sovereign power. Tughlugh Timur of Kashgar, the Khan of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, another descendant of Genghis Khan, invaded, interrupting this infighting. Timur was sent to negotiate with the invader but joined with him instead and was rewarded with Transoxania. At about this time, his father died and Timur also became chief of the Berlas. Tughlugh then attempted to set his son Ilyas Khoja over Transoxania, but Timur repelled this invasion with a smaller force. Rise to power It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Amir Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them became strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tashkent. Timur gained followers in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. Around 1370, Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. Legitimization of Timur's rule Timur's Turco-Mongolian heritage provided opportunities and challenges as he sought to rule the Mongol Empire and the Muslim world. According to the Mongol traditions, Timur could not claim the title of khan or rule the Mongol Empire because he was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Therefore, Timur set up a puppet Chaghatay Khan, Suyurghatmish, as the nominal ruler of Balkh as he pretended to act as a "protector of the member of a Chinggisid line, that of Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi". Timur instead used the title of Amir meaning general, and acting in the name of the Chagatai ruler of Transoxania. To reinforce this position, Timur claimed the title Guregen (royal son-in-law) when he married Saray Mulk Khanum, a princess of Chinggisid descent. As with the title of Khan, Timur similarly could not claim the supreme title of the Islamic world, Caliph, because the "office was limited to the Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad". Therefore, Timur reacted to the challenge by creating a myth and image of himself as a "supernatural personal power" ordained by God. Otherwise he was described as a spiritual descendant of Ali, thus taken lineage of both to Genghis Khan and the Quraysh. Period of expansion Timur spent the next 35 years in various wars and expeditions. He not only consolidated his rule at home by the subjugation of his foes, but sought extension of territory by encroachments upon the lands of foreign potentates. His conquests to the west and northwest led him to the lands near the Caspian Sea and to the banks of the Ural and the Volga. Conquests in the south and south-West encompassed almost every province in Persia, including Baghdad, Karbala and Northern Iraq. One of the most formidable of Timur's opponents was another Mongol ruler, a descendant of Genghis Khan named Tokhtamysh. After having been a refugee in Timur's court, Tokhtamysh became ruler both of the eastern Kipchak and the Golden Horde. After his accession, he quarreled with Timur over the possession of Khwarizm and Azerbaijan. However, Timur still supported him against the Russians and in 1382 Tokhtamysh invaded the Muscovite dominion and burned Moscow. Orthodox tradition states that later, in 1395 Timur, having reached the frontier of the Principality of Ryazan, had taken Elets and started advancing towards Moscow. Great Prince Vasily I of Moscow went with an army to Kolomna and halted at the banks of the Oka River. The clergy brought the famed Theotokos of Vladimir icon from Vladimir to Moscow. Along the way people prayed kneeling: "O Mother of God, save the land of Russia!" Suddenly, Timur's armies retreated. In memory of this miraculous deliverance of the Russian land from Timur on 26 August, the all-Russian celebration in honor of the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was established. Conquest of Persia After the death of Abu Sa'id, ruler of the Ilkhanate, in 1335, there was a power vacuum in Persia. In the end, Persia was split amongst the Muzaffarids, Kartids, Eretnids, Chobanids, Injuids, Jalayirids, and Sarbadars. In 1383, Timur started his lengthy military conquest of Persia, though he already ruled over much of Persian Khorasan by 1381, after Khwaja Mas'ud, of the Sarbadar dynasty surrendered. Timur began his Persian campaign with Herat, capital of the Kartid dynasty. When Herat did not surrender he reduced the city to rubble and massacred most of its citizens; it remained in ruins until Shah Rukh ordered its reconstruction around 1415. Timur then sent a General to capture rebellious Kandahar. With the capture of Herat the Kartid kingdom surrendered and became vassals of Timur; it would later be annexed outright less than a decade later in 1389 by Timur's son Miran Shah. Timur then headed west to capture the Zagros Mountains, passing through Mazandaran. During his travel through the north of Persia, he captured the then town of Tehran, which surrendered and was thus treated mercifully. He laid siege to Soltaniyeh in 1384. Khorasan revolted one year later, so Timur destroyed Isfizar, and the prisoners were cemented into the walls alive. The next year the kingdom of Sistan, under the Mihrabanid dynasty, was ravaged, and its capital at Zaranj was destroyed. Timur then returned to his capital of Samarkand, where he began planning for his Georgian campaign and Golden Horde invasion. In 1386, Timur passed through Mazandaran as he had when trying to capture the Zagros. He went near the city of Soltaniyeh, which he had previously captured but instead turned north and captured Tabriz with little resistance, along with Maragha. He ordered heavy taxation of the people, which was collected by Adil Aqa, who was also given control over Soltaniyeh. Adil was later executed because Timur suspected him of corruption. Timur then went north to begin his Georgian and Golden Horde campaigns, pausing his full-scale invasion of Persia. When he returned, he found his generals had done well in protecting the cities and lands he had conquered in Persia. Though many rebelled, and his son Miran Shah, who may have been regent, was forced to annex rebellious vassal dynasties, his holdings remained. So he proceeded to capture the rest of Persia, specifically the two major southern cities of Isfahan and Shiraz. When he arrived with his army at Isfahan in 1387, the city immediately surrendered; he treated it with relative mercy as he normally did with cities that surrendered (unlike Herat). However, after Isfahan revolted against Timur's taxes by killing the tax collectors and some of Timur's soldiers, he ordered the massacre of the city's citizens; the death toll is reckoned at between 100,000 and 200,000. An eye-witness counted more than 28 towers constructed of about 1,500 heads each. This has been described as a "systematic use of terror against towns...an integral element of Tamerlane's strategic element", which he viewed as preventing bloodshed by discouraging resistance. His massacres were selective and he spared the artistic and educated. This would later influence the next great Persian conqueror: Nader Shah. Timur then began a five-year campaign to the west in 1392, attacking Persian Kurdistan. In 1393, Shiraz was captured after surrendering, and the Muzaffarids became vassals of Timur, though prince Shah Mansur rebelled but was defeated, and the Muzafarids were annexed. Shortly after Georgia was devastated so that the Golden Horde could not use it to threaten northern Iran. In the same year, Timur caught Baghdad by surprise in August by marching there in only eight days from Shiraz. Sultan Ahmad Jalayir fled to Syria, where the Mamluk Sultan Barquq protected him and killed Timur's envoys. Timur left the Sarbadar prince Khwaja Mas'ud to govern Baghdad, but he was driven out when Ahmad Jalayir returned. Ahmad was unpopular but got help from Qara Yusuf of the Kara Koyunlu; he fled again in 1399, this time to the Ottomans. Tokhtamysh–Timur war In the meantime, Tokhtamysh, now khan of the Golden Horde, turned against his patron and in 1385 invaded Azerbaijan. The inevitable response by Timur resulted in the Tokhtamysh–Timur war. In the initial stage of the war, Timur won a victory at the Battle of the Kondurcha River. After the battle Tokhtamysh and some of his army were allowed to escape. After Tokhtamysh's initial defeat, Timur invaded Muscovy to the north of Tokhtamysh's holdings. Timur's army burned Ryazan and advanced on Moscow. He was pulled away before reaching the Oka River by Tokhtamysh's renewed campaign in the south. In the first phase of the conflict with Tokhtamysh, Timur led an army of over 100,000 men north for more than 700 miles into the steppe. He then rode west about 1,000 miles advancing in a front more than 10 miles wide. During this advance, Timur's army got far enough north to be in a region of very long summer days causing complaints by his Muslim soldiers about keeping a long schedule of prayers. It was then that Tokhtamysh's army was boxed in against the east bank of the Volga River in the Orenburg region and destroyed at the Battle of the Kondurcha River, in 1391. In the second phase of the conflict, Timur took a different route against the enemy by invading the realm of Tokhtamysh via the Caucasus region. In 1395, Timur defeated Tokhtamysh in the Battle of the Terek River, concluding the struggle between the two monarchs. Tokhtamysh was unable to restore his power or prestige, and he was killed about a decade later in the area of present-day Tyumen. During the course of Timur's campaigns, his army destroyed Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and Astrakhan, subsequently disrupting the Golden Horde's Silk Road. The Golden Horde no longer held power after their losses to Timur. Ismailis In May 1393, Timur's army invaded the Anjudan, crippling the Ismaili village only a year after his assault on the Ismailis in Mazandaran. The village was prepared for the attack, evidenced by its fortress and system of tunnels. Undeterred, Timur's soldiers flooded the tunnels by cutting into a channel overhead. Timur's reasons for attacking this village are not yet well understood. However, it has been suggested that his religious persuasions and view of himself as an executor of divine will may have contributed to his motivations. The Persian historian Khwandamir explains that an Ismaili presence was growing more politically powerful in Persian Iraq. A group of locals in the region was dissatisfied with this and, Khwandamir writes, these locals assembled and brought up their complaint with Timur, possibly provoking his attack on the Ismailis there. Campaign against the Tughlaq dynasty In 1398, Timur invaded northern India, attacking the Delhi Sultanate ruled by Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq of the Tughlaq dynasty. After crossing the Indus River on 30 September 1398, he sacked Tulamba and massacred its inhabitants. Then he advanced and captured Multan by October. His invasion was unopposed as most of the Indian nobility surrendered without a fight, however he did encounter resistance from the united army of Rajputs and Muslims at Bhatner under the command of the Rajput king Dulachand, Dulachand initially opposed Timur but when hard-pressed he considered surrender. He was locked outside the walls of Bhatner by his brother and was later killed by Timur. The garrison of Bhatner then fought and were slaughtered to the last man. Bhatner was looted and burned to the ground. While on his march towards Delhi, Timur was opposed by the Jat peasantry, who would loot caravans and then disappear in the forests, Timur had 2,000 Jats killed and many taken captive. But the Sultanate at Delhi did nothing to stop his advance. Capture of Delhi (1398) The battle took place on 17 December 1398. Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq and the army of Mallu Iqbal had war elephants armored with chain mail and poison on their tusks. As his Tatar forces were afraid of the elephants, Timur ordered his men to dig a trench in front of their positions. Timur then loaded his camels with as much wood and hay as they could carry. When the war elephants charged, Timur set the hay on fire and prodded the camels with iron sticks, causing them to charge at the elephants, howling in pain: Timur had understood that elephants were easily panicked. Faced with the strange spectacle of camels flying straight at them with flames leaping from their backs, the elephants turned around and stampeded back toward their own lines. Timur capitalized on the subsequent disruption in the forces of Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq, securing an easy victory. Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq fled with remnants of his forces. Delhi was sacked and left in ruins. Before the battle for Delhi, Timur executed 100,000 captives. The capture of the Delhi Sultanate was one of Timur's greatest victories, as at that time, Delhi was one of the richest cities in the world. After Delhi fell to Timur's army, uprisings by its citizens against the Turkic-Mongols began to occur, causing a retaliatory bloody massacre within the city walls. After three days of citizens uprising within Delhi, it was said that the city reeked of the decomposing bodies of its citizens with their heads being erected like structures and the bodies left as food for the birds by Timur's soldiers. Timur's invasion and destruction of Delhi continued the chaos that was still consuming India, and the city would not be able to recover from the great loss it suffered for almost a century. Campaigns in the Levant Before the end of 1399, Timur started a war with Bayezid I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and the Mamluk sultan of Egypt Nasir-ad-Din Faraj. Bayezid began annexing the territory of Turkmen and Muslim rulers in Anatolia. As Timur claimed sovereignty over the Turkoman rulers, they took refuge behind him. In 1400, Timur invaded Armenia and Georgia. Of the surviving population, more than 60,000 of the local people were captured as slaves, and many districts were depopulated. He also sacked Sivas in Asia Minor. Then Timur turned his attention to Syria, sacking Aleppo, and Damascus. The city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans, who were deported to Samarkand. Timur invaded Baghdad in June 1401. After the capture of the city, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred. Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him. When they ran out of men to kill, many warriors killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign, and when they ran out of prisoners to kill, many resorted to beheading their own wives. Invasion of Anatolia In the meantime, years of insulting letters had passed between Timur and Bayezid. Both rulers insulted each other in their own way while Timur preferred to undermine Bayezid's position as a ruler and play down the significance of his military successes. This is the excerpt from one of Timur's letters addressed to Ottoman sultan: "Believe me, you are but pismire ant: don't seek to fight the elephants for they'll crush you under their feet. Shall a petty prince such as you are contend with us? But your rodomontades (braggadocio) are not extraordinary; for a Turcoman never spake with judgement. If you don't follow our counsels you will regret it". Finally, Timur invaded Anatolia and defeated Bayezid in the Battle of Ankara on 20 July 1402. Bayezid was captured in battle and subsequently died in captivity, initiating the twelve-year Ottoman Interregnum period. Timur's stated motivation for attacking Bayezid and the Ottoman Empire was the restoration of Seljuq authority. Timur saw the Seljuks as the rightful rulers of Anatolia as they had been granted rule by Mongol conquerors, illustrating again Timur's interest with Genghizid legitimacy. In December 1402, Timur besieged and took the city of Smyrna, a stronghold of the Christian Knights Hospitalers, thus he referred to himself as ghazi or "Warrior of Islam". A mass beheading was carried out in Smyrna by Timur's soldiers. With the Treaty of Gallipoli in February 1402, Timur was furious with the Genoese and Venetians, as their ships ferried the Ottoman army to safety in Thrace. As Lord Kinross reported in The Ottoman Centuries, the Italians preferred the enemy they could handle to the one they could not. During the early interregnum, Bayezid I's son acted as Timur's vassal. Unlike other princes, Mehmed minted coins that had Timur's name stamped as "Demur han Gürgân" (), alongside his own as "Mehmed bin Bayezid han" (). This was probably an attempt on Mehmed's part to justify to Timur his conquest of Bursa after the Battle of Ulubad. After Mehmed established himself in Rum, Timur had already begun preparations for his return to Central Asia, and took no further steps to interfere with the status quo in Anatolia. While Timur was still in Anatolia, Qara Yusuf assaulted Baghdad and captured it in 1402. Timur returned to Persia and sent his grandson Abu Bakr ibn Miran Shah to reconquer Baghdad, which he proceeded to do. Timur then spent some time in Ardabil, where he gave Ali Safavi, leader of the Safaviyya, a number of captives. Subsequently, he marched to Khorasan and then to Samarkhand, where he spent nine months celebrating and preparing to invade Mongolia and China. Attempts to attack the Ming dynasty By 1368, Han Chinese forces had driven the Mongols out of China. The first of the new Ming dynasty's emperors, the Hongwu Emperor, and his son, the Yongle Emperor, produced tributary states of many Central Asian countries. The suzerain-vassal relationship between Ming empire and Timurid existed for a long time. In 1394, Hongwu's ambassadors eventually presented Timur with a letter addressing him as a subject. He had the ambassadors Fu An, Guo Ji, and Liu Wei detained. Neither Hongwu's next ambassador, Chen Dewen (1397), nor the delegation announcing the accession of the Yongle Emperor fared any better. Timur eventually planned to invade China. To this end Timur made an alliance with surviving Mongol tribes based in Mongolia and prepared all the way to Bukhara. Engke Khan sent his grandson Öljei Temür Khan, also known as "Buyanshir Khan" after he converted to Islam while at the court of Timur in Samarkand. Death Timur preferred to fight his battles in the spring. However, he died en route during an uncharacteristic winter campaign. In December 1404, Timur began military campaigns against Ming China and detained a Ming envoy. He suffered illness while encamped on the farther side of the Syr Daria and died at Farab on 17 February 1405, before ever reaching the Chinese border. After his death the Ming envoys such as Fu An and the remaining entourage were released by his grandson Khalil Sultan. Geographer Clements Markham, in his introduction to the narrative of Clavijo's embassy, states that, after Timur died, his body "was embalmed with musk and rose water, wrapped in linen, laid in an ebony coffin and sent to Samarkand, where it was buried". His tomb, the Gur-e-Amir, still stands in Samarkand, though it has been heavily restored in recent years. Succession Timur had twice previously appointed an heir apparent to succeed him, both of whom he had outlived. The first, his son Jahangir, died of illness in 1376. The second, his grandson Muhammad Sultan, had succumbed to battle wounds in 1403. After the latter's death, Timur did nothing to replace him. It was only when he was on his own death-bed that he appointed Muhammad Sultan's younger brother, Pir Muhammad as his successor. Pir Muhammad was unable to gain sufficient support from his relatives and a bitter civil war erupted amongst Timur's descendants, with multiple princes pursuing their claims. It was not until 1409 that Timur's youngest son, Shah Rukh was able to overcome his rivals and take the throne as Timur's successor. Wives and concubines Timur had forty-three wives and concubines, all of these women were also his consorts. Timur made dozens of women his wives and concubines as he conquered their fathers' or erstwhile husbands' lands. Turmish Agha, mother of Jahangir Mirza, Jahanshah Mirza and Aka Begi; Oljay Turkhan Agha (m. 1357/58), daughter of Amir Mashlah and granddaughter of Amir Qazaghan; Saray Mulk Khanum (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Qazan Khan; Islam Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Bayan Salduz; Ulus Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Khizr Yasuri; Dilshad Agha (m. 1374), daughter of Shams ed-Din and his wife Bujan Agha; Touman Agha (m. 1377), daughter of Amir Musa and his wife Arzu Mulk Agha, daughter of Amir Bayezid Jalayir; Chulpan Mulk Agha, daughter of Haji Beg of Jetah; Tukal Khanum (m. 1397), daughter of Mongol Khan Khizr Khawaja Oglan; Tolun Agha, concubine, and mother of Umar Shaikh Mirza I; Mengli Agha, concubine, and mother of Miran Shah; Toghay Turkhan Agha, lady from the Kara Khitai, widow of Amir Husain, and mother of Shah Rukh; Tughdi Bey Agha, daughter of Aq Sufi Qongirat; Sultan Aray Agha, a Nukuz lady; Malikanshah Agha, a Filuni lady; Khand Malik Agha, mother of Ibrahim Mirza; Sultan Agha, mother of a son who died in infancy; His other wives and concubines included: Dawlat Tarkan Agha, Burhan Agha, Jani Beg Agha, Tini Beg Agha, Durr Sultan Agha, Munduz Agha, Bakht Sultan Agha, Nowruz Agha, Jahan Bakht Agha, Nigar Agha, Ruhparwar Agha, Dil Beg Agha, Dilshad Agha, Murad Beg Agha, Piruzbakht Agha, Khoshkeldi Agha, Dilkhosh Agha, Barat Bey Agha, Sevinch Malik Agha, Arzu Bey Agha, Yadgar Sultan Agha, Khudadad Agha, Bakht Nigar Agha, Qutlu Bey Agha, and another Nigar Agha . Descendants Sons of Timur Umar Shaikh Mirza I – with Tolun Agha Jahangir Mirza – with Turmish Agha Miran Shah Mirza – with Mengli Agha Shah Rukh Mirza – with Toghay Turkhan Agha Daughters of Timur Aka Begi (died 1382) – by Turmish Agha. Married to Muhammad Beg, son of Amir Musa Tayichiud Sultan Husayn Tayichiud Sultan Bakht Begum (died 1429/30) – by Oljay Turkhan Agha. Married first Muhammad Mirke Apardi, married second, 1389/90, Sulayman Shah Dughlat Sa'adat Sultan – by Dilshad Agha Bikijan – by Mengli Agha Qutlugh Sultan Agha – by Toghay Turkhan Agha Sons of Umar Shaikh Mirza I Pir Muhammad Iskandar Rustam Bayqara I Mansur Sultan Husayn Bayqarah Badi' al-Zaman Muhammed Mu'min Muhammad Zaman Mirza Muzaffar Hussein Ibrahim Hussein Sons of Jahangir Muhammad Sultan Mirza Pir Muhammad Sons of Miran Shah Khalil Sultan Abu Bakr Muhammad Mirza Abu Sa'id Mirza Umar Shaikh Mirza II Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur the Mughals Jahangir Mirza II Sons of Shah Rukh Mirza Mirza Muhammad Taraghay – better known as Ulugh Beg Abdul-Latif Ghiyath-al-Din Baysunghur Ala al-Dawla Mirza Ibrahim Mirza Sultan Muhammad Yadigar Muhammad Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza Sultan Ibrahim Mirza Abdullah Mirza Mirza Soyurghatmïsh Khan Muhammad Juki Religious views Timur was a practicing Sunni Muslim, possibly belonging to the Naqshbandi school, which was influential in Transoxiana. His chief official religious counsellor and adviser was the Hanafi scholar 'Abdu 'l-Jabbar Khwarazmi. In Tirmidh, he had come under the influence of his spiritual mentor Sayyid Baraka, a leader from Balkh who is buried alongside Timur in Gur-e-Amir. Timur was known to hold Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt in high regard and has been noted by various scholars for his "pro-Shia" stance. However, he also punished Shias for desecrating the memories of the Sahaba. Timur was also noted for attacking the Shia with Sunni apologism, while at other times he attacked Sunnis on religious grounds as well. In contrast, Timur held the Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar in high regard for attacking the Ismailis at Alamut, while Timur's own attack on Ismailis at Anjudan was equally brutal. Personality Timur is regarded as a military genius and as a brilliant tactician with an uncanny ability to work within a highly fluid political structure to win and maintain a loyal following of nomads during his rule in Central Asia. He was also considered extraordinarily intelligentnot only intuitively but also intellectually. In Samarkand and his many travels, Timur, under the guidance of distinguished scholars, was able to learn the Persian, Mongolian, and Turkish languages (according to Ahmad ibn Arabshah, Timur could not speak Arabic). According to John Joseph Saunders, Timur was "the product of an Islamized and Iranized society", and not steppe nomadic. More importantly, Timur was characterized as an opportunist. Taking advantage of his Turco-Mongolian heritage, Timur frequently used either the Islamic religion or the sharia law, fiqh, and traditions of the Mongol Empire to achieve his military goals or domestic political aims. Timur was a learned king, and enjoyed the company of scholars; he was tolerant and generous to them. He was a contemporary of the Persian poet Hafez, and a story of their meeting explains that Timur summoned Hafiz, who had written a ghazal with the following verse: For the black mole on thy cheek I would give the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. Timur upbraided him for this verse and said, "By the blows of my well tempered sword I have conquered the greater part of the world to enlarge Samarkand and Bukhara, my capitals and residences; and you, pitiful creature, would exchange these two cities for a mole." Hafez, undaunted, replied, "It is by similar generosity that I have been reduced, as you see, to my present state of poverty." It is reported that the King was pleased by the witty answer and the poet departed with magnificent gifts. There is a shared view that Timur's real motive for his campaigns was his imperialistic ambition, as expressed by his statement: "The whole expanse of the inhabited part of the world is not large enough to have two kings." However, besides Iran, Timur simply plundered the states he invaded with a purpose of enriching his native Samarqand and neglected the conquered areas, which may have resulted in a relatively quick disintegration of his Empire after his death. Timur used Persian expressions in his conversations often, and his motto was the Persian phrase rāstī rustī (, meaning "truth is safety" or "veritas salus"). He is credited with the invention of the Tamerlane chess variant, played on a 10×11 board. Exchanges with Europe Timur had numerous and diplomatic exchanges with various European states, especially Spain and France. Relations between the court of Henry III of Castile and that of Timur played an important part in medieval Castilian diplomacy. In 1402, the time of the Battle of Ankara, two Spanish ambassadors were already with Timur: Pelayo de Sotomayor and Fernando de Palazuelos. Later, Timur sent to the court of the Kingdom of León and Castile a Chagatai ambassador named Hajji Muhammad al-Qazi with letters and gifts. In return, Henry III of Castile sent a famous embassy to Timur's court in Samarkand in 1403–06, led by Ruy González de Clavijo, with two other ambassadors, Alfonso Paez and Gomez de Salazar. On their return, Timur affirmed that he regarded the king of Castile "as his very own son". According to Clavijo, Timur's good treatment of the Spanish delegation contrasted with the disdain shown by his host toward the envoys of the "lord of Cathay" (i.e., the Yongle Emperor), the Chinese ruler. Clavijo's visit to Samarkand allowed him to report to the European audience on the news from Cathay (China), which few Europeans had been able to visit directly in the century that had passed since the travels of Marco Polo. The French archives preserve: A 30 July 1402 letter from Timur to Charles VI of France, suggesting that he send traders to Asia. It is written in Persian. A May 1403 letter. This is a Latin transcription of a letter from Timur to Charles VI, and another from Miran Shah, his son, to the Christian princes, announcing their victory over Bayezid I at Smyrna. A copy has been kept of the answer of Charles VI to Timur, dated 15 June 1403. In addition, Byzantine John VII Palaiologos who was a regent during his uncle's absence in the West, sent a Dominican friar in August 1401 to Timur, to pay his respect and propose paying tribute to him instead of the Turks, once he managed to defeat them. Legacy Timur's legacy is a mixed one. While Central Asia blossomed under his reign, other places, such as Baghdad, Damascus, Delhi and other Arab, Georgian, Persian, and Indian cities were sacked and destroyed and their populations massacred. Thus, while Timur still retains a positive image in Muslim Central Asia, he is vilified by many in Arabia, Iraq, Persia, and India, where some of his greatest atrocities were carried out. However, Ibn Khaldun praises Timur for having unified much of the Muslim world when other conquerors of the time could not. The next great conqueror of the Middle East, Nader Shah, was greatly influenced by Timur and almost re-enacted Timur's conquests and battle strategies in his own campaigns. Like Timur, Nader Shah conquered most of Caucasia, Persia, and Central Asia along with also sacking Delhi. Timur's short-lived empire also melded the Turko-Persian tradition in Transoxiana, and in most of the territories that he incorporated into his fiefdom, Persian became the primary language of administration and literary culture (diwan), regardless of ethnicity. In addition, during his reign, some contributions to Turkic literature were penned, with Turkic cultural influence expanding and flourishing as a result. A literary form of Chagatai Turkic came into use alongside Persian as both a cultural and an official language. Tamerlane virtually exterminated the Church of the East, which had previously been a major branch of Christianity but afterwards became largely confined to a small area now known as the Assyrian Triangle. Timur became a relatively popular figure in Europe for centuries after his death, mainly because of his victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid. The Ottoman armies were at the time invading Eastern Europe and Timur was seen as an ally. Timur is officially recognized as a national hero in Uzbekistan. His monument in Tashkent now occupies the place where Karl Marx's statue once stood. Muhammad Iqbal, a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement, composed a notable poem entitled Dream of Timur, the poem itself was inspired by a prayer of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II: In 1794, Sake Dean Mahomed published his travel book, The Travels of Dean Mahomet. The book begins with the praise of Genghis Khan, Timur, and particularly the first Mughal emperor, Babur. He also gives important details on the then incumbent Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. Historical sources The earliest known history of his reign was Nizam ad-Din Shami's Zafarnama, which was written during Timur's lifetime. Between 1424 and 1428, Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi wrote a second Zafarnama drawing heavily on Shami's earlier work. Ahmad ibn Arabshah wrote a much less favorable history in Arabic. Arabshah's history was translated into Latin by the Dutch Orientalist Jacobus Golius in 1636. As Timurid-sponsored histories, the two Zafarnamas present a dramatically different picture from Arabshah's chronicle. William Jones remarked that the former presented Timur as a "liberal, benevolent and illustrious prince" while the latter painted him as "deformed and impious, of a low birth and detestable principles". Malfuzat-i Timuri The Malfuzat-i Timurī and the appended Tuzūk-i Tīmūrī, supposedly Timur's own autobiography, are almost certainly 17th-century fabrications. The scholar Abu Taleb Hosayni presented the texts to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, a distant descendant of Timur, in 1637–38, supposedly after discovering the Chagatai language originals in the library of a Yemeni ruler. Due to the distance between Yemen and Timur's base in Transoxiana and the lack of any other evidence of the originals, most historians consider the story highly implausible, and suspect Hosayni of inventing both the text and its origin story. European views Timur arguably had a significant impact on the Renaissance culture and early modern Europe. His achievements both fascinated and horrified Europeans from the fifteenth century to the early nineteenth century. European views of Timur were mixed throughout the fifteenth century, with some European countries calling him an ally and others seeing him as a threat to Europe because of his rapid expansion and brutality. When Timur captured the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid at Ankara, he was often praised and seen as a trusted ally by European rulers, such as Charles VI of France and Henry IV of England, because they believed he was saving Christianity from the Turkic Empire in the Middle East. Those two kings also praised him because his victory at Ankara allowed Christian merchants to remain in the Middle East and allowed for their safe return home to both France and England. Timur was also praised because it was believed that he helped restore the right of passage for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Other Europeans viewed Timur as a barbaric enemy who presented a threat to both European culture and the religion of Christianity. His rise to power moved many leaders, such as Henry III of Castile, to send embassies to Samarkand to scout out Timur, learn about his people, make alliances with him, and try to convince him to convert to Christianity in order to avoid war. In the introduction to a 1723 translation of Yazdi's Zafarnama, the translator wrote: Exhumation and alleged curse Timur's body was exhumed from his tomb on 19 June 1941 and his remains examined by the Soviet anthropologists Mikhail M. Gerasimov, Lev V. Oshanin and V. Ia. Zezenkova. Gerasimov reconstructed the likeness of Timur from his skull and found that his facial characteristics displayed "typical Mongoloid features", i.e. East Asian in modern terms. An anthropologic study of Timur's cranium shows that he belonged predominately to the South Siberian Mongoloid type. At , Timur was tall for his era. The examinations confirmed that Timur was lame and had a withered right arm due to his injuries. His right thighbone had knitted together with his kneecap, and the configuration of the knee joint suggests that he had kept his leg bent at all times and therefore would have had a pronounced limp. He appears to have been broad-chested and his hair and beard were red. It is alleged that Timur's tomb was inscribed with the words, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble." It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." Even though people close to Gerasimov claim that this story is a fabrication, the legend persists. In any case, three days after Gerasimov began the exhumation, Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. In the arts Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II (English, 1563–1594): play by Christopher Marlowe Tamerlan ou la mort de Bajazet [Tamerlane or the Death of Bajazet] (1675): play by Jacques Pradon. Tamerlane (1701): play by Nicholas Rowe (English) Tamerlano (1724): opera by George Frideric Handel, in Italian, based on the 1675 Pradon play. Bajazet (1735): opera by Antonio Vivaldi, portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Il gran Tamerlano (1772): opera by Josef Myslivecek which also portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Timour the Tartar (1811): equestrian drama by Matthew Lewis Tamerlane (published 1827): first published poem of Edgar Allan Poe. Turandot (1924): opera by Giacomo Puccini (libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni) in which Timur is the deposed, blind former King of Tartary and father of the protagonist Calaf. Lord of Samarkand (The Lame Man; published 1932): story by Robert E. Howard in which Timour appears. Nesimi (1973): Azerbaijani film in which Timur was portrayed by Yusif Veliyev. Tamerlan (2003): Spanish-language novel by Colombian writer Enrique Serrano Day Watch (2006): Russian film in which Tamerlane in his youth is portrayed by Emir Baygazin, and in maturity by Gani Kulzhanov. Tamburlaine: Shadow of God (broadcast 2008): a BBC Radio 3 play by John Fletcher presenting a fictitious encounter between Tamburlaine, Ibn Khaldun, and Hafez. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (2019): a video game containing a six-chapter campaign titled "Tamerlane". Examples of Timurid architecture See also List of largest empires Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent Timuri Timurid conquests and invasions Timurlengia Notes References Further reading Abazov, Rafis. "Timur (Tamerlane) and the Timurid Empire in Central Asia." The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia. Palgrave Macmillan US, 2008. 56–57. Marlowe, Christopher. Tamburlaine the Great. Ed. J. S. Cunningham. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1981. Manz, Beatrice Forbes. "Temür and the Problem of a Conqueror's Legacy," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Apr. 1998) Marozzi, Justin. Tamerlane: sword of Islam, conqueror of the world, London: HarperCollins, 2004 Marozzi, Justin. "Tamerlane", in: The Art of War: great commanders of the ancient and medieval world, Andrew Roberts (editor), London: Quercus Military History, 2008. Novosel'tsev, A. P. "On the Historical Evaluation of Tamerlane." Soviet studies in history 12.3 (1973): 37–70. Shterenshis, Michael V. "Approach to Tamerlane: Tradition and Innovation." Central Asia and the Caucasus 2 (2000). Sykes, P. M. "Tamerlane" Journal of the Central Asian Society 2.1 (1915): 17–33. YÜKSEL, Musa Şamil. "Timur’un Yükselişi ve Batı’nın Diplomatik Cevabı, 1390–1405." Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 1.18 (2005): 231–243. External links Forbes, Andrew, & Henley, David: Timur's Legacy: The Architecture of Bukhara and Samarkand (CPA Media) Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez De Clavijo to the Court of Timour, at Samarcand, A.D. 1403–6 – . Ruy González de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403–1406, translated by Guy Le Strange, with a new Introduction by Caroline Stone (Hardinge Simpole, 2009). Nationality or Religion: Views of Central Asian Islam Timurid dynasty 1336 births 1405 deaths Muslim monarchs Samarkand Royalty and nobility with disabilities Founding monarchs
true
[ "According to the international relations theory of Liberalism, absolute gain is what international actors look at in determining their interests, weighing out the total effects of a decision on the state or organization and acting accordingly. The international actor's interests not only include power but also encompass the economic and cultural effects of an action as well. The theory is also interrelated with a non-zero-sum game which proposes that through use of comparative advantage, all states who engage in peaceful relations and trade can expand wealth.\n\nThis differs from Realist International Relations theories that employ relative gain, which seeks to describe the actions of states only in respect to power balances and without regard to other factors, such as economics. Relative gain is related to zero-sum game, which states that wealth cannot be expanded and the only way a state can become richer is to take wealth from another state.\n\nInternational relations theory\nLiberalism", "In electronics, gain is a measure of the ability of a two-port circuit (often an amplifier) to increase the power or amplitude of a signal from the input to the output port by adding energy converted from some power supply to the signal. It is usually defined as the mean ratio of the signal amplitude or power at the output port to the amplitude or power at the input port. It is often expressed using the logarithmic decibel (dB) units (\"dB gain\"). A gain greater than one (greater than zero dB), that is amplification, is the defining property of an active component or circuit, while a passive circuit will have a gain of less than one.\n\nThe term gain alone is ambiguous, and can refer to the ratio of output to input voltage (voltage gain), current (current gain) or electric power (power gain). In the field of audio and general purpose amplifiers, especially operational amplifiers, the term usually refers to voltage gain, but in radio frequency amplifiers it usually refers to power gain. Furthermore, the term gain is also applied in systems such as sensors where the input and output have different units; in such cases the gain units must be specified, as in \"5 microvolts per photon\" for the responsivity of a photosensor. The \"gain\" of a bipolar transistor normally refers to forward current transfer ratio, either hFE (\"beta\", the static ratio of Ic divided by Ib at some operating point), or sometimes hfe (the small-signal current gain, the slope of the graph of Ic against Ib at a point).\n\nThe gain of an electronic device or circuit generally varies with the frequency of the applied signal. Unless otherwise stated, the term refers to the gain for frequencies in the passband, the intended operating frequency range of the equipment. \nThe term gain has a different meaning in antenna design; antenna gain is the ratio of radiation intensity from a directional antenna to (mean radiation intensity from a lossless antenna).\n\nLogarithmic units and decibels\n\nPower gain\nPower gain, in decibels (dB), is defined as follows:\n\nwhere is the power applied to the input, is the power from the output.\n\nA similar calculation can be done using a natural logarithm instead of a decimal logarithm, resulting in nepers instead of decibels:\n\nVoltage gain\nThe power gain can be calculated using voltage instead of power using Joule's first law ; the formula is:\n\nIn many cases, the input impedance and output impedance are equal, so the above equation can be simplified to:\n\nThis simplified formula, the 20 log rule, is used to calculate a voltage gain in decibels and is equivalent to a power gain if and only if the impedances at input and output are equal.\n\nCurrent gain\nIn the same way, when power gain is calculated using current instead of power, making the substitution , the formula is:\n\nIn many cases, the input and output impedances are equal, so the above equation can be simplified to:\n\nThis simplified formula is used to calculate a current gain in decibels and is equivalent to the power gain if and only if the impedances at input and output are equal.\n\nThe \"current gain\" of a bipolar transistor, or , is normally given as a dimensionless number, the ratio of to (or slope of the -versus- graph, for ).\n\nIn the cases above, gain will be a dimensionless quantity, as it is the ratio of like units (decibels are not used as units, but rather as a method of indicating a logarithmic relationship). In the bipolar transistor example, it is the ratio of the output current to the input current, both measured in amperes. In the case of other devices, the gain will have a value in SI units. Such is the case with the operational transconductance amplifier, which has an open-loop gain (transconductance) in siemens (mhos), because the gain is a ratio of the output current to the input voltage.\n\nExample\nQ. An amplifier has an input impedance of 50 ohms and drives a load of 50 ohms. When its input () is 1 volt, its output () is 10 volts. What is its voltage and power gain?\n\nA. Voltage gain is simply:\n\nThe units V/V are optional but make it clear that this figure is a voltage gain and not a power gain.\nUsing the expression for power, P = V2/R, the power gain is:\n\nAgain, the units W/W are optional. Power gain is more usually expressed in decibels, thus:\n\nA gain of factor 1 (equivalent to 0 dB) where both input and output are at the same voltage level and impedance is also known as unity gain.\n\nSee also\n\n Active laser medium\n Antenna gain\n Aperture-to-medium coupling loss\n Automatic gain control\n Attenuation\n Complex gain\n DC offset\n Effective radiated power\n Gain before feedback\n Insertion gain\n Loop gain\n Open-loop gain\n Net gain\n Power gain\n Process gain\n Transmitter power output\n\nReferences\n\n \n\nAntennas (radio)\nTransfer functions\nElectrical parameters" ]
[ "Timur", "Rise to power", "How did he begin to attain power?", "Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads", "Did he accomplish that through battle or subterfuge?", "he ruled in their name.", "Did he go on to expand his people's lands?", "I don't know.", "Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?", "Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh,", "What was the result of his popularity in Balkh?", "sharing his belongings with them.", "Did he end up ruling Balkh?", "allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe.", "Did he fight any battles?", "I don't know.", "What other ploys did he use to gain power?", "heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures." ]
C_e6592fba22cd4733b7119e8ca671f8d1_0
Can you tell me any of the structures he built?
9
Can you tell me any of the structures Timur built?
Timur
It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers in joint adventures, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them began to become strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tishnet. Timur began to gain a following of people in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. At around 1370 Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. One day Aksak Temur spoke thusly: "Khan Zudei (in China) rules over the city. We now number fifty to sixty men, so let us elect a leader." So they drove a stake into the ground and said: "We shall run thither and he among us who is the first to reach the stake, may he become our leader". So they ran and Aksak Timur, as he was lame, lagged behind, but before the others reached the stake he threw his cap onto it. Those who arrived first said: "We are the leaders." ["But,"] Aksak Timur said: "My head came in first, I am the leader." Meanwhile, an old man arrived and said: "The leadership should belong to Aksak Timur; your feet have arrived but, before then, his head reached the goal." So they made Aksak Timur their prince. CANNOTANSWER
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Timur ( Temür, 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( Temür Küregen), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. As an undefeated commander, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest military leaders and tacticians in history. Timur is also considered a great patron of art and architecture as he interacted with intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i Abru and his reign introduced the Timurid Renaissance. Born into the Barlas confederation in Transoxiana (in modern-day Uzbekistan) on 9 April 1336, Timur gained control of the western Chagatai Khanate by 1370. From that base, he led military campaigns across Western, South and Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Southern Russia, defeating in the process the Khans of the Golden Horde, the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire, and the late Delhi Sultanate of India and emerging as the most powerful ruler in the Islamic World. From these conquests, he founded the Timurid Empire, but this empire fragmented shortly after his death. Timur was the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe, and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lasting Islamic gunpowder empires in the 16th and 17th centuries. Timur was of both Turkic and Mongol descent, and, while unlikely a direct descendant on either side, he shared a common ancestor with Genghis Khan on his father's side, though some authors have suggested his mother may have been a descendant of Khan. He clearly sought to invoke the legacy of the latter's conquests during his lifetime. Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan (died 1227) and according to Gérard Chaliand, saw himself as Genghis Khan's heir. According to Beatrice Forbes Manz, "in his formal correspondence Temur continued throughout his life to portray himself as the restorer of Chinggisid rights. He justified his Iranian, Mamluk, and Ottoman campaigns as a re-imposition of legitimate Mongol control over lands taken by usurpers." To legitimize his conquests, Timur relied on Islamic symbols and language, referred to himself as the "Sword of Islam". He was a patron of educational and religious institutions. He converted nearly all the Borjigin leaders to Islam during his lifetime. Timur decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaller at the Siege of Smyrna, styling himself a ghazi. By the end of his reign, Timur had gained complete control over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, the Ilkhanate, and the Golden Horde, and even attempted to restore the Yuan dynasty in China. Timur's armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and were feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe, sizable parts of which his campaigns laid waste. Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population at the time. Of all the areas he conquered, Khwarazm suffered the most from his expeditions, as it rose several times against him. Timur was the grandfather of the Timurid sultan, astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire, which then ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent. Ancestry Through his father, Timur claimed to be a descendant of Tumanay Khan, a male-line ancestor he shared with Genghis Khan. Tumanay's great-great grandson Qarachar Noyan was a minister for the emperor who later assisted the latter's son Chagatai in the governorship of Transoxiana. Though there are not many mentions of Qarachar in 13th and 14th century records, later Timurid sources greatly emphasised his role in the early history of the Mongol Empire. These histories also state that Genghis Khan later established the "bond of fatherhood and sonship" by marrying Chagatai's daughter to Qarachar. Through his alleged descent from this marriage, Timur claimed kinship with the Chagatai Khans. The origins of Timur's mother, Tekina Khatun, are less clear. The Zafarnama merely states her name without giving any information regarding her background. Writing in 1403, Johannes de Galonifontibus, Archbishop of Sultaniyya, claimed that she was of lowly origin. The Mu'izz al-Ansab, written decades later, says that she was related to the Yasa'uri tribe, whose lands bordered that of the Barlas. Ibn Khaldun recounted that Timur himself described to him his mother's descent from the legendary Persian hero Manuchehr. Ibn Arabshah suggested that she was a descendant of Genghis Khan. The 18th century Books of Timur identify her as the daughter of 'Sadr al-Sharia', which is believed to refer to the Hanafi scholar Ubayd Allah al-Mahbubi of Bukhara. Early life Timur was born in Transoxiana near the city of Kesh (modern Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan), some south of Samarkand, part of what was then the Chagatai Khanate. His name Temur means "Iron" in the Chagatai language, his mother-tongue (cf. Uzbek Temir, Turkish Demir). It is cognate with Genghis Khan's birth name of Temüjin. Later Timurid dynastic histories claim that Timur was born on 8 April 1336, but most sources from his lifetime give ages that are consistent with a birthdate in the late 1320s. Historian Beatrice Forbes Manz suspects the 1336 date was designed to tie Timur to the legacy of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, the last ruler of the Ilkhanate descended from Hulagu Khan, who died in that year. He was a member of the Barlas, a Mongolian tribe that had been turkified in many aspects. His father, Taraghai was described as a minor noble of this tribe. However, Manz believes that Timur may have later understated the social position of his father, so as to make his own successes appear more remarkable. She states that though he is not believed to have been especially powerful, Taraghai was reasonably wealthy and influential. This is shown by Timur later returning to his birthplace following the death of his father in 1360, suggesting concern over his estate. Taraghai's social significance is further hinted at by Arabshah, who described him as a magnate in the court of Amir Husayn Qara'unas. In addition to this, the father of the great Amir Hamid Kereyid of Moghulistan is stated as a friend of Taraghai's. In his childhood, Timur and a small band of followers raided travelers for goods, especially animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle. Around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows, one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he lost two fingers. Both injuries crippled him for life. Some believe that Timur suffered his crippling injuries while serving as a mercenary to the khan of Sistan in what is today the Dashti Margo in southwest Afghanistan. Timur's injuries have given him the names of Timur the Lame and Tamerlane by Europeans. Military leader About 1360, Timur gained prominence as a military leader whose troops were mostly Turkic tribesmen of the region. He took part in campaigns in Transoxiana with the Khan of the Chagatai Khanate. Allying himself both in cause and by family connection with Qazaghan, the dethroner and destroyer of Volga Bulgaria, he invaded Khorasan at the head of a thousand horsemen. This was the second military expedition that he led, and its success led to further operations, among them the subjugation of Khwarezm and Urgench. Following Qazaghan's murder, disputes arose among the many claimants to sovereign power. Tughlugh Timur of Kashgar, the Khan of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, another descendant of Genghis Khan, invaded, interrupting this infighting. Timur was sent to negotiate with the invader but joined with him instead and was rewarded with Transoxania. At about this time, his father died and Timur also became chief of the Berlas. Tughlugh then attempted to set his son Ilyas Khoja over Transoxania, but Timur repelled this invasion with a smaller force. Rise to power It was in this period that Timur reduced the Chagatai khans to the position of figureheads while he ruled in their name. Also during this period, Timur and his brother-in-law Amir Husayn, who were at first fellow fugitives and wanderers, became rivals and antagonists. The relationship between them became strained after Husayn abandoned efforts to carry out Timur's orders to finish off Ilya Khoja (former governor of Mawarannah) close to Tashkent. Timur gained followers in Balkh, consisting of merchants, fellow tribesmen, Muslim clergy, aristocracy and agricultural workers, because of his kindness in sharing his belongings with them. This contrasted Timur's behavior with that of Husayn, who alienated these people, took many possessions from them via his heavy tax laws and selfishly spent the tax money building elaborate structures. Around 1370, Husayn surrendered to Timur and was later assassinated, which allowed Timur to be formally proclaimed sovereign at Balkh. He married Husayn's wife Saray Mulk Khanum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, allowing him to become imperial ruler of the Chaghatay tribe. Legitimization of Timur's rule Timur's Turco-Mongolian heritage provided opportunities and challenges as he sought to rule the Mongol Empire and the Muslim world. According to the Mongol traditions, Timur could not claim the title of khan or rule the Mongol Empire because he was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Therefore, Timur set up a puppet Chaghatay Khan, Suyurghatmish, as the nominal ruler of Balkh as he pretended to act as a "protector of the member of a Chinggisid line, that of Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jochi". Timur instead used the title of Amir meaning general, and acting in the name of the Chagatai ruler of Transoxania. To reinforce this position, Timur claimed the title Guregen (royal son-in-law) when he married Saray Mulk Khanum, a princess of Chinggisid descent. As with the title of Khan, Timur similarly could not claim the supreme title of the Islamic world, Caliph, because the "office was limited to the Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad". Therefore, Timur reacted to the challenge by creating a myth and image of himself as a "supernatural personal power" ordained by God. Otherwise he was described as a spiritual descendant of Ali, thus taken lineage of both to Genghis Khan and the Quraysh. Period of expansion Timur spent the next 35 years in various wars and expeditions. He not only consolidated his rule at home by the subjugation of his foes, but sought extension of territory by encroachments upon the lands of foreign potentates. His conquests to the west and northwest led him to the lands near the Caspian Sea and to the banks of the Ural and the Volga. Conquests in the south and south-West encompassed almost every province in Persia, including Baghdad, Karbala and Northern Iraq. One of the most formidable of Timur's opponents was another Mongol ruler, a descendant of Genghis Khan named Tokhtamysh. After having been a refugee in Timur's court, Tokhtamysh became ruler both of the eastern Kipchak and the Golden Horde. After his accession, he quarreled with Timur over the possession of Khwarizm and Azerbaijan. However, Timur still supported him against the Russians and in 1382 Tokhtamysh invaded the Muscovite dominion and burned Moscow. Orthodox tradition states that later, in 1395 Timur, having reached the frontier of the Principality of Ryazan, had taken Elets and started advancing towards Moscow. Great Prince Vasily I of Moscow went with an army to Kolomna and halted at the banks of the Oka River. The clergy brought the famed Theotokos of Vladimir icon from Vladimir to Moscow. Along the way people prayed kneeling: "O Mother of God, save the land of Russia!" Suddenly, Timur's armies retreated. In memory of this miraculous deliverance of the Russian land from Timur on 26 August, the all-Russian celebration in honor of the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was established. Conquest of Persia After the death of Abu Sa'id, ruler of the Ilkhanate, in 1335, there was a power vacuum in Persia. In the end, Persia was split amongst the Muzaffarids, Kartids, Eretnids, Chobanids, Injuids, Jalayirids, and Sarbadars. In 1383, Timur started his lengthy military conquest of Persia, though he already ruled over much of Persian Khorasan by 1381, after Khwaja Mas'ud, of the Sarbadar dynasty surrendered. Timur began his Persian campaign with Herat, capital of the Kartid dynasty. When Herat did not surrender he reduced the city to rubble and massacred most of its citizens; it remained in ruins until Shah Rukh ordered its reconstruction around 1415. Timur then sent a General to capture rebellious Kandahar. With the capture of Herat the Kartid kingdom surrendered and became vassals of Timur; it would later be annexed outright less than a decade later in 1389 by Timur's son Miran Shah. Timur then headed west to capture the Zagros Mountains, passing through Mazandaran. During his travel through the north of Persia, he captured the then town of Tehran, which surrendered and was thus treated mercifully. He laid siege to Soltaniyeh in 1384. Khorasan revolted one year later, so Timur destroyed Isfizar, and the prisoners were cemented into the walls alive. The next year the kingdom of Sistan, under the Mihrabanid dynasty, was ravaged, and its capital at Zaranj was destroyed. Timur then returned to his capital of Samarkand, where he began planning for his Georgian campaign and Golden Horde invasion. In 1386, Timur passed through Mazandaran as he had when trying to capture the Zagros. He went near the city of Soltaniyeh, which he had previously captured but instead turned north and captured Tabriz with little resistance, along with Maragha. He ordered heavy taxation of the people, which was collected by Adil Aqa, who was also given control over Soltaniyeh. Adil was later executed because Timur suspected him of corruption. Timur then went north to begin his Georgian and Golden Horde campaigns, pausing his full-scale invasion of Persia. When he returned, he found his generals had done well in protecting the cities and lands he had conquered in Persia. Though many rebelled, and his son Miran Shah, who may have been regent, was forced to annex rebellious vassal dynasties, his holdings remained. So he proceeded to capture the rest of Persia, specifically the two major southern cities of Isfahan and Shiraz. When he arrived with his army at Isfahan in 1387, the city immediately surrendered; he treated it with relative mercy as he normally did with cities that surrendered (unlike Herat). However, after Isfahan revolted against Timur's taxes by killing the tax collectors and some of Timur's soldiers, he ordered the massacre of the city's citizens; the death toll is reckoned at between 100,000 and 200,000. An eye-witness counted more than 28 towers constructed of about 1,500 heads each. This has been described as a "systematic use of terror against towns...an integral element of Tamerlane's strategic element", which he viewed as preventing bloodshed by discouraging resistance. His massacres were selective and he spared the artistic and educated. This would later influence the next great Persian conqueror: Nader Shah. Timur then began a five-year campaign to the west in 1392, attacking Persian Kurdistan. In 1393, Shiraz was captured after surrendering, and the Muzaffarids became vassals of Timur, though prince Shah Mansur rebelled but was defeated, and the Muzafarids were annexed. Shortly after Georgia was devastated so that the Golden Horde could not use it to threaten northern Iran. In the same year, Timur caught Baghdad by surprise in August by marching there in only eight days from Shiraz. Sultan Ahmad Jalayir fled to Syria, where the Mamluk Sultan Barquq protected him and killed Timur's envoys. Timur left the Sarbadar prince Khwaja Mas'ud to govern Baghdad, but he was driven out when Ahmad Jalayir returned. Ahmad was unpopular but got help from Qara Yusuf of the Kara Koyunlu; he fled again in 1399, this time to the Ottomans. Tokhtamysh–Timur war In the meantime, Tokhtamysh, now khan of the Golden Horde, turned against his patron and in 1385 invaded Azerbaijan. The inevitable response by Timur resulted in the Tokhtamysh–Timur war. In the initial stage of the war, Timur won a victory at the Battle of the Kondurcha River. After the battle Tokhtamysh and some of his army were allowed to escape. After Tokhtamysh's initial defeat, Timur invaded Muscovy to the north of Tokhtamysh's holdings. Timur's army burned Ryazan and advanced on Moscow. He was pulled away before reaching the Oka River by Tokhtamysh's renewed campaign in the south. In the first phase of the conflict with Tokhtamysh, Timur led an army of over 100,000 men north for more than 700 miles into the steppe. He then rode west about 1,000 miles advancing in a front more than 10 miles wide. During this advance, Timur's army got far enough north to be in a region of very long summer days causing complaints by his Muslim soldiers about keeping a long schedule of prayers. It was then that Tokhtamysh's army was boxed in against the east bank of the Volga River in the Orenburg region and destroyed at the Battle of the Kondurcha River, in 1391. In the second phase of the conflict, Timur took a different route against the enemy by invading the realm of Tokhtamysh via the Caucasus region. In 1395, Timur defeated Tokhtamysh in the Battle of the Terek River, concluding the struggle between the two monarchs. Tokhtamysh was unable to restore his power or prestige, and he was killed about a decade later in the area of present-day Tyumen. During the course of Timur's campaigns, his army destroyed Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and Astrakhan, subsequently disrupting the Golden Horde's Silk Road. The Golden Horde no longer held power after their losses to Timur. Ismailis In May 1393, Timur's army invaded the Anjudan, crippling the Ismaili village only a year after his assault on the Ismailis in Mazandaran. The village was prepared for the attack, evidenced by its fortress and system of tunnels. Undeterred, Timur's soldiers flooded the tunnels by cutting into a channel overhead. Timur's reasons for attacking this village are not yet well understood. However, it has been suggested that his religious persuasions and view of himself as an executor of divine will may have contributed to his motivations. The Persian historian Khwandamir explains that an Ismaili presence was growing more politically powerful in Persian Iraq. A group of locals in the region was dissatisfied with this and, Khwandamir writes, these locals assembled and brought up their complaint with Timur, possibly provoking his attack on the Ismailis there. Campaign against the Tughlaq dynasty In 1398, Timur invaded northern India, attacking the Delhi Sultanate ruled by Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq of the Tughlaq dynasty. After crossing the Indus River on 30 September 1398, he sacked Tulamba and massacred its inhabitants. Then he advanced and captured Multan by October. His invasion was unopposed as most of the Indian nobility surrendered without a fight, however he did encounter resistance from the united army of Rajputs and Muslims at Bhatner under the command of the Rajput king Dulachand, Dulachand initially opposed Timur but when hard-pressed he considered surrender. He was locked outside the walls of Bhatner by his brother and was later killed by Timur. The garrison of Bhatner then fought and were slaughtered to the last man. Bhatner was looted and burned to the ground. While on his march towards Delhi, Timur was opposed by the Jat peasantry, who would loot caravans and then disappear in the forests, Timur had 2,000 Jats killed and many taken captive. But the Sultanate at Delhi did nothing to stop his advance. Capture of Delhi (1398) The battle took place on 17 December 1398. Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq and the army of Mallu Iqbal had war elephants armored with chain mail and poison on their tusks. As his Tatar forces were afraid of the elephants, Timur ordered his men to dig a trench in front of their positions. Timur then loaded his camels with as much wood and hay as they could carry. When the war elephants charged, Timur set the hay on fire and prodded the camels with iron sticks, causing them to charge at the elephants, howling in pain: Timur had understood that elephants were easily panicked. Faced with the strange spectacle of camels flying straight at them with flames leaping from their backs, the elephants turned around and stampeded back toward their own lines. Timur capitalized on the subsequent disruption in the forces of Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq, securing an easy victory. Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq fled with remnants of his forces. Delhi was sacked and left in ruins. Before the battle for Delhi, Timur executed 100,000 captives. The capture of the Delhi Sultanate was one of Timur's greatest victories, as at that time, Delhi was one of the richest cities in the world. After Delhi fell to Timur's army, uprisings by its citizens against the Turkic-Mongols began to occur, causing a retaliatory bloody massacre within the city walls. After three days of citizens uprising within Delhi, it was said that the city reeked of the decomposing bodies of its citizens with their heads being erected like structures and the bodies left as food for the birds by Timur's soldiers. Timur's invasion and destruction of Delhi continued the chaos that was still consuming India, and the city would not be able to recover from the great loss it suffered for almost a century. Campaigns in the Levant Before the end of 1399, Timur started a war with Bayezid I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and the Mamluk sultan of Egypt Nasir-ad-Din Faraj. Bayezid began annexing the territory of Turkmen and Muslim rulers in Anatolia. As Timur claimed sovereignty over the Turkoman rulers, they took refuge behind him. In 1400, Timur invaded Armenia and Georgia. Of the surviving population, more than 60,000 of the local people were captured as slaves, and many districts were depopulated. He also sacked Sivas in Asia Minor. Then Timur turned his attention to Syria, sacking Aleppo, and Damascus. The city's inhabitants were massacred, except for the artisans, who were deported to Samarkand. Timur invaded Baghdad in June 1401. After the capture of the city, 20,000 of its citizens were massacred. Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him. When they ran out of men to kill, many warriors killed prisoners captured earlier in the campaign, and when they ran out of prisoners to kill, many resorted to beheading their own wives. Invasion of Anatolia In the meantime, years of insulting letters had passed between Timur and Bayezid. Both rulers insulted each other in their own way while Timur preferred to undermine Bayezid's position as a ruler and play down the significance of his military successes. This is the excerpt from one of Timur's letters addressed to Ottoman sultan: "Believe me, you are but pismire ant: don't seek to fight the elephants for they'll crush you under their feet. Shall a petty prince such as you are contend with us? But your rodomontades (braggadocio) are not extraordinary; for a Turcoman never spake with judgement. If you don't follow our counsels you will regret it". Finally, Timur invaded Anatolia and defeated Bayezid in the Battle of Ankara on 20 July 1402. Bayezid was captured in battle and subsequently died in captivity, initiating the twelve-year Ottoman Interregnum period. Timur's stated motivation for attacking Bayezid and the Ottoman Empire was the restoration of Seljuq authority. Timur saw the Seljuks as the rightful rulers of Anatolia as they had been granted rule by Mongol conquerors, illustrating again Timur's interest with Genghizid legitimacy. In December 1402, Timur besieged and took the city of Smyrna, a stronghold of the Christian Knights Hospitalers, thus he referred to himself as ghazi or "Warrior of Islam". A mass beheading was carried out in Smyrna by Timur's soldiers. With the Treaty of Gallipoli in February 1402, Timur was furious with the Genoese and Venetians, as their ships ferried the Ottoman army to safety in Thrace. As Lord Kinross reported in The Ottoman Centuries, the Italians preferred the enemy they could handle to the one they could not. During the early interregnum, Bayezid I's son acted as Timur's vassal. Unlike other princes, Mehmed minted coins that had Timur's name stamped as "Demur han Gürgân" (), alongside his own as "Mehmed bin Bayezid han" (). This was probably an attempt on Mehmed's part to justify to Timur his conquest of Bursa after the Battle of Ulubad. After Mehmed established himself in Rum, Timur had already begun preparations for his return to Central Asia, and took no further steps to interfere with the status quo in Anatolia. While Timur was still in Anatolia, Qara Yusuf assaulted Baghdad and captured it in 1402. Timur returned to Persia and sent his grandson Abu Bakr ibn Miran Shah to reconquer Baghdad, which he proceeded to do. Timur then spent some time in Ardabil, where he gave Ali Safavi, leader of the Safaviyya, a number of captives. Subsequently, he marched to Khorasan and then to Samarkhand, where he spent nine months celebrating and preparing to invade Mongolia and China. Attempts to attack the Ming dynasty By 1368, Han Chinese forces had driven the Mongols out of China. The first of the new Ming dynasty's emperors, the Hongwu Emperor, and his son, the Yongle Emperor, produced tributary states of many Central Asian countries. The suzerain-vassal relationship between Ming empire and Timurid existed for a long time. In 1394, Hongwu's ambassadors eventually presented Timur with a letter addressing him as a subject. He had the ambassadors Fu An, Guo Ji, and Liu Wei detained. Neither Hongwu's next ambassador, Chen Dewen (1397), nor the delegation announcing the accession of the Yongle Emperor fared any better. Timur eventually planned to invade China. To this end Timur made an alliance with surviving Mongol tribes based in Mongolia and prepared all the way to Bukhara. Engke Khan sent his grandson Öljei Temür Khan, also known as "Buyanshir Khan" after he converted to Islam while at the court of Timur in Samarkand. Death Timur preferred to fight his battles in the spring. However, he died en route during an uncharacteristic winter campaign. In December 1404, Timur began military campaigns against Ming China and detained a Ming envoy. He suffered illness while encamped on the farther side of the Syr Daria and died at Farab on 17 February 1405, before ever reaching the Chinese border. After his death the Ming envoys such as Fu An and the remaining entourage were released by his grandson Khalil Sultan. Geographer Clements Markham, in his introduction to the narrative of Clavijo's embassy, states that, after Timur died, his body "was embalmed with musk and rose water, wrapped in linen, laid in an ebony coffin and sent to Samarkand, where it was buried". His tomb, the Gur-e-Amir, still stands in Samarkand, though it has been heavily restored in recent years. Succession Timur had twice previously appointed an heir apparent to succeed him, both of whom he had outlived. The first, his son Jahangir, died of illness in 1376. The second, his grandson Muhammad Sultan, had succumbed to battle wounds in 1403. After the latter's death, Timur did nothing to replace him. It was only when he was on his own death-bed that he appointed Muhammad Sultan's younger brother, Pir Muhammad as his successor. Pir Muhammad was unable to gain sufficient support from his relatives and a bitter civil war erupted amongst Timur's descendants, with multiple princes pursuing their claims. It was not until 1409 that Timur's youngest son, Shah Rukh was able to overcome his rivals and take the throne as Timur's successor. Wives and concubines Timur had forty-three wives and concubines, all of these women were also his consorts. Timur made dozens of women his wives and concubines as he conquered their fathers' or erstwhile husbands' lands. Turmish Agha, mother of Jahangir Mirza, Jahanshah Mirza and Aka Begi; Oljay Turkhan Agha (m. 1357/58), daughter of Amir Mashlah and granddaughter of Amir Qazaghan; Saray Mulk Khanum (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Qazan Khan; Islam Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Bayan Salduz; Ulus Agha (m. 1367), widow of Amir Husain, and daughter of Amir Khizr Yasuri; Dilshad Agha (m. 1374), daughter of Shams ed-Din and his wife Bujan Agha; Touman Agha (m. 1377), daughter of Amir Musa and his wife Arzu Mulk Agha, daughter of Amir Bayezid Jalayir; Chulpan Mulk Agha, daughter of Haji Beg of Jetah; Tukal Khanum (m. 1397), daughter of Mongol Khan Khizr Khawaja Oglan; Tolun Agha, concubine, and mother of Umar Shaikh Mirza I; Mengli Agha, concubine, and mother of Miran Shah; Toghay Turkhan Agha, lady from the Kara Khitai, widow of Amir Husain, and mother of Shah Rukh; Tughdi Bey Agha, daughter of Aq Sufi Qongirat; Sultan Aray Agha, a Nukuz lady; Malikanshah Agha, a Filuni lady; Khand Malik Agha, mother of Ibrahim Mirza; Sultan Agha, mother of a son who died in infancy; His other wives and concubines included: Dawlat Tarkan Agha, Burhan Agha, Jani Beg Agha, Tini Beg Agha, Durr Sultan Agha, Munduz Agha, Bakht Sultan Agha, Nowruz Agha, Jahan Bakht Agha, Nigar Agha, Ruhparwar Agha, Dil Beg Agha, Dilshad Agha, Murad Beg Agha, Piruzbakht Agha, Khoshkeldi Agha, Dilkhosh Agha, Barat Bey Agha, Sevinch Malik Agha, Arzu Bey Agha, Yadgar Sultan Agha, Khudadad Agha, Bakht Nigar Agha, Qutlu Bey Agha, and another Nigar Agha . Descendants Sons of Timur Umar Shaikh Mirza I – with Tolun Agha Jahangir Mirza – with Turmish Agha Miran Shah Mirza – with Mengli Agha Shah Rukh Mirza – with Toghay Turkhan Agha Daughters of Timur Aka Begi (died 1382) – by Turmish Agha. Married to Muhammad Beg, son of Amir Musa Tayichiud Sultan Husayn Tayichiud Sultan Bakht Begum (died 1429/30) – by Oljay Turkhan Agha. Married first Muhammad Mirke Apardi, married second, 1389/90, Sulayman Shah Dughlat Sa'adat Sultan – by Dilshad Agha Bikijan – by Mengli Agha Qutlugh Sultan Agha – by Toghay Turkhan Agha Sons of Umar Shaikh Mirza I Pir Muhammad Iskandar Rustam Bayqara I Mansur Sultan Husayn Bayqarah Badi' al-Zaman Muhammed Mu'min Muhammad Zaman Mirza Muzaffar Hussein Ibrahim Hussein Sons of Jahangir Muhammad Sultan Mirza Pir Muhammad Sons of Miran Shah Khalil Sultan Abu Bakr Muhammad Mirza Abu Sa'id Mirza Umar Shaikh Mirza II Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur the Mughals Jahangir Mirza II Sons of Shah Rukh Mirza Mirza Muhammad Taraghay – better known as Ulugh Beg Abdul-Latif Ghiyath-al-Din Baysunghur Ala al-Dawla Mirza Ibrahim Mirza Sultan Muhammad Yadigar Muhammad Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza Sultan Ibrahim Mirza Abdullah Mirza Mirza Soyurghatmïsh Khan Muhammad Juki Religious views Timur was a practicing Sunni Muslim, possibly belonging to the Naqshbandi school, which was influential in Transoxiana. His chief official religious counsellor and adviser was the Hanafi scholar 'Abdu 'l-Jabbar Khwarazmi. In Tirmidh, he had come under the influence of his spiritual mentor Sayyid Baraka, a leader from Balkh who is buried alongside Timur in Gur-e-Amir. Timur was known to hold Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt in high regard and has been noted by various scholars for his "pro-Shia" stance. However, he also punished Shias for desecrating the memories of the Sahaba. Timur was also noted for attacking the Shia with Sunni apologism, while at other times he attacked Sunnis on religious grounds as well. In contrast, Timur held the Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar in high regard for attacking the Ismailis at Alamut, while Timur's own attack on Ismailis at Anjudan was equally brutal. Personality Timur is regarded as a military genius and as a brilliant tactician with an uncanny ability to work within a highly fluid political structure to win and maintain a loyal following of nomads during his rule in Central Asia. He was also considered extraordinarily intelligentnot only intuitively but also intellectually. In Samarkand and his many travels, Timur, under the guidance of distinguished scholars, was able to learn the Persian, Mongolian, and Turkish languages (according to Ahmad ibn Arabshah, Timur could not speak Arabic). According to John Joseph Saunders, Timur was "the product of an Islamized and Iranized society", and not steppe nomadic. More importantly, Timur was characterized as an opportunist. Taking advantage of his Turco-Mongolian heritage, Timur frequently used either the Islamic religion or the sharia law, fiqh, and traditions of the Mongol Empire to achieve his military goals or domestic political aims. Timur was a learned king, and enjoyed the company of scholars; he was tolerant and generous to them. He was a contemporary of the Persian poet Hafez, and a story of their meeting explains that Timur summoned Hafiz, who had written a ghazal with the following verse: For the black mole on thy cheek I would give the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. Timur upbraided him for this verse and said, "By the blows of my well tempered sword I have conquered the greater part of the world to enlarge Samarkand and Bukhara, my capitals and residences; and you, pitiful creature, would exchange these two cities for a mole." Hafez, undaunted, replied, "It is by similar generosity that I have been reduced, as you see, to my present state of poverty." It is reported that the King was pleased by the witty answer and the poet departed with magnificent gifts. There is a shared view that Timur's real motive for his campaigns was his imperialistic ambition, as expressed by his statement: "The whole expanse of the inhabited part of the world is not large enough to have two kings." However, besides Iran, Timur simply plundered the states he invaded with a purpose of enriching his native Samarqand and neglected the conquered areas, which may have resulted in a relatively quick disintegration of his Empire after his death. Timur used Persian expressions in his conversations often, and his motto was the Persian phrase rāstī rustī (, meaning "truth is safety" or "veritas salus"). He is credited with the invention of the Tamerlane chess variant, played on a 10×11 board. Exchanges with Europe Timur had numerous and diplomatic exchanges with various European states, especially Spain and France. Relations between the court of Henry III of Castile and that of Timur played an important part in medieval Castilian diplomacy. In 1402, the time of the Battle of Ankara, two Spanish ambassadors were already with Timur: Pelayo de Sotomayor and Fernando de Palazuelos. Later, Timur sent to the court of the Kingdom of León and Castile a Chagatai ambassador named Hajji Muhammad al-Qazi with letters and gifts. In return, Henry III of Castile sent a famous embassy to Timur's court in Samarkand in 1403–06, led by Ruy González de Clavijo, with two other ambassadors, Alfonso Paez and Gomez de Salazar. On their return, Timur affirmed that he regarded the king of Castile "as his very own son". According to Clavijo, Timur's good treatment of the Spanish delegation contrasted with the disdain shown by his host toward the envoys of the "lord of Cathay" (i.e., the Yongle Emperor), the Chinese ruler. Clavijo's visit to Samarkand allowed him to report to the European audience on the news from Cathay (China), which few Europeans had been able to visit directly in the century that had passed since the travels of Marco Polo. The French archives preserve: A 30 July 1402 letter from Timur to Charles VI of France, suggesting that he send traders to Asia. It is written in Persian. A May 1403 letter. This is a Latin transcription of a letter from Timur to Charles VI, and another from Miran Shah, his son, to the Christian princes, announcing their victory over Bayezid I at Smyrna. A copy has been kept of the answer of Charles VI to Timur, dated 15 June 1403. In addition, Byzantine John VII Palaiologos who was a regent during his uncle's absence in the West, sent a Dominican friar in August 1401 to Timur, to pay his respect and propose paying tribute to him instead of the Turks, once he managed to defeat them. Legacy Timur's legacy is a mixed one. While Central Asia blossomed under his reign, other places, such as Baghdad, Damascus, Delhi and other Arab, Georgian, Persian, and Indian cities were sacked and destroyed and their populations massacred. Thus, while Timur still retains a positive image in Muslim Central Asia, he is vilified by many in Arabia, Iraq, Persia, and India, where some of his greatest atrocities were carried out. However, Ibn Khaldun praises Timur for having unified much of the Muslim world when other conquerors of the time could not. The next great conqueror of the Middle East, Nader Shah, was greatly influenced by Timur and almost re-enacted Timur's conquests and battle strategies in his own campaigns. Like Timur, Nader Shah conquered most of Caucasia, Persia, and Central Asia along with also sacking Delhi. Timur's short-lived empire also melded the Turko-Persian tradition in Transoxiana, and in most of the territories that he incorporated into his fiefdom, Persian became the primary language of administration and literary culture (diwan), regardless of ethnicity. In addition, during his reign, some contributions to Turkic literature were penned, with Turkic cultural influence expanding and flourishing as a result. A literary form of Chagatai Turkic came into use alongside Persian as both a cultural and an official language. Tamerlane virtually exterminated the Church of the East, which had previously been a major branch of Christianity but afterwards became largely confined to a small area now known as the Assyrian Triangle. Timur became a relatively popular figure in Europe for centuries after his death, mainly because of his victory over the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid. The Ottoman armies were at the time invading Eastern Europe and Timur was seen as an ally. Timur is officially recognized as a national hero in Uzbekistan. His monument in Tashkent now occupies the place where Karl Marx's statue once stood. Muhammad Iqbal, a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement, composed a notable poem entitled Dream of Timur, the poem itself was inspired by a prayer of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II: In 1794, Sake Dean Mahomed published his travel book, The Travels of Dean Mahomet. The book begins with the praise of Genghis Khan, Timur, and particularly the first Mughal emperor, Babur. He also gives important details on the then incumbent Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. Historical sources The earliest known history of his reign was Nizam ad-Din Shami's Zafarnama, which was written during Timur's lifetime. Between 1424 and 1428, Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi wrote a second Zafarnama drawing heavily on Shami's earlier work. Ahmad ibn Arabshah wrote a much less favorable history in Arabic. Arabshah's history was translated into Latin by the Dutch Orientalist Jacobus Golius in 1636. As Timurid-sponsored histories, the two Zafarnamas present a dramatically different picture from Arabshah's chronicle. William Jones remarked that the former presented Timur as a "liberal, benevolent and illustrious prince" while the latter painted him as "deformed and impious, of a low birth and detestable principles". Malfuzat-i Timuri The Malfuzat-i Timurī and the appended Tuzūk-i Tīmūrī, supposedly Timur's own autobiography, are almost certainly 17th-century fabrications. The scholar Abu Taleb Hosayni presented the texts to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, a distant descendant of Timur, in 1637–38, supposedly after discovering the Chagatai language originals in the library of a Yemeni ruler. Due to the distance between Yemen and Timur's base in Transoxiana and the lack of any other evidence of the originals, most historians consider the story highly implausible, and suspect Hosayni of inventing both the text and its origin story. European views Timur arguably had a significant impact on the Renaissance culture and early modern Europe. His achievements both fascinated and horrified Europeans from the fifteenth century to the early nineteenth century. European views of Timur were mixed throughout the fifteenth century, with some European countries calling him an ally and others seeing him as a threat to Europe because of his rapid expansion and brutality. When Timur captured the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid at Ankara, he was often praised and seen as a trusted ally by European rulers, such as Charles VI of France and Henry IV of England, because they believed he was saving Christianity from the Turkic Empire in the Middle East. Those two kings also praised him because his victory at Ankara allowed Christian merchants to remain in the Middle East and allowed for their safe return home to both France and England. Timur was also praised because it was believed that he helped restore the right of passage for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Other Europeans viewed Timur as a barbaric enemy who presented a threat to both European culture and the religion of Christianity. His rise to power moved many leaders, such as Henry III of Castile, to send embassies to Samarkand to scout out Timur, learn about his people, make alliances with him, and try to convince him to convert to Christianity in order to avoid war. In the introduction to a 1723 translation of Yazdi's Zafarnama, the translator wrote: Exhumation and alleged curse Timur's body was exhumed from his tomb on 19 June 1941 and his remains examined by the Soviet anthropologists Mikhail M. Gerasimov, Lev V. Oshanin and V. Ia. Zezenkova. Gerasimov reconstructed the likeness of Timur from his skull and found that his facial characteristics displayed "typical Mongoloid features", i.e. East Asian in modern terms. An anthropologic study of Timur's cranium shows that he belonged predominately to the South Siberian Mongoloid type. At , Timur was tall for his era. The examinations confirmed that Timur was lame and had a withered right arm due to his injuries. His right thighbone had knitted together with his kneecap, and the configuration of the knee joint suggests that he had kept his leg bent at all times and therefore would have had a pronounced limp. He appears to have been broad-chested and his hair and beard were red. It is alleged that Timur's tomb was inscribed with the words, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble." It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." Even though people close to Gerasimov claim that this story is a fabrication, the legend persists. In any case, three days after Gerasimov began the exhumation, Adolf Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad. In the arts Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II (English, 1563–1594): play by Christopher Marlowe Tamerlan ou la mort de Bajazet [Tamerlane or the Death of Bajazet] (1675): play by Jacques Pradon. Tamerlane (1701): play by Nicholas Rowe (English) Tamerlano (1724): opera by George Frideric Handel, in Italian, based on the 1675 Pradon play. Bajazet (1735): opera by Antonio Vivaldi, portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Il gran Tamerlano (1772): opera by Josef Myslivecek which also portrays the capture of Bayezid I by Timur. Timour the Tartar (1811): equestrian drama by Matthew Lewis Tamerlane (published 1827): first published poem of Edgar Allan Poe. Turandot (1924): opera by Giacomo Puccini (libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni) in which Timur is the deposed, blind former King of Tartary and father of the protagonist Calaf. Lord of Samarkand (The Lame Man; published 1932): story by Robert E. Howard in which Timour appears. Nesimi (1973): Azerbaijani film in which Timur was portrayed by Yusif Veliyev. Tamerlan (2003): Spanish-language novel by Colombian writer Enrique Serrano Day Watch (2006): Russian film in which Tamerlane in his youth is portrayed by Emir Baygazin, and in maturity by Gani Kulzhanov. Tamburlaine: Shadow of God (broadcast 2008): a BBC Radio 3 play by John Fletcher presenting a fictitious encounter between Tamburlaine, Ibn Khaldun, and Hafez. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (2019): a video game containing a six-chapter campaign titled "Tamerlane". Examples of Timurid architecture See also List of largest empires Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent Timuri Timurid conquests and invasions Timurlengia Notes References Further reading Abazov, Rafis. "Timur (Tamerlane) and the Timurid Empire in Central Asia." The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Central Asia. Palgrave Macmillan US, 2008. 56–57. Marlowe, Christopher. Tamburlaine the Great. Ed. J. S. Cunningham. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1981. Manz, Beatrice Forbes. "Temür and the Problem of a Conqueror's Legacy," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Apr. 1998) Marozzi, Justin. Tamerlane: sword of Islam, conqueror of the world, London: HarperCollins, 2004 Marozzi, Justin. "Tamerlane", in: The Art of War: great commanders of the ancient and medieval world, Andrew Roberts (editor), London: Quercus Military History, 2008. Novosel'tsev, A. P. "On the Historical Evaluation of Tamerlane." Soviet studies in history 12.3 (1973): 37–70. Shterenshis, Michael V. "Approach to Tamerlane: Tradition and Innovation." Central Asia and the Caucasus 2 (2000). Sykes, P. M. "Tamerlane" Journal of the Central Asian Society 2.1 (1915): 17–33. YÜKSEL, Musa Şamil. "Timur’un Yükselişi ve Batı’nın Diplomatik Cevabı, 1390–1405." Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 1.18 (2005): 231–243. External links Forbes, Andrew, & Henley, David: Timur's Legacy: The Architecture of Bukhara and Samarkand (CPA Media) Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez De Clavijo to the Court of Timour, at Samarcand, A.D. 1403–6 – . Ruy González de Clavijo, Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403–1406, translated by Guy Le Strange, with a new Introduction by Caroline Stone (Hardinge Simpole, 2009). Nationality or Religion: Views of Central Asian Islam Timurid dynasty 1336 births 1405 deaths Muslim monarchs Samarkand Royalty and nobility with disabilities Founding monarchs
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[ "\"Only Tongue Can Tell\" is a song by Scottish band The Trash Can Sinatras, which was released in 1990 as the second single from their debut studio album Cake. The song was written and produced by all five band members. \"Only Tongue Can Tell\" reached No. 77 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 8 in the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.\n\nMusic video\nThe song's music video was directed by Mike Bell and produced by Grace Wells. It achieved breakout rotation on MTV.\n\nCritical reception\nOn its release, Penny Kiley of the Liverpool Echo considered the song a \"fine follow up\" to \"Obscurity Knocks\". She praised the \"good songwriting\", \"catchy guitars\", \"attractive harmonies\" and \"son-of-Morrissey vocals\". In a review of Cake, Brent Ainsworth of the Santa Cruz Sentinel described \"Only Tongue Can Tell\" as a \"playful romp through a green pasture of tinny guitar on a fresh-air keyboard backdrop\".\n\nTrack listing\n7-inch and cassette single\n \"Only Tongue Can Tell\" – 3:45\n \"Useless\" – 4:32\n\n12-inch and CD single\n \"Only Tongue Can Tell\" – 3:45\n \"Useless\" – 4:32\n \"Tonight You Belong to Me\" – 2:38\n\nPersonnel\nCredits are adapted from the UK CD single liner notes and the Cake booklet.\n\nThe Trash Can Sinatras\n Frank Reader – vocals\n Paul Livingston – lead guitar\n John Douglas – rhythm guitar\n George McDaid – bass\n Stephen Douglas – drums\n\nAdditional musicians\n Clark Sorley – keyboards on \"Only Tongue Can Tell\"\n\nProduction\n The Trash Can Sinatras – producers of \"Only Tongue Can Tell\" and \"Tonight You Belong to Me\"\n Roger Béchirian – producer of \"Useless\"\n Tony Harris – mixing on \"Only Tongue Can Tell\" and \"Tonight You Belong to Me\"\n John Leckie – mixing on \"Useless\"\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n1990 songs\n1990 singles\nGo! Discs singles", "The Stuti Chintamani is a piece of devotional literature attributed to Mahima Dharma. The 45th song was written by Bhima Bhoi.\n\nLyrics to 45th Song\n\nOh preceptor, oh Lord, You are beyond the scope of description by qualification. I am going down now. Kindly tell me the way. \n(1)Oh shapeless Lord, You are without any desire, but I am with desire. Save me from the delusion and deluge.\n(2) Oh preceptor, oh Lord, You are above the Vedas, but I am confined to the Vedas. Kindly tell me divine wisdom so that I will get rid of the sins of nature. \n(3) Oh preceptor, oh Lord, You are beyond the Vedas, but I bear a shape. You take ablution in the Ganges water but I take bath in the well-water of this earth. \n(4) Oh Lord of the void, You have got one foot but I have two. Rescue me with Your single foot. \n(5) My preceptor is free of sins but I am a great sinner. Oh Lord, rescue me from sins and do not deceive me. \n(6) Oh preceptor, oh Lord, You are intelligent but I am a fool. Knowing fully well the merits have some kindness for me. \n(7) Oh preceptor, oh Lord, You are a store house of knowledge and I am ignorant. Kindly rescue me from this dangerous Kali Age. \n(8) Oh preceptor, oh Lord, You are expert in rescuing and I am fit for being condemned. You can save me from sixty six thousand Kumvi hell in which one has fallen by dragging him. \n(9) Oh omniscient Lord, knowing in Your heart which is full of kindness that the creatures has fallen in the mire of sins, rescue him. \n(10) Oh preceptor, oh Lord, You are free of diseases and I am full of diseases. Your religion is that of the void and You are endowed with all beauty. This creature is very unfortunate. \n(11) Oh preceptor oh Lord, You have no companion or friend, but I am in coupe. As soon as I assumed body, delusion is sticking to my skin and hairs of the skin. \n(12) Oh Alekha God, you are my illustrious preceptor and I am your disciple. I am being drowned, save me. What more I will tell you. \n(13) My good preceptor is very virtuous, and I am a great sinner. Kindly see my condition and save me from the earth which is like an ocean. My preceptor is the fathomless sea of kindness. His religion is called Mahima. It is not even known to the wise as well as to the Vedas. \n(15) The Lord has no shape or form. Then how to meditate on Him. Or Lord, you give result without performance of my religious rites. \n(16) You are unthinkable. Your body is of the void. You cannot be described in words. Who can get any trace of Him by means of the holy lores. \n(17) Oh pious and wise men, you are poet and learned men. Think within yourself. In this great Kali Age follow Alekha Mahima night and day. \n(18) This religion has been evolved in this age and there is no importance in any other religion. One will get deliverance, wealth etc. by adopting this religion. \n(19) This is Kali Age; from day to day Kali Age is assuming great proportion in the matter of sins. Following the feet of the preceptor Bhima Kanda has composed up till now 900 stanzas.\n\nSee also\nMahima Dharma\nBhima Bhoi\n\nReferences\n\nIndian music" ]
[ "Richard Christy", "The Howard Stern Show" ]
C_5a218b7a521f4f6099c9279c6639982c_1
When was he on the Howard Stern show
1
When was Richard Christy on the Howard Stern show
Richard Christy
Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. His made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted his a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. CANNOTANSWER
he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air.
Thomas Richard Christy Jr. (born April 1, 1974) is an American drummer, radio personality and actor, best known for being the former drummer for several heavy metal bands since the early 1990s, most notably Death, and his tenure on The Howard Stern Show. Born and raised in Kansas, Christy took an interest in rock and heavy metal music in his youth, and started playing the drums at age ten. He played in several bands while at school. Christy's music career began in 1992 when he joined the Springfield, Missouri group Public Assassin, and also worked as an electrician. In 1996, Christy formed Burning Inside and relocated to Orlando, Florida, where he joined and toured with several popular heavy metal bands until 2004, including Acheron, Death, Control Denied, Iced Earth, and Leash Law. In 2004, Christy took a break from music and relocated to New York City to join The Howard Stern Show. He has written, directed, and acted in several home made independent films and has performed as a stand-up comedian. He returned to music in 2009 when he formed his own metal band, Charred Walls of the Damned. Early life Thomas Richard Christy was born in Fort Scott, Kansas on April 1, 1974. His father is a Vietnam veteran. Christy grew up in the nearby town of Redfield, on a "farm in the middle of nowhere". According to the 2010 census, the town has a population of 146. He became a fan of Kiss and Meat Loaf from four years old when his aunt introduced him to them and bought him their albums a year later. His elder neighbor, a fan of heavy metal music, introduced him to Metal Health (1983) by Quiet Riot which had a considerable effect on Christy. He recalled, "I heard those drums and that music and was just blown away. I was new to that whole sound ... Quiet Riot felt like the next step up in terms of heaviness". He proceeded to save up his pocket money to purchase the album on audio cassette. Albums that influenced him during this time included Stay Hungry (1984) by Twisted Sister and Powerslave (1984) by Iron Maiden. In 1992, he started playing the guitar. Christy wished to learn the drums after he heard "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen, in 1984. His parents had no issue with his decision, and to this day, they remain supportive of his career. When he turned ten, his parents bought him his first drum pad and sticks, practicing on it before they purchased his first full professional kit at a junkyard for $100. Christy bought instructional videos to improve his technique, including tapes from Terry Bozzio. Later in his development, drummers Dave Lombardo and Pete Sandoval inspired him to play fast. He was also influenced by drummers Frankie Banali, Mikkey Dee, Bobby Jarzombek, Sean Reinert, and Gene Hoglan. At fourteen, Christy attended his first concert, seeing Stryper and White Lion. Christy's first group was playing in a school band in the mid-1980s which included a position in the school's marching band, playing the snare drum and tympani, which he particularly enjoyed, and wrote a song dedicated to the experience and his teachers named "Forever Marching On". He passed his school music exams, and played in his first "legitimate" rock group, Syzygy, at around fifteen which involved live gigs in local bars. Around this time, Christy formed a short lived "joke band", Bung Dizeez, along with Paul Brewer, Gary White, and sometimes Les Henderson. Their first gig took place "on a hay wagon at a keg party." The three wore jock straps over their clothes and performing parody songs and Judas Priest covers. In 1992, Christy graduated from Uniontown High School in Uniontown, Kansas. Career Music In 1992, the 18-year-old Christy decided to pursue music in college in Kansas. In the week before he was set to begin, he heard one of his favourite bands, Public Assassin from Springfield, Missouri, were looking for a new drummer. After a successful audition in August 1992, he chose to join them rather than study. He then moved from his Fort Scott home and into "an old warehouse" in Springfield, and played on "Raw as Fuck", a same-titled mini-CD, and a demo titled Murdered. They toured the midwest across 1993, playing covers. As he needed further income to support himself, Christy learned to become a residential electrician. In December 1993, Christy and Public Assassin guitarist Steve Childers formed a comical group, Skip Skiffington and The Elite, with Skiffington on vocals and Rick Granberg on keyboards. During this time, Christy played in a "joke punk band" with several friends named Pisser, playing GG Allin and Cocknoose covers. In 1995, Public Assassin disbanded after Christy and Childers had several differences with singer/bassist Greg Ponder. In late 1995, Christy and Childers formed Burning Inside new recruits Jamie Prim on vocals/bass and, later on, Michael Estes on guitar. To increase their potential, the group relocated in February 1996 to Orlando, Florida, an area favourable for the metal scene. Christy arrived by car, carrying everything he owned. They toured, recorded songs for five metal tribute albums, and produced a six-song demo tape of new material released as The Eve of the Entities (2000). Christy stayed in Florida for eight years. His income from music and electric work was limited, so he could only afford accommodation in a storage unit where he also kept and practised his drums for as much as six hours each day. With only an outside garden hose to shower with, he later wrote a song about his appreciation for more comfortable living named "The Beast Outside My Window". Christy joined local metal group Acheron, touring and playing on Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) and Necromanteion Communion (1998). His boss at his electrical company allowed him to spend time away to record and tour with his bands. In 1997, Christy met fellow Orlando resident, singer and guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, in a chance encounter at a Florida book store in Altamonte Mall. Schuldiner was, and remains, an influential figure in Christy's career. Christy was a big fan of Schuldiner's metal band Death, so when he learned the group needed a drummer his friends suggested his name and he was offered an audition. Christy knew "all of their albums ... back and forth", and auditioned with only Schuldiner and himself present. The audition was a success, and Christy played on The Sound of Perseverance (1998), an album he called "the album I'm most proud of". In May 1998, Christy toured Europe for four months with Death, which included a spot at the Dynamo Open Air festival in the Netherlands in front of 35,000 people. A friendship and musical camaraderie with Schuldiner also brought Christy into the line-up of Schuldiner's progressive metal group, the more melodic Control Denied. Christy played drums on their debut album, The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) and When Man and Machine Collide, an incomplete album that is yet to be released. The two became close friends, and Christy would spend several Thanksgiving holidays with Schuldiner's family. In December 2001, Schuldiner died from brain cancer. Christy remains close with the family. Between 1999 and 2004, Christy became a member of Iced Earth and Leash Law, timing his schedule in order to perform in multiple bands at once. In April 2000, he played with Incantation on their tour in support of The Infernal Storm (2000), playing to audiences of several hundred at each show. Afterwards, he toured Europe with Demons and Wizards, playing festivals of up to 20,000 people in attendance. He landed the gig in Iced Earth through contacts he knew at Century Media Records, a prominent heavy metal label. His first live gigs with them followed in August 2000, playing festivals including the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. In 2004, Christy began a five-and-a-half year hiatus as an active musician, but kept in touch with the metal scene by practicing his drums, attending local concerts, and writing articles for several publications. By 2008, he started to write new material, playing the guitar more than he had done previously, and ended up with an entire album in demo form. He signed a recording deal with Metal Blade Records in 2009 to release an album with his metal supergroup, Charred Walls of the Damned. He asked his first choice of musicians to take part in the project: bassist Steve DiGiorgio, vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens and guitarist Jason Suecof. It took roughly three months for Christy to settle on the band's name, and had around 200 possible names as "every good band name has been taken". Their self-titled debut album was released in 2010. Their second, Cold Winds on Timeless Days, followed in 2011. Christy named the latter as the first letter of each word matched the band's initials. Christy has performed live with Dream Theater, "A Favor House Atlantic" with Coheed and Cambria, Tiwanaku, Rick Renstrom, and Wykked Wytch. Sometime after 2011, Christy put together music that featured his three guinea pigs. Three of the songs were released under the band name Boar Glue as part of a split EP with Hatebeak, another band that features an african grey parrot. The Howard Stern Show Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. He made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. Equipment Christy endorses DDrum drums, Aquarian drumheads, Sabian cymbals, and Vater drumsticks. Film and television Christy once dreamed of a career in film after he saw Brad Pitt, from nearby Springfield, Missouri, in Interview with the Vampire. He hung up posters of Pitt in his New York City apartment, and once worked at a computer store owned by Pitt's parents. He has been a fan of horror films since his youth, and rates Halloween (1978) as his “faaavorite”. In the mid-1990s, while living in Missouri, he started to make his own independent, low budget films. His first, Evil Ned 2, a horror comedy was made in 1994. This was followed by its sequel, Evil Ned 3: The Return of Evil Ned 2 – Electric Boogaloo, in 1995, with a plot involving "dirty magazines, huge hog testicles, gay monsters, Amish erotica, and evil talking ducks". The film was produced for $250, "200 of which was spent on beer". The film premiered at a Missouri hotel, and was made available online in 2007. In 2001, Christy released his feature-length film, Leaving Grunion County. Its premiere was held at the Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida that April. In 2006, Christy and Governale wrote, directed, and starred in the 30-minute comedy film Supertwink for Stern's on-demand digital cable service Howard Stern On Demand. It premiered at the Pioneer Theater in New York City on January 4, 2006. The film was reviewed by critic Richard Roeper, who panned it. In 2007, Christy appeared in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay playing the role of a Ku Klux Klansman named Kenny. In the same year, he landed his first television role Rescue Me, portraying a "really creepy guy at end of bar". In 2009, he appeared as Caleb in the horror film Albino Farm. Also in 2009, Christy and Governale appeared in the 2009 horror novel Castaways, written by horror and crime novelist Brian Keene. Christy has recorded voiceovers for the Adult Swim shows Metalocalypse and Rick and Morty. He guest appeared on the Cartoon Network series Uncle Grandpa, playing Ric. Christy later made a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as a character simply named "Down There!". Christy has written articles for Decibel magazine about his love for horror films, named "Richard Christy's Horrorscope". Personal life Christy married Kristin Jenco on July 30, 2011, in New York City. They have one son, Carson Cain Christy, born in 2017, and affectionately known as "Bubby". Carson is named after former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Carson Wentz. The Eagles are Kristin's favorite team. If they have another son, they plan to name him Patrick after Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs are Richard's favorite team. Prior to Super Bowl LIV, on the Howard Stern Wrap Up Show, Christy met Patrick Mahomes and tearfully told him that he loved him and explained his intention to name his next son after him. He is also a Kansas City Royals fan and attended the 2015 World Series with fellow Howard Stern Show co-worker Gary Dell'Abate (who is an avid New York Mets fan). Discography With Acheron Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) Necromanteion Communion/Raise the Dead (1998) With Death The Sound of Perseverance (1998) Live in Eindhoven (1998) Live in L.A. (Death & Raw) (1999) With Control Denied The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) When Man and Machine Collide (unreleased) With Burning Inside The Eve of the Entities (2000) With Demons & Wizards Demons & Wizards (2000) With Iced Earth Horror Show (2001) Tribute to the Gods (2002) The Glorious Burden (2004) With Leash Law Dogface (2003) Cunninglinguistics (2007) With Charred Walls of the Damned Charred Walls of the Damned (2010) Cold Winds on Timeless Days (2011) Creatures Watching Over the Dead (2016) With Boar Glue Glue 'Em All (2018) split with Hatebeak References External links 1974 births Living people American heavy metal drummers American radio writers Iced Earth members Death (metal band) members Musicians from Kansas Howard Stern People from Fort Scott, Kansas Pranksters Sirius Satellite Radio 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Charred Walls of the Damned members Demons & Wizards (band) members Control Denied members 21st-century American drummers
true
[ "Howard Stern is an American radio personality who is best known for his radio show The Howard Stern Show. Stern (along with his followers) describes himself as the \"King of All Media\" for his successes in the radio, television, film, music and publishing industries.\n\nThe Howard Stern Show (Fox)\n\nOn April 16, 1987, a meeting was held between Stern and management of WNYW, the flagship television station of Fox Broadcasting Company. The network was considering Stern as a replacement to The Late Show hosted by Joan Rivers in its 11:00 PM hour. Five one-hour pilots titled The Howard Stern Show were recorded at a cost of about $400,000. They featured rock guitarist Leslie West of Mountain as bandleader and Steve Rossi as announcer and singer. By early June, air dates were yet to be scheduled; the pilots were instead being tested among focus groups in California. With no formal announcement, the network cancelled the series in July. Paul Noble, the former executive producer for WNYW, was never told of Fox's decision. \"By today's standards, they were absolutely tame.\" He also said, \"They were not the kind of thing that a local New York television station was prepared to get involved with at that time. It was more like off-the-wall radio.\"\n\nThe Howard Stern Show (WWOR)\n\nThe Howard Stern Interview\n\nThe Howard Stern Interview is a late-night talk show featuring Stern hosting a half-hour, one-on-one interview program with a celebrity guest. Shown on the E! channel from 1992–1993, Stern signed a contract for a reported $1.1 million for a total of 36 episodes. It quickly became the highest-rated show on the E! network, demonstrating Stern's ability to carry a show by himself, without the rest of his radio show staff. The interviews were known for being intimate and personal, with questions that celebrities were not normally asked.\n\nThe show, first airing on November 27, 1992, ran for 30 minutes and was produced by Mark Keizer. E! re-aired Stern's interview with Phil Hartman and his wife Brynn Hartman after she murdered her husband and then committed suicide.\n\nThe Howard Stern Radio Show\n\nThe Howard Stern Radio Show is an American late-night television series that ran on Saturday nights in syndication (mostly on affiliates of CBS) from August 22, 1998 to May 19, 2001. Although the show was syndicated it was largely sold to CBS affiliates, with only a handful of other stations airing it; it was in fact syndicated by CBS' in-house distribution firm of the time, Eyemark Entertainment, which was previously Group W Productions prior to the CBS-Westinghouse merger of 1995; after 2000, Eyemark was merged into the newly acquired by CBS King World. Most of CBS' stations, including those in rural areas, did not pick the show up. It ran for a total of three seasons including 84 episodes. The show featured taped highlights of The Howard Stern Show, in a similar format seen in Howard Stern, the half-hour show that was broadcast on E! from 1994 to 2005. The Howard Stern Radio Show also included new segments such as animations of song parodies and exclusive behind the scenes footage.\n\nThe show was intended to compete with Saturday Night Live on NBC.\n\nHoward Stern\n\nE! announced on May 31, 1994 that Stern secured a deal with the network to bring his radio show, which was broadcast from WXRK at the time, to television. Six robotic cameras were installed in the small studio at 600 Madison Avenue to film the five-hour radio show. \"The best part of all this is that my genius will be seen in so many more homes now\", Stern said. \"It's a dream come true.\" Two sneak preview shows were aired on June 18, with the first official episode being broadcast on June 20. The television shows broadcast on January 21, 1999 and February 5, 2004 at 11:00 PM marked the 1,000th and 2,000th episodes respectively.\n\nOn October 6, 2004, Stern announced that he had signed a five-year contract with Sirius XM Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service, that began from January 2006. The move allowed Stern to broadcast without the content restrictions imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that he faced while broadcasting on terrestrial radio. As a result, the E! show came to an end as Stern announced on August 3, 2005 that he made a deal with iN DEMAND Networks, a Video on Demand digital cable service, to create Howard Stern on Demand. The new, uncensored channel allowed the filming of the radio show at Sirius XM in high-definition. The radio show broadcast on July 1, 2005 was the last to be filmed for a \"new episode\" for airing the following week on July 8. The hour-long special featured members of the E! show staff saying their farewells (although some of the crew continued working for the show at Sirius XM) and telling their favorite show moments. The show was a consistent performer in the network's ratings.\n\nHoward Stern On Demand/Howard TV\nIn January 2006, Howard TV was launched as an on-demand pay television service, to coincide with the beginning of his 5-year contract with Sirius XM Radio, and his new 5-year contract in 2011. It covered the daily happenings of Stern's radio show, as well as providing original programming and footage from the E! show.\n\nHoward TV was owned and operated by In Demand. There were no content restrictions applied to Howard TV as a pay-per-view service.\n\nOn September 16, 2013, Stern and In Demand announced that the Howard TV contract would not be renewed, and the service would end in December.\n\n\"Howard 360\"\nFollowing the cancelation of Howard TV in 2013, speculation of idea began to arise regarding Stern's future in television; future ideas mentioned include his own online streaming service, a return to cable, the creation of an exclusive cable network, and partnering with an already-existing online streaming service. On December 15, 2015 speculations were confirmed and an upcoming video streaming service was announced by Stern directly. The service, to be called \"Howard 360\" by Whalerock Industries, was never fully realized however. Sirius XM now has video rights to Stern's content under their current contract, and makes available video content from the show through its website and app for its subscribers.\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography\n\nExternal links\n Howard Stern television shows at the Internet Movie Database\n\nAmerican late-night television shows\nTelevision series based on radio series\nHoward Stern\nAmerican comedy television series\nE! original programming\nNudity in television", "Throughout its run spanning four decades and multiple media, The Howard Stern Show has been home to a number of staff members and contributors.\n\nCurrent staff\nThese staffers currently work for and appear on the show on a regular, if not hourly basis.\n\nIn-studio\nThese people currently sit in the studio throughout the entire broadcast or have an exclusively in-studio role with the show when present.\n\nHoward Stern\n\nHoward Stern is the host of the show, which essentially is a discussion of topics that include world affairs, celebrity gossip, self-deprecation, sexual relationships, bodily functions, conflicts among his staff, his own personal family matters, and the antics of the show's Wack Pack. Self-proclaimed \"King of All Media\".\n\nRobin Quivers\n\nRobin Ophelia Quivers is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and first met Stern after being assigned as his newscaster at WWDC in March 1981. She has been his co-host and news anchor ever since. She is a former nurse and Captain in the United States Air Force. Quivers briefly left the show towards the end of her time at WWDC. In 1982, Stern signed a contract to work at WNBC, and Quivers did not realize WNBC initially refused to hire her. Quivers returned to the show at WNBC a month after Stern began, having convinced WNBC management to hire Robin after all.\n\nStern once said that Quivers is the only person on the show that he allowed to talk freely during the broadcast, although comedian Artie Lange was allowed this privilege as well during his years on the show.\n\nFred Norris\n\nOf the show's staff, Stern met Norris first, in 1979, when the two worked as disc jockeys at WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut. Norris worked the overnight shift, after which Stern hosted the morning slow. Although Stern left shortly afterwards, Norris stayed at WCCC until joining Stern and Quivers at Washington, D.C.'s WWDC in 1981. The \"Earth Dog Fred\" nickname originated in Washington, as Norris replaced an engineer nicknamed \"Earth Dog Brent.\"\n\nNorris is married to Allison (née Furman) and they have one daughter, Tess.\n\nNorris' current role on the show is to provide sound effects, organize and direct commercials and live reads, and perform writing duties. Norris also provides impersonations of show regulars, celebrities and others.\n\nOutside the studio\nThese are the behind-the-scenes personnel, although, in the Stern world, many of these staff members appear on air.\n\nSteve Brandano\nBrandano, previously known as \"Steve The Intern,\" answers Stern's phones, is a contributor on The Wrap-Up Show, and was formerly the host of the Thursday night intern show.\n\nBenjy Bronk\nBenjy Bronk (born Sept. 4, 1967) began working on The Howard Stern Show as an intern in 1998. Bronk eventually earned a paid position conducting pre-interviews of show guests and gathering articles for Robin Quivers' newscasts. In 2000, Benjy was given an in-studio seat next to writers Jackie Martling and Fred Norris, writing on-the-spot jokes for Stern as the show transpired.\n\nAfter Martling left the show in early 2001, Bronk continued as an in-studio joke writer with Norris. When the Howard Stern Show moved to Sirius satellite radio in January 2006, Bronk continued in his role as an in-studio joke writer. Bronk is well known on the show for suffering frequent outbursts of the Herpes STD that he claims he contracted while attending college at Penn State.\n\nRichard Christy\n\nWhile working as an electrician in Florida and playing as a drummer in a number of heavy metal bands including Iced Earth and Death, Christy began calling into the show from October 1999, initially sending voice mails to the show's assistant producer K. C. Armstrong, which were played on-air. From 2001 to 2003, Christy sent song parodies and bits about Armstrong and show co-host Robin Quivers including some like \"It's K.C.'s Sausage Party\" (a parody of \"It's My Party\") and \"Gay Photograph\" (a parody of the Def Leppard song \"Photograph\") that continue to be played on the show to this day. Christy made his first visit to the show on April 24, 2003, where he played a round of blackjack to win a date with a porn star.\n\nIn July 2004, when the show was holding a \"Win John's Job\" contest following the departure of Stuttering John from the show, Christy won the position as voted by fans. Since joining the show, Christy has become known for his prank calls, song parodies, unique personality, and \"show stunts\" he's performed with his writing partner Sal the Stockbroker.\n\nChristy is currently the drummer in the heavy-metal band Charred Walls of the Damned.\n\nGary Dell'Abate\n\nGary Dell'Abate, aka Baba Booey, serves as the show's executive producer. He was hired right after graduating from Adelphi University in 1984. Howard would call him Boy Gary and Dell'Abate briefly anglicized his name to Gary Dell. He is mocked on the Stern Show for his appearance, gullibility (he once booked a mentally challenged woman who claimed to be Madonna's sister), and frequent mispronunciations (for example, insisting that actor Nick Nolte's last name was pronounced \"Nolt\"). He earned the nickname \"Baba Booey\" after insisting it to be the correct name of the cartoon character Baba Looey.\n\nSal Governale\nSalvatore \"Sal\" Governale, originally referred to as Sal the Stockbroker, was originally a frequent caller who worked selling stocks and commodities. Stern took notice after numerous calls mocking Gary Dell'Abate. Although he came in second in the \"Win John's Job\" contest to his future writing partner Richard Christy, Sal was eventually hired as a prank caller/writer for the show and is now credited as a producer.\n\nJ. D. Harmeyer\nBorn in December 1979 in Fairborn, Ohio, Jamie Daniel \"J. D.\" Harmeyer is Stern's head media producer. He records television shows, pulls clips from the internet, and edits together highlights from recent movies and TV. He attended Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.\n\nJon Hein\n\nJon Hein made his first guest appearances on the show on May 3, 2001, discussing television shows that have \"jumped the shark\", a term he uses to describe when a show has passed its prime (based on an episode of the show, Happy Days, where a previously popular and well-done show clearly and memorably began to go downhill). In late 2005, while experimental programming was broadcast on Howard 100 and Howard 101, Hein presented the first edition of Superfan Roundtable. His success in on-air hosting led him to become the co-host of The Wrap-Up Show when the show moved to Sirius XM in January 2006.\n\nHein was a co-host on the weekly Thursday show, \"Jon Hein's TV Show\" with J. D. Harmeyer, Steve Brandano and Jenny Hutt. He also co-hosted the weekly Friday show \"Geek Time\" with Jason Kaplan and Ralph Cirella. Both shows have since been canceled.\n\nJason Kaplan\nJason Kaplan is an executive producer for the show. His duties include writing the daily show rundown that appears on the show's website and taking photos that appear alongside the daily rundown. In September 2007, Jason and HowardTV director Scott DePace engaged in an intense feud stemming from their political differences.\n\nJason was married to his girlfriend, Janis, on November 8, 2008. Notable guests at the ceremony included Howard Stern, Robin Quivers, Gary Dell'Abate, and most of Stern's staff. The reception featured speeches from fellow staff members, Ronnie Mund and J. D. Harmeyer. Kaplan hosted \"Page 69\" along with Will Murray. On the wrap-up show on August 19, Kaplan stated that he grew up in Stanhope, New Jersey, and attended Rutgers University.\n\nKaplan hosted monthly episodes of The Fat Guy Show. Kaplan was a producer of the monthly show Geek Time that aired Fridays, with Jon Hein and Ralph Cirella.\n\nOn December 8, 2020, Kaplan stated he was an executive producer during the show's broadcast, serving alongside longtime executive producer Gary Dell'Abate.\n\nRonnie Mund\nRonald Mund, commonly referred to as Ronnie the Limo Driver, born in October 1935, was Stern's limousine driver and later his bodyguard. Ronald is 5 foot, 2 inches tall and was frequently mocked for not being able to see over the steering wheel of his limo without sitting on a stack of textbooks by Howard on air. He later became the head of security for the Stern show studios and offices at Sirius Radio. After serving in the Air Force, Mund started a limo business. He began driving for Stern in 1986, and quickly became a character on the radio show. In 2011, Ronnie began touring night clubs around the U.S. with other talent from The Howard Stern Show on the \"Ronnie Mund Block Party.\" In March 2013, Ronnie hosted a 4-day event in Jamaica called the Ronnie Mund Jamaican Getaway.\n\nWill Murray\nWill Murray is the show's researcher and segment producer. He pre-interviews all guests, and compiles pages of notes of research for Howard to use during on-air interviews. He and fellow producer Jason Kaplan hosted the Howard 100 News segment \"Page 69.\"\n\nOn September 5, 2008, Will married his long-time girlfriend. A Philadelphia area native, he is a huge Philadelphia sports fan, and is a graduate of Syracuse University.\n\nMike Trainor\n\nMike Trainor joined the show in 2014 as writer and producer. He became prominent on the show as the voice of a lump that was growing on Wack Packer Jeff the Drunk. His name is not used on the program. Instead he is often referred to on the air as \"Lump.\"\n\nMarci Turk\nMarci Turk is chief operating officer of Stern's channels, but her name is not used on the air. A former employee of author David Allen, she is a prominent advocator of his Getting Things Done method of time management.\n\nFormer staff and associates\nThe following people all saw significant air-time when they worked with Stern. Some were show staffers who left for other careers. Some had been interns, Stern's bosses, and station support staff who for a time were all integral to the show.\n\nFormer radio staff\n\nK. C. Armstrong\n\nKyle Casey \"K. C.\" Armstrong (born July 17, 1975), who grew up in nearby Suffolk County, New York, had been a college football player. He began working on the show as an intern in 1997 and later became associate producer from 1998 to 2004. In a 2005 interview, Armstrong revealed that he had been fired from the show by WXRK general manager Tom Chiusano for lapsing back into drug use after spending time in rehab.\n\nArmstrong was needled by Stern for his good looks and athletic body. Some show staffers, jealous of his appearance, speculated that if he is that good-looking, he must be gay. Armstrong eventually moved to California, where he tried to start a career in acting. He released a comedy DVD called Die Laughing. He has acted in three movies – Death4Told, Grace and the Storm and Secret War and appears on the comedy DVD series Meet the Creeps.\n\nLee Davis\n\"Boy\" Lee Davis was the original Stern show producer at WNBC before Gary Dell'Abate. He left to become the producer of the Soupy Sales show. He moved up the ladder in station management and eventually became the general manager of sports radio station WFAN, which was the successor to WNBC at AM 660 in New York.\n\nShuli Egar\nShuli Egar is a comedian who first appeared on the show in June 2003. When Stern announced his planned move to Sirius and created Howard 100 News in 2005, Egar was an early hire. He was promoted to reporting about and keeping tabs on The Wack Pack. He also filled in for Lisa G and Steve Langford when they were out.\n\nIn September 2020, Egar abruptly moved to Alabama from New York City out of concern for his family, who felt unsafe in their neighborhood due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest caused by the George Floyd protests. Egar did not inform Stern of his relocation until he had already finished moving, though SiriusXM management was made aware and approved of the move. With all content for the Howard Stern Channels being created remotely rather than at the SiriusXM headquarters in New York during the pandemic, Egar was still able to contribute to the show.\n\nOn January 22, 2021, Egar announced on Twitter he was launching a podcast through Patreon. In the first episode of his podcast, Egar stated he was no longer happy working at the show and had not been for several years. He felt the content he was creating was being sidelined too frequently, and that he was not allowed on the air as frequently as he would have liked to be. After his move to Alabama, Egar claimed show producers took him off the assignment of covering the Wack Pack, his longtime primary role at the show. Egar resigned from the show, saying that he and the staff at the Stern Show, including Stern himself, were still on good terms, and that Stern called him upon learning of his resignation to wish him well. At the time of his departure, Egar was the only original member of the Howard 100 News team that remained on staff.\n\nSteve Freid\nSteve \"the Engineer\" Freid first worked with Ben Stern and later worked with Howard when he arrived at K-Rock. He gained notoriety performing as the character Wood Yi, a parody of actor/director Woody Allen. Billy West came up with the idea for the character in the early 1990s, and Steve was chosen to play the part due to having a similar-sounding voice. When performing as Wood Yi, Steve read lines supplied to him by the shows' staff, reciting them in a deadpan manner.\n\nGary Garver\nGary Garver was a West Coast-based correspondent for The Howard Stern Show who first started working for the show in 1991 when he was an operator at KLSX, the show's Los Angeles affiliate. He was sent to awards shows, movie premieres and television conventions to ask \"Stuttering John\"-type questions to celebrities and has-beens.\n\nSteve Grillo\nFormer Stern Show intern and associate producer at WXRK, known as \"Gorilla\". Howard dedicated his second book Miss America to Steve. Grillo conducted movie reviews for Howard 100 News in 2006. As homage to his former duties as a Stern show intern, he rated films by awarding them a certain number of potatoes.\n\nArtie Lange\n\nLange's first appearance on the show was as a guest alongside fellow comedian Norm Macdonald on January 8, 1998, following a bit involving Scott the Engineer and his challenge to perform 17 complete push-ups. Although appearing with Macdonald to promote the film Dirty Work, Lange had been a fan of Stern since the 1980s when he used to listen with his father. In fact, after Lange's father was paralyzed in 1987, show producer Gary Dell'Abate sent Lange an autographed jacket which Lange auctioned off for $2,000 to help support his family.\n\nFollowing the departure of the show's writer and comedian Jackie \"The Jokeman\" Martling in 2001, several comedians \"auditioned\" for Martling's seat by sitting in for a couple of shows. Lange's first appearance in what became known as \"The Jackie Chair\" occurred for 2 days, on May 7 and 8, 2001. The temporary appearance consisted of being Stern's sidekick along with Quivers, and Lange frequently told personal stories, usually regarding alcohol, drugs, food and prostitutes. On October 29, 2001, Lange joined the show full-time and was voted favorite by Howard's fans in 2009.\n\nLange left the show in December 2009. At first the leave was thought to be temporary, but in early 2010 he attempted suicide at his apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey. The incident has not been discussed in great detail on the show and for much of 2010, Stern mentioned that Lange would return when he was healthy. However, in 2011 the show and the Howard 100 News began to reference Lange as a \"former\" staffer. On October 3, 2011, Lange began co-hosting The Nick & Artie Show with comedian Nick DiPaolo. This show aired on Directv. In April 2014, Artie was informed before the show that Directv had cancelled his show. He went on air that night for the last time as a part of the Directv team. He currently is the host of a podcast called \"The Artie Lange Uncensored Podcast.\"\n\nJohn Melendez\n\nIn 1988, Stuttering John was attending New York University's film school, and belonged to a band called \"Rock Slide\". His college roommate, Mitch Fatel, was on the verge of quitting his internship with The Howard Stern Show, when Melendez begged him for a recommendation for an internship on the show. Producer Gary Dell'Abate interviewed Melendez and mentioned his stuttering problem to Stern, who decided to hire him as a field reporter.\n\nOn Stern's show, Melendez conducted outrageous street interviews and appeared at press conferences, asking off-the-wall questions to various celebrities, including Gennifer Flowers, Ringo Starr, Burt Reynolds, Tommy Lasorda, Larry King and the Dalai Lama. He also provided comic relief on the show itself with his misadventures, poor grammar, and sloppy pronunciation. Melendez left the show after being offered a half-million-dollar contract as the announcer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.\n\nAl Rosenberg\nAl Rosenberg was a writer/performer for Howard on WNBC. He did numerous voice impressions including Sue Simmons and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. In The History of Howard Stern, Howard stated that he hired Al after Imus fired him so that he (Imus) could hire his girlfriend to replace Rosenberg. He stayed on at WNBC after Howard was fired because he was still under contract to the station. Al also worked on WNEW-AM radio as one half of the morning team with Bob Fitzsimmons. He also worked with Ted Brown. He later worked again for Howard on the \"Channel 9 Show\" as a writer. Al called into Stern's show in 2007 (during a Paul Mooney interview) to discuss Imus' racism. He also appeared on Howard 101's defunct \"Miserable Men\" program.\n\nHe currently works doing speaking engagements and voice-over work. He also serves on the board of Rise, a non-profit organization and currently serves as Deputy Mayor for East Windsor Township, New Jersey.\n\nScott Salem\nScott the Engineer was the show's long-time engineer, having joined on February 10, 1986. Having previously worked at WABC (AM) and WPLJ in New York City, Salem received a voice mail from Jimmy Fink, then the morning personality at WXRK informing him of his new position.\n\nIn 1996, the Austin American-Statesman wrote that Scott is \"always threatening to quit or on the verge of being fired, he's the show's whipping boy for technical problems\". In 2007, Salem made a onetime appearance on tour with the \"Killers of Comedy,\" performing stand-up followed by a Q&A session with the audience. Salem is an avid bowler and has competed in and appeared at several PBA tour events.\n\nRon Tarrant\n\nRon Tarrant joined the Howard Stern Channels in 2016 from Canada as the Head Imaging/Sound Designer & new voice of the Howard Stern Show/Channels. He left the show in 2019.\n\nBilly West\n\nBilly West provided the show with comedy impersonations, part-time, beginning on November 7, 1988. He was known for his impressions of Marge Schott and show comedian Jackie Martling. West's final appearance was on November 1, 1995, before he left the show over contract and salary disputes. On February 19 and 20, 2007, a special two-part retrospective of West's work on the show was broadcast on Howard 100 and Howard 101, covering over 11 hours.\n\nWest was an occasional contributor to The Adam Carolla Show, a syndicated morning radio show that replaced Stern in cities along the West Coast.\n\nFormer radio associates\n\nBubba Clem\n\nBubba the Love Sponge is both the title of, and name of the host of, a radio show airing on Howard 101 from 2005 to the end of 2010. Bubba (actual legal name Bubba The Love Sponge Clem, born Todd Clem) had previously been \"exiled\" from radio after a great deal of controversy over his terrestrial radio show, based in Tampa, Florida. Stern brought Bubba's show aboard and in so doing relaunched Bubba's career and show. Bubba credits Stern for reviving his career.\n\nThe show left Sirius XM at the end of 2010 and moved to RadioIO Internet Radio and syndicated terrestrial radio.\n\nDonna Fiducia\n\nDonna Fiducia was an on-air traffic reporter on WNBC radio during Stern's tenure there. They had frequent conversations while she was on the air, sometimes leaving her no time to actually deliver the traffic report.\n\nRev. Bob Levy\n\n\"Reverend\" Bob Levy is a standup comedian who was a frequent on and off air contributor to the Sirius XM radio show from the show's debut until around 2009. He hosted the Miserable Men show and created a series of roasts for Stern show personalities such as Gary Dell'Abate, Artie Lange, and Wack Packers such as Daniel Carver. The placement, frequency and number of plugs given during the Stern show for Levy's off-air efforts was a constant source of tension, especially after the availability of plugs was severely restricted. After Artie's departure, Levy complained on air that some details of the situation were being \"covered up\" and blamed Howard Stern for the suicide attempt. Levy's departure from the Stern channels soon followed and he is almost never mentioned on the air.\n\nFormer Howard 101 hosts\n\nScott Ferrall\n\nScott Ferrall was the host of The Scott Ferrall Show heard weekdays at 8 pm EST on Howard 101. It aired from 2006 to 2012.\n\nGreg Fitzsimmons\n\nGreg Fitzsimmons hosted The Greg Fitzsimmons Show on Howard 101 from 2006-2018.\n\nAbe Kanan\nAbe Kanan was host of The Abe Kanan Show, which aired on Howard 101 weekends and late nights. Kanan's show originated in Chicago. It began as a series of podcasts and was picked up by the Stern channels in February 2011 and lasted until December 2013. He now hosts his own podcast titled \"Abe Kanan On Hold\".\n\nRiley Martin\n\nRiley Martin (May 9, 1946 – December 2015) was a self-described alien contactee, author, and host of The Riley Martin Show, which was heard Tuesdays at Midnight ET on Howard 101.\n\nJackie Martling\n\nJackie Martling is the former head writer and in-studio laugh track of The Howard Stern Show. He was later the host of Jackie's Joke Hunt. The show, co-hosted by fellow Friar Ian Karr, premiered on October 3, 2006 at 7 pm EST. It aired live, every Tuesday at 7 pm ET on Sirius Howard 101, with reruns heard Thursday mornings at 12 am ET and Saturday afternoons at 2 pm ET. Jackie's Joke Hunt was canceled along with many other shows that have been cut during 2014–2015, when Sirius 101 began to focus only on past shows from the Howard Stern library.\n\nMutt\nMutt is the founder of the Stern Fan Network message board and was host of The Super Fan Roundtable, which had been heard Wednesday's at 7 pm ET on Howard 101.\n\nRed Peters\n\nRed Peters was the host of The Red Peters Music Comedy Hour which aired periodically on Howard 101. Peters (real name Douglas Stevens) is a Boston-based songwriter/comedian who specializes in a musical form best described as \"lounge smut.\" His show featured a compilation of songs packed with scat jokes and double-entendres.\n\nJeff Probst & Natalie Maines\n\nJeff Probst is best known for his role as the host of the U.S. version of the reality show Survivor and Natalie Maines is best known as the lead singer of The Dixie Chicks. Together after each season of Survivor has wrapped-up they host a two-hour Celebrity Superfan Roundtable on Howard 101, where they bring in big-name Hollywood stars such as actor David Arquette, LA weatherbabe Jillian Reynolds, producer Damon Lindelof, singer Mark McGrath, actor Jerry O'Connell, actor Ryan Phillippe, comedian Sarah Silverman, and actor Steven Weber to discuss their favorite moments on the Stern show.\n\nJay Thomas\n\nJay Thomas was the host of The Jay Thomas Show on Howard 101 from 2005 until his 2017 death.\n\nChuck Zito\n\nChuck Zito is an actor, amateur boxer, martial artist, celebrity bodyguard, stuntman, former boxing trainer and former president of the New York City chapter of the Hells Angels. He hosted the periodic Chuck Zito's View on Howard 101.\n\nFormer Howard 100 News staff\n\nPenny Crone\n\nPenny Crone was a correspondent on Howard 100 News. She had been a field reporter for many years on Channel 5 WNYM, the Fox network affiliate in New York and later was the morning co-host on WABC 770 AM.\n\nBrad Driver\nBrad Driver was the News Director at Howard 100 News and was responsible for managing the news team. He has held the position since December 2006.\n\nLisa Glasberg\n\nLisa Glasberg was a former co-host with Doctor Dré and Ed Lover on New York hip-hop radio station Hot 97 WQHT-FM. She was known informally as Lisa G, serving as an on-air reporter for Howard 100 until February 2015, updating live news headlines each morning and filing reports for hourly Howard 100 news updates. Glasberg is a native of Woodmere, New York.\n\nRalph Howard\nThe late Ralph Howard anchored Howard 100 News every weekday afternoon. He had previously been a news anchor on New York radio stations WINS 1010 AM and WMCA 570 AM. In September 2010, he underwent lung transplant surgery. He retired from the show on May 30, 2013 after 53 years of news broadcasting. Howard was married to Broadway actress and longtime Charles Busch collaborator, Julie Halston.\n\nSteve Langford\nSteve Langford had been a field reporter on WCBS-TV Channel 2 and other local TV news departments. He became an investigative reporter for Howard 100 News. He later returned to local TV news.\n\nJon Leiberman\n\nJon Leiberman was an in-studio and remote correspondent for Howard 100 News who was hired in July 2011.\n\nMichael Morales\nMichael \"High Pitch Mike\" Morales was Howard 100 News producer, reporter, and on-air regular. He publicly came out as gay on the show. Mike has an unusual, squeaky voice, leading to his nickname.\n\nTV staff\n\nRalph Cirella\n\nRalph Cirella was paid by Howard TV to be Howard Stern's personal stylist, a job he previously held for Stern's E! show. Cirella was first hired to construct a \"talking penis\", for a broadcast at the Felt Forum on New Year's Eve 1986. He has been a listener since Stern's time at WNBC from 1982 to 1985. Cirella did not make on-screen appearances until 1990, when he worked on costumes, special effects and make up on The Howard Stern Show on WWOR-TV. In his book, Miss America, Howard Stern calls Ralph the most universally hated member of his staff. Throughout 2006, Cirella briefly co-hosted the now defunct The Friday Show with Gary Dell'Abate and Jon Hein, on Howard 100 and Howard 101. He was also the host of \"Geek Time\" which aired on Howard 101.\n\nScott DePace\nScott DePace was the television director for the daily broadcast of The Howard Stern Show for Howard TV. His wife, Pamela, won an Emmy for her work on The Daily Show.\n\nScott Einziger\nScott Einziger is a former Producer of Stern's syndicated Saturday night TV show and E! show. Left the show in November 2001 to become a producer on The Amazing Race. He has since worked on other reality shows such as Kid Nation, Big Brother, and Are You Hot?. Stern sued Einziger and his production company for ripping off his \"The Evaluators\" which Are You Hot? mirrored.\n\nMike Gange\nMike Gange started at the show as an intern, and, after years of toil, worked his way up to cameraman/interviewer for the former Stern TV show on E! Gange then became supervising producer for Howard TV.\n\nDoug Goodstein\nDoug Z. Goodstein was Stern's E! show producer and executive producer for Howard TV On Demand.\n\nRobin Radzinski\nRobin Radzinski is a former E! network executive and former Producer of Stern's E! show who has also worked for G4, HBO, and TBS.\n\nFormer bosses\n\nRandy Bongarten\nRandy Bongarten is a radio executive and former Vice-President and General Manager at WNBC who was later promoted to be President of the entire NBC Radio Network. Robin Quivers said that Randy's tenure at WNBC were the \"good years\" at the station because Randy \"understood the show, and was interested in letting the talent do the things that would let the talent be successful.\"\n\nTom Chiusano\nTom Chiusano was the general manager at WXRK, the frequent target of Stern show jokes, and in the later years of the show the master of the \"dump button\" to prevent content he deemed inappropriate from reaching the airwaves. Chiusano remained at WXRK when Stern and company moved to Sirius, and after several format changes at his station, he eventually announced his retirement in January 2008.\n\nJohn Hayes\n\nJohn Hayes is a radio executive, famously named \"The Incubus\" by Howard during his days as Vice-President and General Manager at WNBC replacing Randy Bongarten. He and Kevin Metheny were portrayed by Paul Giamatti as a composite character under the name Kenny \"Pig Vomit\" Rushton in the 1997 movie, Private Parts. It was Hayes who actually fired Stern from WNBC-AM in 1985 on the orders of NBC network executives. In 2002, Hayes once again pulled Stern's show from CILQ-FM in Toronto. Hayes proudly calls himself \"the man who fired Howard Stern twice.\"\n\nKevin Metheny\n\nKevin Metheny (June 6, 1954 – October 3, 2014) was a radio executive, famously named \"Pig Virus\" by Howard during his days as Program Director at WNBC. He and his replacement John Hayes were portrayed by Paul Giamatti as a composite character under the name Kenny \"Pig Vomit\" Rushton in the 1997 movie, Private Parts.\n\nTim Sabean\nTim Sabean was the Senior Vice President of the Howard Stern Channels for Howard 100 & 101. He managed the channels and their personnel for Howard. Before coming to Sirius he was the program director at Stern's Philadelphia affiliate WYSP-FM. Sabean's departure from the show was never formally announced, but he is no longer listed as a staff or front office member on the Stern show website. The last entry on his official Twitter feed was on 1 August 2013 and his last on-air appearance was around that time.\n\nOn September 9, 2013 it was announced by Sirius/XM that he'd been promoted to Senior Vice President of all the Entertainment and Comedy channels.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Howard Stern's Official Web Site at HowardStern.com\n\nStern, Howard" ]
[ "Richard Christy", "The Howard Stern Show", "When was he on the Howard Stern show", "he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air." ]
C_5a218b7a521f4f6099c9279c6639982c_1
Were they supposed to be voicemails he left for Howard Stern?
2
Were the comical voicemail messages supposed to be voicemails Richard Christy left for Howard Stern?
Richard Christy
Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. His made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted his a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. CANNOTANSWER
he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine
Thomas Richard Christy Jr. (born April 1, 1974) is an American drummer, radio personality and actor, best known for being the former drummer for several heavy metal bands since the early 1990s, most notably Death, and his tenure on The Howard Stern Show. Born and raised in Kansas, Christy took an interest in rock and heavy metal music in his youth, and started playing the drums at age ten. He played in several bands while at school. Christy's music career began in 1992 when he joined the Springfield, Missouri group Public Assassin, and also worked as an electrician. In 1996, Christy formed Burning Inside and relocated to Orlando, Florida, where he joined and toured with several popular heavy metal bands until 2004, including Acheron, Death, Control Denied, Iced Earth, and Leash Law. In 2004, Christy took a break from music and relocated to New York City to join The Howard Stern Show. He has written, directed, and acted in several home made independent films and has performed as a stand-up comedian. He returned to music in 2009 when he formed his own metal band, Charred Walls of the Damned. Early life Thomas Richard Christy was born in Fort Scott, Kansas on April 1, 1974. His father is a Vietnam veteran. Christy grew up in the nearby town of Redfield, on a "farm in the middle of nowhere". According to the 2010 census, the town has a population of 146. He became a fan of Kiss and Meat Loaf from four years old when his aunt introduced him to them and bought him their albums a year later. His elder neighbor, a fan of heavy metal music, introduced him to Metal Health (1983) by Quiet Riot which had a considerable effect on Christy. He recalled, "I heard those drums and that music and was just blown away. I was new to that whole sound ... Quiet Riot felt like the next step up in terms of heaviness". He proceeded to save up his pocket money to purchase the album on audio cassette. Albums that influenced him during this time included Stay Hungry (1984) by Twisted Sister and Powerslave (1984) by Iron Maiden. In 1992, he started playing the guitar. Christy wished to learn the drums after he heard "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen, in 1984. His parents had no issue with his decision, and to this day, they remain supportive of his career. When he turned ten, his parents bought him his first drum pad and sticks, practicing on it before they purchased his first full professional kit at a junkyard for $100. Christy bought instructional videos to improve his technique, including tapes from Terry Bozzio. Later in his development, drummers Dave Lombardo and Pete Sandoval inspired him to play fast. He was also influenced by drummers Frankie Banali, Mikkey Dee, Bobby Jarzombek, Sean Reinert, and Gene Hoglan. At fourteen, Christy attended his first concert, seeing Stryper and White Lion. Christy's first group was playing in a school band in the mid-1980s which included a position in the school's marching band, playing the snare drum and tympani, which he particularly enjoyed, and wrote a song dedicated to the experience and his teachers named "Forever Marching On". He passed his school music exams, and played in his first "legitimate" rock group, Syzygy, at around fifteen which involved live gigs in local bars. Around this time, Christy formed a short lived "joke band", Bung Dizeez, along with Paul Brewer, Gary White, and sometimes Les Henderson. Their first gig took place "on a hay wagon at a keg party." The three wore jock straps over their clothes and performing parody songs and Judas Priest covers. In 1992, Christy graduated from Uniontown High School in Uniontown, Kansas. Career Music In 1992, the 18-year-old Christy decided to pursue music in college in Kansas. In the week before he was set to begin, he heard one of his favourite bands, Public Assassin from Springfield, Missouri, were looking for a new drummer. After a successful audition in August 1992, he chose to join them rather than study. He then moved from his Fort Scott home and into "an old warehouse" in Springfield, and played on "Raw as Fuck", a same-titled mini-CD, and a demo titled Murdered. They toured the midwest across 1993, playing covers. As he needed further income to support himself, Christy learned to become a residential electrician. In December 1993, Christy and Public Assassin guitarist Steve Childers formed a comical group, Skip Skiffington and The Elite, with Skiffington on vocals and Rick Granberg on keyboards. During this time, Christy played in a "joke punk band" with several friends named Pisser, playing GG Allin and Cocknoose covers. In 1995, Public Assassin disbanded after Christy and Childers had several differences with singer/bassist Greg Ponder. In late 1995, Christy and Childers formed Burning Inside new recruits Jamie Prim on vocals/bass and, later on, Michael Estes on guitar. To increase their potential, the group relocated in February 1996 to Orlando, Florida, an area favourable for the metal scene. Christy arrived by car, carrying everything he owned. They toured, recorded songs for five metal tribute albums, and produced a six-song demo tape of new material released as The Eve of the Entities (2000). Christy stayed in Florida for eight years. His income from music and electric work was limited, so he could only afford accommodation in a storage unit where he also kept and practised his drums for as much as six hours each day. With only an outside garden hose to shower with, he later wrote a song about his appreciation for more comfortable living named "The Beast Outside My Window". Christy joined local metal group Acheron, touring and playing on Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) and Necromanteion Communion (1998). His boss at his electrical company allowed him to spend time away to record and tour with his bands. In 1997, Christy met fellow Orlando resident, singer and guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, in a chance encounter at a Florida book store in Altamonte Mall. Schuldiner was, and remains, an influential figure in Christy's career. Christy was a big fan of Schuldiner's metal band Death, so when he learned the group needed a drummer his friends suggested his name and he was offered an audition. Christy knew "all of their albums ... back and forth", and auditioned with only Schuldiner and himself present. The audition was a success, and Christy played on The Sound of Perseverance (1998), an album he called "the album I'm most proud of". In May 1998, Christy toured Europe for four months with Death, which included a spot at the Dynamo Open Air festival in the Netherlands in front of 35,000 people. A friendship and musical camaraderie with Schuldiner also brought Christy into the line-up of Schuldiner's progressive metal group, the more melodic Control Denied. Christy played drums on their debut album, The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) and When Man and Machine Collide, an incomplete album that is yet to be released. The two became close friends, and Christy would spend several Thanksgiving holidays with Schuldiner's family. In December 2001, Schuldiner died from brain cancer. Christy remains close with the family. Between 1999 and 2004, Christy became a member of Iced Earth and Leash Law, timing his schedule in order to perform in multiple bands at once. In April 2000, he played with Incantation on their tour in support of The Infernal Storm (2000), playing to audiences of several hundred at each show. Afterwards, he toured Europe with Demons and Wizards, playing festivals of up to 20,000 people in attendance. He landed the gig in Iced Earth through contacts he knew at Century Media Records, a prominent heavy metal label. His first live gigs with them followed in August 2000, playing festivals including the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. In 2004, Christy began a five-and-a-half year hiatus as an active musician, but kept in touch with the metal scene by practicing his drums, attending local concerts, and writing articles for several publications. By 2008, he started to write new material, playing the guitar more than he had done previously, and ended up with an entire album in demo form. He signed a recording deal with Metal Blade Records in 2009 to release an album with his metal supergroup, Charred Walls of the Damned. He asked his first choice of musicians to take part in the project: bassist Steve DiGiorgio, vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens and guitarist Jason Suecof. It took roughly three months for Christy to settle on the band's name, and had around 200 possible names as "every good band name has been taken". Their self-titled debut album was released in 2010. Their second, Cold Winds on Timeless Days, followed in 2011. Christy named the latter as the first letter of each word matched the band's initials. Christy has performed live with Dream Theater, "A Favor House Atlantic" with Coheed and Cambria, Tiwanaku, Rick Renstrom, and Wykked Wytch. Sometime after 2011, Christy put together music that featured his three guinea pigs. Three of the songs were released under the band name Boar Glue as part of a split EP with Hatebeak, another band that features an african grey parrot. The Howard Stern Show Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. He made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. Equipment Christy endorses DDrum drums, Aquarian drumheads, Sabian cymbals, and Vater drumsticks. Film and television Christy once dreamed of a career in film after he saw Brad Pitt, from nearby Springfield, Missouri, in Interview with the Vampire. He hung up posters of Pitt in his New York City apartment, and once worked at a computer store owned by Pitt's parents. He has been a fan of horror films since his youth, and rates Halloween (1978) as his “faaavorite”. In the mid-1990s, while living in Missouri, he started to make his own independent, low budget films. His first, Evil Ned 2, a horror comedy was made in 1994. This was followed by its sequel, Evil Ned 3: The Return of Evil Ned 2 – Electric Boogaloo, in 1995, with a plot involving "dirty magazines, huge hog testicles, gay monsters, Amish erotica, and evil talking ducks". The film was produced for $250, "200 of which was spent on beer". The film premiered at a Missouri hotel, and was made available online in 2007. In 2001, Christy released his feature-length film, Leaving Grunion County. Its premiere was held at the Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida that April. In 2006, Christy and Governale wrote, directed, and starred in the 30-minute comedy film Supertwink for Stern's on-demand digital cable service Howard Stern On Demand. It premiered at the Pioneer Theater in New York City on January 4, 2006. The film was reviewed by critic Richard Roeper, who panned it. In 2007, Christy appeared in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay playing the role of a Ku Klux Klansman named Kenny. In the same year, he landed his first television role Rescue Me, portraying a "really creepy guy at end of bar". In 2009, he appeared as Caleb in the horror film Albino Farm. Also in 2009, Christy and Governale appeared in the 2009 horror novel Castaways, written by horror and crime novelist Brian Keene. Christy has recorded voiceovers for the Adult Swim shows Metalocalypse and Rick and Morty. He guest appeared on the Cartoon Network series Uncle Grandpa, playing Ric. Christy later made a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as a character simply named "Down There!". Christy has written articles for Decibel magazine about his love for horror films, named "Richard Christy's Horrorscope". Personal life Christy married Kristin Jenco on July 30, 2011, in New York City. They have one son, Carson Cain Christy, born in 2017, and affectionately known as "Bubby". Carson is named after former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Carson Wentz. The Eagles are Kristin's favorite team. If they have another son, they plan to name him Patrick after Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs are Richard's favorite team. Prior to Super Bowl LIV, on the Howard Stern Wrap Up Show, Christy met Patrick Mahomes and tearfully told him that he loved him and explained his intention to name his next son after him. He is also a Kansas City Royals fan and attended the 2015 World Series with fellow Howard Stern Show co-worker Gary Dell'Abate (who is an avid New York Mets fan). Discography With Acheron Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) Necromanteion Communion/Raise the Dead (1998) With Death The Sound of Perseverance (1998) Live in Eindhoven (1998) Live in L.A. (Death & Raw) (1999) With Control Denied The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) When Man and Machine Collide (unreleased) With Burning Inside The Eve of the Entities (2000) With Demons & Wizards Demons & Wizards (2000) With Iced Earth Horror Show (2001) Tribute to the Gods (2002) The Glorious Burden (2004) With Leash Law Dogface (2003) Cunninglinguistics (2007) With Charred Walls of the Damned Charred Walls of the Damned (2010) Cold Winds on Timeless Days (2011) Creatures Watching Over the Dead (2016) With Boar Glue Glue 'Em All (2018) split with Hatebeak References External links 1974 births Living people American heavy metal drummers American radio writers Iced Earth members Death (metal band) members Musicians from Kansas Howard Stern People from Fort Scott, Kansas Pranksters Sirius Satellite Radio 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Charred Walls of the Damned members Demons & Wizards (band) members Control Denied members 21st-century American drummers
true
[ "Howard Stern is an American radio personality who is best known for his radio show The Howard Stern Show. Stern (along with his followers) describes himself as the \"King of All Media\" for his successes in the radio, television, film, music and publishing industries.\n\nThe Howard Stern Show (Fox)\n\nOn April 16, 1987, a meeting was held between Stern and management of WNYW, the flagship television station of Fox Broadcasting Company. The network was considering Stern as a replacement to The Late Show hosted by Joan Rivers in its 11:00 PM hour. Five one-hour pilots titled The Howard Stern Show were recorded at a cost of about $400,000. They featured rock guitarist Leslie West of Mountain as bandleader and Steve Rossi as announcer and singer. By early June, air dates were yet to be scheduled; the pilots were instead being tested among focus groups in California. With no formal announcement, the network cancelled the series in July. Paul Noble, the former executive producer for WNYW, was never told of Fox's decision. \"By today's standards, they were absolutely tame.\" He also said, \"They were not the kind of thing that a local New York television station was prepared to get involved with at that time. It was more like off-the-wall radio.\"\n\nThe Howard Stern Show (WWOR)\n\nThe Howard Stern Interview\n\nThe Howard Stern Interview is a late-night talk show featuring Stern hosting a half-hour, one-on-one interview program with a celebrity guest. Shown on the E! channel from 1992–1993, Stern signed a contract for a reported $1.1 million for a total of 36 episodes. It quickly became the highest-rated show on the E! network, demonstrating Stern's ability to carry a show by himself, without the rest of his radio show staff. The interviews were known for being intimate and personal, with questions that celebrities were not normally asked.\n\nThe show, first airing on November 27, 1992, ran for 30 minutes and was produced by Mark Keizer. E! re-aired Stern's interview with Phil Hartman and his wife Brynn Hartman after she murdered her husband and then committed suicide.\n\nThe Howard Stern Radio Show\n\nThe Howard Stern Radio Show is an American late-night television series that ran on Saturday nights in syndication (mostly on affiliates of CBS) from August 22, 1998 to May 19, 2001. Although the show was syndicated it was largely sold to CBS affiliates, with only a handful of other stations airing it; it was in fact syndicated by CBS' in-house distribution firm of the time, Eyemark Entertainment, which was previously Group W Productions prior to the CBS-Westinghouse merger of 1995; after 2000, Eyemark was merged into the newly acquired by CBS King World. Most of CBS' stations, including those in rural areas, did not pick the show up. It ran for a total of three seasons including 84 episodes. The show featured taped highlights of The Howard Stern Show, in a similar format seen in Howard Stern, the half-hour show that was broadcast on E! from 1994 to 2005. The Howard Stern Radio Show also included new segments such as animations of song parodies and exclusive behind the scenes footage.\n\nThe show was intended to compete with Saturday Night Live on NBC.\n\nHoward Stern\n\nE! announced on May 31, 1994 that Stern secured a deal with the network to bring his radio show, which was broadcast from WXRK at the time, to television. Six robotic cameras were installed in the small studio at 600 Madison Avenue to film the five-hour radio show. \"The best part of all this is that my genius will be seen in so many more homes now\", Stern said. \"It's a dream come true.\" Two sneak preview shows were aired on June 18, with the first official episode being broadcast on June 20. The television shows broadcast on January 21, 1999 and February 5, 2004 at 11:00 PM marked the 1,000th and 2,000th episodes respectively.\n\nOn October 6, 2004, Stern announced that he had signed a five-year contract with Sirius XM Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service, that began from January 2006. The move allowed Stern to broadcast without the content restrictions imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that he faced while broadcasting on terrestrial radio. As a result, the E! show came to an end as Stern announced on August 3, 2005 that he made a deal with iN DEMAND Networks, a Video on Demand digital cable service, to create Howard Stern on Demand. The new, uncensored channel allowed the filming of the radio show at Sirius XM in high-definition. The radio show broadcast on July 1, 2005 was the last to be filmed for a \"new episode\" for airing the following week on July 8. The hour-long special featured members of the E! show staff saying their farewells (although some of the crew continued working for the show at Sirius XM) and telling their favorite show moments. The show was a consistent performer in the network's ratings.\n\nHoward Stern On Demand/Howard TV\nIn January 2006, Howard TV was launched as an on-demand pay television service, to coincide with the beginning of his 5-year contract with Sirius XM Radio, and his new 5-year contract in 2011. It covered the daily happenings of Stern's radio show, as well as providing original programming and footage from the E! show.\n\nHoward TV was owned and operated by In Demand. There were no content restrictions applied to Howard TV as a pay-per-view service.\n\nOn September 16, 2013, Stern and In Demand announced that the Howard TV contract would not be renewed, and the service would end in December.\n\n\"Howard 360\"\nFollowing the cancelation of Howard TV in 2013, speculation of idea began to arise regarding Stern's future in television; future ideas mentioned include his own online streaming service, a return to cable, the creation of an exclusive cable network, and partnering with an already-existing online streaming service. On December 15, 2015 speculations were confirmed and an upcoming video streaming service was announced by Stern directly. The service, to be called \"Howard 360\" by Whalerock Industries, was never fully realized however. Sirius XM now has video rights to Stern's content under their current contract, and makes available video content from the show through its website and app for its subscribers.\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography\n\nExternal links\n Howard Stern television shows at the Internet Movie Database\n\nAmerican late-night television shows\nTelevision series based on radio series\nHoward Stern\nAmerican comedy television series\nE! original programming\nNudity in television", "Throughout its run spanning four decades and multiple media, The Howard Stern Show has been home to a number of staff members and contributors.\n\nCurrent staff\nThese staffers currently work for and appear on the show on a regular, if not hourly basis.\n\nIn-studio\nThese people currently sit in the studio throughout the entire broadcast or have an exclusively in-studio role with the show when present.\n\nHoward Stern\n\nHoward Stern is the host of the show, which essentially is a discussion of topics that include world affairs, celebrity gossip, self-deprecation, sexual relationships, bodily functions, conflicts among his staff, his own personal family matters, and the antics of the show's Wack Pack. Self-proclaimed \"King of All Media\".\n\nRobin Quivers\n\nRobin Ophelia Quivers is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and first met Stern after being assigned as his newscaster at WWDC in March 1981. She has been his co-host and news anchor ever since. She is a former nurse and Captain in the United States Air Force. Quivers briefly left the show towards the end of her time at WWDC. In 1982, Stern signed a contract to work at WNBC, and Quivers did not realize WNBC initially refused to hire her. Quivers returned to the show at WNBC a month after Stern began, having convinced WNBC management to hire Robin after all.\n\nStern once said that Quivers is the only person on the show that he allowed to talk freely during the broadcast, although comedian Artie Lange was allowed this privilege as well during his years on the show.\n\nFred Norris\n\nOf the show's staff, Stern met Norris first, in 1979, when the two worked as disc jockeys at WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut. Norris worked the overnight shift, after which Stern hosted the morning slow. Although Stern left shortly afterwards, Norris stayed at WCCC until joining Stern and Quivers at Washington, D.C.'s WWDC in 1981. The \"Earth Dog Fred\" nickname originated in Washington, as Norris replaced an engineer nicknamed \"Earth Dog Brent.\"\n\nNorris is married to Allison (née Furman) and they have one daughter, Tess.\n\nNorris' current role on the show is to provide sound effects, organize and direct commercials and live reads, and perform writing duties. Norris also provides impersonations of show regulars, celebrities and others.\n\nOutside the studio\nThese are the behind-the-scenes personnel, although, in the Stern world, many of these staff members appear on air.\n\nSteve Brandano\nBrandano, previously known as \"Steve The Intern,\" answers Stern's phones, is a contributor on The Wrap-Up Show, and was formerly the host of the Thursday night intern show.\n\nBenjy Bronk\nBenjy Bronk (born Sept. 4, 1967) began working on The Howard Stern Show as an intern in 1998. Bronk eventually earned a paid position conducting pre-interviews of show guests and gathering articles for Robin Quivers' newscasts. In 2000, Benjy was given an in-studio seat next to writers Jackie Martling and Fred Norris, writing on-the-spot jokes for Stern as the show transpired.\n\nAfter Martling left the show in early 2001, Bronk continued as an in-studio joke writer with Norris. When the Howard Stern Show moved to Sirius satellite radio in January 2006, Bronk continued in his role as an in-studio joke writer. Bronk is well known on the show for suffering frequent outbursts of the Herpes STD that he claims he contracted while attending college at Penn State.\n\nRichard Christy\n\nWhile working as an electrician in Florida and playing as a drummer in a number of heavy metal bands including Iced Earth and Death, Christy began calling into the show from October 1999, initially sending voice mails to the show's assistant producer K. C. Armstrong, which were played on-air. From 2001 to 2003, Christy sent song parodies and bits about Armstrong and show co-host Robin Quivers including some like \"It's K.C.'s Sausage Party\" (a parody of \"It's My Party\") and \"Gay Photograph\" (a parody of the Def Leppard song \"Photograph\") that continue to be played on the show to this day. Christy made his first visit to the show on April 24, 2003, where he played a round of blackjack to win a date with a porn star.\n\nIn July 2004, when the show was holding a \"Win John's Job\" contest following the departure of Stuttering John from the show, Christy won the position as voted by fans. Since joining the show, Christy has become known for his prank calls, song parodies, unique personality, and \"show stunts\" he's performed with his writing partner Sal the Stockbroker.\n\nChristy is currently the drummer in the heavy-metal band Charred Walls of the Damned.\n\nGary Dell'Abate\n\nGary Dell'Abate, aka Baba Booey, serves as the show's executive producer. He was hired right after graduating from Adelphi University in 1984. Howard would call him Boy Gary and Dell'Abate briefly anglicized his name to Gary Dell. He is mocked on the Stern Show for his appearance, gullibility (he once booked a mentally challenged woman who claimed to be Madonna's sister), and frequent mispronunciations (for example, insisting that actor Nick Nolte's last name was pronounced \"Nolt\"). He earned the nickname \"Baba Booey\" after insisting it to be the correct name of the cartoon character Baba Looey.\n\nSal Governale\nSalvatore \"Sal\" Governale, originally referred to as Sal the Stockbroker, was originally a frequent caller who worked selling stocks and commodities. Stern took notice after numerous calls mocking Gary Dell'Abate. Although he came in second in the \"Win John's Job\" contest to his future writing partner Richard Christy, Sal was eventually hired as a prank caller/writer for the show and is now credited as a producer.\n\nJ. D. Harmeyer\nBorn in December 1979 in Fairborn, Ohio, Jamie Daniel \"J. D.\" Harmeyer is Stern's head media producer. He records television shows, pulls clips from the internet, and edits together highlights from recent movies and TV. He attended Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.\n\nJon Hein\n\nJon Hein made his first guest appearances on the show on May 3, 2001, discussing television shows that have \"jumped the shark\", a term he uses to describe when a show has passed its prime (based on an episode of the show, Happy Days, where a previously popular and well-done show clearly and memorably began to go downhill). In late 2005, while experimental programming was broadcast on Howard 100 and Howard 101, Hein presented the first edition of Superfan Roundtable. His success in on-air hosting led him to become the co-host of The Wrap-Up Show when the show moved to Sirius XM in January 2006.\n\nHein was a co-host on the weekly Thursday show, \"Jon Hein's TV Show\" with J. D. Harmeyer, Steve Brandano and Jenny Hutt. He also co-hosted the weekly Friday show \"Geek Time\" with Jason Kaplan and Ralph Cirella. Both shows have since been canceled.\n\nJason Kaplan\nJason Kaplan is an executive producer for the show. His duties include writing the daily show rundown that appears on the show's website and taking photos that appear alongside the daily rundown. In September 2007, Jason and HowardTV director Scott DePace engaged in an intense feud stemming from their political differences.\n\nJason was married to his girlfriend, Janis, on November 8, 2008. Notable guests at the ceremony included Howard Stern, Robin Quivers, Gary Dell'Abate, and most of Stern's staff. The reception featured speeches from fellow staff members, Ronnie Mund and J. D. Harmeyer. Kaplan hosted \"Page 69\" along with Will Murray. On the wrap-up show on August 19, Kaplan stated that he grew up in Stanhope, New Jersey, and attended Rutgers University.\n\nKaplan hosted monthly episodes of The Fat Guy Show. Kaplan was a producer of the monthly show Geek Time that aired Fridays, with Jon Hein and Ralph Cirella.\n\nOn December 8, 2020, Kaplan stated he was an executive producer during the show's broadcast, serving alongside longtime executive producer Gary Dell'Abate.\n\nRonnie Mund\nRonald Mund, commonly referred to as Ronnie the Limo Driver, born in October 1935, was Stern's limousine driver and later his bodyguard. Ronald is 5 foot, 2 inches tall and was frequently mocked for not being able to see over the steering wheel of his limo without sitting on a stack of textbooks by Howard on air. He later became the head of security for the Stern show studios and offices at Sirius Radio. After serving in the Air Force, Mund started a limo business. He began driving for Stern in 1986, and quickly became a character on the radio show. In 2011, Ronnie began touring night clubs around the U.S. with other talent from The Howard Stern Show on the \"Ronnie Mund Block Party.\" In March 2013, Ronnie hosted a 4-day event in Jamaica called the Ronnie Mund Jamaican Getaway.\n\nWill Murray\nWill Murray is the show's researcher and segment producer. He pre-interviews all guests, and compiles pages of notes of research for Howard to use during on-air interviews. He and fellow producer Jason Kaplan hosted the Howard 100 News segment \"Page 69.\"\n\nOn September 5, 2008, Will married his long-time girlfriend. A Philadelphia area native, he is a huge Philadelphia sports fan, and is a graduate of Syracuse University.\n\nMike Trainor\n\nMike Trainor joined the show in 2014 as writer and producer. He became prominent on the show as the voice of a lump that was growing on Wack Packer Jeff the Drunk. His name is not used on the program. Instead he is often referred to on the air as \"Lump.\"\n\nMarci Turk\nMarci Turk is chief operating officer of Stern's channels, but her name is not used on the air. A former employee of author David Allen, she is a prominent advocator of his Getting Things Done method of time management.\n\nFormer staff and associates\nThe following people all saw significant air-time when they worked with Stern. Some were show staffers who left for other careers. Some had been interns, Stern's bosses, and station support staff who for a time were all integral to the show.\n\nFormer radio staff\n\nK. C. Armstrong\n\nKyle Casey \"K. C.\" Armstrong (born July 17, 1975), who grew up in nearby Suffolk County, New York, had been a college football player. He began working on the show as an intern in 1997 and later became associate producer from 1998 to 2004. In a 2005 interview, Armstrong revealed that he had been fired from the show by WXRK general manager Tom Chiusano for lapsing back into drug use after spending time in rehab.\n\nArmstrong was needled by Stern for his good looks and athletic body. Some show staffers, jealous of his appearance, speculated that if he is that good-looking, he must be gay. Armstrong eventually moved to California, where he tried to start a career in acting. He released a comedy DVD called Die Laughing. He has acted in three movies – Death4Told, Grace and the Storm and Secret War and appears on the comedy DVD series Meet the Creeps.\n\nLee Davis\n\"Boy\" Lee Davis was the original Stern show producer at WNBC before Gary Dell'Abate. He left to become the producer of the Soupy Sales show. He moved up the ladder in station management and eventually became the general manager of sports radio station WFAN, which was the successor to WNBC at AM 660 in New York.\n\nShuli Egar\nShuli Egar is a comedian who first appeared on the show in June 2003. When Stern announced his planned move to Sirius and created Howard 100 News in 2005, Egar was an early hire. He was promoted to reporting about and keeping tabs on The Wack Pack. He also filled in for Lisa G and Steve Langford when they were out.\n\nIn September 2020, Egar abruptly moved to Alabama from New York City out of concern for his family, who felt unsafe in their neighborhood due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest caused by the George Floyd protests. Egar did not inform Stern of his relocation until he had already finished moving, though SiriusXM management was made aware and approved of the move. With all content for the Howard Stern Channels being created remotely rather than at the SiriusXM headquarters in New York during the pandemic, Egar was still able to contribute to the show.\n\nOn January 22, 2021, Egar announced on Twitter he was launching a podcast through Patreon. In the first episode of his podcast, Egar stated he was no longer happy working at the show and had not been for several years. He felt the content he was creating was being sidelined too frequently, and that he was not allowed on the air as frequently as he would have liked to be. After his move to Alabama, Egar claimed show producers took him off the assignment of covering the Wack Pack, his longtime primary role at the show. Egar resigned from the show, saying that he and the staff at the Stern Show, including Stern himself, were still on good terms, and that Stern called him upon learning of his resignation to wish him well. At the time of his departure, Egar was the only original member of the Howard 100 News team that remained on staff.\n\nSteve Freid\nSteve \"the Engineer\" Freid first worked with Ben Stern and later worked with Howard when he arrived at K-Rock. He gained notoriety performing as the character Wood Yi, a parody of actor/director Woody Allen. Billy West came up with the idea for the character in the early 1990s, and Steve was chosen to play the part due to having a similar-sounding voice. When performing as Wood Yi, Steve read lines supplied to him by the shows' staff, reciting them in a deadpan manner.\n\nGary Garver\nGary Garver was a West Coast-based correspondent for The Howard Stern Show who first started working for the show in 1991 when he was an operator at KLSX, the show's Los Angeles affiliate. He was sent to awards shows, movie premieres and television conventions to ask \"Stuttering John\"-type questions to celebrities and has-beens.\n\nSteve Grillo\nFormer Stern Show intern and associate producer at WXRK, known as \"Gorilla\". Howard dedicated his second book Miss America to Steve. Grillo conducted movie reviews for Howard 100 News in 2006. As homage to his former duties as a Stern show intern, he rated films by awarding them a certain number of potatoes.\n\nArtie Lange\n\nLange's first appearance on the show was as a guest alongside fellow comedian Norm Macdonald on January 8, 1998, following a bit involving Scott the Engineer and his challenge to perform 17 complete push-ups. Although appearing with Macdonald to promote the film Dirty Work, Lange had been a fan of Stern since the 1980s when he used to listen with his father. In fact, after Lange's father was paralyzed in 1987, show producer Gary Dell'Abate sent Lange an autographed jacket which Lange auctioned off for $2,000 to help support his family.\n\nFollowing the departure of the show's writer and comedian Jackie \"The Jokeman\" Martling in 2001, several comedians \"auditioned\" for Martling's seat by sitting in for a couple of shows. Lange's first appearance in what became known as \"The Jackie Chair\" occurred for 2 days, on May 7 and 8, 2001. The temporary appearance consisted of being Stern's sidekick along with Quivers, and Lange frequently told personal stories, usually regarding alcohol, drugs, food and prostitutes. On October 29, 2001, Lange joined the show full-time and was voted favorite by Howard's fans in 2009.\n\nLange left the show in December 2009. At first the leave was thought to be temporary, but in early 2010 he attempted suicide at his apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey. The incident has not been discussed in great detail on the show and for much of 2010, Stern mentioned that Lange would return when he was healthy. However, in 2011 the show and the Howard 100 News began to reference Lange as a \"former\" staffer. On October 3, 2011, Lange began co-hosting The Nick & Artie Show with comedian Nick DiPaolo. This show aired on Directv. In April 2014, Artie was informed before the show that Directv had cancelled his show. He went on air that night for the last time as a part of the Directv team. He currently is the host of a podcast called \"The Artie Lange Uncensored Podcast.\"\n\nJohn Melendez\n\nIn 1988, Stuttering John was attending New York University's film school, and belonged to a band called \"Rock Slide\". His college roommate, Mitch Fatel, was on the verge of quitting his internship with The Howard Stern Show, when Melendez begged him for a recommendation for an internship on the show. Producer Gary Dell'Abate interviewed Melendez and mentioned his stuttering problem to Stern, who decided to hire him as a field reporter.\n\nOn Stern's show, Melendez conducted outrageous street interviews and appeared at press conferences, asking off-the-wall questions to various celebrities, including Gennifer Flowers, Ringo Starr, Burt Reynolds, Tommy Lasorda, Larry King and the Dalai Lama. He also provided comic relief on the show itself with his misadventures, poor grammar, and sloppy pronunciation. Melendez left the show after being offered a half-million-dollar contract as the announcer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.\n\nAl Rosenberg\nAl Rosenberg was a writer/performer for Howard on WNBC. He did numerous voice impressions including Sue Simmons and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. In The History of Howard Stern, Howard stated that he hired Al after Imus fired him so that he (Imus) could hire his girlfriend to replace Rosenberg. He stayed on at WNBC after Howard was fired because he was still under contract to the station. Al also worked on WNEW-AM radio as one half of the morning team with Bob Fitzsimmons. He also worked with Ted Brown. He later worked again for Howard on the \"Channel 9 Show\" as a writer. Al called into Stern's show in 2007 (during a Paul Mooney interview) to discuss Imus' racism. He also appeared on Howard 101's defunct \"Miserable Men\" program.\n\nHe currently works doing speaking engagements and voice-over work. He also serves on the board of Rise, a non-profit organization and currently serves as Deputy Mayor for East Windsor Township, New Jersey.\n\nScott Salem\nScott the Engineer was the show's long-time engineer, having joined on February 10, 1986. Having previously worked at WABC (AM) and WPLJ in New York City, Salem received a voice mail from Jimmy Fink, then the morning personality at WXRK informing him of his new position.\n\nIn 1996, the Austin American-Statesman wrote that Scott is \"always threatening to quit or on the verge of being fired, he's the show's whipping boy for technical problems\". In 2007, Salem made a onetime appearance on tour with the \"Killers of Comedy,\" performing stand-up followed by a Q&A session with the audience. Salem is an avid bowler and has competed in and appeared at several PBA tour events.\n\nRon Tarrant\n\nRon Tarrant joined the Howard Stern Channels in 2016 from Canada as the Head Imaging/Sound Designer & new voice of the Howard Stern Show/Channels. He left the show in 2019.\n\nBilly West\n\nBilly West provided the show with comedy impersonations, part-time, beginning on November 7, 1988. He was known for his impressions of Marge Schott and show comedian Jackie Martling. West's final appearance was on November 1, 1995, before he left the show over contract and salary disputes. On February 19 and 20, 2007, a special two-part retrospective of West's work on the show was broadcast on Howard 100 and Howard 101, covering over 11 hours.\n\nWest was an occasional contributor to The Adam Carolla Show, a syndicated morning radio show that replaced Stern in cities along the West Coast.\n\nFormer radio associates\n\nBubba Clem\n\nBubba the Love Sponge is both the title of, and name of the host of, a radio show airing on Howard 101 from 2005 to the end of 2010. Bubba (actual legal name Bubba The Love Sponge Clem, born Todd Clem) had previously been \"exiled\" from radio after a great deal of controversy over his terrestrial radio show, based in Tampa, Florida. Stern brought Bubba's show aboard and in so doing relaunched Bubba's career and show. Bubba credits Stern for reviving his career.\n\nThe show left Sirius XM at the end of 2010 and moved to RadioIO Internet Radio and syndicated terrestrial radio.\n\nDonna Fiducia\n\nDonna Fiducia was an on-air traffic reporter on WNBC radio during Stern's tenure there. They had frequent conversations while she was on the air, sometimes leaving her no time to actually deliver the traffic report.\n\nRev. Bob Levy\n\n\"Reverend\" Bob Levy is a standup comedian who was a frequent on and off air contributor to the Sirius XM radio show from the show's debut until around 2009. He hosted the Miserable Men show and created a series of roasts for Stern show personalities such as Gary Dell'Abate, Artie Lange, and Wack Packers such as Daniel Carver. The placement, frequency and number of plugs given during the Stern show for Levy's off-air efforts was a constant source of tension, especially after the availability of plugs was severely restricted. After Artie's departure, Levy complained on air that some details of the situation were being \"covered up\" and blamed Howard Stern for the suicide attempt. Levy's departure from the Stern channels soon followed and he is almost never mentioned on the air.\n\nFormer Howard 101 hosts\n\nScott Ferrall\n\nScott Ferrall was the host of The Scott Ferrall Show heard weekdays at 8 pm EST on Howard 101. It aired from 2006 to 2012.\n\nGreg Fitzsimmons\n\nGreg Fitzsimmons hosted The Greg Fitzsimmons Show on Howard 101 from 2006-2018.\n\nAbe Kanan\nAbe Kanan was host of The Abe Kanan Show, which aired on Howard 101 weekends and late nights. Kanan's show originated in Chicago. It began as a series of podcasts and was picked up by the Stern channels in February 2011 and lasted until December 2013. He now hosts his own podcast titled \"Abe Kanan On Hold\".\n\nRiley Martin\n\nRiley Martin (May 9, 1946 – December 2015) was a self-described alien contactee, author, and host of The Riley Martin Show, which was heard Tuesdays at Midnight ET on Howard 101.\n\nJackie Martling\n\nJackie Martling is the former head writer and in-studio laugh track of The Howard Stern Show. He was later the host of Jackie's Joke Hunt. The show, co-hosted by fellow Friar Ian Karr, premiered on October 3, 2006 at 7 pm EST. It aired live, every Tuesday at 7 pm ET on Sirius Howard 101, with reruns heard Thursday mornings at 12 am ET and Saturday afternoons at 2 pm ET. Jackie's Joke Hunt was canceled along with many other shows that have been cut during 2014–2015, when Sirius 101 began to focus only on past shows from the Howard Stern library.\n\nMutt\nMutt is the founder of the Stern Fan Network message board and was host of The Super Fan Roundtable, which had been heard Wednesday's at 7 pm ET on Howard 101.\n\nRed Peters\n\nRed Peters was the host of The Red Peters Music Comedy Hour which aired periodically on Howard 101. Peters (real name Douglas Stevens) is a Boston-based songwriter/comedian who specializes in a musical form best described as \"lounge smut.\" His show featured a compilation of songs packed with scat jokes and double-entendres.\n\nJeff Probst & Natalie Maines\n\nJeff Probst is best known for his role as the host of the U.S. version of the reality show Survivor and Natalie Maines is best known as the lead singer of The Dixie Chicks. Together after each season of Survivor has wrapped-up they host a two-hour Celebrity Superfan Roundtable on Howard 101, where they bring in big-name Hollywood stars such as actor David Arquette, LA weatherbabe Jillian Reynolds, producer Damon Lindelof, singer Mark McGrath, actor Jerry O'Connell, actor Ryan Phillippe, comedian Sarah Silverman, and actor Steven Weber to discuss their favorite moments on the Stern show.\n\nJay Thomas\n\nJay Thomas was the host of The Jay Thomas Show on Howard 101 from 2005 until his 2017 death.\n\nChuck Zito\n\nChuck Zito is an actor, amateur boxer, martial artist, celebrity bodyguard, stuntman, former boxing trainer and former president of the New York City chapter of the Hells Angels. He hosted the periodic Chuck Zito's View on Howard 101.\n\nFormer Howard 100 News staff\n\nPenny Crone\n\nPenny Crone was a correspondent on Howard 100 News. She had been a field reporter for many years on Channel 5 WNYM, the Fox network affiliate in New York and later was the morning co-host on WABC 770 AM.\n\nBrad Driver\nBrad Driver was the News Director at Howard 100 News and was responsible for managing the news team. He has held the position since December 2006.\n\nLisa Glasberg\n\nLisa Glasberg was a former co-host with Doctor Dré and Ed Lover on New York hip-hop radio station Hot 97 WQHT-FM. She was known informally as Lisa G, serving as an on-air reporter for Howard 100 until February 2015, updating live news headlines each morning and filing reports for hourly Howard 100 news updates. Glasberg is a native of Woodmere, New York.\n\nRalph Howard\nThe late Ralph Howard anchored Howard 100 News every weekday afternoon. He had previously been a news anchor on New York radio stations WINS 1010 AM and WMCA 570 AM. In September 2010, he underwent lung transplant surgery. He retired from the show on May 30, 2013 after 53 years of news broadcasting. Howard was married to Broadway actress and longtime Charles Busch collaborator, Julie Halston.\n\nSteve Langford\nSteve Langford had been a field reporter on WCBS-TV Channel 2 and other local TV news departments. He became an investigative reporter for Howard 100 News. He later returned to local TV news.\n\nJon Leiberman\n\nJon Leiberman was an in-studio and remote correspondent for Howard 100 News who was hired in July 2011.\n\nMichael Morales\nMichael \"High Pitch Mike\" Morales was Howard 100 News producer, reporter, and on-air regular. He publicly came out as gay on the show. Mike has an unusual, squeaky voice, leading to his nickname.\n\nTV staff\n\nRalph Cirella\n\nRalph Cirella was paid by Howard TV to be Howard Stern's personal stylist, a job he previously held for Stern's E! show. Cirella was first hired to construct a \"talking penis\", for a broadcast at the Felt Forum on New Year's Eve 1986. He has been a listener since Stern's time at WNBC from 1982 to 1985. Cirella did not make on-screen appearances until 1990, when he worked on costumes, special effects and make up on The Howard Stern Show on WWOR-TV. In his book, Miss America, Howard Stern calls Ralph the most universally hated member of his staff. Throughout 2006, Cirella briefly co-hosted the now defunct The Friday Show with Gary Dell'Abate and Jon Hein, on Howard 100 and Howard 101. He was also the host of \"Geek Time\" which aired on Howard 101.\n\nScott DePace\nScott DePace was the television director for the daily broadcast of The Howard Stern Show for Howard TV. His wife, Pamela, won an Emmy for her work on The Daily Show.\n\nScott Einziger\nScott Einziger is a former Producer of Stern's syndicated Saturday night TV show and E! show. Left the show in November 2001 to become a producer on The Amazing Race. He has since worked on other reality shows such as Kid Nation, Big Brother, and Are You Hot?. Stern sued Einziger and his production company for ripping off his \"The Evaluators\" which Are You Hot? mirrored.\n\nMike Gange\nMike Gange started at the show as an intern, and, after years of toil, worked his way up to cameraman/interviewer for the former Stern TV show on E! Gange then became supervising producer for Howard TV.\n\nDoug Goodstein\nDoug Z. Goodstein was Stern's E! show producer and executive producer for Howard TV On Demand.\n\nRobin Radzinski\nRobin Radzinski is a former E! network executive and former Producer of Stern's E! show who has also worked for G4, HBO, and TBS.\n\nFormer bosses\n\nRandy Bongarten\nRandy Bongarten is a radio executive and former Vice-President and General Manager at WNBC who was later promoted to be President of the entire NBC Radio Network. Robin Quivers said that Randy's tenure at WNBC were the \"good years\" at the station because Randy \"understood the show, and was interested in letting the talent do the things that would let the talent be successful.\"\n\nTom Chiusano\nTom Chiusano was the general manager at WXRK, the frequent target of Stern show jokes, and in the later years of the show the master of the \"dump button\" to prevent content he deemed inappropriate from reaching the airwaves. Chiusano remained at WXRK when Stern and company moved to Sirius, and after several format changes at his station, he eventually announced his retirement in January 2008.\n\nJohn Hayes\n\nJohn Hayes is a radio executive, famously named \"The Incubus\" by Howard during his days as Vice-President and General Manager at WNBC replacing Randy Bongarten. He and Kevin Metheny were portrayed by Paul Giamatti as a composite character under the name Kenny \"Pig Vomit\" Rushton in the 1997 movie, Private Parts. It was Hayes who actually fired Stern from WNBC-AM in 1985 on the orders of NBC network executives. In 2002, Hayes once again pulled Stern's show from CILQ-FM in Toronto. Hayes proudly calls himself \"the man who fired Howard Stern twice.\"\n\nKevin Metheny\n\nKevin Metheny (June 6, 1954 – October 3, 2014) was a radio executive, famously named \"Pig Virus\" by Howard during his days as Program Director at WNBC. He and his replacement John Hayes were portrayed by Paul Giamatti as a composite character under the name Kenny \"Pig Vomit\" Rushton in the 1997 movie, Private Parts.\n\nTim Sabean\nTim Sabean was the Senior Vice President of the Howard Stern Channels for Howard 100 & 101. He managed the channels and their personnel for Howard. Before coming to Sirius he was the program director at Stern's Philadelphia affiliate WYSP-FM. Sabean's departure from the show was never formally announced, but he is no longer listed as a staff or front office member on the Stern show website. The last entry on his official Twitter feed was on 1 August 2013 and his last on-air appearance was around that time.\n\nOn September 9, 2013 it was announced by Sirius/XM that he'd been promoted to Senior Vice President of all the Entertainment and Comedy channels.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Howard Stern's Official Web Site at HowardStern.com\n\nStern, Howard" ]
[ "Richard Christy", "The Howard Stern Show", "When was he on the Howard Stern show", "he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air.", "Were they supposed to be voicemails he left for Howard Stern?", "he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine" ]
C_5a218b7a521f4f6099c9279c6639982c_1
Did he ever appear in person has a guest?
3
Did Richard Christy ever appear in person as a guest?
Richard Christy
Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. His made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted his a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. CANNOTANSWER
His made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003
Thomas Richard Christy Jr. (born April 1, 1974) is an American drummer, radio personality and actor, best known for being the former drummer for several heavy metal bands since the early 1990s, most notably Death, and his tenure on The Howard Stern Show. Born and raised in Kansas, Christy took an interest in rock and heavy metal music in his youth, and started playing the drums at age ten. He played in several bands while at school. Christy's music career began in 1992 when he joined the Springfield, Missouri group Public Assassin, and also worked as an electrician. In 1996, Christy formed Burning Inside and relocated to Orlando, Florida, where he joined and toured with several popular heavy metal bands until 2004, including Acheron, Death, Control Denied, Iced Earth, and Leash Law. In 2004, Christy took a break from music and relocated to New York City to join The Howard Stern Show. He has written, directed, and acted in several home made independent films and has performed as a stand-up comedian. He returned to music in 2009 when he formed his own metal band, Charred Walls of the Damned. Early life Thomas Richard Christy was born in Fort Scott, Kansas on April 1, 1974. His father is a Vietnam veteran. Christy grew up in the nearby town of Redfield, on a "farm in the middle of nowhere". According to the 2010 census, the town has a population of 146. He became a fan of Kiss and Meat Loaf from four years old when his aunt introduced him to them and bought him their albums a year later. His elder neighbor, a fan of heavy metal music, introduced him to Metal Health (1983) by Quiet Riot which had a considerable effect on Christy. He recalled, "I heard those drums and that music and was just blown away. I was new to that whole sound ... Quiet Riot felt like the next step up in terms of heaviness". He proceeded to save up his pocket money to purchase the album on audio cassette. Albums that influenced him during this time included Stay Hungry (1984) by Twisted Sister and Powerslave (1984) by Iron Maiden. In 1992, he started playing the guitar. Christy wished to learn the drums after he heard "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen, in 1984. His parents had no issue with his decision, and to this day, they remain supportive of his career. When he turned ten, his parents bought him his first drum pad and sticks, practicing on it before they purchased his first full professional kit at a junkyard for $100. Christy bought instructional videos to improve his technique, including tapes from Terry Bozzio. Later in his development, drummers Dave Lombardo and Pete Sandoval inspired him to play fast. He was also influenced by drummers Frankie Banali, Mikkey Dee, Bobby Jarzombek, Sean Reinert, and Gene Hoglan. At fourteen, Christy attended his first concert, seeing Stryper and White Lion. Christy's first group was playing in a school band in the mid-1980s which included a position in the school's marching band, playing the snare drum and tympani, which he particularly enjoyed, and wrote a song dedicated to the experience and his teachers named "Forever Marching On". He passed his school music exams, and played in his first "legitimate" rock group, Syzygy, at around fifteen which involved live gigs in local bars. Around this time, Christy formed a short lived "joke band", Bung Dizeez, along with Paul Brewer, Gary White, and sometimes Les Henderson. Their first gig took place "on a hay wagon at a keg party." The three wore jock straps over their clothes and performing parody songs and Judas Priest covers. In 1992, Christy graduated from Uniontown High School in Uniontown, Kansas. Career Music In 1992, the 18-year-old Christy decided to pursue music in college in Kansas. In the week before he was set to begin, he heard one of his favourite bands, Public Assassin from Springfield, Missouri, were looking for a new drummer. After a successful audition in August 1992, he chose to join them rather than study. He then moved from his Fort Scott home and into "an old warehouse" in Springfield, and played on "Raw as Fuck", a same-titled mini-CD, and a demo titled Murdered. They toured the midwest across 1993, playing covers. As he needed further income to support himself, Christy learned to become a residential electrician. In December 1993, Christy and Public Assassin guitarist Steve Childers formed a comical group, Skip Skiffington and The Elite, with Skiffington on vocals and Rick Granberg on keyboards. During this time, Christy played in a "joke punk band" with several friends named Pisser, playing GG Allin and Cocknoose covers. In 1995, Public Assassin disbanded after Christy and Childers had several differences with singer/bassist Greg Ponder. In late 1995, Christy and Childers formed Burning Inside new recruits Jamie Prim on vocals/bass and, later on, Michael Estes on guitar. To increase their potential, the group relocated in February 1996 to Orlando, Florida, an area favourable for the metal scene. Christy arrived by car, carrying everything he owned. They toured, recorded songs for five metal tribute albums, and produced a six-song demo tape of new material released as The Eve of the Entities (2000). Christy stayed in Florida for eight years. His income from music and electric work was limited, so he could only afford accommodation in a storage unit where he also kept and practised his drums for as much as six hours each day. With only an outside garden hose to shower with, he later wrote a song about his appreciation for more comfortable living named "The Beast Outside My Window". Christy joined local metal group Acheron, touring and playing on Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) and Necromanteion Communion (1998). His boss at his electrical company allowed him to spend time away to record and tour with his bands. In 1997, Christy met fellow Orlando resident, singer and guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, in a chance encounter at a Florida book store in Altamonte Mall. Schuldiner was, and remains, an influential figure in Christy's career. Christy was a big fan of Schuldiner's metal band Death, so when he learned the group needed a drummer his friends suggested his name and he was offered an audition. Christy knew "all of their albums ... back and forth", and auditioned with only Schuldiner and himself present. The audition was a success, and Christy played on The Sound of Perseverance (1998), an album he called "the album I'm most proud of". In May 1998, Christy toured Europe for four months with Death, which included a spot at the Dynamo Open Air festival in the Netherlands in front of 35,000 people. A friendship and musical camaraderie with Schuldiner also brought Christy into the line-up of Schuldiner's progressive metal group, the more melodic Control Denied. Christy played drums on their debut album, The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) and When Man and Machine Collide, an incomplete album that is yet to be released. The two became close friends, and Christy would spend several Thanksgiving holidays with Schuldiner's family. In December 2001, Schuldiner died from brain cancer. Christy remains close with the family. Between 1999 and 2004, Christy became a member of Iced Earth and Leash Law, timing his schedule in order to perform in multiple bands at once. In April 2000, he played with Incantation on their tour in support of The Infernal Storm (2000), playing to audiences of several hundred at each show. Afterwards, he toured Europe with Demons and Wizards, playing festivals of up to 20,000 people in attendance. He landed the gig in Iced Earth through contacts he knew at Century Media Records, a prominent heavy metal label. His first live gigs with them followed in August 2000, playing festivals including the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. In 2004, Christy began a five-and-a-half year hiatus as an active musician, but kept in touch with the metal scene by practicing his drums, attending local concerts, and writing articles for several publications. By 2008, he started to write new material, playing the guitar more than he had done previously, and ended up with an entire album in demo form. He signed a recording deal with Metal Blade Records in 2009 to release an album with his metal supergroup, Charred Walls of the Damned. He asked his first choice of musicians to take part in the project: bassist Steve DiGiorgio, vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens and guitarist Jason Suecof. It took roughly three months for Christy to settle on the band's name, and had around 200 possible names as "every good band name has been taken". Their self-titled debut album was released in 2010. Their second, Cold Winds on Timeless Days, followed in 2011. Christy named the latter as the first letter of each word matched the band's initials. Christy has performed live with Dream Theater, "A Favor House Atlantic" with Coheed and Cambria, Tiwanaku, Rick Renstrom, and Wykked Wytch. Sometime after 2011, Christy put together music that featured his three guinea pigs. Three of the songs were released under the band name Boar Glue as part of a split EP with Hatebeak, another band that features an african grey parrot. The Howard Stern Show Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. He made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. Equipment Christy endorses DDrum drums, Aquarian drumheads, Sabian cymbals, and Vater drumsticks. Film and television Christy once dreamed of a career in film after he saw Brad Pitt, from nearby Springfield, Missouri, in Interview with the Vampire. He hung up posters of Pitt in his New York City apartment, and once worked at a computer store owned by Pitt's parents. He has been a fan of horror films since his youth, and rates Halloween (1978) as his “faaavorite”. In the mid-1990s, while living in Missouri, he started to make his own independent, low budget films. His first, Evil Ned 2, a horror comedy was made in 1994. This was followed by its sequel, Evil Ned 3: The Return of Evil Ned 2 – Electric Boogaloo, in 1995, with a plot involving "dirty magazines, huge hog testicles, gay monsters, Amish erotica, and evil talking ducks". The film was produced for $250, "200 of which was spent on beer". The film premiered at a Missouri hotel, and was made available online in 2007. In 2001, Christy released his feature-length film, Leaving Grunion County. Its premiere was held at the Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida that April. In 2006, Christy and Governale wrote, directed, and starred in the 30-minute comedy film Supertwink for Stern's on-demand digital cable service Howard Stern On Demand. It premiered at the Pioneer Theater in New York City on January 4, 2006. The film was reviewed by critic Richard Roeper, who panned it. In 2007, Christy appeared in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay playing the role of a Ku Klux Klansman named Kenny. In the same year, he landed his first television role Rescue Me, portraying a "really creepy guy at end of bar". In 2009, he appeared as Caleb in the horror film Albino Farm. Also in 2009, Christy and Governale appeared in the 2009 horror novel Castaways, written by horror and crime novelist Brian Keene. Christy has recorded voiceovers for the Adult Swim shows Metalocalypse and Rick and Morty. He guest appeared on the Cartoon Network series Uncle Grandpa, playing Ric. Christy later made a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as a character simply named "Down There!". Christy has written articles for Decibel magazine about his love for horror films, named "Richard Christy's Horrorscope". Personal life Christy married Kristin Jenco on July 30, 2011, in New York City. They have one son, Carson Cain Christy, born in 2017, and affectionately known as "Bubby". Carson is named after former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Carson Wentz. The Eagles are Kristin's favorite team. If they have another son, they plan to name him Patrick after Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs are Richard's favorite team. Prior to Super Bowl LIV, on the Howard Stern Wrap Up Show, Christy met Patrick Mahomes and tearfully told him that he loved him and explained his intention to name his next son after him. He is also a Kansas City Royals fan and attended the 2015 World Series with fellow Howard Stern Show co-worker Gary Dell'Abate (who is an avid New York Mets fan). Discography With Acheron Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) Necromanteion Communion/Raise the Dead (1998) With Death The Sound of Perseverance (1998) Live in Eindhoven (1998) Live in L.A. (Death & Raw) (1999) With Control Denied The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) When Man and Machine Collide (unreleased) With Burning Inside The Eve of the Entities (2000) With Demons & Wizards Demons & Wizards (2000) With Iced Earth Horror Show (2001) Tribute to the Gods (2002) The Glorious Burden (2004) With Leash Law Dogface (2003) Cunninglinguistics (2007) With Charred Walls of the Damned Charred Walls of the Damned (2010) Cold Winds on Timeless Days (2011) Creatures Watching Over the Dead (2016) With Boar Glue Glue 'Em All (2018) split with Hatebeak References External links 1974 births Living people American heavy metal drummers American radio writers Iced Earth members Death (metal band) members Musicians from Kansas Howard Stern People from Fort Scott, Kansas Pranksters Sirius Satellite Radio 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Charred Walls of the Damned members Demons & Wizards (band) members Control Denied members 21st-century American drummers
false
[ "This list of episodes of Conan details information on the episodes spanning from 2010–2011, of Conan, a television program on TBS hosted by Conan O'Brien. A week of shows were taped at the Beacon Theatre in New York City during October 31—November 3, 2011.\n\n2010\n\nNovember\n\nDecember\n\n2011\n\nJanuary\n\nFebruary\n\nMarch\n\nApril\n\nMay\n\nJune\n\nJuly\n\nAugust\n\nSeptember\n\nOctober\n\nNovember\n\nDecember\n\nNotes\nAlthough she was billed in the opening sequence of the May 11, 2011 show as the musical guest, Kesha did not perform; rather, she made an appearance as a traditional guest.\nNate Bargatze's scheduled appearance on July 21, 2011 was cancelled. He instead performed on August 10, 2011.\nIn the opening of multiple episodes in August 2011, Steve Zampanides was listed as a guest to appear in the broadcast, but in all instances his appearance was delayed to the next episode, supposedly due to time limitations. In the beginning of the episodes, he is billed as having a different unusual skill, such as \"font expert\" and \"shark whisperer\". His name did not appear on the weekly schedules posted on the official website of the show and no promotional links that referenced him were provided; given this information, there is no indication that he was ever intended to be an actual guest or is even an actual person.\nAlthough they only constitute part of the band, Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins were billed in the opening sequence as the Foo Fighters. Later they performed, along with the rest of the band, as the musical guests.\nOn the November 3, 2011 show, Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog was billed in the opening sequence as a guest to appear on the show. While the character did make an appearance on the show, he did so only in a video segment and in a cameo appearance during the filming of the show; he did not make a traditional guest appearance. Additionally, Scott Cronick and David Gorshein were billed under the event \"The Wedding of Scott and David\" and their wedding took place during the traditional musical or entertainment guest segment of the show.\n\nReferences\n\nEpisodes (2010-2011)\nLists of variety television series episodes\n\ntr:Conan bölümleri listesi", "The International Discworld Convention, also known as DWCon, is a biennial science fiction convention held in the United Kingdom on even-numbered years. DWCon was first held in 1996 by members of the Usenet newsgroup alt.fan.pratchett.\n\nThe DWCon is a fan-run convention focussing on the Discworld novels and other works by Sir Terry Pratchett. The programme has several events that appear each time such as the Gala Dinner, Maskerade (spelled in this manner due to Pratchett's novel of the same name), Charity Auction, Guest of Honour Interview, and \"Terry's Bedtime Stories\". The conventions regularly feature large attendee-run groups that have been known variously as Guilds and Sects. There are also smaller events such as interviews, games and competitions, guest klatches, and other activities.\n\nHistory\nThe convention has been held in the UK since 1996. The conventions have been held at various different hotels. A planned convention in 2000 (Titled 'MilleniCon Hand and Shrimp') had to be cancelled for financial reasons, but the conventions have been run every two years since.\n\nWhile Sir Terry once made a point of attending every UK-based Discworld Convention (and many of the non-UK conventions) as guest of honour, the Convention announced on 1 July 2014 that he would be unable to attend in person due to health reasons, but that he would appear in an on-camera Q&A session from his home instead.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n The International Discworld Convention official website\n The North American Discworld Convention\n German Discworld Convention\n Australian Discworld Convention\n Irish Discworld Convention\n\nDiscworld organisations" ]
[ "Richard Christy", "The Howard Stern Show", "When was he on the Howard Stern show", "he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air.", "Were they supposed to be voicemails he left for Howard Stern?", "he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine", "Did he ever appear in person has a guest?", "His made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003" ]
C_5a218b7a521f4f6099c9279c6639982c_1
Was his apperance successful?
4
was Richard Christy's appearance successful?
Richard Christy
Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. His made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted his a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. CANNOTANSWER
Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star.
Thomas Richard Christy Jr. (born April 1, 1974) is an American drummer, radio personality and actor, best known for being the former drummer for several heavy metal bands since the early 1990s, most notably Death, and his tenure on The Howard Stern Show. Born and raised in Kansas, Christy took an interest in rock and heavy metal music in his youth, and started playing the drums at age ten. He played in several bands while at school. Christy's music career began in 1992 when he joined the Springfield, Missouri group Public Assassin, and also worked as an electrician. In 1996, Christy formed Burning Inside and relocated to Orlando, Florida, where he joined and toured with several popular heavy metal bands until 2004, including Acheron, Death, Control Denied, Iced Earth, and Leash Law. In 2004, Christy took a break from music and relocated to New York City to join The Howard Stern Show. He has written, directed, and acted in several home made independent films and has performed as a stand-up comedian. He returned to music in 2009 when he formed his own metal band, Charred Walls of the Damned. Early life Thomas Richard Christy was born in Fort Scott, Kansas on April 1, 1974. His father is a Vietnam veteran. Christy grew up in the nearby town of Redfield, on a "farm in the middle of nowhere". According to the 2010 census, the town has a population of 146. He became a fan of Kiss and Meat Loaf from four years old when his aunt introduced him to them and bought him their albums a year later. His elder neighbor, a fan of heavy metal music, introduced him to Metal Health (1983) by Quiet Riot which had a considerable effect on Christy. He recalled, "I heard those drums and that music and was just blown away. I was new to that whole sound ... Quiet Riot felt like the next step up in terms of heaviness". He proceeded to save up his pocket money to purchase the album on audio cassette. Albums that influenced him during this time included Stay Hungry (1984) by Twisted Sister and Powerslave (1984) by Iron Maiden. In 1992, he started playing the guitar. Christy wished to learn the drums after he heard "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen, in 1984. His parents had no issue with his decision, and to this day, they remain supportive of his career. When he turned ten, his parents bought him his first drum pad and sticks, practicing on it before they purchased his first full professional kit at a junkyard for $100. Christy bought instructional videos to improve his technique, including tapes from Terry Bozzio. Later in his development, drummers Dave Lombardo and Pete Sandoval inspired him to play fast. He was also influenced by drummers Frankie Banali, Mikkey Dee, Bobby Jarzombek, Sean Reinert, and Gene Hoglan. At fourteen, Christy attended his first concert, seeing Stryper and White Lion. Christy's first group was playing in a school band in the mid-1980s which included a position in the school's marching band, playing the snare drum and tympani, which he particularly enjoyed, and wrote a song dedicated to the experience and his teachers named "Forever Marching On". He passed his school music exams, and played in his first "legitimate" rock group, Syzygy, at around fifteen which involved live gigs in local bars. Around this time, Christy formed a short lived "joke band", Bung Dizeez, along with Paul Brewer, Gary White, and sometimes Les Henderson. Their first gig took place "on a hay wagon at a keg party." The three wore jock straps over their clothes and performing parody songs and Judas Priest covers. In 1992, Christy graduated from Uniontown High School in Uniontown, Kansas. Career Music In 1992, the 18-year-old Christy decided to pursue music in college in Kansas. In the week before he was set to begin, he heard one of his favourite bands, Public Assassin from Springfield, Missouri, were looking for a new drummer. After a successful audition in August 1992, he chose to join them rather than study. He then moved from his Fort Scott home and into "an old warehouse" in Springfield, and played on "Raw as Fuck", a same-titled mini-CD, and a demo titled Murdered. They toured the midwest across 1993, playing covers. As he needed further income to support himself, Christy learned to become a residential electrician. In December 1993, Christy and Public Assassin guitarist Steve Childers formed a comical group, Skip Skiffington and The Elite, with Skiffington on vocals and Rick Granberg on keyboards. During this time, Christy played in a "joke punk band" with several friends named Pisser, playing GG Allin and Cocknoose covers. In 1995, Public Assassin disbanded after Christy and Childers had several differences with singer/bassist Greg Ponder. In late 1995, Christy and Childers formed Burning Inside new recruits Jamie Prim on vocals/bass and, later on, Michael Estes on guitar. To increase their potential, the group relocated in February 1996 to Orlando, Florida, an area favourable for the metal scene. Christy arrived by car, carrying everything he owned. They toured, recorded songs for five metal tribute albums, and produced a six-song demo tape of new material released as The Eve of the Entities (2000). Christy stayed in Florida for eight years. His income from music and electric work was limited, so he could only afford accommodation in a storage unit where he also kept and practised his drums for as much as six hours each day. With only an outside garden hose to shower with, he later wrote a song about his appreciation for more comfortable living named "The Beast Outside My Window". Christy joined local metal group Acheron, touring and playing on Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) and Necromanteion Communion (1998). His boss at his electrical company allowed him to spend time away to record and tour with his bands. In 1997, Christy met fellow Orlando resident, singer and guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, in a chance encounter at a Florida book store in Altamonte Mall. Schuldiner was, and remains, an influential figure in Christy's career. Christy was a big fan of Schuldiner's metal band Death, so when he learned the group needed a drummer his friends suggested his name and he was offered an audition. Christy knew "all of their albums ... back and forth", and auditioned with only Schuldiner and himself present. The audition was a success, and Christy played on The Sound of Perseverance (1998), an album he called "the album I'm most proud of". In May 1998, Christy toured Europe for four months with Death, which included a spot at the Dynamo Open Air festival in the Netherlands in front of 35,000 people. A friendship and musical camaraderie with Schuldiner also brought Christy into the line-up of Schuldiner's progressive metal group, the more melodic Control Denied. Christy played drums on their debut album, The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) and When Man and Machine Collide, an incomplete album that is yet to be released. The two became close friends, and Christy would spend several Thanksgiving holidays with Schuldiner's family. In December 2001, Schuldiner died from brain cancer. Christy remains close with the family. Between 1999 and 2004, Christy became a member of Iced Earth and Leash Law, timing his schedule in order to perform in multiple bands at once. In April 2000, he played with Incantation on their tour in support of The Infernal Storm (2000), playing to audiences of several hundred at each show. Afterwards, he toured Europe with Demons and Wizards, playing festivals of up to 20,000 people in attendance. He landed the gig in Iced Earth through contacts he knew at Century Media Records, a prominent heavy metal label. His first live gigs with them followed in August 2000, playing festivals including the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. In 2004, Christy began a five-and-a-half year hiatus as an active musician, but kept in touch with the metal scene by practicing his drums, attending local concerts, and writing articles for several publications. By 2008, he started to write new material, playing the guitar more than he had done previously, and ended up with an entire album in demo form. He signed a recording deal with Metal Blade Records in 2009 to release an album with his metal supergroup, Charred Walls of the Damned. He asked his first choice of musicians to take part in the project: bassist Steve DiGiorgio, vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens and guitarist Jason Suecof. It took roughly three months for Christy to settle on the band's name, and had around 200 possible names as "every good band name has been taken". Their self-titled debut album was released in 2010. Their second, Cold Winds on Timeless Days, followed in 2011. Christy named the latter as the first letter of each word matched the band's initials. Christy has performed live with Dream Theater, "A Favor House Atlantic" with Coheed and Cambria, Tiwanaku, Rick Renstrom, and Wykked Wytch. Sometime after 2011, Christy put together music that featured his three guinea pigs. Three of the songs were released under the band name Boar Glue as part of a split EP with Hatebeak, another band that features an african grey parrot. The Howard Stern Show Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. He made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. Equipment Christy endorses DDrum drums, Aquarian drumheads, Sabian cymbals, and Vater drumsticks. Film and television Christy once dreamed of a career in film after he saw Brad Pitt, from nearby Springfield, Missouri, in Interview with the Vampire. He hung up posters of Pitt in his New York City apartment, and once worked at a computer store owned by Pitt's parents. He has been a fan of horror films since his youth, and rates Halloween (1978) as his “faaavorite”. In the mid-1990s, while living in Missouri, he started to make his own independent, low budget films. His first, Evil Ned 2, a horror comedy was made in 1994. This was followed by its sequel, Evil Ned 3: The Return of Evil Ned 2 – Electric Boogaloo, in 1995, with a plot involving "dirty magazines, huge hog testicles, gay monsters, Amish erotica, and evil talking ducks". The film was produced for $250, "200 of which was spent on beer". The film premiered at a Missouri hotel, and was made available online in 2007. In 2001, Christy released his feature-length film, Leaving Grunion County. Its premiere was held at the Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida that April. In 2006, Christy and Governale wrote, directed, and starred in the 30-minute comedy film Supertwink for Stern's on-demand digital cable service Howard Stern On Demand. It premiered at the Pioneer Theater in New York City on January 4, 2006. The film was reviewed by critic Richard Roeper, who panned it. In 2007, Christy appeared in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay playing the role of a Ku Klux Klansman named Kenny. In the same year, he landed his first television role Rescue Me, portraying a "really creepy guy at end of bar". In 2009, he appeared as Caleb in the horror film Albino Farm. Also in 2009, Christy and Governale appeared in the 2009 horror novel Castaways, written by horror and crime novelist Brian Keene. Christy has recorded voiceovers for the Adult Swim shows Metalocalypse and Rick and Morty. He guest appeared on the Cartoon Network series Uncle Grandpa, playing Ric. Christy later made a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as a character simply named "Down There!". Christy has written articles for Decibel magazine about his love for horror films, named "Richard Christy's Horrorscope". Personal life Christy married Kristin Jenco on July 30, 2011, in New York City. They have one son, Carson Cain Christy, born in 2017, and affectionately known as "Bubby". Carson is named after former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Carson Wentz. The Eagles are Kristin's favorite team. If they have another son, they plan to name him Patrick after Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs are Richard's favorite team. Prior to Super Bowl LIV, on the Howard Stern Wrap Up Show, Christy met Patrick Mahomes and tearfully told him that he loved him and explained his intention to name his next son after him. He is also a Kansas City Royals fan and attended the 2015 World Series with fellow Howard Stern Show co-worker Gary Dell'Abate (who is an avid New York Mets fan). Discography With Acheron Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) Necromanteion Communion/Raise the Dead (1998) With Death The Sound of Perseverance (1998) Live in Eindhoven (1998) Live in L.A. (Death & Raw) (1999) With Control Denied The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) When Man and Machine Collide (unreleased) With Burning Inside The Eve of the Entities (2000) With Demons & Wizards Demons & Wizards (2000) With Iced Earth Horror Show (2001) Tribute to the Gods (2002) The Glorious Burden (2004) With Leash Law Dogface (2003) Cunninglinguistics (2007) With Charred Walls of the Damned Charred Walls of the Damned (2010) Cold Winds on Timeless Days (2011) Creatures Watching Over the Dead (2016) With Boar Glue Glue 'Em All (2018) split with Hatebeak References External links 1974 births Living people American heavy metal drummers American radio writers Iced Earth members Death (metal band) members Musicians from Kansas Howard Stern People from Fort Scott, Kansas Pranksters Sirius Satellite Radio 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Charred Walls of the Damned members Demons & Wizards (band) members Control Denied members 21st-century American drummers
true
[ "Chimaerochloa is a genus of New Guinean plants in the grass family.\n\nThe genus name of Chimaerochloa is named after Chimera (mythology) as Linder noted; \"the grass takes an the appearance of different genera, depending on which character set is investigated. Thus, it can be regarded as a grass that changes its apperance, a chimaera\".\n\nThe genus was circumscribed by Hans Peter Linder in Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. Vol.97 (Issue 3) on page 346 in 2010.\n\nSpecies\nThe only known species is Chimaerochloa archboldii.\n\nReferences\n\nDanthonioideae\nEndemic flora of New Guinea\nGrasses of Oceania\nMonotypic Poaceae genera", "Sabhaapathy is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed by debutant R. Srinivasa Rao and produced by R K Entertainment. The film stars Santhanam and Preeti Verma in the lead roles and the music is composed by Sam C. S. The film released theatrically on 19 November 2021 to moderate reviews from critics but positive response from audience and ended up as a moderate failure in the box office. The satellite and streaming rights were sold to Colors Tamil and Amazon Prime Video respectively.\n\nCast \n\n Santhanam as Sabapathy\n Preeti Verma as Savithri (Saavi)\n M. S. Bhaskar as Ganapathy, Sabapathy’s father\n Sayaji Shinde as Lucky Raja\n Vamsi Krishna as Selvam\n Mayilsamy as Astrologer \n Uma Padmanabhan as Leelavathi, Sabapathy’s mother\n Swaminathan as Rajamani\n Prema Priya as Rajamani's wife\n 'Lollu Sabha' Maaran as Thief\n Pugazh as Ramani [ Extended Cameo apperance ]\n Vaishnavi Arulmozhi as Manju, Sabapathy's Sister\n Rama as Savithri’s mother\n Madurai Muthu as Savithri’s brother-in-law [ Cameo apperance ]\n Master Advaith as Young Sabapathy\n K. Bujji Babu as Gopal, vegetable cart \n Kothandam\n\nSoundtrack\n\nThe soundtrack and score was composed by Sam C. S.\n\nReception \n\nSiby Jeyya of India Herald wrote, \"Sabhaapathy is one of Santhanam's better films as a leading man.\" Sudhir Srinivasan of The New Indian Express wrote, \"Sabhaapathy, begins with the deep voice of a narrator who identifies himself as ‘vidhi’, claiming to ‘play’ with ‘innocent’ people like Sabhaapathy. I imagine that on the day I watched Sabhaapathy, Mr Vidhi had chosen me for his game.\" Suganth of The Times of India gave a rating of 2.5 out on 5 and wrote, \"Sabhaapathy is a middling affair. Like a dream that eludes you once you wake up, you forget it the moment you step out of the theatre.\" Sify gave a rating of 2 out on 5 and wrote as \"sabhaapathy is a below-average comedy entertainer that can be watched for the hilarious comedy combination between  Santhanam and the MS Baskar!\" and the final verdict as \"Tedious\". Ranjani krishnakumar of Film Companion wrote, \"Sabhaapathy is a test of patience, even if you generally enjoy Santhanam's brand of humour.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\nIndian films\n2020s Tamil-language films\n2021 comedy-drama films\nIndian comedy-drama films" ]
[ "Richard Christy", "The Howard Stern Show", "When was he on the Howard Stern show", "he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air.", "Were they supposed to be voicemails he left for Howard Stern?", "he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine", "Did he ever appear in person has a guest?", "His made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003", "Was his apperance successful?", "Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star." ]
C_5a218b7a521f4f6099c9279c6639982c_1
Did he ever appear on the show again?
5
Did Richard Christy ver appear on the show again?
Richard Christy
Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. His made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted his a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. CANNOTANSWER
Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite.
Thomas Richard Christy Jr. (born April 1, 1974) is an American drummer, radio personality and actor, best known for being the former drummer for several heavy metal bands since the early 1990s, most notably Death, and his tenure on The Howard Stern Show. Born and raised in Kansas, Christy took an interest in rock and heavy metal music in his youth, and started playing the drums at age ten. He played in several bands while at school. Christy's music career began in 1992 when he joined the Springfield, Missouri group Public Assassin, and also worked as an electrician. In 1996, Christy formed Burning Inside and relocated to Orlando, Florida, where he joined and toured with several popular heavy metal bands until 2004, including Acheron, Death, Control Denied, Iced Earth, and Leash Law. In 2004, Christy took a break from music and relocated to New York City to join The Howard Stern Show. He has written, directed, and acted in several home made independent films and has performed as a stand-up comedian. He returned to music in 2009 when he formed his own metal band, Charred Walls of the Damned. Early life Thomas Richard Christy was born in Fort Scott, Kansas on April 1, 1974. His father is a Vietnam veteran. Christy grew up in the nearby town of Redfield, on a "farm in the middle of nowhere". According to the 2010 census, the town has a population of 146. He became a fan of Kiss and Meat Loaf from four years old when his aunt introduced him to them and bought him their albums a year later. His elder neighbor, a fan of heavy metal music, introduced him to Metal Health (1983) by Quiet Riot which had a considerable effect on Christy. He recalled, "I heard those drums and that music and was just blown away. I was new to that whole sound ... Quiet Riot felt like the next step up in terms of heaviness". He proceeded to save up his pocket money to purchase the album on audio cassette. Albums that influenced him during this time included Stay Hungry (1984) by Twisted Sister and Powerslave (1984) by Iron Maiden. In 1992, he started playing the guitar. Christy wished to learn the drums after he heard "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen, in 1984. His parents had no issue with his decision, and to this day, they remain supportive of his career. When he turned ten, his parents bought him his first drum pad and sticks, practicing on it before they purchased his first full professional kit at a junkyard for $100. Christy bought instructional videos to improve his technique, including tapes from Terry Bozzio. Later in his development, drummers Dave Lombardo and Pete Sandoval inspired him to play fast. He was also influenced by drummers Frankie Banali, Mikkey Dee, Bobby Jarzombek, Sean Reinert, and Gene Hoglan. At fourteen, Christy attended his first concert, seeing Stryper and White Lion. Christy's first group was playing in a school band in the mid-1980s which included a position in the school's marching band, playing the snare drum and tympani, which he particularly enjoyed, and wrote a song dedicated to the experience and his teachers named "Forever Marching On". He passed his school music exams, and played in his first "legitimate" rock group, Syzygy, at around fifteen which involved live gigs in local bars. Around this time, Christy formed a short lived "joke band", Bung Dizeez, along with Paul Brewer, Gary White, and sometimes Les Henderson. Their first gig took place "on a hay wagon at a keg party." The three wore jock straps over their clothes and performing parody songs and Judas Priest covers. In 1992, Christy graduated from Uniontown High School in Uniontown, Kansas. Career Music In 1992, the 18-year-old Christy decided to pursue music in college in Kansas. In the week before he was set to begin, he heard one of his favourite bands, Public Assassin from Springfield, Missouri, were looking for a new drummer. After a successful audition in August 1992, he chose to join them rather than study. He then moved from his Fort Scott home and into "an old warehouse" in Springfield, and played on "Raw as Fuck", a same-titled mini-CD, and a demo titled Murdered. They toured the midwest across 1993, playing covers. As he needed further income to support himself, Christy learned to become a residential electrician. In December 1993, Christy and Public Assassin guitarist Steve Childers formed a comical group, Skip Skiffington and The Elite, with Skiffington on vocals and Rick Granberg on keyboards. During this time, Christy played in a "joke punk band" with several friends named Pisser, playing GG Allin and Cocknoose covers. In 1995, Public Assassin disbanded after Christy and Childers had several differences with singer/bassist Greg Ponder. In late 1995, Christy and Childers formed Burning Inside new recruits Jamie Prim on vocals/bass and, later on, Michael Estes on guitar. To increase their potential, the group relocated in February 1996 to Orlando, Florida, an area favourable for the metal scene. Christy arrived by car, carrying everything he owned. They toured, recorded songs for five metal tribute albums, and produced a six-song demo tape of new material released as The Eve of the Entities (2000). Christy stayed in Florida for eight years. His income from music and electric work was limited, so he could only afford accommodation in a storage unit where he also kept and practised his drums for as much as six hours each day. With only an outside garden hose to shower with, he later wrote a song about his appreciation for more comfortable living named "The Beast Outside My Window". Christy joined local metal group Acheron, touring and playing on Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) and Necromanteion Communion (1998). His boss at his electrical company allowed him to spend time away to record and tour with his bands. In 1997, Christy met fellow Orlando resident, singer and guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, in a chance encounter at a Florida book store in Altamonte Mall. Schuldiner was, and remains, an influential figure in Christy's career. Christy was a big fan of Schuldiner's metal band Death, so when he learned the group needed a drummer his friends suggested his name and he was offered an audition. Christy knew "all of their albums ... back and forth", and auditioned with only Schuldiner and himself present. The audition was a success, and Christy played on The Sound of Perseverance (1998), an album he called "the album I'm most proud of". In May 1998, Christy toured Europe for four months with Death, which included a spot at the Dynamo Open Air festival in the Netherlands in front of 35,000 people. A friendship and musical camaraderie with Schuldiner also brought Christy into the line-up of Schuldiner's progressive metal group, the more melodic Control Denied. Christy played drums on their debut album, The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) and When Man and Machine Collide, an incomplete album that is yet to be released. The two became close friends, and Christy would spend several Thanksgiving holidays with Schuldiner's family. In December 2001, Schuldiner died from brain cancer. Christy remains close with the family. Between 1999 and 2004, Christy became a member of Iced Earth and Leash Law, timing his schedule in order to perform in multiple bands at once. In April 2000, he played with Incantation on their tour in support of The Infernal Storm (2000), playing to audiences of several hundred at each show. Afterwards, he toured Europe with Demons and Wizards, playing festivals of up to 20,000 people in attendance. He landed the gig in Iced Earth through contacts he knew at Century Media Records, a prominent heavy metal label. His first live gigs with them followed in August 2000, playing festivals including the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. In 2004, Christy began a five-and-a-half year hiatus as an active musician, but kept in touch with the metal scene by practicing his drums, attending local concerts, and writing articles for several publications. By 2008, he started to write new material, playing the guitar more than he had done previously, and ended up with an entire album in demo form. He signed a recording deal with Metal Blade Records in 2009 to release an album with his metal supergroup, Charred Walls of the Damned. He asked his first choice of musicians to take part in the project: bassist Steve DiGiorgio, vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens and guitarist Jason Suecof. It took roughly three months for Christy to settle on the band's name, and had around 200 possible names as "every good band name has been taken". Their self-titled debut album was released in 2010. Their second, Cold Winds on Timeless Days, followed in 2011. Christy named the latter as the first letter of each word matched the band's initials. Christy has performed live with Dream Theater, "A Favor House Atlantic" with Coheed and Cambria, Tiwanaku, Rick Renstrom, and Wykked Wytch. Sometime after 2011, Christy put together music that featured his three guinea pigs. Three of the songs were released under the band name Boar Glue as part of a split EP with Hatebeak, another band that features an african grey parrot. The Howard Stern Show Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. He made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. Equipment Christy endorses DDrum drums, Aquarian drumheads, Sabian cymbals, and Vater drumsticks. Film and television Christy once dreamed of a career in film after he saw Brad Pitt, from nearby Springfield, Missouri, in Interview with the Vampire. He hung up posters of Pitt in his New York City apartment, and once worked at a computer store owned by Pitt's parents. He has been a fan of horror films since his youth, and rates Halloween (1978) as his “faaavorite”. In the mid-1990s, while living in Missouri, he started to make his own independent, low budget films. His first, Evil Ned 2, a horror comedy was made in 1994. This was followed by its sequel, Evil Ned 3: The Return of Evil Ned 2 – Electric Boogaloo, in 1995, with a plot involving "dirty magazines, huge hog testicles, gay monsters, Amish erotica, and evil talking ducks". The film was produced for $250, "200 of which was spent on beer". The film premiered at a Missouri hotel, and was made available online in 2007. In 2001, Christy released his feature-length film, Leaving Grunion County. Its premiere was held at the Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida that April. In 2006, Christy and Governale wrote, directed, and starred in the 30-minute comedy film Supertwink for Stern's on-demand digital cable service Howard Stern On Demand. It premiered at the Pioneer Theater in New York City on January 4, 2006. The film was reviewed by critic Richard Roeper, who panned it. In 2007, Christy appeared in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay playing the role of a Ku Klux Klansman named Kenny. In the same year, he landed his first television role Rescue Me, portraying a "really creepy guy at end of bar". In 2009, he appeared as Caleb in the horror film Albino Farm. Also in 2009, Christy and Governale appeared in the 2009 horror novel Castaways, written by horror and crime novelist Brian Keene. Christy has recorded voiceovers for the Adult Swim shows Metalocalypse and Rick and Morty. He guest appeared on the Cartoon Network series Uncle Grandpa, playing Ric. Christy later made a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as a character simply named "Down There!". Christy has written articles for Decibel magazine about his love for horror films, named "Richard Christy's Horrorscope". Personal life Christy married Kristin Jenco on July 30, 2011, in New York City. They have one son, Carson Cain Christy, born in 2017, and affectionately known as "Bubby". Carson is named after former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Carson Wentz. The Eagles are Kristin's favorite team. If they have another son, they plan to name him Patrick after Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs are Richard's favorite team. Prior to Super Bowl LIV, on the Howard Stern Wrap Up Show, Christy met Patrick Mahomes and tearfully told him that he loved him and explained his intention to name his next son after him. He is also a Kansas City Royals fan and attended the 2015 World Series with fellow Howard Stern Show co-worker Gary Dell'Abate (who is an avid New York Mets fan). Discography With Acheron Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) Necromanteion Communion/Raise the Dead (1998) With Death The Sound of Perseverance (1998) Live in Eindhoven (1998) Live in L.A. (Death & Raw) (1999) With Control Denied The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) When Man and Machine Collide (unreleased) With Burning Inside The Eve of the Entities (2000) With Demons & Wizards Demons & Wizards (2000) With Iced Earth Horror Show (2001) Tribute to the Gods (2002) The Glorious Burden (2004) With Leash Law Dogface (2003) Cunninglinguistics (2007) With Charred Walls of the Damned Charred Walls of the Damned (2010) Cold Winds on Timeless Days (2011) Creatures Watching Over the Dead (2016) With Boar Glue Glue 'Em All (2018) split with Hatebeak References External links 1974 births Living people American heavy metal drummers American radio writers Iced Earth members Death (metal band) members Musicians from Kansas Howard Stern People from Fort Scott, Kansas Pranksters Sirius Satellite Radio 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Charred Walls of the Damned members Demons & Wizards (band) members Control Denied members 21st-century American drummers
true
[ "This list of episodes of Conan details information on the episodes spanning from 2010–2011, of Conan, a television program on TBS hosted by Conan O'Brien. A week of shows were taped at the Beacon Theatre in New York City during October 31—November 3, 2011.\n\n2010\n\nNovember\n\nDecember\n\n2011\n\nJanuary\n\nFebruary\n\nMarch\n\nApril\n\nMay\n\nJune\n\nJuly\n\nAugust\n\nSeptember\n\nOctober\n\nNovember\n\nDecember\n\nNotes\nAlthough she was billed in the opening sequence of the May 11, 2011 show as the musical guest, Kesha did not perform; rather, she made an appearance as a traditional guest.\nNate Bargatze's scheduled appearance on July 21, 2011 was cancelled. He instead performed on August 10, 2011.\nIn the opening of multiple episodes in August 2011, Steve Zampanides was listed as a guest to appear in the broadcast, but in all instances his appearance was delayed to the next episode, supposedly due to time limitations. In the beginning of the episodes, he is billed as having a different unusual skill, such as \"font expert\" and \"shark whisperer\". His name did not appear on the weekly schedules posted on the official website of the show and no promotional links that referenced him were provided; given this information, there is no indication that he was ever intended to be an actual guest or is even an actual person.\nAlthough they only constitute part of the band, Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins were billed in the opening sequence as the Foo Fighters. Later they performed, along with the rest of the band, as the musical guests.\nOn the November 3, 2011 show, Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog was billed in the opening sequence as a guest to appear on the show. While the character did make an appearance on the show, he did so only in a video segment and in a cameo appearance during the filming of the show; he did not make a traditional guest appearance. Additionally, Scott Cronick and David Gorshein were billed under the event \"The Wedding of Scott and David\" and their wedding took place during the traditional musical or entertainment guest segment of the show.\n\nReferences\n\nEpisodes (2010-2011)\nLists of variety television series episodes\n\ntr:Conan bölümleri listesi", "The Andy Dick Show is an American sketch comedy series that aired on MTV from February 2001 to May 2002. The series was created by and starred comedian Andy Dick.\n\nSynopsis\nEvery episode of the series was written and directed by Andy, also popularly known as Dick. Generally, he would appear as different character in several mockumentary sketches, with that character appearing as a talking head narrating events shown in Cinéma vérité and b-roll.\n\nHis most recognizable and frequent character was Daphne Aguilera, a rude pop star clearly modeled after the exploits and vices of Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and other pop icons. Daphne, according to \"herself\", is Christina Aguilera's cousin; in \"her\" words, \"my mother's is her mother's cousin's friend... or they live on the same block. So, [Christina and I are] basically cousins\". The Daphne character was heavily promoted by the real MTV in the weeks leading up to the premiere of The Andy Dick Show. The show's first episode featured the mock-single \"Naughty Baby Did a No-No\", a take on Britney Spears' single \"Oops!... I Did It Again.\"\n\nDaphne would later appear in other segments, appearing on MTV's Cribs and a parody of The View. Daphne even managed to perform \"Naughty Baby Did a No-No\" at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, but cancelled her own performance in the beginning angry and then tried to attack Christina Aguilera, who was laughing all the time (obviously it was all a joke). After The Andy Dick Show'''s cancellation, Daphne made two appearances on MADtv.\n\nSeveral sketches featured Dick as Tom Green. This led to a guest appearance by Green in which each actor played the other.\n\nDick was also fond of playing Marilyn Manson, whom he has satirized in several sketches. In a 2001 interview on Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', Dick said that Manson actually invited him to his home, and after watching a sketch called \"Marilyn Poppins\", Manson said it was the funniest thing he had ever seen.\n\nMany celebrities appeared on the show, including some of Dick's former co-stars such as Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, Dave Foley, Bob Odenkirk, Maura Tierney, Stephen Root, and others such as Dave Grohl, Moby, Christian Slater, Nikka Costa, Rob Zombie, Sevendust, Drew Pinsky, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Da Brat, Vitamin C, and Edward Furlong.\n\nExternal links\n \n\n2001 American television series debuts\n2002 American television series endings\n2000s American sketch comedy television series\nEnglish-language television shows\nMTV original programming" ]
[ "Richard Christy", "The Howard Stern Show", "When was he on the Howard Stern show", "he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air.", "Were they supposed to be voicemails he left for Howard Stern?", "he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine", "Did he ever appear in person has a guest?", "His made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003", "Was his apperance successful?", "Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star.", "Did he ever appear on the show again?", "Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite." ]
C_5a218b7a521f4f6099c9279c6639982c_1
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
6
Besides Richard Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of wining a date with a porn star, are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
Richard Christy
Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. His made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted his a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. CANNOTANSWER
Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale.
Thomas Richard Christy Jr. (born April 1, 1974) is an American drummer, radio personality and actor, best known for being the former drummer for several heavy metal bands since the early 1990s, most notably Death, and his tenure on The Howard Stern Show. Born and raised in Kansas, Christy took an interest in rock and heavy metal music in his youth, and started playing the drums at age ten. He played in several bands while at school. Christy's music career began in 1992 when he joined the Springfield, Missouri group Public Assassin, and also worked as an electrician. In 1996, Christy formed Burning Inside and relocated to Orlando, Florida, where he joined and toured with several popular heavy metal bands until 2004, including Acheron, Death, Control Denied, Iced Earth, and Leash Law. In 2004, Christy took a break from music and relocated to New York City to join The Howard Stern Show. He has written, directed, and acted in several home made independent films and has performed as a stand-up comedian. He returned to music in 2009 when he formed his own metal band, Charred Walls of the Damned. Early life Thomas Richard Christy was born in Fort Scott, Kansas on April 1, 1974. His father is a Vietnam veteran. Christy grew up in the nearby town of Redfield, on a "farm in the middle of nowhere". According to the 2010 census, the town has a population of 146. He became a fan of Kiss and Meat Loaf from four years old when his aunt introduced him to them and bought him their albums a year later. His elder neighbor, a fan of heavy metal music, introduced him to Metal Health (1983) by Quiet Riot which had a considerable effect on Christy. He recalled, "I heard those drums and that music and was just blown away. I was new to that whole sound ... Quiet Riot felt like the next step up in terms of heaviness". He proceeded to save up his pocket money to purchase the album on audio cassette. Albums that influenced him during this time included Stay Hungry (1984) by Twisted Sister and Powerslave (1984) by Iron Maiden. In 1992, he started playing the guitar. Christy wished to learn the drums after he heard "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen, in 1984. His parents had no issue with his decision, and to this day, they remain supportive of his career. When he turned ten, his parents bought him his first drum pad and sticks, practicing on it before they purchased his first full professional kit at a junkyard for $100. Christy bought instructional videos to improve his technique, including tapes from Terry Bozzio. Later in his development, drummers Dave Lombardo and Pete Sandoval inspired him to play fast. He was also influenced by drummers Frankie Banali, Mikkey Dee, Bobby Jarzombek, Sean Reinert, and Gene Hoglan. At fourteen, Christy attended his first concert, seeing Stryper and White Lion. Christy's first group was playing in a school band in the mid-1980s which included a position in the school's marching band, playing the snare drum and tympani, which he particularly enjoyed, and wrote a song dedicated to the experience and his teachers named "Forever Marching On". He passed his school music exams, and played in his first "legitimate" rock group, Syzygy, at around fifteen which involved live gigs in local bars. Around this time, Christy formed a short lived "joke band", Bung Dizeez, along with Paul Brewer, Gary White, and sometimes Les Henderson. Their first gig took place "on a hay wagon at a keg party." The three wore jock straps over their clothes and performing parody songs and Judas Priest covers. In 1992, Christy graduated from Uniontown High School in Uniontown, Kansas. Career Music In 1992, the 18-year-old Christy decided to pursue music in college in Kansas. In the week before he was set to begin, he heard one of his favourite bands, Public Assassin from Springfield, Missouri, were looking for a new drummer. After a successful audition in August 1992, he chose to join them rather than study. He then moved from his Fort Scott home and into "an old warehouse" in Springfield, and played on "Raw as Fuck", a same-titled mini-CD, and a demo titled Murdered. They toured the midwest across 1993, playing covers. As he needed further income to support himself, Christy learned to become a residential electrician. In December 1993, Christy and Public Assassin guitarist Steve Childers formed a comical group, Skip Skiffington and The Elite, with Skiffington on vocals and Rick Granberg on keyboards. During this time, Christy played in a "joke punk band" with several friends named Pisser, playing GG Allin and Cocknoose covers. In 1995, Public Assassin disbanded after Christy and Childers had several differences with singer/bassist Greg Ponder. In late 1995, Christy and Childers formed Burning Inside new recruits Jamie Prim on vocals/bass and, later on, Michael Estes on guitar. To increase their potential, the group relocated in February 1996 to Orlando, Florida, an area favourable for the metal scene. Christy arrived by car, carrying everything he owned. They toured, recorded songs for five metal tribute albums, and produced a six-song demo tape of new material released as The Eve of the Entities (2000). Christy stayed in Florida for eight years. His income from music and electric work was limited, so he could only afford accommodation in a storage unit where he also kept and practised his drums for as much as six hours each day. With only an outside garden hose to shower with, he later wrote a song about his appreciation for more comfortable living named "The Beast Outside My Window". Christy joined local metal group Acheron, touring and playing on Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) and Necromanteion Communion (1998). His boss at his electrical company allowed him to spend time away to record and tour with his bands. In 1997, Christy met fellow Orlando resident, singer and guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, in a chance encounter at a Florida book store in Altamonte Mall. Schuldiner was, and remains, an influential figure in Christy's career. Christy was a big fan of Schuldiner's metal band Death, so when he learned the group needed a drummer his friends suggested his name and he was offered an audition. Christy knew "all of their albums ... back and forth", and auditioned with only Schuldiner and himself present. The audition was a success, and Christy played on The Sound of Perseverance (1998), an album he called "the album I'm most proud of". In May 1998, Christy toured Europe for four months with Death, which included a spot at the Dynamo Open Air festival in the Netherlands in front of 35,000 people. A friendship and musical camaraderie with Schuldiner also brought Christy into the line-up of Schuldiner's progressive metal group, the more melodic Control Denied. Christy played drums on their debut album, The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) and When Man and Machine Collide, an incomplete album that is yet to be released. The two became close friends, and Christy would spend several Thanksgiving holidays with Schuldiner's family. In December 2001, Schuldiner died from brain cancer. Christy remains close with the family. Between 1999 and 2004, Christy became a member of Iced Earth and Leash Law, timing his schedule in order to perform in multiple bands at once. In April 2000, he played with Incantation on their tour in support of The Infernal Storm (2000), playing to audiences of several hundred at each show. Afterwards, he toured Europe with Demons and Wizards, playing festivals of up to 20,000 people in attendance. He landed the gig in Iced Earth through contacts he knew at Century Media Records, a prominent heavy metal label. His first live gigs with them followed in August 2000, playing festivals including the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. In 2004, Christy began a five-and-a-half year hiatus as an active musician, but kept in touch with the metal scene by practicing his drums, attending local concerts, and writing articles for several publications. By 2008, he started to write new material, playing the guitar more than he had done previously, and ended up with an entire album in demo form. He signed a recording deal with Metal Blade Records in 2009 to release an album with his metal supergroup, Charred Walls of the Damned. He asked his first choice of musicians to take part in the project: bassist Steve DiGiorgio, vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens and guitarist Jason Suecof. It took roughly three months for Christy to settle on the band's name, and had around 200 possible names as "every good band name has been taken". Their self-titled debut album was released in 2010. Their second, Cold Winds on Timeless Days, followed in 2011. Christy named the latter as the first letter of each word matched the band's initials. Christy has performed live with Dream Theater, "A Favor House Atlantic" with Coheed and Cambria, Tiwanaku, Rick Renstrom, and Wykked Wytch. Sometime after 2011, Christy put together music that featured his three guinea pigs. Three of the songs were released under the band name Boar Glue as part of a split EP with Hatebeak, another band that features an african grey parrot. The Howard Stern Show Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. He made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. Equipment Christy endorses DDrum drums, Aquarian drumheads, Sabian cymbals, and Vater drumsticks. Film and television Christy once dreamed of a career in film after he saw Brad Pitt, from nearby Springfield, Missouri, in Interview with the Vampire. He hung up posters of Pitt in his New York City apartment, and once worked at a computer store owned by Pitt's parents. He has been a fan of horror films since his youth, and rates Halloween (1978) as his “faaavorite”. In the mid-1990s, while living in Missouri, he started to make his own independent, low budget films. His first, Evil Ned 2, a horror comedy was made in 1994. This was followed by its sequel, Evil Ned 3: The Return of Evil Ned 2 – Electric Boogaloo, in 1995, with a plot involving "dirty magazines, huge hog testicles, gay monsters, Amish erotica, and evil talking ducks". The film was produced for $250, "200 of which was spent on beer". The film premiered at a Missouri hotel, and was made available online in 2007. In 2001, Christy released his feature-length film, Leaving Grunion County. Its premiere was held at the Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida that April. In 2006, Christy and Governale wrote, directed, and starred in the 30-minute comedy film Supertwink for Stern's on-demand digital cable service Howard Stern On Demand. It premiered at the Pioneer Theater in New York City on January 4, 2006. The film was reviewed by critic Richard Roeper, who panned it. In 2007, Christy appeared in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay playing the role of a Ku Klux Klansman named Kenny. In the same year, he landed his first television role Rescue Me, portraying a "really creepy guy at end of bar". In 2009, he appeared as Caleb in the horror film Albino Farm. Also in 2009, Christy and Governale appeared in the 2009 horror novel Castaways, written by horror and crime novelist Brian Keene. Christy has recorded voiceovers for the Adult Swim shows Metalocalypse and Rick and Morty. He guest appeared on the Cartoon Network series Uncle Grandpa, playing Ric. Christy later made a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as a character simply named "Down There!". Christy has written articles for Decibel magazine about his love for horror films, named "Richard Christy's Horrorscope". Personal life Christy married Kristin Jenco on July 30, 2011, in New York City. They have one son, Carson Cain Christy, born in 2017, and affectionately known as "Bubby". Carson is named after former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Carson Wentz. The Eagles are Kristin's favorite team. If they have another son, they plan to name him Patrick after Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs are Richard's favorite team. Prior to Super Bowl LIV, on the Howard Stern Wrap Up Show, Christy met Patrick Mahomes and tearfully told him that he loved him and explained his intention to name his next son after him. He is also a Kansas City Royals fan and attended the 2015 World Series with fellow Howard Stern Show co-worker Gary Dell'Abate (who is an avid New York Mets fan). Discography With Acheron Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) Necromanteion Communion/Raise the Dead (1998) With Death The Sound of Perseverance (1998) Live in Eindhoven (1998) Live in L.A. (Death & Raw) (1999) With Control Denied The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) When Man and Machine Collide (unreleased) With Burning Inside The Eve of the Entities (2000) With Demons & Wizards Demons & Wizards (2000) With Iced Earth Horror Show (2001) Tribute to the Gods (2002) The Glorious Burden (2004) With Leash Law Dogface (2003) Cunninglinguistics (2007) With Charred Walls of the Damned Charred Walls of the Damned (2010) Cold Winds on Timeless Days (2011) Creatures Watching Over the Dead (2016) With Boar Glue Glue 'Em All (2018) split with Hatebeak References External links 1974 births Living people American heavy metal drummers American radio writers Iced Earth members Death (metal band) members Musicians from Kansas Howard Stern People from Fort Scott, Kansas Pranksters Sirius Satellite Radio 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Charred Walls of the Damned members Demons & Wizards (band) members Control Denied members 21st-century American drummers
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 Christy", "The Howard Stern Show", "When was he on the Howard Stern show", "he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air.", "Were they supposed to be voicemails he left for Howard Stern?", "he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine", "Did he ever appear in person has a guest?", "His made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003", "Was his apperance successful?", "Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star.", "Did he ever appear on the show again?", "Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite.", "Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?", "Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale." ]
C_5a218b7a521f4f6099c9279c6639982c_1
Did he have any controversy?
7
Did Richard Christy have any controversy?
Richard Christy
Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. His made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted his a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. CANNOTANSWER
He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals.
Thomas Richard Christy Jr. (born April 1, 1974) is an American drummer, radio personality and actor, best known for being the former drummer for several heavy metal bands since the early 1990s, most notably Death, and his tenure on The Howard Stern Show. Born and raised in Kansas, Christy took an interest in rock and heavy metal music in his youth, and started playing the drums at age ten. He played in several bands while at school. Christy's music career began in 1992 when he joined the Springfield, Missouri group Public Assassin, and also worked as an electrician. In 1996, Christy formed Burning Inside and relocated to Orlando, Florida, where he joined and toured with several popular heavy metal bands until 2004, including Acheron, Death, Control Denied, Iced Earth, and Leash Law. In 2004, Christy took a break from music and relocated to New York City to join The Howard Stern Show. He has written, directed, and acted in several home made independent films and has performed as a stand-up comedian. He returned to music in 2009 when he formed his own metal band, Charred Walls of the Damned. Early life Thomas Richard Christy was born in Fort Scott, Kansas on April 1, 1974. His father is a Vietnam veteran. Christy grew up in the nearby town of Redfield, on a "farm in the middle of nowhere". According to the 2010 census, the town has a population of 146. He became a fan of Kiss and Meat Loaf from four years old when his aunt introduced him to them and bought him their albums a year later. His elder neighbor, a fan of heavy metal music, introduced him to Metal Health (1983) by Quiet Riot which had a considerable effect on Christy. He recalled, "I heard those drums and that music and was just blown away. I was new to that whole sound ... Quiet Riot felt like the next step up in terms of heaviness". He proceeded to save up his pocket money to purchase the album on audio cassette. Albums that influenced him during this time included Stay Hungry (1984) by Twisted Sister and Powerslave (1984) by Iron Maiden. In 1992, he started playing the guitar. Christy wished to learn the drums after he heard "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen, in 1984. His parents had no issue with his decision, and to this day, they remain supportive of his career. When he turned ten, his parents bought him his first drum pad and sticks, practicing on it before they purchased his first full professional kit at a junkyard for $100. Christy bought instructional videos to improve his technique, including tapes from Terry Bozzio. Later in his development, drummers Dave Lombardo and Pete Sandoval inspired him to play fast. He was also influenced by drummers Frankie Banali, Mikkey Dee, Bobby Jarzombek, Sean Reinert, and Gene Hoglan. At fourteen, Christy attended his first concert, seeing Stryper and White Lion. Christy's first group was playing in a school band in the mid-1980s which included a position in the school's marching band, playing the snare drum and tympani, which he particularly enjoyed, and wrote a song dedicated to the experience and his teachers named "Forever Marching On". He passed his school music exams, and played in his first "legitimate" rock group, Syzygy, at around fifteen which involved live gigs in local bars. Around this time, Christy formed a short lived "joke band", Bung Dizeez, along with Paul Brewer, Gary White, and sometimes Les Henderson. Their first gig took place "on a hay wagon at a keg party." The three wore jock straps over their clothes and performing parody songs and Judas Priest covers. In 1992, Christy graduated from Uniontown High School in Uniontown, Kansas. Career Music In 1992, the 18-year-old Christy decided to pursue music in college in Kansas. In the week before he was set to begin, he heard one of his favourite bands, Public Assassin from Springfield, Missouri, were looking for a new drummer. After a successful audition in August 1992, he chose to join them rather than study. He then moved from his Fort Scott home and into "an old warehouse" in Springfield, and played on "Raw as Fuck", a same-titled mini-CD, and a demo titled Murdered. They toured the midwest across 1993, playing covers. As he needed further income to support himself, Christy learned to become a residential electrician. In December 1993, Christy and Public Assassin guitarist Steve Childers formed a comical group, Skip Skiffington and The Elite, with Skiffington on vocals and Rick Granberg on keyboards. During this time, Christy played in a "joke punk band" with several friends named Pisser, playing GG Allin and Cocknoose covers. In 1995, Public Assassin disbanded after Christy and Childers had several differences with singer/bassist Greg Ponder. In late 1995, Christy and Childers formed Burning Inside new recruits Jamie Prim on vocals/bass and, later on, Michael Estes on guitar. To increase their potential, the group relocated in February 1996 to Orlando, Florida, an area favourable for the metal scene. Christy arrived by car, carrying everything he owned. They toured, recorded songs for five metal tribute albums, and produced a six-song demo tape of new material released as The Eve of the Entities (2000). Christy stayed in Florida for eight years. His income from music and electric work was limited, so he could only afford accommodation in a storage unit where he also kept and practised his drums for as much as six hours each day. With only an outside garden hose to shower with, he later wrote a song about his appreciation for more comfortable living named "The Beast Outside My Window". Christy joined local metal group Acheron, touring and playing on Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) and Necromanteion Communion (1998). His boss at his electrical company allowed him to spend time away to record and tour with his bands. In 1997, Christy met fellow Orlando resident, singer and guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, in a chance encounter at a Florida book store in Altamonte Mall. Schuldiner was, and remains, an influential figure in Christy's career. Christy was a big fan of Schuldiner's metal band Death, so when he learned the group needed a drummer his friends suggested his name and he was offered an audition. Christy knew "all of their albums ... back and forth", and auditioned with only Schuldiner and himself present. The audition was a success, and Christy played on The Sound of Perseverance (1998), an album he called "the album I'm most proud of". In May 1998, Christy toured Europe for four months with Death, which included a spot at the Dynamo Open Air festival in the Netherlands in front of 35,000 people. A friendship and musical camaraderie with Schuldiner also brought Christy into the line-up of Schuldiner's progressive metal group, the more melodic Control Denied. Christy played drums on their debut album, The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) and When Man and Machine Collide, an incomplete album that is yet to be released. The two became close friends, and Christy would spend several Thanksgiving holidays with Schuldiner's family. In December 2001, Schuldiner died from brain cancer. Christy remains close with the family. Between 1999 and 2004, Christy became a member of Iced Earth and Leash Law, timing his schedule in order to perform in multiple bands at once. In April 2000, he played with Incantation on their tour in support of The Infernal Storm (2000), playing to audiences of several hundred at each show. Afterwards, he toured Europe with Demons and Wizards, playing festivals of up to 20,000 people in attendance. He landed the gig in Iced Earth through contacts he knew at Century Media Records, a prominent heavy metal label. His first live gigs with them followed in August 2000, playing festivals including the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. In 2004, Christy began a five-and-a-half year hiatus as an active musician, but kept in touch with the metal scene by practicing his drums, attending local concerts, and writing articles for several publications. By 2008, he started to write new material, playing the guitar more than he had done previously, and ended up with an entire album in demo form. He signed a recording deal with Metal Blade Records in 2009 to release an album with his metal supergroup, Charred Walls of the Damned. He asked his first choice of musicians to take part in the project: bassist Steve DiGiorgio, vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens and guitarist Jason Suecof. It took roughly three months for Christy to settle on the band's name, and had around 200 possible names as "every good band name has been taken". Their self-titled debut album was released in 2010. Their second, Cold Winds on Timeless Days, followed in 2011. Christy named the latter as the first letter of each word matched the band's initials. Christy has performed live with Dream Theater, "A Favor House Atlantic" with Coheed and Cambria, Tiwanaku, Rick Renstrom, and Wykked Wytch. Sometime after 2011, Christy put together music that featured his three guinea pigs. Three of the songs were released under the band name Boar Glue as part of a split EP with Hatebeak, another band that features an african grey parrot. The Howard Stern Show Christy became an avid listener of The Howard Stern Show in 1996 when he moved to Florida, listening to the program "every morning religiously" with headphones while he worked as an electrician. After he obtained the number to reach the show's answering machine from the Internet, he began to submit comical voicemail messages in 1999, that were played frequently on the air. From 2001, Christy began to send in song parodies and bits about staffers Robin Quivers and K.C. Armstrong. He made his debut appearance on April 24, 2003 when the show was broadcast from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Christy lost a round of blackjack in hope of winning a date with a porn star. Following the departure of "Stuttering John" Melendez in February 2004, Stern announced the Get John's Job contest a month later, pitting ten listeners who had contributed to the show against each other in competition for the vacated position. Each contestant was given a week to display their talents they could bring to the show, after which the listeners voted online for their favorite. Christy produced a required demo CD of his bits, and was selected to compete for the prize of an initial three-month contract and $25,000. Leaving Iced Earth was a difficult decision for Christy, but felt he could not waste the opportunity to pursue his "dream job" and work for Stern. He had also grown tired of living in Florida, and wished to move. On July 1, 2004 Christy won the contest with 30% of the vote; Sal Governale was second with 24%. By September 2004, both had joined the show as full-time staff members. Christy then relocated from Florida to New York City, where the show is based. Christy has become known on the show for his prank calls, song parodies, and outrageous stunts, usually performed with Governale. He faced challengers in porn trivia in Stump the Perv, vomited on guests, received a bikini wax, and painted his genitals. From 2005, Christy performed nationwide as a stand-up comedian as part of the Killers of Comedy Tour with other show cast members. In 2006, the show relocated to Sirius XM Radio. Christy hosted a semi-regular metal show on the Liquid Metal channel named Richard Christy's Heavy Metal Hoedown. Christy also hosted Inside the Porn Actors Studio on Howard 101, an interview series that parodied the television series Inside the Actors Studio with porn actresses, with Christy filling the role of host James Lipton. Equipment Christy endorses DDrum drums, Aquarian drumheads, Sabian cymbals, and Vater drumsticks. Film and television Christy once dreamed of a career in film after he saw Brad Pitt, from nearby Springfield, Missouri, in Interview with the Vampire. He hung up posters of Pitt in his New York City apartment, and once worked at a computer store owned by Pitt's parents. He has been a fan of horror films since his youth, and rates Halloween (1978) as his “faaavorite”. In the mid-1990s, while living in Missouri, he started to make his own independent, low budget films. His first, Evil Ned 2, a horror comedy was made in 1994. This was followed by its sequel, Evil Ned 3: The Return of Evil Ned 2 – Electric Boogaloo, in 1995, with a plot involving "dirty magazines, huge hog testicles, gay monsters, Amish erotica, and evil talking ducks". The film was produced for $250, "200 of which was spent on beer". The film premiered at a Missouri hotel, and was made available online in 2007. In 2001, Christy released his feature-length film, Leaving Grunion County. Its premiere was held at the Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida that April. In 2006, Christy and Governale wrote, directed, and starred in the 30-minute comedy film Supertwink for Stern's on-demand digital cable service Howard Stern On Demand. It premiered at the Pioneer Theater in New York City on January 4, 2006. The film was reviewed by critic Richard Roeper, who panned it. In 2007, Christy appeared in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay playing the role of a Ku Klux Klansman named Kenny. In the same year, he landed his first television role Rescue Me, portraying a "really creepy guy at end of bar". In 2009, he appeared as Caleb in the horror film Albino Farm. Also in 2009, Christy and Governale appeared in the 2009 horror novel Castaways, written by horror and crime novelist Brian Keene. Christy has recorded voiceovers for the Adult Swim shows Metalocalypse and Rick and Morty. He guest appeared on the Cartoon Network series Uncle Grandpa, playing Ric. Christy later made a cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as a character simply named "Down There!". Christy has written articles for Decibel magazine about his love for horror films, named "Richard Christy's Horrorscope". Personal life Christy married Kristin Jenco on July 30, 2011, in New York City. They have one son, Carson Cain Christy, born in 2017, and affectionately known as "Bubby". Carson is named after former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Carson Wentz. The Eagles are Kristin's favorite team. If they have another son, they plan to name him Patrick after Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs are Richard's favorite team. Prior to Super Bowl LIV, on the Howard Stern Wrap Up Show, Christy met Patrick Mahomes and tearfully told him that he loved him and explained his intention to name his next son after him. He is also a Kansas City Royals fan and attended the 2015 World Series with fellow Howard Stern Show co-worker Gary Dell'Abate (who is an avid New York Mets fan). Discography With Acheron Anti-God, Anti-Christ (1996) Necromanteion Communion/Raise the Dead (1998) With Death The Sound of Perseverance (1998) Live in Eindhoven (1998) Live in L.A. (Death & Raw) (1999) With Control Denied The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) When Man and Machine Collide (unreleased) With Burning Inside The Eve of the Entities (2000) With Demons & Wizards Demons & Wizards (2000) With Iced Earth Horror Show (2001) Tribute to the Gods (2002) The Glorious Burden (2004) With Leash Law Dogface (2003) Cunninglinguistics (2007) With Charred Walls of the Damned Charred Walls of the Damned (2010) Cold Winds on Timeless Days (2011) Creatures Watching Over the Dead (2016) With Boar Glue Glue 'Em All (2018) split with Hatebeak References External links 1974 births Living people American heavy metal drummers American radio writers Iced Earth members Death (metal band) members Musicians from Kansas Howard Stern People from Fort Scott, Kansas Pranksters Sirius Satellite Radio 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Charred Walls of the Damned members Demons & Wizards (band) members Control Denied members 21st-century American drummers
true
[ "The terms email controversy or email scandal might refer to any of the following:\n\nOkinawa email controversy, US Military (2001)\nClimatic Research Unit email controversy, International science (2001)\nBush White House email controversy, US politics (2007)\nLee Abrams email controversy, US media (2010)\nHillary Clinton email controversy, US politics (2015)\nShiva Ayyadurai email controversy, US media (2016)", "Copenhagen shootings may refer to any of these shooting incidents that have occurred in Copenhagen:\n\n 1996 Copenhagen Airport shooting\n 2015 Copenhagen shootings\n 2016 Copenhagen shooting\n\nSee also \n Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings controversy\n Royal Copenhagen Shooting Society" ]
[ "Thalía", "1981-1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era" ]
C_963c5d6c73044648a24858946d8e6313_1
What is the Timbiriche Era?
1
What is the Timbiriche Era?
Thalía
In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed in order to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play while singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalia performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En accion, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna nina del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sokol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubin, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalia obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalia was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre senorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalia's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceanera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalia was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalia was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalia recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clasicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalia departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles in order to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. CANNOTANSWER
In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band.
Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda Mottola (; born 26 August 1971), known mononymously as Thalía, is a Mexican singer and actress. She is considered one of the most successful and influential Mexican artists and is referred to as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media. Having sold around 25 million records worldwide, she is one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all-time. Aside from her native Spanish, Thalía has also sung in English, French, Portuguese and Tagalog. She has received numerous accolades, including five Billboard Latin Music Awards, eight Lo Nuestro Awards, as well as seven Latin Grammy Award nominations and their special "President's Merit Award" in 2019. She has collaborated with multiple artists, such as Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Robbie Williams, Marc Anthony, Laura Pausini, Romeo Santos, Maluma, Fat Joe, and Carlos Vives. As an actress, Thalía starred in a variety of successful telenovelas that aired in over 180 countries with an estimated audiece of 2 billion people according to UNICEF, which led to her being referred to as the "Queen of telenovelas" by the mass media. The global impact of her novelas helped her to popularize her music in non-Spanish speaking territories and markets in Europe and Asia. The Mexican media company Televisa has named her the best-paid telenovela actress in history, while Billboard names her the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world. Considered a Latin pop icon, Ocean Drive called Thalía as "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". She was included in Billboards Greatest Latin Artists of All Time in 2020 and in People En Españols The 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time in 2008. On 5 December 2013, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition for her achievements in the music industry. As a businesswoman, Thalía enjoyed success with a fashion brand (having signed a deal with Macy's), as well she had her own nationally syndicated radio show and is the author of four books, including her memoir. During her career, Thalía has been involved in humanitarian causes and is an UNICEF Mexico Ambassador since 2016. Early life Thalía was born on 26 August 1971 in Mexico City. She is the youngest of five daughters of Yolanda Miranda Mange (d. 2011), a painter who was Thalía's manager from 1980 to 1999 and Ernesto Sodi Pallares (d. 1977), a scientist, doctor of pathology, criminologist and writer. Her four sisters are Laura Zapata (daughter of Guillermo Zapata Pérez de Utrera), Federica, Gabriela and Ernestina Sodi. When she turned one, Thalía appeared in her first TV commercial in Mexico. At the age of four, she began taking ballet and piano classes at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música (Mexico). Her father suffered from diabetes and died in 1977 when Thalía was six years old. Years later, Thalía admitted publicly that her father's death had traumatized her drastically, since she had lost her voice for a whole year. This led to her being diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder (CDH), which belongs to a series of developmental disorders related to autism spectrum. She has said that she had psychological therapy for a few years. She has reportedly mentioned that she was a victim of bullying as a child because of the loss of her father. Thalía attended Lycée Franco-Mexicain elementary school, where she learned to speak French fluently at a very young age. In 1976, a year before her father's death, she had a guest appearance in the Mexican film La guerra de los pasteles ("War of Cakes"), although her name doesn't appear in the film credits. Music career 1981–1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era In 1981, when Thalía was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play like we're singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalía performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En acción, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalía participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna niña del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sökol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubín, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalía obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sökol from Timbiriche, Thalía became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalía was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalía's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceañera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalía was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalía was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalía recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clásicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalía departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. 1990–1993: First albums as a solo artist In 1990, Thalía returned to Mexico and released her first studio album as a solo artist, self-titled Thalía, which was produced by Alfredo Díaz Ordaz, and published by Fonovisa, Televisa's record label. From that album, she released a total of four singles that became radio hits: "Amarillo Azul", "Pienso en Ti", "Un Pacto Entre los Dos" and "Saliva". The last two tracks were co-written by her and Díaz Ordaz and they were considered as provocative at the time ("Un Pacto Entre Los Dos" was even labeled as a song with occult Satan-worship lyrics by various far-right parties). In September 1991, Thalía released her second studio album, Mundo de cristal, which marks Thalía's last project in collaboration with Alfredo Díaz Ordaz. Four songs became radio singles from the album, and all of them had big radio impact in Mexico. Due to the success of the singles, the album was certified as double gold in Thalía's native country, Mexico. In the same year, Thalía was co-presenter of the late Spanish show VIP Noche, along with Spanish presenter Emilio Aragón, produced by Telecinco. In October 1992, she released her third studio album and her last under the same label, entitled Love, which was recorded in Spain and was produced by Luis Carlos Esteban. The album spread six singles, that had huge radio impact: "Sangre", "Love", "María Mercedes" (official theme of the TV series), "No Trates de Engañarme", "Flor de Juventud", and "La Vida en Rosa" (La vie en rose), the last one being a Spanish-French cover of the classic French song originally performed by Edith Piaf. Thalía wrote the song "Sangre" inspired in Díaz Ordaz, with whom she had broken up her sentimental relation. The album was praised by the critics, as it was an artistic evolution for Thalía, who experimented for the first time in different music genres, especially electronic music. The album reached number 15 on Billboard's Latin Pop Albums in 1993. In Mexico, it sold over 200,000 copies in the first month upon its release and very soon it reached the platinum and gold certification, while it was a commercial success all over Latin America. 1994–1999: International breakout In 1994, during the successful transmission of Marimar, Thalía signed a contract with the record label EMI to prepare her fourth studio album that was entitled En éxtasis. The album was released in October 1995. En éxtasis was produced with the aid of celebrated producers such as Emilio Estefan, Jr. (husband of the famous Cuban singer Gloria Estefan) and Óscar López. The album spawned a total of seven singles including "Piel morena", "Amándote", "María la del barrio", "Quiero hacerte el amor", "Gracias a Dios, "Me Faltas Tú" and "Lágrimas". Piel morena became a huge international hit apart from being voted as the best Spanish song ever in the United States from a poll released by mass media company Univision. It must also be added that Thalía was more oriented to the latin pop music genre in that album, even though it was influenced by various music genres. Amandote became a number 1 hit in various radio stations in the Philippines in 1996, along with her phenomenal superstardom accompanied by her historic Manila tour. It was described by Philippine media as tantamount to that of Pope John Paul II's 1995 Manila visit. The broadcast of the telenovelas María Mercedes, Marimar and María la del barrio had already converted Thalía to a global television phenomenon by the end of 1996. In January 1997, she released her first compilation album entitled Nandito Ako, which contains four songs recorded in Filipino, five English versions from various tracks from the album En éxtasis and a Spanish remix of the song Amándote. The only single that was released from this album was Nandito Ako. The album became a commercial success in the Philippines as a result of Thalía's growing popularity, reaching platinum status set by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry. En éxtasis was her first album that was released worldwide, reaching gold, platinum or multi-platinum status in more than 20 countries. In July 1997, Thalía's fifth studio album was released, under the title Amor a la mexicana, produced again by Emilio Estefan, and including songs that became classic over the years like "Mujer Latina", "De dónde soy", "Por amor", "Noches sin luna" and "Amor a la mexicana". The album became a pure commercial success, while the first single of the album ("Amor a la mexicana") became a number one hit in 14 countries. With Amor a la mexicana, Thalía was able to bring her music and establish her projects in difficult markets like those of France, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Italy and all the Spanish-speaking countries. After the success of Amor a la mexicana, Thalía recorded the Spanish and Portuguese versions of the song "Journey to the Past", produced by Atlantic Records, as a part of the soundtrack of the Fox Animation Studios movie Anastasia (1997). In the following year, she starred for the first time in a movie in English, named "Mambo Café", written and directed by Reuben González. Mambo Café premiered in January 2000 in Mexico, Greece and Russia, distributed by Kushner Locke Entertainment. In 1999, after Mambo Café, Thalía returned in television with telenovela Rosalinda. "Rosalinda" was considered to be Televisa's most expensive production ever by that time, as well as the most exported in foreign countries, as it was sold in over 180 countries. In an interview of that period Thalía had commented: "The telenovelas are the ones that opened the doors of the world for me, because the audience of telenovelas is much more passionate than the audience of cinema. What's more, television is free". 2000–2005: Crossover and first tour in the United States Emilio Estefan also produced Thalía's sixth studio album, Arrasando, released on 25 April 2000, which was successful. It spawned the singles "Entre el mar y una estrella", "Regresa a mí", "Arrasando" and "Reencarnación". Thalía was nominated in the Latin Grammy category as the "Best Female Pop Vocal Album". The album received one Latin Grammy nomination and it won in its category as the "Best Sound Engineered Album of the year". The singles of this album were huge hits. In 2001 she was nominated for her record Arrasando and won a Lo Nuestro award in the category of People's Prize, and was the first artist to whom an innovative award from Billboard Awards for Latin Music was given, the "Star Award". On 4 May 2001, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, invited her to a party celebrating Cinco de mayo organized at the White House, where she interpreted a medley of popular Mexican songs with a Mexican mariachi band. On 28 August 2001, expressing her love for her country of birth, Mexico, she released her album Con Banda: Grandes Éxitos: a "greatest hits" album, but recorded with the typical Mexican "banda" sound. "Amor a la Mexicana" banda version was released as a single. The album was nominated for a Latin Grammy for "Best Banda Album" at the 3rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2002. Her seventh studio album, self-titled Thalía, was released on 21 May 2002. It was largely written and produced by Estéfano. Buoyed by a pair of chart-topping singles ("Tú y Yo" and "No me enseñaste") and a top-ten hit ("¿A quién le importa?") (cover of Alaska y Dinarama), this album hit number one for 6 consecutive weeks on the Top Latin Albums chart, reaching number eleven on the Billboard 200 chart and 2x Multi-Platinum status with sales in the U.S. of 200,000 copies. It was nominated in one Latin Grammy category – "Female Pop Vocal Album", and in four Latin Billboard categories – "Pop Track Female" and "Tropical Track Female" for "No Me Enseñaste", "Your World Award", and "Female Pop Album", for Thalía, winning the last two awards. "No Me Enseñaste" reached at No. 1 in Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks chart. On 25 February 2003, she released her first remix album, Thalía's Hits Remixed. This album contains some remixes of her EMI era hits, such as "Amor a la Mexicana", "Piel Morena", "No Me Enseñaste" and "Tú y Yo." It also contains the English version of "Arrasando", called "It's My Party". Furthermore, it includes the previously unreleased medley that Thalía had recorded especially for her 2001 Latin Grammy Awards performance, but was later cancelled, due to the September 11 attacks. On 8 July 2003, Thalía released her eighth studio album and the first one in English, the self-titled Thalía, featuring the rapper Fat Joe in "I Want You/Me Pones Sexy". "Baby, I'm in Love/Alguien Real", "Don't Look Back" and "Cerca De Ti" were singles too. The album landed at No. 11 in The Billboard 200. The song "I Want You" entered the American Top 40 with Casey Kasem and even reached the top 10 during that year. The song also entered the American Billboard Top 100 Singles Charts that year. She won an International Dance Music Award for her club-hit "Dance Dance (The Mexican)". On 10 February 2004, Thalía released her first official Greatest Hits album, and "Cerca de ti" and "Acción y Reacción" were the singles from this album. In April and May, she toured USA and Mexico with her "High Voltage Tour". Her ninth studio album, El Sexto Sentido, was released on 19 July 2005, and recorded mostly in Spanish, but with a few of the songs sung in English as well. It was reported to be the most expensive music album produced in Latin America in 2005. It had mild success, although the sound and the overall result make it one of her most integrated projects. "Amar sin ser amada" was the first single of the album and is considered as an infectious rock-edged tango-based song. "Un alma sentenciada", the second single of the album, is a feverish and, at points, hyperdramatic ballad. The explosive "Seducción" ("Seduction") and "Olvidame" were also releases as singles, gaining considerable success. The album was also certified gold in Argentina, Greece and Mexico and double platinum in the United States. 2006–2008: The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, Lyme disease and Lunada In 2006, the album received a reloaded version, El Sexto Sentido: Re+Loaded. Thalía was the 'godmother' of Cantando Por Un Sueño, a Mexican TV reality show. It was rumored she got paid 1 million dollars to perform. Thalía recorded the title song of the show, and it was included in the album. It was released in Mexico on 13 February 2006 (U.S. 6 June, Spain 29 May) and features four new songs, including a duet with the group Aventura, "No, No, No" which become a massive hit. "El Sexto Sentido" was nominated for one Latin Grammy as "Best Female Pop Vocal Album", it was also nominated in one Latin Billboard category – "Pop Female Album" and in eight Premios Juventud categories. In 2006, Thalía became a U.S. citizen at a swearing-in ceremony in New York, where she resides with her husband. Under Mexican law she is allowed to retain her Mexican citizenship. She also received an award by her then record company EMI, for sales of more than 10 million copies with all her discography with the company. In March 2007, Thalía also joined ABC Radio to start The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, where she talks about music, fashion, news and political issues. Afterwards, she was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in People en Español 2008 for a record-breaking seventh time where they called her their "Queen". She was once again featured in the 2010 edition for an eighth time. In May 2008, Thalía's single "Ten Paciencia", was premiered on the internet. Although, the single received a lukewarm response and did not perform well in the U.S. charts and Top 20 hits in Mexico, it was No. 1 in several countries of Latin America. Furthermore, her tenth studio album Lunada, was released on 24 June 2008, and debuted at number eight in Mexico and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Top Latin Albums (U.S). It was the last Thalía's studio album released by EMI. Thalía later appeared on El Show De Cristina, aired in late July by Univision's Spanish network to promote the album. According to Univision network, her appearance on the show received huge ratings, reaching No. 1 in both the Chicago and Miami markets. The show was said to have been viewed by over 87 million people in the US alone. "Será porque te amo", the second single, received no promotion and became another failed single. It is a Spanish language cover version of the Italian hit "Sarà perché ti amo", originally performed by the group Ricchi e Poveri. On 23 October, it was announced that Thalía was suffering from Lyme disease, which is transmitted by ticks. Fortunately, it was discovered quickly, and the singer, as well as her mother, Yolanda Miranda, were able to receive antibiotics in time. On 18 November, Thalía announced the end of her collaboration with EMI Music. Despite Lunada being a commercial disappointment, it was named as the "Best Album of the Year" by ¡Hola! readers. The latest work of the Mexican singer achieved 8,750 votes beating artists, such as Luis Miguel, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and Madonna. 2009–2011: Success of Primera Fila and Growing Stronger On 30 July 2009, Thalía recorded her acoustic album, Primera fila, her first album after she signed with Sony Music Entertainment. In October, Thalía performed at the White House, along with other Latin singers, in an event organized by President Barack Obama that celebrated Hispanic heritage. Thalía's performance was iconic and historic, as she was the first celebrity to publicly invite a United States President to dance. In October of the same year, she released the first single from Primera fila, a song named Equivocada. In December Thalía released her album, which contained duets with Joan Sebastian and Pedro Capó and various other songs, that became huge radio hits in the following months. The production received critical accept and very positive reviews, while Jason Birchmeier stated that "Primera Fila" was one of the best albums Thalía has released in her whole career, and definitely the one with the most surprises. As for Thalía, she considered Primera Fila as "the most personal album" in her career. Regarding to the album's commercial performance, Primera fila received diamond and triple platinum sales certifications in Mexico, where it was announced by the end of 2011 that the album had sold over 500,000 copies according to AMPROFON. Primera fila was the best selling album in Mexico in 2010, where it topped the charts for 55 non-consecutive weeks, the most weeks ever in Mexico's recorded music chart history. In Greece and Spain, the album reached the positions No. 6 and No. 32, respectively, while it reached No. 4 in Billboard's top Latin Albums and No. 2 in Billboard's Latin Pop Albums charts. Initially, Primera Fila had reached No. 1 on both aforementioned charts, but sales of the standard edition and the Walmart edition were later divided, leading to a retraction and update to Billboard's official peak positions for Primera Fila. After these changes, Primera fila went from a peak position of No. 167 to a peak position of No. 198 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Until the month of October 2012, Primera fila had sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In September 2010, Thalía released a special anniversary edition of the album under the title Primera fila... Un año después, which included 8 songs from the original album, as well as 2 never-released before songs, 2 remixes and a DVD with a documentary of the recording process of the album. In October 2010, Michael Bublé invited her to record a song with him in his holiday album Christmas. Together they recorded the bilingual song "Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad" and their collaboration received very positive reviews. 2012–2013: Habitame Siempre and VIVA! Tour Thalía had a collaboration with US music veteran Tony Bennett for his "Viva:Duets" album, which was released on 22 October 2012. Together they performed live the classic song "The way you look tonight" in Today's show and the Katie Couric's show. During the past months, she had announced that she was recording her eleventh studio album, Habítame siempre. On 21 September 2012, Thalía gave a private concert in New York City at Hammerstein Ballroom as a preview of the upcoming album. The album's lead single, "Manías", was released on 8 October 2012. Habítame siempre was released on 19 November 2012, in the United States and Latin America under the label of Sony Music Latin, while in Europe it is set to be released in 2013 by BMG Music. The album contains collaborations with Robbie Williams, Michael Bublé, Prince Royce and Gilberto Santa Rosa, among others and immensely after its release, it received mostly positive reviews. Habitame Siempre was certified triple platinum plus gold in Mexico for sales of more than 210,000 copies, gold in the United States for shipments exceeding 50,000 copies and platinum in Venezuela for over 10,000 copies shipped. In the meantime the second single of the album, "Te Perdiste Mi Amor", was certified platinum in Mexico for digital sales of over 60,000 copies. On 24 March 2013, Thalía launched her VIVA! Tour in support of Habítame Siempre. The VIVA! Tour marks Thalía's first tour in a decade and consists of a series of intimate concerts in the United States and Mexico. Thalía stated in an interview that she also plans to expand the tour to Latin America, Europe and Asia if it meets positive commercial reception. In October 2013, Thalía released in the United States and Latin America her fourth book Chupie (The Binky That Returned Home), and on 12 November, Thalía released in Mexico her second live album VIVA! Tour. This album was recorded on 27 April 2013, during her concert in Mexico City. In United States and Latin America, the album was released on 1 December 2013. It was certified gold in Mexico on its second week on the market for sales exceeding 30,000 copies. On 5 December 2013, she received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition of her success. 2014–2015: Viva Kids and Amore Mio On 25 March 2014, Thalía released her first children album Viva Kids Vol. 1 in Mexico. The album contains 11 songs and received one nomination to Latin Grammy Awards 2014. Vamos A Jugar was the first single of the album and was released on 18 March 2014. Viva Kids Vol. 1 was released in US, on 5 June 2014. On 22 July 2014, Italian singer Laura Pausini confirmed that by September that same year she would release a special version of her greatest hits album to the Hispanophone market, in an edition containing new duet with Thalía in Sino a ti. On 9 September 2014, Thalía released the lead single of Amore Mio, "Por Lo Que Reste De Vida". The song debuted No. 50 in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. The video music was released on 14 October 2014. Thalía released her 12th studio album on 17 November 2014. Amore Mio was Thalía's second album that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. The album debuted at No. 173 on the Billboard 200 with 3,000 copies sold in first week in the US. In Mexico, the album debuted at No. 1. In December 2014, to celebrate Thalía's 25th anniversary as a solo artist, her first three albums were released as a digital download from iTunes and Spotify. In January 2015, Thalía released her first fashion collection in United States with Macy's. 2016–2017: Latina, world tour, and directorial debut On 26 February 2016, she revealed through her social media accounts the album cover for her then-upcoming studio album, Latina, which was released on 21 April 2016. The album's first single, "Desde Esa Noche" featuring Maluma, peaked at number 16 on the Hot Latin Songs chart and number 4 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. The second single of the album, Vuélveme a Querer was released on 29 April 2016. The third single of album was Todavía Te Quiero featuring De La Ghetto was released on 2 December 2016. Thalía has announced she will embark on a new tour, her third overall, called Latina Love Tour. In 2017 she made her directorial debut when she co-directed "15: A Quinceañera Story", a four-part series of documentary shorts that follows five latina quinceañeras. For this she received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs at the 70th Directors Guild of America Awards That same year she collaborated with Colombian singer Carlos Vives in the song "Todo Me Gusta" from his album "Vives". The song was not released as a single but still managed to peak at number 12 in Bolivia and also peaked at number 14 the U.S. Tropical Digital Songs Chart. 2018–2019: Donna Summer Musical, Eyelure, Valiente, and Adria In 2018 she produced Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway. The musical is based on the life of Donna Summer. In August 2018 she released her false eyelash and eyebrow collection called Eyelure which is available at Walmart. Thalía released her fourteenth studio album, Valiente, on 9 November 2018. The lead single No Me Acuerdo was certified quadruple platinum in both Mexico and the United States as well as double platimun in Spain. The album also spawned the hits Me Oyen, Me Escuchan, Lento, and Lindo Pero Bruto with the latter being certified gold in the United States. The album had a total of 8 songs released as singles. In January 2019 she released her line of hair care products called Adria by Thalía. The 7 piece collection in available in stores at Walmart and Target as well as online. 2020–present: New collaborations, Viva Kids 2, and DesAMORfosis In January 2020 Thalía released the single "Ya Tú Me Conoces" with Venezuelan brother duo Mau y Ricky. The song served as the lead single from her 17th studio album. A month after that she collaborated with Mexican duo Rio Roma on their song "Lo Siento Mucho", which entered the top 10 on the Mexican charts. A month later she collaborated again, this time with Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar on the song "Tímida", which served as the fifth single for his album 111. In May 2020, the magazine People en Español named her the number-one most influential Mexican star of all time for her success as a singer, actress, and entrepreneur. Later that month, she released her second children's album titled Viva Kids Vol. 2. In June 2020 she collaborated with Peruvian singer Leslie Shaw on her single "Estoy Soltera", which also features Colombian singer Farina and served as the third single from Shaw's EP Yo Soy Leslie Shaw. She released the second single of her upcoming studio album titled "La Luz" on 28 August 2020, on which she collaborated with Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers. A month later she started on a Facebook watch series called Latin Music Queens alongside Sofía Reyes and Farina. The series would lead up to the release of two more singles with the first one being Ten Cuidao with Farina which premiered on episode three and the second single being Tick Tock which featured all three singers and premiered after the sixth and final episode. The latter also served as the third single from Thalía's upcoming album. On 7 May 2021 she released Mojito which served as the fourth single from her album DesAMORfosis which she released on 14 May 2021. Acting career Thalia was cast in a supporting role in the 1986 telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour with which she began her collaboration with Televisa, the largest mass media company in the Spanish-speaking world. In 1987, she went on to star in her first major role for Televisa in the 1987 teenage drama series Quinceañera, along with Mexican actress Adela Noriega. Quinceañera won the TV y Novelas award for Best Telenovela of the Year 1988. In 1989, she got her first lead role in Luz y Sombra, which was less successful. However, Thalía's explosion in popularity came in 1992, when she starred in María Mercedes for which she won a TV Y Novelas award as Best Young Actress in 1993. This series was the first of three telenovelas, named by the Mexican press as Las Tres Marias ("The Three Marías"), because the name of the heroine in all of these telenovelas was María. The second telenovela of the trilogy was Marimar in 1994, and the third and final was Maria la del Barrio in 1995. Among the trilogy, the third was the most successful of Thalía's career and it remains her most iconic role, while Marimar is considered the best Telenovela of all time. In 1999, Thalía starred in her last telenovela, "Rosalinda". All four telenovelas were basically based on the same rags to riches character. With these telenovelas, Thalía became famous worldwide and was consolidated as a television phenomenon, because of the extremely high ratings her TV series achieved in more than 180 countries (especially the Philippines). Although Thalía's presence in television is legendary, her presence in cinema is less important. She appeared for the first time in a movie when she was still a child in the 1979 film "La Guerra De los Pasteles" ("The War of the Cakes"). Furthermore, in 1999, she starred in "Mambo Café", a modest indie film production that had a poor reception from critics. Cultural impact of telenovelas Thalía has been labeled by various mass media companies as the "queen of soap operas", because her presence in television during the decade of the '90s was phenomenal. She became one of the world's foremost and most enduring television personalities as she starred in Mexico's highest-rated telenovelas ever that were exported in over 180 countries and viewed by about 2 billion people. It is stated by international media experts that at some point at the midst of the telenovela craze, Thalía's name even became synonymous with her native country, Mexico. According to the newspaper Ivoir'Soir: "At 7.30 sharp in the evening, when Marimar comes on, everything stops in Côte d'Ivoire". It is also mentioned that "Marimar" could attract more local fans than the 1998 World Cup, and that the program arrived in Africa after being a phenomenal rating hit in Indonesia and the Philippines, where in 1997 she was received in Manila like a foreign head of state. Thalía stated in her autobiography regarding to the impact of her telenovelas: "Soap operas made a lot of history; just look at the report by UNESCO, where it was noted that "in the Ivory Coast in Africa and in Paris (France), people stopped the daily course of their lives just to watch a soap opera. I never expected that kind of success [...] Whenever I arrived anywhere, I was treated like royalty; even the press in some of these countries referred to me as the Aztec Queen, the Mexican Queen, or the ambassador of Mexico, and like a proud peacock, I always brought my country's flag with me wherever I went to represent my motherland. I was in the clouds at the pinnacle of my career [...] During my visit at the Philippines, the organizers informed me that the last time so many people gathered in the streets for a person was when Pope John Paul the Second came to visit on January fourteenth, 1995 [...] In the Philippines, the country that probably felt the greatest impact from Marimar, the show was more widely promoted than the 1998 World Cup and more highly rated than the Super Bowl or the Grammys. In fact while I was visiting the country, the people and the media were so enthralled to see Marimar in the flesh that a historic peace treaty between the government and the querillas and the centennial celebrations of the Philippine Revolutions that were happening at the same time were pushed aside in the midst of Marimar fever. As a result, the archipelago was temporarily dubbed "República de MariMar." The phenomenon of Thalía's telenovelas also became visible in countries like Brazil, Bulgaria, Libya, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Lebanon, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Syria, Turkey and the majority of Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Business endeavours In 2002, Thalía signed a deal with Kmart to release her own clothing collection for women, as well as accessories and home products. In the middle of 2003, the "Thalía Sodi" collection was officially available in the US market in over 2,000 stores. Thalía commented: "My collection is a dream come true. I'm so happy to have created a clothing line inspired by my culture, trying to show the colors and the passion of our culture, that captures also a big part of my personal style". Thalía became the first Mexican woman to launch a clothing brand in the US. Simultaneously, Thalía debuted her eyewear collection under the brand name "Thalía Eyewear Collection" in association with Kenmark Optical. In 2005, the line also became available in Mexico's market as Thalía signed a deal with "Devlyn" company. Up to 2007, Thalía had generated US$100 million from the sales of "Thalía Eyewear", with more than 1 million products sold. Precisely in 2007 Thalía presented a new eyewear collection in New York, and the brand was exported to over eighty countries around the world. In April 2004, she entered the editorial market by releasing her own magazine Thalía in US, produced by American Media and oriented to the female Latin youth. The magazine included consultation and reports about issues like health, fashion and beauty. Some months later, in September, Thalía became the face of jewels' company Jacob & Co. In 2004, she signed a contract with Hershey's with which she released her own chocolate and candy brand. In 2005, she designed a summer clothing line, and in the following year, she was converted into the face of "Carol's Daughter" company, specialized in beauty products, while in 2007 she launched her perfume, produced by "Fuller Cosmetics" company. In 2007, she joined ABC Radio and started her own radio show known as "The Conexión Thalía Radio Show", in which she discusses music, fashion, news and political issues, and invites various people to talk with her on different issues. The program, that is weekly and lasts two hours, premiered on 17 March 2007, and still goes on, while it has expanded to over 70 radio stations through the US. In September 2007, she released the beauty advice book "Thalía: ¡Belleza!-Lessons in Lipgloss and Happiness" and in June 2009, she released her second book entitled "Thalia: ¡Radiante!-Your Guide to a Fit and a Fabulous Pregnancy". In May 2010, she revealed new accessories and jewels available via her website, apart from a new clothing line in association with multinational company C&A. In February 2011, she became the new face of Head & Shoulders and in November, she released her third book, which is her autobiography and named "Growing Stronger". Thalía has also been the public face of various advertisements, like Dr Pepper in 2001 or Victoria's Secret in 2005. According to Mira! magazine, in 2008 it was estimated that Thalía was one of the most wealthy Mexican businesswomen with a net worth of over US$100 million. In April 2012, she inaugurated her own yoga center in New York. In 2015, she signed a contract with "ePura", a Mexican water company and she also signed an exclusive deal with Macy's to launch her apparel, shoes and jewelry collections. Jeffrey Gennette, Macy's president stated that "the Thalia Sodi collection is the biggest private-brand launch in the history of the company by a long shot." Philanthrophy and activism Thalía has participated in various humanitarian campaigns. Since 2004, she has been an official celebrity ambassador and volunteer of March of Dimes, to support national fundraising and awareness campaigns. March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. Also, since 2016 she is a UNICEF Mexico Ambassador. Thalía is also became a member of "ALAS Foundation", which is a non-profit organization that strives to launch a new social movement that will generate a collective commitment to comprehensive Early Childhood Development programs for the children in Latin America. Through various public service campaigns and through her own media channels, Thalia has been a strong voice for March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign. She also is featured in March of Dimes Education and Health Promotion materials in English and Spanish, while she has helped to raise awareness and critical funds for the March of Dimes year-round. Furthermore, she supports March for Babies and works to find ongoing opportunities for March of Dimes strategic alliances and media promotions. In 2006, Thalía along with her husband attended the event A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To Cure Parkinson's with the aim to economically support the foundation The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research of Michael J. Fox. In May 2009, Thalía and Tommy Mottola were recognized from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Miami for their support in children in need. In 2010, she reunited with other recording artists, performers and actors like Sharon Stone, Michael Douglas, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony between others, to raise funds for the "Foundation of the New York's police department", which works for better urban security. In 2011, she attended a beneficial event in New York, organized by the Robin Hood Foundation with the aim to raise money for homeless youth. In the same year, she closed the Mexican Teleton by offering a live concert. In November 2012, Thalía took humanitarian aid and comfort to compatriots of her in New York that were affected by Hurricane Sandy. She stated : "When I started seeing the destruction of Sandy I thought it was incredible, but, when I saw my Mexican brothers and sisters I felt the need to try and do something for them" in front of a group of families gathered at the Staten Island Immigrant Information Center in one of the most devastated by the storm areas. She went on to say that in times like this an artist should use the reach of the media to collect aid for the victims, and at the same time she called on the public to deposit money in the account opened by the Mexican Consulate for that purpose. In April 2013, Thalía was awarded with the "Your Voice Inspires Many" award by the Lyme Research Alliance. Personal life Thalía was in a relationship with actor Fernando Colunga from 1995 to 1996 while they appeared on the series María la del Barrio. Thalía married music executive Tommy Mottola on 2 December 2000. The couple have two children, daughter Sabrina Sakaë, born on 8 October 2007, and son Matthew Alejandro, born on 24 June 2011. Thalía has stated in her autobiography and elsewhere that she is religious and believes profoundly in God. She began studying Kabbalah in 2002, using many of its symbols in the artwork of her album El Sexto Sentido. In 2015 she accidentally revealed during an interview that she had multiple miscarriages which caused her depression and were some of the hardest times in her life. In September 2002, Thalía's sisters, Laura Zapata and Ernestina Sodi, were kidnapped in Mexico City. Zapata was released 18 days after her kidnapping, and her sister Ernestina was released on the 36th day. Thalía has had a series of familial conflicts, especially with her sister Laura Zapata. She has opted to keep her point of view regarding to her familial issues private, despite the attacks she has received from her older sister. In a press interview, Thalía stated that her familial problems with her sister are "just a dark cloud in a shiny sky". In 2008, Thalía was affected by Lyme disease, a disease commonly transmitted by ticks. The illness prevented her from promoting her album Lunada, while it functioned as a motivation for her to have a totally different perspective towards life. In reference to her illness, Thalía stated in her autobiography : "I would sweat profusely, soaking my pajamas, the sheets and even the mattress; everything hurt, even my hair, which, by the way, started to fall out. At times it felt as if my head were going to burst, as if there were lead inside of it; my eyes ached in their sockets....the hypersensitivity of my skin was so severe that sometimes I couldn't even handle the bed sheets." Influences According to Thalia herself, her major personal influence was her mother, who was a motivating manager for Thalia from the very beginning of her career until 2000. As for her artistic influences, Thalia's work is mostly influenced by Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Sade, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, The Doors, and Kylie Minogue, while she has stated that she always admired Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. Thalia's first idol, according to her, was athlete Nadia Comaneci. She has even stated that her record-breaking performance was a huge motivation for her to follow a career in entertainment. Cultural impact She is referred as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media at least since the early-2000s, and was named by Billboard during the late-1990s as "Latin American's Reigning Music Queen". Thalía's success and impact in Latin music has been noted and praised by many critics. According to Billboard, she has achieved critical acclaim and commercial success as both a singer and songwriter, and has remained as one of the leading female artists in Latin music. Before her crossover attempt to the English market with a homonymous album in 2003, she gained success with her Spanish recordings in Europe, Asia and all over the Americas, even before the crossover of contemporaries artists such as Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Shakira and Paulina Rubio. She also stated: "My internationalization has come for several years ago and in Spanish, which is very significant". Thalía was included in Billboard list the "Greatest Latin Artists of All Time" in 2020. According to the American magazine Ocean Drive, Thalía is "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". Similarly, Tammy Gagne in We Visit Mexico (2010) described her as "the most popular singer, actress, and dancer in Mexico", while Rough Guides discussed the Latin pop music stage in Latin America saying that in Mexico, "since the 1990s the biggest name has been Thalía". Univision placed Thalía at number 8 in their list of "25 most influential Mexican musicians", the highest peak by a female artist within the list. Thalía has been also described as an influential Latin woman, and has been part of diverse listicles. For instance, People en Español included her in their book Legends: the 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time (2008). The same magazine, include her at their "The 25 Most Influential Latin Women" and Terra Networks named her one of the most "powerful and iconic women in music" in 2011. Leila Cobo from Billboard wrote she "has carved out one of the most successful global Latin careers in memory". Producer Emilio Estefan called her "Mexico's diva of divas" and stated "Thalía is one of the few female artists in the Latino market who has legions of fans throughout Latin America, including Brazil". In 1998, French company Louis Vuitton invited her to appear in Rebonds publication, being at the time the first Latin celebrity to appear in that book. In 1997, 25 April was declared by the government of Los Angeles, as "Thalia's National Day", because of her growing popularity among the Latino community in the United States. Thalia's rise to international prominence coincided with the worldwide broadcast of the soap operas she starred in. Her soap operas were viewed in more than 180 countries by almost 2 billion viewers according to UNICEF, and many of her telenovelas became one of the most watched television broadcasts around the world. She is known as the "Queen of Telenovelas" ("Queen of Soap Operas") and Billboard once named her "the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world". She also gained success as a businesswoman, with commercial and critical recognition for her business ventures by launching several products under her brand name, and dominated the editorial business by writing and releasing three books, that became bestsellers. According to Felipe Escudero from El Mundo in 2006, Thalía was described as the "Latin Madonna of the Hispanic market" and a "Queen Midas" due her success as a businesswoman. Thalía is considered a gay icon and according to Infobae, many of her fans recognized her as the "Latin queen of gay community". The same publication also stated Thalía is one of the most "emulated pop singers by transvestite shows in gay nightclubs". Andrés del Real from La Tercera felt she is an icon for the sexual minority, and professor Ramón García in Chicano Representation and the Strategies of Modernism (1997) wrote Thalía is "the dream identity of many drag queens". Ed Grant from Time also commented that many of them called themselves "Thalíos". Thalia has been an influential artist for almost every younger Latin pop singer, including Anahí, Belinda, and urban Latin artists Becky G, Natti Natasha and Karol G among others, while Julio Iglesias, Tony Bennett, Juan Luis Guerra, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Laura Pausini, Tiziano Ferro, Michael Bublé, Espinoza Paz, Gloria Trevi, Inna, Erik Rubin, Pedro Capó, Maluma, Robbie Williams and many other artists have expressed their admiration towards her talent and charisma. Awards and achievements Thalía has achieved multiple milestones during her career with her music, acting career and business ventures. Luis Magaña from El Universal commented that those record figures in her career are "impressive" and found that she has been the first in place of different situations in life. Thalía has sold over 25 million records worldwide, and is one of the best-selling Latin music artists. She has numerous albums amongst the best-selling in Spanish-language that include En éxtasis, Amor a la Mexicana and Arrasando with sales of over 2 million copies worldwide and have at least one album amongst the best selling of all-time in Mexico, Chile and the Philippines. "No Me Acuerdo" is also one of the best-selling Latin singles in the United States. According to El Universal, Thalía is the first Latina to have a Top 10 in all continents, and Arrasando led her to be the first Latin woman selling a Spanish album in Japan. Thalía con banda is the first album of banda music with a certification in Spain. Thalía's versatility signing in other languages made her the first and only Latin artist with an album recorded primarily in Tagalog when she released Nandito Ako in 1997. María la del Barrio is the first telenovela translated into the Tagalog language. Thalía became the first actress to make a trilogy of telenovelas and Quinceañera is considered to be the first telenovela for a teen audience. Moreover, Thalía is the highest paid actress in the history of Televisa. With El Sexto Sentido, Thalía set a record for the largest number of interviews granted to an electronic medium, Televisa. The album also became the first Spanish-language release in the United States to have a preorder campaign through iTunes and was the most expensive Spanish album up that time. She is also the first woman to have a HBO Latino concert special. "Amor a la Mexicana" is the first Mexican song to be played in European dive bars. Thalía is also the first Mexican female artist to have a certification in Brazil, and remains the best-selling Mexican female soloist in that country. She is also the first Mexican woman with a line of clothing in the United States, as well the first Mexican woman closing bells at Nasdaq. Thalía became the first Mexican artist to hit one billion views on YouTube with "No Me Acuerdo". She also became in the first Mexican artist to have complete control over all the videos in her catalog. Thalía is the most followed Mexican female artist in Spotify, and with most views on YouTube. She also held the record in Instagram until being surpassed by Danna Paola. She is the first recipient of the Star Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards when she was honored in 2001. She received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013 as a recognition to her versatile trajectory and her impact in the world of music and entertainment. In doing so, Thalía became the first female singer born in Mexico with that achievement. She holds a record for appearing the most times in People en Españols annual list of the most beautiful Latin celebrities (Los más bellos). She became the first face of Jacob & Co, and the first Latina to make a deal with The Hershey Company. Filmography Discography Thalía (1990) Mundo de Cristal (1991) Love (1992) En éxtasis (1995) Nandito Ako (1997) Amor a la Mexicana (1997) Arrasando (2000) Thalía (2002) Thalía (2003) El Sexto Sentido (2005) Lunada (2008) Habítame Siempre (2012) Viva Kids Vol. 1 (2014) Amore Mío (2014) Latina (2016) Valiente (2018) Viva Kids Vol. 2 (2020) Desamorfosis (2021) Concert tours High Voltage Tour (2004) Viva! Tour (2013) Latina Love Tour (2016) Written works See also Sodi family List of most watched television broadcasts List of most expensive celebrity photographs List of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors References Bibliography Scott Robert Olson (1999). Hollywood Planet: Global Media and the Competitive Advantage of Narrative Transparency, Routledge publications, pages 134, 153–161. . Quiñones, Sam (2001). True Tales from Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino, and the Bronx. University of New Mexico Press. . Cl. Fernandez, Andrew Paxman (2001). El tigre: Emilio Azcárraga y su imperio Televisa. . Ruth Lorand (2002). Television: Aesthetic Reflections, P. Lang, Michigan University, digitized in 2008. Maria Immacolata, Vassallo de Lopes, Uribe Bertha (2004). Telenovela: internacionalização e interculturalidade, Edições Loyola. , 9788515028887, πορτογαλικά. Cobo, Leila (2005). Billboard : "Thalía's Sixth Sense", Nielsen Business Media, Inc – Prometheus Global Media, pages 59–60. . Lisa Shaw, Stephanie Dennison (2005). Pop Culture Latin America!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle, ABC-CLIO, pages 51, 233–239, 398. Stavans Ilan, Augenbraum Harold (2005). Encyclopedia Latina: History, culture, and society in the United States. Volumen 1, Grolier Academic Reference. . Antoine van Agtmael (2007). The Emerging Markets Century: How a New Breed of World-Class Companies Is Overtaking the World, Simon and Schuster, p. 255. Stavans, Ilan (2010). Telenovelas (The Ilan Stavans Library of Latino Civilization), ABC-CLIO. , 9780313364938. External links Thalia.com — Official website 1971 births Living people EMI Latin artists Fonovisa Records artists LGBT rights activists from Mexico Latin music musicians Mexican women in business Mexican women singers English-language singers from Mexico Portuguese-language singers of Mexico Mexican child actresses Mexican dance musicians Mexican emigrants to the United States Mexican record producers Mexican telenovela actresses Mexican women writers Actresses from Mexico City Singers from Mexico City 20th-century Mexican actresses Timbiriche members Latin pop singers Singers from New York City Sony Music Latin artists Mexican women pop singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century Mexican women singers 21st-century Mexican singers Mexican women record producers Mexican people of Italian descent Mexican people of French descent Women in Latin music
false
[ "La Banda Timbiriche is the 2nd album from Mexican pop music Group Timbiriche. It was released on 1982. The song \"Chispita\" is the title track for the Telenovela Chispita starring Lucerito.\n\nTrack listing\n \"Rock Del Amor\" (03:07)\n \"La Banda Timbiriche\" (03:14)\n \"Ojos De Miel\" (03:15)\n \"Por Tu Amor\" (02:58)\n \"Sólo Tú, Sólo Yo\" (03:09)\n \"Chispita\" (02:54)\n \"La Vida Es Mejor Cantando\" (02:54)\n \"México\" (03:00)\n \"Mamá\" (03:02)\n \"Cocorito\" (03:13)\n \"Rocococococanrol\" (03:05)\n\nReferences\n\n1982 albums\nTimbiriche albums", "Sergio Villa (born c. 1986), better known as Sergio was a contestant on the Mexican reality show Buscando a Timbiriche, La Nueva Banda where he was one of 30 participants made up of 15 boys and 15 girls ranging in ages from 15 to 22. The contestants all lived in the \"Escuela Timbiriche\" in order to compete to become one of 7 members of the new band. Sergio, however, was eliminated from the show in the October 14, 2007 finale. Sergio was 21 years old at the time he was a contestant. He was born in Mexico City.\n\nDespite his elimination in the show's finale (Episode 16), Sergio was consistently congratulated by the Timbiriche creators and Timbiriche Council as having one of the best voices on the show; In fact, Sergio had the greatest number of fans in Mexico and Latin America in comparison to all of the other Timbiriche contestants. In addition to his singing talent, he is also an ice skater, climber and swimmer.\n\nSergio plans to pursue a musical career. A rumor that an alternate band of Timbiriche is to be created by producer Eduardo Capetillo, has been published on several websites. This alternate band is said to include Sophia, Sergio, Marcela, Nain, Fabián and Verónica, all former contestants of Buscando a Timbiriche, La Nueva Banda. This information is not yet confirmed, however.\n\nExternal links\nFirst official interview (in Spanish) for Buscando a Timbiriche, La Nueva Banda\nSergio's Fanclub\n\nTimbiriche members\nBuscando a Timbiriche, La Nueva Banda contestants\nMexican male singers\nPeople from Mexico City\nLiving people\n1980s births\nYear of birth uncertain" ]
[ "Thalía", "1981-1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era", "What is the Timbiriche Era?", "In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band." ]
C_963c5d6c73044648a24858946d8e6313_1
Is Timbiriche Thalia's first band?
2
Is Timbiriche Thalia's first band?
Thalía
In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed in order to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play while singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalia performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En accion, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna nina del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sokol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubin, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalia obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalia was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre senorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalia's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceanera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalia was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalia was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalia recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clasicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalia departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles in order to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. CANNOTANSWER
In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man,
Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda Mottola (; born 26 August 1971), known mononymously as Thalía, is a Mexican singer and actress. She is considered one of the most successful and influential Mexican artists and is referred to as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media. Having sold around 25 million records worldwide, she is one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all-time. Aside from her native Spanish, Thalía has also sung in English, French, Portuguese and Tagalog. She has received numerous accolades, including five Billboard Latin Music Awards, eight Lo Nuestro Awards, as well as seven Latin Grammy Award nominations and their special "President's Merit Award" in 2019. She has collaborated with multiple artists, such as Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Robbie Williams, Marc Anthony, Laura Pausini, Romeo Santos, Maluma, Fat Joe, and Carlos Vives. As an actress, Thalía starred in a variety of successful telenovelas that aired in over 180 countries with an estimated audiece of 2 billion people according to UNICEF, which led to her being referred to as the "Queen of telenovelas" by the mass media. The global impact of her novelas helped her to popularize her music in non-Spanish speaking territories and markets in Europe and Asia. The Mexican media company Televisa has named her the best-paid telenovela actress in history, while Billboard names her the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world. Considered a Latin pop icon, Ocean Drive called Thalía as "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". She was included in Billboards Greatest Latin Artists of All Time in 2020 and in People En Españols The 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time in 2008. On 5 December 2013, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition for her achievements in the music industry. As a businesswoman, Thalía enjoyed success with a fashion brand (having signed a deal with Macy's), as well she had her own nationally syndicated radio show and is the author of four books, including her memoir. During her career, Thalía has been involved in humanitarian causes and is an UNICEF Mexico Ambassador since 2016. Early life Thalía was born on 26 August 1971 in Mexico City. She is the youngest of five daughters of Yolanda Miranda Mange (d. 2011), a painter who was Thalía's manager from 1980 to 1999 and Ernesto Sodi Pallares (d. 1977), a scientist, doctor of pathology, criminologist and writer. Her four sisters are Laura Zapata (daughter of Guillermo Zapata Pérez de Utrera), Federica, Gabriela and Ernestina Sodi. When she turned one, Thalía appeared in her first TV commercial in Mexico. At the age of four, she began taking ballet and piano classes at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música (Mexico). Her father suffered from diabetes and died in 1977 when Thalía was six years old. Years later, Thalía admitted publicly that her father's death had traumatized her drastically, since she had lost her voice for a whole year. This led to her being diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder (CDH), which belongs to a series of developmental disorders related to autism spectrum. She has said that she had psychological therapy for a few years. She has reportedly mentioned that she was a victim of bullying as a child because of the loss of her father. Thalía attended Lycée Franco-Mexicain elementary school, where she learned to speak French fluently at a very young age. In 1976, a year before her father's death, she had a guest appearance in the Mexican film La guerra de los pasteles ("War of Cakes"), although her name doesn't appear in the film credits. Music career 1981–1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era In 1981, when Thalía was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play like we're singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalía performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En acción, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalía participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna niña del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sökol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubín, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalía obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sökol from Timbiriche, Thalía became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalía was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalía's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceañera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalía was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalía was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalía recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clásicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalía departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. 1990–1993: First albums as a solo artist In 1990, Thalía returned to Mexico and released her first studio album as a solo artist, self-titled Thalía, which was produced by Alfredo Díaz Ordaz, and published by Fonovisa, Televisa's record label. From that album, she released a total of four singles that became radio hits: "Amarillo Azul", "Pienso en Ti", "Un Pacto Entre los Dos" and "Saliva". The last two tracks were co-written by her and Díaz Ordaz and they were considered as provocative at the time ("Un Pacto Entre Los Dos" was even labeled as a song with occult Satan-worship lyrics by various far-right parties). In September 1991, Thalía released her second studio album, Mundo de cristal, which marks Thalía's last project in collaboration with Alfredo Díaz Ordaz. Four songs became radio singles from the album, and all of them had big radio impact in Mexico. Due to the success of the singles, the album was certified as double gold in Thalía's native country, Mexico. In the same year, Thalía was co-presenter of the late Spanish show VIP Noche, along with Spanish presenter Emilio Aragón, produced by Telecinco. In October 1992, she released her third studio album and her last under the same label, entitled Love, which was recorded in Spain and was produced by Luis Carlos Esteban. The album spread six singles, that had huge radio impact: "Sangre", "Love", "María Mercedes" (official theme of the TV series), "No Trates de Engañarme", "Flor de Juventud", and "La Vida en Rosa" (La vie en rose), the last one being a Spanish-French cover of the classic French song originally performed by Edith Piaf. Thalía wrote the song "Sangre" inspired in Díaz Ordaz, with whom she had broken up her sentimental relation. The album was praised by the critics, as it was an artistic evolution for Thalía, who experimented for the first time in different music genres, especially electronic music. The album reached number 15 on Billboard's Latin Pop Albums in 1993. In Mexico, it sold over 200,000 copies in the first month upon its release and very soon it reached the platinum and gold certification, while it was a commercial success all over Latin America. 1994–1999: International breakout In 1994, during the successful transmission of Marimar, Thalía signed a contract with the record label EMI to prepare her fourth studio album that was entitled En éxtasis. The album was released in October 1995. En éxtasis was produced with the aid of celebrated producers such as Emilio Estefan, Jr. (husband of the famous Cuban singer Gloria Estefan) and Óscar López. The album spawned a total of seven singles including "Piel morena", "Amándote", "María la del barrio", "Quiero hacerte el amor", "Gracias a Dios, "Me Faltas Tú" and "Lágrimas". Piel morena became a huge international hit apart from being voted as the best Spanish song ever in the United States from a poll released by mass media company Univision. It must also be added that Thalía was more oriented to the latin pop music genre in that album, even though it was influenced by various music genres. Amandote became a number 1 hit in various radio stations in the Philippines in 1996, along with her phenomenal superstardom accompanied by her historic Manila tour. It was described by Philippine media as tantamount to that of Pope John Paul II's 1995 Manila visit. The broadcast of the telenovelas María Mercedes, Marimar and María la del barrio had already converted Thalía to a global television phenomenon by the end of 1996. In January 1997, she released her first compilation album entitled Nandito Ako, which contains four songs recorded in Filipino, five English versions from various tracks from the album En éxtasis and a Spanish remix of the song Amándote. The only single that was released from this album was Nandito Ako. The album became a commercial success in the Philippines as a result of Thalía's growing popularity, reaching platinum status set by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry. En éxtasis was her first album that was released worldwide, reaching gold, platinum or multi-platinum status in more than 20 countries. In July 1997, Thalía's fifth studio album was released, under the title Amor a la mexicana, produced again by Emilio Estefan, and including songs that became classic over the years like "Mujer Latina", "De dónde soy", "Por amor", "Noches sin luna" and "Amor a la mexicana". The album became a pure commercial success, while the first single of the album ("Amor a la mexicana") became a number one hit in 14 countries. With Amor a la mexicana, Thalía was able to bring her music and establish her projects in difficult markets like those of France, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Italy and all the Spanish-speaking countries. After the success of Amor a la mexicana, Thalía recorded the Spanish and Portuguese versions of the song "Journey to the Past", produced by Atlantic Records, as a part of the soundtrack of the Fox Animation Studios movie Anastasia (1997). In the following year, she starred for the first time in a movie in English, named "Mambo Café", written and directed by Reuben González. Mambo Café premiered in January 2000 in Mexico, Greece and Russia, distributed by Kushner Locke Entertainment. In 1999, after Mambo Café, Thalía returned in television with telenovela Rosalinda. "Rosalinda" was considered to be Televisa's most expensive production ever by that time, as well as the most exported in foreign countries, as it was sold in over 180 countries. In an interview of that period Thalía had commented: "The telenovelas are the ones that opened the doors of the world for me, because the audience of telenovelas is much more passionate than the audience of cinema. What's more, television is free". 2000–2005: Crossover and first tour in the United States Emilio Estefan also produced Thalía's sixth studio album, Arrasando, released on 25 April 2000, which was successful. It spawned the singles "Entre el mar y una estrella", "Regresa a mí", "Arrasando" and "Reencarnación". Thalía was nominated in the Latin Grammy category as the "Best Female Pop Vocal Album". The album received one Latin Grammy nomination and it won in its category as the "Best Sound Engineered Album of the year". The singles of this album were huge hits. In 2001 she was nominated for her record Arrasando and won a Lo Nuestro award in the category of People's Prize, and was the first artist to whom an innovative award from Billboard Awards for Latin Music was given, the "Star Award". On 4 May 2001, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, invited her to a party celebrating Cinco de mayo organized at the White House, where she interpreted a medley of popular Mexican songs with a Mexican mariachi band. On 28 August 2001, expressing her love for her country of birth, Mexico, she released her album Con Banda: Grandes Éxitos: a "greatest hits" album, but recorded with the typical Mexican "banda" sound. "Amor a la Mexicana" banda version was released as a single. The album was nominated for a Latin Grammy for "Best Banda Album" at the 3rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2002. Her seventh studio album, self-titled Thalía, was released on 21 May 2002. It was largely written and produced by Estéfano. Buoyed by a pair of chart-topping singles ("Tú y Yo" and "No me enseñaste") and a top-ten hit ("¿A quién le importa?") (cover of Alaska y Dinarama), this album hit number one for 6 consecutive weeks on the Top Latin Albums chart, reaching number eleven on the Billboard 200 chart and 2x Multi-Platinum status with sales in the U.S. of 200,000 copies. It was nominated in one Latin Grammy category – "Female Pop Vocal Album", and in four Latin Billboard categories – "Pop Track Female" and "Tropical Track Female" for "No Me Enseñaste", "Your World Award", and "Female Pop Album", for Thalía, winning the last two awards. "No Me Enseñaste" reached at No. 1 in Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks chart. On 25 February 2003, she released her first remix album, Thalía's Hits Remixed. This album contains some remixes of her EMI era hits, such as "Amor a la Mexicana", "Piel Morena", "No Me Enseñaste" and "Tú y Yo." It also contains the English version of "Arrasando", called "It's My Party". Furthermore, it includes the previously unreleased medley that Thalía had recorded especially for her 2001 Latin Grammy Awards performance, but was later cancelled, due to the September 11 attacks. On 8 July 2003, Thalía released her eighth studio album and the first one in English, the self-titled Thalía, featuring the rapper Fat Joe in "I Want You/Me Pones Sexy". "Baby, I'm in Love/Alguien Real", "Don't Look Back" and "Cerca De Ti" were singles too. The album landed at No. 11 in The Billboard 200. The song "I Want You" entered the American Top 40 with Casey Kasem and even reached the top 10 during that year. The song also entered the American Billboard Top 100 Singles Charts that year. She won an International Dance Music Award for her club-hit "Dance Dance (The Mexican)". On 10 February 2004, Thalía released her first official Greatest Hits album, and "Cerca de ti" and "Acción y Reacción" were the singles from this album. In April and May, she toured USA and Mexico with her "High Voltage Tour". Her ninth studio album, El Sexto Sentido, was released on 19 July 2005, and recorded mostly in Spanish, but with a few of the songs sung in English as well. It was reported to be the most expensive music album produced in Latin America in 2005. It had mild success, although the sound and the overall result make it one of her most integrated projects. "Amar sin ser amada" was the first single of the album and is considered as an infectious rock-edged tango-based song. "Un alma sentenciada", the second single of the album, is a feverish and, at points, hyperdramatic ballad. The explosive "Seducción" ("Seduction") and "Olvidame" were also releases as singles, gaining considerable success. The album was also certified gold in Argentina, Greece and Mexico and double platinum in the United States. 2006–2008: The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, Lyme disease and Lunada In 2006, the album received a reloaded version, El Sexto Sentido: Re+Loaded. Thalía was the 'godmother' of Cantando Por Un Sueño, a Mexican TV reality show. It was rumored she got paid 1 million dollars to perform. Thalía recorded the title song of the show, and it was included in the album. It was released in Mexico on 13 February 2006 (U.S. 6 June, Spain 29 May) and features four new songs, including a duet with the group Aventura, "No, No, No" which become a massive hit. "El Sexto Sentido" was nominated for one Latin Grammy as "Best Female Pop Vocal Album", it was also nominated in one Latin Billboard category – "Pop Female Album" and in eight Premios Juventud categories. In 2006, Thalía became a U.S. citizen at a swearing-in ceremony in New York, where she resides with her husband. Under Mexican law she is allowed to retain her Mexican citizenship. She also received an award by her then record company EMI, for sales of more than 10 million copies with all her discography with the company. In March 2007, Thalía also joined ABC Radio to start The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, where she talks about music, fashion, news and political issues. Afterwards, she was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in People en Español 2008 for a record-breaking seventh time where they called her their "Queen". She was once again featured in the 2010 edition for an eighth time. In May 2008, Thalía's single "Ten Paciencia", was premiered on the internet. Although, the single received a lukewarm response and did not perform well in the U.S. charts and Top 20 hits in Mexico, it was No. 1 in several countries of Latin America. Furthermore, her tenth studio album Lunada, was released on 24 June 2008, and debuted at number eight in Mexico and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Top Latin Albums (U.S). It was the last Thalía's studio album released by EMI. Thalía later appeared on El Show De Cristina, aired in late July by Univision's Spanish network to promote the album. According to Univision network, her appearance on the show received huge ratings, reaching No. 1 in both the Chicago and Miami markets. The show was said to have been viewed by over 87 million people in the US alone. "Será porque te amo", the second single, received no promotion and became another failed single. It is a Spanish language cover version of the Italian hit "Sarà perché ti amo", originally performed by the group Ricchi e Poveri. On 23 October, it was announced that Thalía was suffering from Lyme disease, which is transmitted by ticks. Fortunately, it was discovered quickly, and the singer, as well as her mother, Yolanda Miranda, were able to receive antibiotics in time. On 18 November, Thalía announced the end of her collaboration with EMI Music. Despite Lunada being a commercial disappointment, it was named as the "Best Album of the Year" by ¡Hola! readers. The latest work of the Mexican singer achieved 8,750 votes beating artists, such as Luis Miguel, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and Madonna. 2009–2011: Success of Primera Fila and Growing Stronger On 30 July 2009, Thalía recorded her acoustic album, Primera fila, her first album after she signed with Sony Music Entertainment. In October, Thalía performed at the White House, along with other Latin singers, in an event organized by President Barack Obama that celebrated Hispanic heritage. Thalía's performance was iconic and historic, as she was the first celebrity to publicly invite a United States President to dance. In October of the same year, she released the first single from Primera fila, a song named Equivocada. In December Thalía released her album, which contained duets with Joan Sebastian and Pedro Capó and various other songs, that became huge radio hits in the following months. The production received critical accept and very positive reviews, while Jason Birchmeier stated that "Primera Fila" was one of the best albums Thalía has released in her whole career, and definitely the one with the most surprises. As for Thalía, she considered Primera Fila as "the most personal album" in her career. Regarding to the album's commercial performance, Primera fila received diamond and triple platinum sales certifications in Mexico, where it was announced by the end of 2011 that the album had sold over 500,000 copies according to AMPROFON. Primera fila was the best selling album in Mexico in 2010, where it topped the charts for 55 non-consecutive weeks, the most weeks ever in Mexico's recorded music chart history. In Greece and Spain, the album reached the positions No. 6 and No. 32, respectively, while it reached No. 4 in Billboard's top Latin Albums and No. 2 in Billboard's Latin Pop Albums charts. Initially, Primera Fila had reached No. 1 on both aforementioned charts, but sales of the standard edition and the Walmart edition were later divided, leading to a retraction and update to Billboard's official peak positions for Primera Fila. After these changes, Primera fila went from a peak position of No. 167 to a peak position of No. 198 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Until the month of October 2012, Primera fila had sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In September 2010, Thalía released a special anniversary edition of the album under the title Primera fila... Un año después, which included 8 songs from the original album, as well as 2 never-released before songs, 2 remixes and a DVD with a documentary of the recording process of the album. In October 2010, Michael Bublé invited her to record a song with him in his holiday album Christmas. Together they recorded the bilingual song "Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad" and their collaboration received very positive reviews. 2012–2013: Habitame Siempre and VIVA! Tour Thalía had a collaboration with US music veteran Tony Bennett for his "Viva:Duets" album, which was released on 22 October 2012. Together they performed live the classic song "The way you look tonight" in Today's show and the Katie Couric's show. During the past months, she had announced that she was recording her eleventh studio album, Habítame siempre. On 21 September 2012, Thalía gave a private concert in New York City at Hammerstein Ballroom as a preview of the upcoming album. The album's lead single, "Manías", was released on 8 October 2012. Habítame siempre was released on 19 November 2012, in the United States and Latin America under the label of Sony Music Latin, while in Europe it is set to be released in 2013 by BMG Music. The album contains collaborations with Robbie Williams, Michael Bublé, Prince Royce and Gilberto Santa Rosa, among others and immensely after its release, it received mostly positive reviews. Habitame Siempre was certified triple platinum plus gold in Mexico for sales of more than 210,000 copies, gold in the United States for shipments exceeding 50,000 copies and platinum in Venezuela for over 10,000 copies shipped. In the meantime the second single of the album, "Te Perdiste Mi Amor", was certified platinum in Mexico for digital sales of over 60,000 copies. On 24 March 2013, Thalía launched her VIVA! Tour in support of Habítame Siempre. The VIVA! Tour marks Thalía's first tour in a decade and consists of a series of intimate concerts in the United States and Mexico. Thalía stated in an interview that she also plans to expand the tour to Latin America, Europe and Asia if it meets positive commercial reception. In October 2013, Thalía released in the United States and Latin America her fourth book Chupie (The Binky That Returned Home), and on 12 November, Thalía released in Mexico her second live album VIVA! Tour. This album was recorded on 27 April 2013, during her concert in Mexico City. In United States and Latin America, the album was released on 1 December 2013. It was certified gold in Mexico on its second week on the market for sales exceeding 30,000 copies. On 5 December 2013, she received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition of her success. 2014–2015: Viva Kids and Amore Mio On 25 March 2014, Thalía released her first children album Viva Kids Vol. 1 in Mexico. The album contains 11 songs and received one nomination to Latin Grammy Awards 2014. Vamos A Jugar was the first single of the album and was released on 18 March 2014. Viva Kids Vol. 1 was released in US, on 5 June 2014. On 22 July 2014, Italian singer Laura Pausini confirmed that by September that same year she would release a special version of her greatest hits album to the Hispanophone market, in an edition containing new duet with Thalía in Sino a ti. On 9 September 2014, Thalía released the lead single of Amore Mio, "Por Lo Que Reste De Vida". The song debuted No. 50 in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. The video music was released on 14 October 2014. Thalía released her 12th studio album on 17 November 2014. Amore Mio was Thalía's second album that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. The album debuted at No. 173 on the Billboard 200 with 3,000 copies sold in first week in the US. In Mexico, the album debuted at No. 1. In December 2014, to celebrate Thalía's 25th anniversary as a solo artist, her first three albums were released as a digital download from iTunes and Spotify. In January 2015, Thalía released her first fashion collection in United States with Macy's. 2016–2017: Latina, world tour, and directorial debut On 26 February 2016, she revealed through her social media accounts the album cover for her then-upcoming studio album, Latina, which was released on 21 April 2016. The album's first single, "Desde Esa Noche" featuring Maluma, peaked at number 16 on the Hot Latin Songs chart and number 4 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. The second single of the album, Vuélveme a Querer was released on 29 April 2016. The third single of album was Todavía Te Quiero featuring De La Ghetto was released on 2 December 2016. Thalía has announced she will embark on a new tour, her third overall, called Latina Love Tour. In 2017 she made her directorial debut when she co-directed "15: A Quinceañera Story", a four-part series of documentary shorts that follows five latina quinceañeras. For this she received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs at the 70th Directors Guild of America Awards That same year she collaborated with Colombian singer Carlos Vives in the song "Todo Me Gusta" from his album "Vives". The song was not released as a single but still managed to peak at number 12 in Bolivia and also peaked at number 14 the U.S. Tropical Digital Songs Chart. 2018–2019: Donna Summer Musical, Eyelure, Valiente, and Adria In 2018 she produced Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway. The musical is based on the life of Donna Summer. In August 2018 she released her false eyelash and eyebrow collection called Eyelure which is available at Walmart. Thalía released her fourteenth studio album, Valiente, on 9 November 2018. The lead single No Me Acuerdo was certified quadruple platinum in both Mexico and the United States as well as double platimun in Spain. The album also spawned the hits Me Oyen, Me Escuchan, Lento, and Lindo Pero Bruto with the latter being certified gold in the United States. The album had a total of 8 songs released as singles. In January 2019 she released her line of hair care products called Adria by Thalía. The 7 piece collection in available in stores at Walmart and Target as well as online. 2020–present: New collaborations, Viva Kids 2, and DesAMORfosis In January 2020 Thalía released the single "Ya Tú Me Conoces" with Venezuelan brother duo Mau y Ricky. The song served as the lead single from her 17th studio album. A month after that she collaborated with Mexican duo Rio Roma on their song "Lo Siento Mucho", which entered the top 10 on the Mexican charts. A month later she collaborated again, this time with Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar on the song "Tímida", which served as the fifth single for his album 111. In May 2020, the magazine People en Español named her the number-one most influential Mexican star of all time for her success as a singer, actress, and entrepreneur. Later that month, she released her second children's album titled Viva Kids Vol. 2. In June 2020 she collaborated with Peruvian singer Leslie Shaw on her single "Estoy Soltera", which also features Colombian singer Farina and served as the third single from Shaw's EP Yo Soy Leslie Shaw. She released the second single of her upcoming studio album titled "La Luz" on 28 August 2020, on which she collaborated with Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers. A month later she started on a Facebook watch series called Latin Music Queens alongside Sofía Reyes and Farina. The series would lead up to the release of two more singles with the first one being Ten Cuidao with Farina which premiered on episode three and the second single being Tick Tock which featured all three singers and premiered after the sixth and final episode. The latter also served as the third single from Thalía's upcoming album. On 7 May 2021 she released Mojito which served as the fourth single from her album DesAMORfosis which she released on 14 May 2021. Acting career Thalia was cast in a supporting role in the 1986 telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour with which she began her collaboration with Televisa, the largest mass media company in the Spanish-speaking world. In 1987, she went on to star in her first major role for Televisa in the 1987 teenage drama series Quinceañera, along with Mexican actress Adela Noriega. Quinceañera won the TV y Novelas award for Best Telenovela of the Year 1988. In 1989, she got her first lead role in Luz y Sombra, which was less successful. However, Thalía's explosion in popularity came in 1992, when she starred in María Mercedes for which she won a TV Y Novelas award as Best Young Actress in 1993. This series was the first of three telenovelas, named by the Mexican press as Las Tres Marias ("The Three Marías"), because the name of the heroine in all of these telenovelas was María. The second telenovela of the trilogy was Marimar in 1994, and the third and final was Maria la del Barrio in 1995. Among the trilogy, the third was the most successful of Thalía's career and it remains her most iconic role, while Marimar is considered the best Telenovela of all time. In 1999, Thalía starred in her last telenovela, "Rosalinda". All four telenovelas were basically based on the same rags to riches character. With these telenovelas, Thalía became famous worldwide and was consolidated as a television phenomenon, because of the extremely high ratings her TV series achieved in more than 180 countries (especially the Philippines). Although Thalía's presence in television is legendary, her presence in cinema is less important. She appeared for the first time in a movie when she was still a child in the 1979 film "La Guerra De los Pasteles" ("The War of the Cakes"). Furthermore, in 1999, she starred in "Mambo Café", a modest indie film production that had a poor reception from critics. Cultural impact of telenovelas Thalía has been labeled by various mass media companies as the "queen of soap operas", because her presence in television during the decade of the '90s was phenomenal. She became one of the world's foremost and most enduring television personalities as she starred in Mexico's highest-rated telenovelas ever that were exported in over 180 countries and viewed by about 2 billion people. It is stated by international media experts that at some point at the midst of the telenovela craze, Thalía's name even became synonymous with her native country, Mexico. According to the newspaper Ivoir'Soir: "At 7.30 sharp in the evening, when Marimar comes on, everything stops in Côte d'Ivoire". It is also mentioned that "Marimar" could attract more local fans than the 1998 World Cup, and that the program arrived in Africa after being a phenomenal rating hit in Indonesia and the Philippines, where in 1997 she was received in Manila like a foreign head of state. Thalía stated in her autobiography regarding to the impact of her telenovelas: "Soap operas made a lot of history; just look at the report by UNESCO, where it was noted that "in the Ivory Coast in Africa and in Paris (France), people stopped the daily course of their lives just to watch a soap opera. I never expected that kind of success [...] Whenever I arrived anywhere, I was treated like royalty; even the press in some of these countries referred to me as the Aztec Queen, the Mexican Queen, or the ambassador of Mexico, and like a proud peacock, I always brought my country's flag with me wherever I went to represent my motherland. I was in the clouds at the pinnacle of my career [...] During my visit at the Philippines, the organizers informed me that the last time so many people gathered in the streets for a person was when Pope John Paul the Second came to visit on January fourteenth, 1995 [...] In the Philippines, the country that probably felt the greatest impact from Marimar, the show was more widely promoted than the 1998 World Cup and more highly rated than the Super Bowl or the Grammys. In fact while I was visiting the country, the people and the media were so enthralled to see Marimar in the flesh that a historic peace treaty between the government and the querillas and the centennial celebrations of the Philippine Revolutions that were happening at the same time were pushed aside in the midst of Marimar fever. As a result, the archipelago was temporarily dubbed "República de MariMar." The phenomenon of Thalía's telenovelas also became visible in countries like Brazil, Bulgaria, Libya, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Lebanon, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Syria, Turkey and the majority of Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Business endeavours In 2002, Thalía signed a deal with Kmart to release her own clothing collection for women, as well as accessories and home products. In the middle of 2003, the "Thalía Sodi" collection was officially available in the US market in over 2,000 stores. Thalía commented: "My collection is a dream come true. I'm so happy to have created a clothing line inspired by my culture, trying to show the colors and the passion of our culture, that captures also a big part of my personal style". Thalía became the first Mexican woman to launch a clothing brand in the US. Simultaneously, Thalía debuted her eyewear collection under the brand name "Thalía Eyewear Collection" in association with Kenmark Optical. In 2005, the line also became available in Mexico's market as Thalía signed a deal with "Devlyn" company. Up to 2007, Thalía had generated US$100 million from the sales of "Thalía Eyewear", with more than 1 million products sold. Precisely in 2007 Thalía presented a new eyewear collection in New York, and the brand was exported to over eighty countries around the world. In April 2004, she entered the editorial market by releasing her own magazine Thalía in US, produced by American Media and oriented to the female Latin youth. The magazine included consultation and reports about issues like health, fashion and beauty. Some months later, in September, Thalía became the face of jewels' company Jacob & Co. In 2004, she signed a contract with Hershey's with which she released her own chocolate and candy brand. In 2005, she designed a summer clothing line, and in the following year, she was converted into the face of "Carol's Daughter" company, specialized in beauty products, while in 2007 she launched her perfume, produced by "Fuller Cosmetics" company. In 2007, she joined ABC Radio and started her own radio show known as "The Conexión Thalía Radio Show", in which she discusses music, fashion, news and political issues, and invites various people to talk with her on different issues. The program, that is weekly and lasts two hours, premiered on 17 March 2007, and still goes on, while it has expanded to over 70 radio stations through the US. In September 2007, she released the beauty advice book "Thalía: ¡Belleza!-Lessons in Lipgloss and Happiness" and in June 2009, she released her second book entitled "Thalia: ¡Radiante!-Your Guide to a Fit and a Fabulous Pregnancy". In May 2010, she revealed new accessories and jewels available via her website, apart from a new clothing line in association with multinational company C&A. In February 2011, she became the new face of Head & Shoulders and in November, she released her third book, which is her autobiography and named "Growing Stronger". Thalía has also been the public face of various advertisements, like Dr Pepper in 2001 or Victoria's Secret in 2005. According to Mira! magazine, in 2008 it was estimated that Thalía was one of the most wealthy Mexican businesswomen with a net worth of over US$100 million. In April 2012, she inaugurated her own yoga center in New York. In 2015, she signed a contract with "ePura", a Mexican water company and she also signed an exclusive deal with Macy's to launch her apparel, shoes and jewelry collections. Jeffrey Gennette, Macy's president stated that "the Thalia Sodi collection is the biggest private-brand launch in the history of the company by a long shot." Philanthrophy and activism Thalía has participated in various humanitarian campaigns. Since 2004, she has been an official celebrity ambassador and volunteer of March of Dimes, to support national fundraising and awareness campaigns. March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. Also, since 2016 she is a UNICEF Mexico Ambassador. Thalía is also became a member of "ALAS Foundation", which is a non-profit organization that strives to launch a new social movement that will generate a collective commitment to comprehensive Early Childhood Development programs for the children in Latin America. Through various public service campaigns and through her own media channels, Thalia has been a strong voice for March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign. She also is featured in March of Dimes Education and Health Promotion materials in English and Spanish, while she has helped to raise awareness and critical funds for the March of Dimes year-round. Furthermore, she supports March for Babies and works to find ongoing opportunities for March of Dimes strategic alliances and media promotions. In 2006, Thalía along with her husband attended the event A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To Cure Parkinson's with the aim to economically support the foundation The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research of Michael J. Fox. In May 2009, Thalía and Tommy Mottola were recognized from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Miami for their support in children in need. In 2010, she reunited with other recording artists, performers and actors like Sharon Stone, Michael Douglas, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony between others, to raise funds for the "Foundation of the New York's police department", which works for better urban security. In 2011, she attended a beneficial event in New York, organized by the Robin Hood Foundation with the aim to raise money for homeless youth. In the same year, she closed the Mexican Teleton by offering a live concert. In November 2012, Thalía took humanitarian aid and comfort to compatriots of her in New York that were affected by Hurricane Sandy. She stated : "When I started seeing the destruction of Sandy I thought it was incredible, but, when I saw my Mexican brothers and sisters I felt the need to try and do something for them" in front of a group of families gathered at the Staten Island Immigrant Information Center in one of the most devastated by the storm areas. She went on to say that in times like this an artist should use the reach of the media to collect aid for the victims, and at the same time she called on the public to deposit money in the account opened by the Mexican Consulate for that purpose. In April 2013, Thalía was awarded with the "Your Voice Inspires Many" award by the Lyme Research Alliance. Personal life Thalía was in a relationship with actor Fernando Colunga from 1995 to 1996 while they appeared on the series María la del Barrio. Thalía married music executive Tommy Mottola on 2 December 2000. The couple have two children, daughter Sabrina Sakaë, born on 8 October 2007, and son Matthew Alejandro, born on 24 June 2011. Thalía has stated in her autobiography and elsewhere that she is religious and believes profoundly in God. She began studying Kabbalah in 2002, using many of its symbols in the artwork of her album El Sexto Sentido. In 2015 she accidentally revealed during an interview that she had multiple miscarriages which caused her depression and were some of the hardest times in her life. In September 2002, Thalía's sisters, Laura Zapata and Ernestina Sodi, were kidnapped in Mexico City. Zapata was released 18 days after her kidnapping, and her sister Ernestina was released on the 36th day. Thalía has had a series of familial conflicts, especially with her sister Laura Zapata. She has opted to keep her point of view regarding to her familial issues private, despite the attacks she has received from her older sister. In a press interview, Thalía stated that her familial problems with her sister are "just a dark cloud in a shiny sky". In 2008, Thalía was affected by Lyme disease, a disease commonly transmitted by ticks. The illness prevented her from promoting her album Lunada, while it functioned as a motivation for her to have a totally different perspective towards life. In reference to her illness, Thalía stated in her autobiography : "I would sweat profusely, soaking my pajamas, the sheets and even the mattress; everything hurt, even my hair, which, by the way, started to fall out. At times it felt as if my head were going to burst, as if there were lead inside of it; my eyes ached in their sockets....the hypersensitivity of my skin was so severe that sometimes I couldn't even handle the bed sheets." Influences According to Thalia herself, her major personal influence was her mother, who was a motivating manager for Thalia from the very beginning of her career until 2000. As for her artistic influences, Thalia's work is mostly influenced by Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Sade, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, The Doors, and Kylie Minogue, while she has stated that she always admired Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. Thalia's first idol, according to her, was athlete Nadia Comaneci. She has even stated that her record-breaking performance was a huge motivation for her to follow a career in entertainment. Cultural impact She is referred as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media at least since the early-2000s, and was named by Billboard during the late-1990s as "Latin American's Reigning Music Queen". Thalía's success and impact in Latin music has been noted and praised by many critics. According to Billboard, she has achieved critical acclaim and commercial success as both a singer and songwriter, and has remained as one of the leading female artists in Latin music. Before her crossover attempt to the English market with a homonymous album in 2003, she gained success with her Spanish recordings in Europe, Asia and all over the Americas, even before the crossover of contemporaries artists such as Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Shakira and Paulina Rubio. She also stated: "My internationalization has come for several years ago and in Spanish, which is very significant". Thalía was included in Billboard list the "Greatest Latin Artists of All Time" in 2020. According to the American magazine Ocean Drive, Thalía is "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". Similarly, Tammy Gagne in We Visit Mexico (2010) described her as "the most popular singer, actress, and dancer in Mexico", while Rough Guides discussed the Latin pop music stage in Latin America saying that in Mexico, "since the 1990s the biggest name has been Thalía". Univision placed Thalía at number 8 in their list of "25 most influential Mexican musicians", the highest peak by a female artist within the list. Thalía has been also described as an influential Latin woman, and has been part of diverse listicles. For instance, People en Español included her in their book Legends: the 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time (2008). The same magazine, include her at their "The 25 Most Influential Latin Women" and Terra Networks named her one of the most "powerful and iconic women in music" in 2011. Leila Cobo from Billboard wrote she "has carved out one of the most successful global Latin careers in memory". Producer Emilio Estefan called her "Mexico's diva of divas" and stated "Thalía is one of the few female artists in the Latino market who has legions of fans throughout Latin America, including Brazil". In 1998, French company Louis Vuitton invited her to appear in Rebonds publication, being at the time the first Latin celebrity to appear in that book. In 1997, 25 April was declared by the government of Los Angeles, as "Thalia's National Day", because of her growing popularity among the Latino community in the United States. Thalia's rise to international prominence coincided with the worldwide broadcast of the soap operas she starred in. Her soap operas were viewed in more than 180 countries by almost 2 billion viewers according to UNICEF, and many of her telenovelas became one of the most watched television broadcasts around the world. She is known as the "Queen of Telenovelas" ("Queen of Soap Operas") and Billboard once named her "the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world". She also gained success as a businesswoman, with commercial and critical recognition for her business ventures by launching several products under her brand name, and dominated the editorial business by writing and releasing three books, that became bestsellers. According to Felipe Escudero from El Mundo in 2006, Thalía was described as the "Latin Madonna of the Hispanic market" and a "Queen Midas" due her success as a businesswoman. Thalía is considered a gay icon and according to Infobae, many of her fans recognized her as the "Latin queen of gay community". The same publication also stated Thalía is one of the most "emulated pop singers by transvestite shows in gay nightclubs". Andrés del Real from La Tercera felt she is an icon for the sexual minority, and professor Ramón García in Chicano Representation and the Strategies of Modernism (1997) wrote Thalía is "the dream identity of many drag queens". Ed Grant from Time also commented that many of them called themselves "Thalíos". Thalia has been an influential artist for almost every younger Latin pop singer, including Anahí, Belinda, and urban Latin artists Becky G, Natti Natasha and Karol G among others, while Julio Iglesias, Tony Bennett, Juan Luis Guerra, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Laura Pausini, Tiziano Ferro, Michael Bublé, Espinoza Paz, Gloria Trevi, Inna, Erik Rubin, Pedro Capó, Maluma, Robbie Williams and many other artists have expressed their admiration towards her talent and charisma. Awards and achievements Thalía has achieved multiple milestones during her career with her music, acting career and business ventures. Luis Magaña from El Universal commented that those record figures in her career are "impressive" and found that she has been the first in place of different situations in life. Thalía has sold over 25 million records worldwide, and is one of the best-selling Latin music artists. She has numerous albums amongst the best-selling in Spanish-language that include En éxtasis, Amor a la Mexicana and Arrasando with sales of over 2 million copies worldwide and have at least one album amongst the best selling of all-time in Mexico, Chile and the Philippines. "No Me Acuerdo" is also one of the best-selling Latin singles in the United States. According to El Universal, Thalía is the first Latina to have a Top 10 in all continents, and Arrasando led her to be the first Latin woman selling a Spanish album in Japan. Thalía con banda is the first album of banda music with a certification in Spain. Thalía's versatility signing in other languages made her the first and only Latin artist with an album recorded primarily in Tagalog when she released Nandito Ako in 1997. María la del Barrio is the first telenovela translated into the Tagalog language. Thalía became the first actress to make a trilogy of telenovelas and Quinceañera is considered to be the first telenovela for a teen audience. Moreover, Thalía is the highest paid actress in the history of Televisa. With El Sexto Sentido, Thalía set a record for the largest number of interviews granted to an electronic medium, Televisa. The album also became the first Spanish-language release in the United States to have a preorder campaign through iTunes and was the most expensive Spanish album up that time. She is also the first woman to have a HBO Latino concert special. "Amor a la Mexicana" is the first Mexican song to be played in European dive bars. Thalía is also the first Mexican female artist to have a certification in Brazil, and remains the best-selling Mexican female soloist in that country. She is also the first Mexican woman with a line of clothing in the United States, as well the first Mexican woman closing bells at Nasdaq. Thalía became the first Mexican artist to hit one billion views on YouTube with "No Me Acuerdo". She also became in the first Mexican artist to have complete control over all the videos in her catalog. Thalía is the most followed Mexican female artist in Spotify, and with most views on YouTube. She also held the record in Instagram until being surpassed by Danna Paola. She is the first recipient of the Star Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards when she was honored in 2001. She received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013 as a recognition to her versatile trajectory and her impact in the world of music and entertainment. In doing so, Thalía became the first female singer born in Mexico with that achievement. She holds a record for appearing the most times in People en Españols annual list of the most beautiful Latin celebrities (Los más bellos). She became the first face of Jacob & Co, and the first Latina to make a deal with The Hershey Company. Filmography Discography Thalía (1990) Mundo de Cristal (1991) Love (1992) En éxtasis (1995) Nandito Ako (1997) Amor a la Mexicana (1997) Arrasando (2000) Thalía (2002) Thalía (2003) El Sexto Sentido (2005) Lunada (2008) Habítame Siempre (2012) Viva Kids Vol. 1 (2014) Amore Mío (2014) Latina (2016) Valiente (2018) Viva Kids Vol. 2 (2020) Desamorfosis (2021) Concert tours High Voltage Tour (2004) Viva! Tour (2013) Latina Love Tour (2016) Written works See also Sodi family List of most watched television broadcasts List of most expensive celebrity photographs List of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors References Bibliography Scott Robert Olson (1999). Hollywood Planet: Global Media and the Competitive Advantage of Narrative Transparency, Routledge publications, pages 134, 153–161. . Quiñones, Sam (2001). True Tales from Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino, and the Bronx. University of New Mexico Press. . Cl. Fernandez, Andrew Paxman (2001). El tigre: Emilio Azcárraga y su imperio Televisa. . Ruth Lorand (2002). Television: Aesthetic Reflections, P. Lang, Michigan University, digitized in 2008. Maria Immacolata, Vassallo de Lopes, Uribe Bertha (2004). Telenovela: internacionalização e interculturalidade, Edições Loyola. , 9788515028887, πορτογαλικά. Cobo, Leila (2005). Billboard : "Thalía's Sixth Sense", Nielsen Business Media, Inc – Prometheus Global Media, pages 59–60. . Lisa Shaw, Stephanie Dennison (2005). Pop Culture Latin America!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle, ABC-CLIO, pages 51, 233–239, 398. Stavans Ilan, Augenbraum Harold (2005). Encyclopedia Latina: History, culture, and society in the United States. Volumen 1, Grolier Academic Reference. . Antoine van Agtmael (2007). The Emerging Markets Century: How a New Breed of World-Class Companies Is Overtaking the World, Simon and Schuster, p. 255. Stavans, Ilan (2010). Telenovelas (The Ilan Stavans Library of Latino Civilization), ABC-CLIO. , 9780313364938. External links Thalia.com — Official website 1971 births Living people EMI Latin artists Fonovisa Records artists LGBT rights activists from Mexico Latin music musicians Mexican women in business Mexican women singers English-language singers from Mexico Portuguese-language singers of Mexico Mexican child actresses Mexican dance musicians Mexican emigrants to the United States Mexican record producers Mexican telenovela actresses Mexican women writers Actresses from Mexico City Singers from Mexico City 20th-century Mexican actresses Timbiriche members Latin pop singers Singers from New York City Sony Music Latin artists Mexican women pop singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century Mexican women singers 21st-century Mexican singers Mexican women record producers Mexican people of Italian descent Mexican people of French descent Women in Latin music
false
[ "Sergio Villa (born c. 1986), better known as Sergio was a contestant on the Mexican reality show Buscando a Timbiriche, La Nueva Banda where he was one of 30 participants made up of 15 boys and 15 girls ranging in ages from 15 to 22. The contestants all lived in the \"Escuela Timbiriche\" in order to compete to become one of 7 members of the new band. Sergio, however, was eliminated from the show in the October 14, 2007 finale. Sergio was 21 years old at the time he was a contestant. He was born in Mexico City.\n\nDespite his elimination in the show's finale (Episode 16), Sergio was consistently congratulated by the Timbiriche creators and Timbiriche Council as having one of the best voices on the show; In fact, Sergio had the greatest number of fans in Mexico and Latin America in comparison to all of the other Timbiriche contestants. In addition to his singing talent, he is also an ice skater, climber and swimmer.\n\nSergio plans to pursue a musical career. A rumor that an alternate band of Timbiriche is to be created by producer Eduardo Capetillo, has been published on several websites. This alternate band is said to include Sophia, Sergio, Marcela, Nain, Fabián and Verónica, all former contestants of Buscando a Timbiriche, La Nueva Banda. This information is not yet confirmed, however.\n\nExternal links\nFirst official interview (in Spanish) for Buscando a Timbiriche, La Nueva Banda\nSergio's Fanclub\n\nTimbiriche members\nBuscando a Timbiriche, La Nueva Banda contestants\nMexican male singers\nPeople from Mexico City\nLiving people\n1980s births\nYear of birth uncertain", "Mariana Garza Alardín, (born October 19, 1970 in Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican singer and actress.\n\nBiography \nMariana Garza is the daughter of Ana Silvia Garza, (and the granddaughter of Ramiro Garza and Mexican poet Carmen Alardín). She has a brother Sebastián. \n\nHer first work was \"Elisa\" in 1979. Next year, Mariana debuted on theatre in the play \"La Maravilla de crecer\". Her success started in 1982, when Mariana joined the band \"Timbiriche\". \n\nIn 1987,with the greater success of the band, Mariana decided to leave to concentrate on her career as an actress. \n\nMariana has performed in several soap operas such as \"Flor y Canela\" and Alcanzar Una Estrella, her big success. As a TV host, Mariana participated in the popular Mexican program \"Mi barrio\" (My Neighborhood) for almost two years. \n\nIn her personal life, Mariana is married with actor Pablo Perroni and is the mother of two daughters, Shamadhi (from her first marriage) and Maria. \n\nIn 2001 she released her only record as a solo artist, called \"Todo Tiene Tambor\". However her most remembered hit was \"Alcanzar una Estrella\" from the soap opera of same title.\n\nMariana is currently co-starring in Mentir para Vivir (Lying to Live), as Maria Jiménez Flores, Sebastián's mother, a \"lunatic, suffers from epilepsy, dies because of tumor\".\n\nIn 2017, Mariana joined the original founding members of Timbiriche (current line up includes original members Sasha Sokol, Benny Ibarra, Alix Bauer, Erik Rubin, Mariana Garza and Diego Schoening) to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the group. The tour will continue into 2018.\n\nDiscography with Timbiriche \n Timbiriche (1982)\n La Banda Timbiriche (1982)\n La banda Timbiriche: En concierto (1983)\n Timbiriche Disco Ruido (1983)\n Timbiriche Vaselina (1984)\n Timbiriche Rock Show (1985)\n Timbiriche 7 (1987)\n En Concierto (1999)\n Somos Timbiriche 25 en Vivo (2007)\n Vivo En Vivo (2008)\n Timbiriche Juntos (2017)\n\nDiscography \n Alcanzar Una Estrella (1990)\n Solidaridad (1991)\n Más que alcanzar una estrella (1992)\n Ellas cantan a Cri Cri (1999) \n Todo tiene tambor (2001)\n\nFilmography\n\nFilm\n Amor a la mexicana (1979)\n Más que alcanzar una estrella (1992)...Rosita\n Timbiriche: La misma piedra (2008)...Mariana Garza (Película de la historia de Timbiriche)\n\n Telenovelas \n Elisa (1979)\n Dos vidas(1988)\n Flor a canela (1989)...Marianela\n Alcanzar una estrella (1990)...Lorena Caetano\n Alcanzar una estrella II (1991)...Lorena Caetano\n Tenías que ser tú (1993)...Santa\n [[A flor de piel (telenovela)|A flor de piel]] (1996)...Mariana\n [[Alborada (telenovela)|Alborada]] (2005)... Esperanza de Corsa de Manrique\n Mentir para Vivir (2013)... Maria Jimenez Flores\n\nTV programs\n\n Hola México!! (1984) As Guest Star\n Mi Barrio (1990) As young host together Ricky Luis\n Las cosas simple (1993) \n Timbiriche: El concierto (1998) (Reencuentro con Timbiriche)\n Hoy (1998) (Guest Star)\n Mujer casos de la vida real (Guest Star)\n Dilo, dilo VIP (2004) As Host\n Buscando a Timbiriche, la nueva banda (2007) (Reencuentro con Timbiriche)\n Como dice el dicho (2012) 2 Episodes\n\nTheatre \n\n La maravilla de crecer (1980)\n Vaselina (1984)\n Oz, el mago de Oz (1989)\n El soldadito de plomo (1993)\n Él y sus mujeres (1994)\n Todo tiene tambor (2000)\n Musical, \"Regina\" (2003)\n Yo madre, yo hija (2004)\n Musical \"Pinocho\" (2004)\n Sherezada (2005)\n Aquí y Ahora (2014)\n Los Monólogos de la Vagina (2014)\n\nReferences\n\n1970 births\nLiving people\nMexican actresses\nMexican women singers\nTimbiriche members\nActresses from Mexico City\nSingers from Mexico City" ]
[ "Thalía", "1981-1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era", "What is the Timbiriche Era?", "In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band.", "Is Timbiriche Thalia's first band?", "In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man," ]
C_963c5d6c73044648a24858946d8e6313_1
How long was Thalia with Pac Man?
3
How long was Thalia with Pac Man?
Thalía
In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed in order to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play while singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalia performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En accion, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna nina del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sokol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubin, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalia obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalia was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre senorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalia's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceanera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalia was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalia was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalia recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clasicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalia departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles in order to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. CANNOTANSWER
After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist
Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda Mottola (; born 26 August 1971), known mononymously as Thalía, is a Mexican singer and actress. She is considered one of the most successful and influential Mexican artists and is referred to as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media. Having sold around 25 million records worldwide, she is one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all-time. Aside from her native Spanish, Thalía has also sung in English, French, Portuguese and Tagalog. She has received numerous accolades, including five Billboard Latin Music Awards, eight Lo Nuestro Awards, as well as seven Latin Grammy Award nominations and their special "President's Merit Award" in 2019. She has collaborated with multiple artists, such as Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Robbie Williams, Marc Anthony, Laura Pausini, Romeo Santos, Maluma, Fat Joe, and Carlos Vives. As an actress, Thalía starred in a variety of successful telenovelas that aired in over 180 countries with an estimated audiece of 2 billion people according to UNICEF, which led to her being referred to as the "Queen of telenovelas" by the mass media. The global impact of her novelas helped her to popularize her music in non-Spanish speaking territories and markets in Europe and Asia. The Mexican media company Televisa has named her the best-paid telenovela actress in history, while Billboard names her the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world. Considered a Latin pop icon, Ocean Drive called Thalía as "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". She was included in Billboards Greatest Latin Artists of All Time in 2020 and in People En Españols The 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time in 2008. On 5 December 2013, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition for her achievements in the music industry. As a businesswoman, Thalía enjoyed success with a fashion brand (having signed a deal with Macy's), as well she had her own nationally syndicated radio show and is the author of four books, including her memoir. During her career, Thalía has been involved in humanitarian causes and is an UNICEF Mexico Ambassador since 2016. Early life Thalía was born on 26 August 1971 in Mexico City. She is the youngest of five daughters of Yolanda Miranda Mange (d. 2011), a painter who was Thalía's manager from 1980 to 1999 and Ernesto Sodi Pallares (d. 1977), a scientist, doctor of pathology, criminologist and writer. Her four sisters are Laura Zapata (daughter of Guillermo Zapata Pérez de Utrera), Federica, Gabriela and Ernestina Sodi. When she turned one, Thalía appeared in her first TV commercial in Mexico. At the age of four, she began taking ballet and piano classes at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música (Mexico). Her father suffered from diabetes and died in 1977 when Thalía was six years old. Years later, Thalía admitted publicly that her father's death had traumatized her drastically, since she had lost her voice for a whole year. This led to her being diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder (CDH), which belongs to a series of developmental disorders related to autism spectrum. She has said that she had psychological therapy for a few years. She has reportedly mentioned that she was a victim of bullying as a child because of the loss of her father. Thalía attended Lycée Franco-Mexicain elementary school, where she learned to speak French fluently at a very young age. In 1976, a year before her father's death, she had a guest appearance in the Mexican film La guerra de los pasteles ("War of Cakes"), although her name doesn't appear in the film credits. Music career 1981–1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era In 1981, when Thalía was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play like we're singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalía performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En acción, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalía participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna niña del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sökol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubín, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalía obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sökol from Timbiriche, Thalía became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalía was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalía's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceañera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalía was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalía was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalía recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clásicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalía departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. 1990–1993: First albums as a solo artist In 1990, Thalía returned to Mexico and released her first studio album as a solo artist, self-titled Thalía, which was produced by Alfredo Díaz Ordaz, and published by Fonovisa, Televisa's record label. From that album, she released a total of four singles that became radio hits: "Amarillo Azul", "Pienso en Ti", "Un Pacto Entre los Dos" and "Saliva". The last two tracks were co-written by her and Díaz Ordaz and they were considered as provocative at the time ("Un Pacto Entre Los Dos" was even labeled as a song with occult Satan-worship lyrics by various far-right parties). In September 1991, Thalía released her second studio album, Mundo de cristal, which marks Thalía's last project in collaboration with Alfredo Díaz Ordaz. Four songs became radio singles from the album, and all of them had big radio impact in Mexico. Due to the success of the singles, the album was certified as double gold in Thalía's native country, Mexico. In the same year, Thalía was co-presenter of the late Spanish show VIP Noche, along with Spanish presenter Emilio Aragón, produced by Telecinco. In October 1992, she released her third studio album and her last under the same label, entitled Love, which was recorded in Spain and was produced by Luis Carlos Esteban. The album spread six singles, that had huge radio impact: "Sangre", "Love", "María Mercedes" (official theme of the TV series), "No Trates de Engañarme", "Flor de Juventud", and "La Vida en Rosa" (La vie en rose), the last one being a Spanish-French cover of the classic French song originally performed by Edith Piaf. Thalía wrote the song "Sangre" inspired in Díaz Ordaz, with whom she had broken up her sentimental relation. The album was praised by the critics, as it was an artistic evolution for Thalía, who experimented for the first time in different music genres, especially electronic music. The album reached number 15 on Billboard's Latin Pop Albums in 1993. In Mexico, it sold over 200,000 copies in the first month upon its release and very soon it reached the platinum and gold certification, while it was a commercial success all over Latin America. 1994–1999: International breakout In 1994, during the successful transmission of Marimar, Thalía signed a contract with the record label EMI to prepare her fourth studio album that was entitled En éxtasis. The album was released in October 1995. En éxtasis was produced with the aid of celebrated producers such as Emilio Estefan, Jr. (husband of the famous Cuban singer Gloria Estefan) and Óscar López. The album spawned a total of seven singles including "Piel morena", "Amándote", "María la del barrio", "Quiero hacerte el amor", "Gracias a Dios, "Me Faltas Tú" and "Lágrimas". Piel morena became a huge international hit apart from being voted as the best Spanish song ever in the United States from a poll released by mass media company Univision. It must also be added that Thalía was more oriented to the latin pop music genre in that album, even though it was influenced by various music genres. Amandote became a number 1 hit in various radio stations in the Philippines in 1996, along with her phenomenal superstardom accompanied by her historic Manila tour. It was described by Philippine media as tantamount to that of Pope John Paul II's 1995 Manila visit. The broadcast of the telenovelas María Mercedes, Marimar and María la del barrio had already converted Thalía to a global television phenomenon by the end of 1996. In January 1997, she released her first compilation album entitled Nandito Ako, which contains four songs recorded in Filipino, five English versions from various tracks from the album En éxtasis and a Spanish remix of the song Amándote. The only single that was released from this album was Nandito Ako. The album became a commercial success in the Philippines as a result of Thalía's growing popularity, reaching platinum status set by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry. En éxtasis was her first album that was released worldwide, reaching gold, platinum or multi-platinum status in more than 20 countries. In July 1997, Thalía's fifth studio album was released, under the title Amor a la mexicana, produced again by Emilio Estefan, and including songs that became classic over the years like "Mujer Latina", "De dónde soy", "Por amor", "Noches sin luna" and "Amor a la mexicana". The album became a pure commercial success, while the first single of the album ("Amor a la mexicana") became a number one hit in 14 countries. With Amor a la mexicana, Thalía was able to bring her music and establish her projects in difficult markets like those of France, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Italy and all the Spanish-speaking countries. After the success of Amor a la mexicana, Thalía recorded the Spanish and Portuguese versions of the song "Journey to the Past", produced by Atlantic Records, as a part of the soundtrack of the Fox Animation Studios movie Anastasia (1997). In the following year, she starred for the first time in a movie in English, named "Mambo Café", written and directed by Reuben González. Mambo Café premiered in January 2000 in Mexico, Greece and Russia, distributed by Kushner Locke Entertainment. In 1999, after Mambo Café, Thalía returned in television with telenovela Rosalinda. "Rosalinda" was considered to be Televisa's most expensive production ever by that time, as well as the most exported in foreign countries, as it was sold in over 180 countries. In an interview of that period Thalía had commented: "The telenovelas are the ones that opened the doors of the world for me, because the audience of telenovelas is much more passionate than the audience of cinema. What's more, television is free". 2000–2005: Crossover and first tour in the United States Emilio Estefan also produced Thalía's sixth studio album, Arrasando, released on 25 April 2000, which was successful. It spawned the singles "Entre el mar y una estrella", "Regresa a mí", "Arrasando" and "Reencarnación". Thalía was nominated in the Latin Grammy category as the "Best Female Pop Vocal Album". The album received one Latin Grammy nomination and it won in its category as the "Best Sound Engineered Album of the year". The singles of this album were huge hits. In 2001 she was nominated for her record Arrasando and won a Lo Nuestro award in the category of People's Prize, and was the first artist to whom an innovative award from Billboard Awards for Latin Music was given, the "Star Award". On 4 May 2001, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, invited her to a party celebrating Cinco de mayo organized at the White House, where she interpreted a medley of popular Mexican songs with a Mexican mariachi band. On 28 August 2001, expressing her love for her country of birth, Mexico, she released her album Con Banda: Grandes Éxitos: a "greatest hits" album, but recorded with the typical Mexican "banda" sound. "Amor a la Mexicana" banda version was released as a single. The album was nominated for a Latin Grammy for "Best Banda Album" at the 3rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2002. Her seventh studio album, self-titled Thalía, was released on 21 May 2002. It was largely written and produced by Estéfano. Buoyed by a pair of chart-topping singles ("Tú y Yo" and "No me enseñaste") and a top-ten hit ("¿A quién le importa?") (cover of Alaska y Dinarama), this album hit number one for 6 consecutive weeks on the Top Latin Albums chart, reaching number eleven on the Billboard 200 chart and 2x Multi-Platinum status with sales in the U.S. of 200,000 copies. It was nominated in one Latin Grammy category – "Female Pop Vocal Album", and in four Latin Billboard categories – "Pop Track Female" and "Tropical Track Female" for "No Me Enseñaste", "Your World Award", and "Female Pop Album", for Thalía, winning the last two awards. "No Me Enseñaste" reached at No. 1 in Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks chart. On 25 February 2003, she released her first remix album, Thalía's Hits Remixed. This album contains some remixes of her EMI era hits, such as "Amor a la Mexicana", "Piel Morena", "No Me Enseñaste" and "Tú y Yo." It also contains the English version of "Arrasando", called "It's My Party". Furthermore, it includes the previously unreleased medley that Thalía had recorded especially for her 2001 Latin Grammy Awards performance, but was later cancelled, due to the September 11 attacks. On 8 July 2003, Thalía released her eighth studio album and the first one in English, the self-titled Thalía, featuring the rapper Fat Joe in "I Want You/Me Pones Sexy". "Baby, I'm in Love/Alguien Real", "Don't Look Back" and "Cerca De Ti" were singles too. The album landed at No. 11 in The Billboard 200. The song "I Want You" entered the American Top 40 with Casey Kasem and even reached the top 10 during that year. The song also entered the American Billboard Top 100 Singles Charts that year. She won an International Dance Music Award for her club-hit "Dance Dance (The Mexican)". On 10 February 2004, Thalía released her first official Greatest Hits album, and "Cerca de ti" and "Acción y Reacción" were the singles from this album. In April and May, she toured USA and Mexico with her "High Voltage Tour". Her ninth studio album, El Sexto Sentido, was released on 19 July 2005, and recorded mostly in Spanish, but with a few of the songs sung in English as well. It was reported to be the most expensive music album produced in Latin America in 2005. It had mild success, although the sound and the overall result make it one of her most integrated projects. "Amar sin ser amada" was the first single of the album and is considered as an infectious rock-edged tango-based song. "Un alma sentenciada", the second single of the album, is a feverish and, at points, hyperdramatic ballad. The explosive "Seducción" ("Seduction") and "Olvidame" were also releases as singles, gaining considerable success. The album was also certified gold in Argentina, Greece and Mexico and double platinum in the United States. 2006–2008: The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, Lyme disease and Lunada In 2006, the album received a reloaded version, El Sexto Sentido: Re+Loaded. Thalía was the 'godmother' of Cantando Por Un Sueño, a Mexican TV reality show. It was rumored she got paid 1 million dollars to perform. Thalía recorded the title song of the show, and it was included in the album. It was released in Mexico on 13 February 2006 (U.S. 6 June, Spain 29 May) and features four new songs, including a duet with the group Aventura, "No, No, No" which become a massive hit. "El Sexto Sentido" was nominated for one Latin Grammy as "Best Female Pop Vocal Album", it was also nominated in one Latin Billboard category – "Pop Female Album" and in eight Premios Juventud categories. In 2006, Thalía became a U.S. citizen at a swearing-in ceremony in New York, where she resides with her husband. Under Mexican law she is allowed to retain her Mexican citizenship. She also received an award by her then record company EMI, for sales of more than 10 million copies with all her discography with the company. In March 2007, Thalía also joined ABC Radio to start The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, where she talks about music, fashion, news and political issues. Afterwards, she was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in People en Español 2008 for a record-breaking seventh time where they called her their "Queen". She was once again featured in the 2010 edition for an eighth time. In May 2008, Thalía's single "Ten Paciencia", was premiered on the internet. Although, the single received a lukewarm response and did not perform well in the U.S. charts and Top 20 hits in Mexico, it was No. 1 in several countries of Latin America. Furthermore, her tenth studio album Lunada, was released on 24 June 2008, and debuted at number eight in Mexico and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Top Latin Albums (U.S). It was the last Thalía's studio album released by EMI. Thalía later appeared on El Show De Cristina, aired in late July by Univision's Spanish network to promote the album. According to Univision network, her appearance on the show received huge ratings, reaching No. 1 in both the Chicago and Miami markets. The show was said to have been viewed by over 87 million people in the US alone. "Será porque te amo", the second single, received no promotion and became another failed single. It is a Spanish language cover version of the Italian hit "Sarà perché ti amo", originally performed by the group Ricchi e Poveri. On 23 October, it was announced that Thalía was suffering from Lyme disease, which is transmitted by ticks. Fortunately, it was discovered quickly, and the singer, as well as her mother, Yolanda Miranda, were able to receive antibiotics in time. On 18 November, Thalía announced the end of her collaboration with EMI Music. Despite Lunada being a commercial disappointment, it was named as the "Best Album of the Year" by ¡Hola! readers. The latest work of the Mexican singer achieved 8,750 votes beating artists, such as Luis Miguel, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and Madonna. 2009–2011: Success of Primera Fila and Growing Stronger On 30 July 2009, Thalía recorded her acoustic album, Primera fila, her first album after she signed with Sony Music Entertainment. In October, Thalía performed at the White House, along with other Latin singers, in an event organized by President Barack Obama that celebrated Hispanic heritage. Thalía's performance was iconic and historic, as she was the first celebrity to publicly invite a United States President to dance. In October of the same year, she released the first single from Primera fila, a song named Equivocada. In December Thalía released her album, which contained duets with Joan Sebastian and Pedro Capó and various other songs, that became huge radio hits in the following months. The production received critical accept and very positive reviews, while Jason Birchmeier stated that "Primera Fila" was one of the best albums Thalía has released in her whole career, and definitely the one with the most surprises. As for Thalía, she considered Primera Fila as "the most personal album" in her career. Regarding to the album's commercial performance, Primera fila received diamond and triple platinum sales certifications in Mexico, where it was announced by the end of 2011 that the album had sold over 500,000 copies according to AMPROFON. Primera fila was the best selling album in Mexico in 2010, where it topped the charts for 55 non-consecutive weeks, the most weeks ever in Mexico's recorded music chart history. In Greece and Spain, the album reached the positions No. 6 and No. 32, respectively, while it reached No. 4 in Billboard's top Latin Albums and No. 2 in Billboard's Latin Pop Albums charts. Initially, Primera Fila had reached No. 1 on both aforementioned charts, but sales of the standard edition and the Walmart edition were later divided, leading to a retraction and update to Billboard's official peak positions for Primera Fila. After these changes, Primera fila went from a peak position of No. 167 to a peak position of No. 198 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Until the month of October 2012, Primera fila had sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In September 2010, Thalía released a special anniversary edition of the album under the title Primera fila... Un año después, which included 8 songs from the original album, as well as 2 never-released before songs, 2 remixes and a DVD with a documentary of the recording process of the album. In October 2010, Michael Bublé invited her to record a song with him in his holiday album Christmas. Together they recorded the bilingual song "Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad" and their collaboration received very positive reviews. 2012–2013: Habitame Siempre and VIVA! Tour Thalía had a collaboration with US music veteran Tony Bennett for his "Viva:Duets" album, which was released on 22 October 2012. Together they performed live the classic song "The way you look tonight" in Today's show and the Katie Couric's show. During the past months, she had announced that she was recording her eleventh studio album, Habítame siempre. On 21 September 2012, Thalía gave a private concert in New York City at Hammerstein Ballroom as a preview of the upcoming album. The album's lead single, "Manías", was released on 8 October 2012. Habítame siempre was released on 19 November 2012, in the United States and Latin America under the label of Sony Music Latin, while in Europe it is set to be released in 2013 by BMG Music. The album contains collaborations with Robbie Williams, Michael Bublé, Prince Royce and Gilberto Santa Rosa, among others and immensely after its release, it received mostly positive reviews. Habitame Siempre was certified triple platinum plus gold in Mexico for sales of more than 210,000 copies, gold in the United States for shipments exceeding 50,000 copies and platinum in Venezuela for over 10,000 copies shipped. In the meantime the second single of the album, "Te Perdiste Mi Amor", was certified platinum in Mexico for digital sales of over 60,000 copies. On 24 March 2013, Thalía launched her VIVA! Tour in support of Habítame Siempre. The VIVA! Tour marks Thalía's first tour in a decade and consists of a series of intimate concerts in the United States and Mexico. Thalía stated in an interview that she also plans to expand the tour to Latin America, Europe and Asia if it meets positive commercial reception. In October 2013, Thalía released in the United States and Latin America her fourth book Chupie (The Binky That Returned Home), and on 12 November, Thalía released in Mexico her second live album VIVA! Tour. This album was recorded on 27 April 2013, during her concert in Mexico City. In United States and Latin America, the album was released on 1 December 2013. It was certified gold in Mexico on its second week on the market for sales exceeding 30,000 copies. On 5 December 2013, she received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition of her success. 2014–2015: Viva Kids and Amore Mio On 25 March 2014, Thalía released her first children album Viva Kids Vol. 1 in Mexico. The album contains 11 songs and received one nomination to Latin Grammy Awards 2014. Vamos A Jugar was the first single of the album and was released on 18 March 2014. Viva Kids Vol. 1 was released in US, on 5 June 2014. On 22 July 2014, Italian singer Laura Pausini confirmed that by September that same year she would release a special version of her greatest hits album to the Hispanophone market, in an edition containing new duet with Thalía in Sino a ti. On 9 September 2014, Thalía released the lead single of Amore Mio, "Por Lo Que Reste De Vida". The song debuted No. 50 in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. The video music was released on 14 October 2014. Thalía released her 12th studio album on 17 November 2014. Amore Mio was Thalía's second album that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. The album debuted at No. 173 on the Billboard 200 with 3,000 copies sold in first week in the US. In Mexico, the album debuted at No. 1. In December 2014, to celebrate Thalía's 25th anniversary as a solo artist, her first three albums were released as a digital download from iTunes and Spotify. In January 2015, Thalía released her first fashion collection in United States with Macy's. 2016–2017: Latina, world tour, and directorial debut On 26 February 2016, she revealed through her social media accounts the album cover for her then-upcoming studio album, Latina, which was released on 21 April 2016. The album's first single, "Desde Esa Noche" featuring Maluma, peaked at number 16 on the Hot Latin Songs chart and number 4 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. The second single of the album, Vuélveme a Querer was released on 29 April 2016. The third single of album was Todavía Te Quiero featuring De La Ghetto was released on 2 December 2016. Thalía has announced she will embark on a new tour, her third overall, called Latina Love Tour. In 2017 she made her directorial debut when she co-directed "15: A Quinceañera Story", a four-part series of documentary shorts that follows five latina quinceañeras. For this she received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs at the 70th Directors Guild of America Awards That same year she collaborated with Colombian singer Carlos Vives in the song "Todo Me Gusta" from his album "Vives". The song was not released as a single but still managed to peak at number 12 in Bolivia and also peaked at number 14 the U.S. Tropical Digital Songs Chart. 2018–2019: Donna Summer Musical, Eyelure, Valiente, and Adria In 2018 she produced Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway. The musical is based on the life of Donna Summer. In August 2018 she released her false eyelash and eyebrow collection called Eyelure which is available at Walmart. Thalía released her fourteenth studio album, Valiente, on 9 November 2018. The lead single No Me Acuerdo was certified quadruple platinum in both Mexico and the United States as well as double platimun in Spain. The album also spawned the hits Me Oyen, Me Escuchan, Lento, and Lindo Pero Bruto with the latter being certified gold in the United States. The album had a total of 8 songs released as singles. In January 2019 she released her line of hair care products called Adria by Thalía. The 7 piece collection in available in stores at Walmart and Target as well as online. 2020–present: New collaborations, Viva Kids 2, and DesAMORfosis In January 2020 Thalía released the single "Ya Tú Me Conoces" with Venezuelan brother duo Mau y Ricky. The song served as the lead single from her 17th studio album. A month after that she collaborated with Mexican duo Rio Roma on their song "Lo Siento Mucho", which entered the top 10 on the Mexican charts. A month later she collaborated again, this time with Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar on the song "Tímida", which served as the fifth single for his album 111. In May 2020, the magazine People en Español named her the number-one most influential Mexican star of all time for her success as a singer, actress, and entrepreneur. Later that month, she released her second children's album titled Viva Kids Vol. 2. In June 2020 she collaborated with Peruvian singer Leslie Shaw on her single "Estoy Soltera", which also features Colombian singer Farina and served as the third single from Shaw's EP Yo Soy Leslie Shaw. She released the second single of her upcoming studio album titled "La Luz" on 28 August 2020, on which she collaborated with Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers. A month later she started on a Facebook watch series called Latin Music Queens alongside Sofía Reyes and Farina. The series would lead up to the release of two more singles with the first one being Ten Cuidao with Farina which premiered on episode three and the second single being Tick Tock which featured all three singers and premiered after the sixth and final episode. The latter also served as the third single from Thalía's upcoming album. On 7 May 2021 she released Mojito which served as the fourth single from her album DesAMORfosis which she released on 14 May 2021. Acting career Thalia was cast in a supporting role in the 1986 telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour with which she began her collaboration with Televisa, the largest mass media company in the Spanish-speaking world. In 1987, she went on to star in her first major role for Televisa in the 1987 teenage drama series Quinceañera, along with Mexican actress Adela Noriega. Quinceañera won the TV y Novelas award for Best Telenovela of the Year 1988. In 1989, she got her first lead role in Luz y Sombra, which was less successful. However, Thalía's explosion in popularity came in 1992, when she starred in María Mercedes for which she won a TV Y Novelas award as Best Young Actress in 1993. This series was the first of three telenovelas, named by the Mexican press as Las Tres Marias ("The Three Marías"), because the name of the heroine in all of these telenovelas was María. The second telenovela of the trilogy was Marimar in 1994, and the third and final was Maria la del Barrio in 1995. Among the trilogy, the third was the most successful of Thalía's career and it remains her most iconic role, while Marimar is considered the best Telenovela of all time. In 1999, Thalía starred in her last telenovela, "Rosalinda". All four telenovelas were basically based on the same rags to riches character. With these telenovelas, Thalía became famous worldwide and was consolidated as a television phenomenon, because of the extremely high ratings her TV series achieved in more than 180 countries (especially the Philippines). Although Thalía's presence in television is legendary, her presence in cinema is less important. She appeared for the first time in a movie when she was still a child in the 1979 film "La Guerra De los Pasteles" ("The War of the Cakes"). Furthermore, in 1999, she starred in "Mambo Café", a modest indie film production that had a poor reception from critics. Cultural impact of telenovelas Thalía has been labeled by various mass media companies as the "queen of soap operas", because her presence in television during the decade of the '90s was phenomenal. She became one of the world's foremost and most enduring television personalities as she starred in Mexico's highest-rated telenovelas ever that were exported in over 180 countries and viewed by about 2 billion people. It is stated by international media experts that at some point at the midst of the telenovela craze, Thalía's name even became synonymous with her native country, Mexico. According to the newspaper Ivoir'Soir: "At 7.30 sharp in the evening, when Marimar comes on, everything stops in Côte d'Ivoire". It is also mentioned that "Marimar" could attract more local fans than the 1998 World Cup, and that the program arrived in Africa after being a phenomenal rating hit in Indonesia and the Philippines, where in 1997 she was received in Manila like a foreign head of state. Thalía stated in her autobiography regarding to the impact of her telenovelas: "Soap operas made a lot of history; just look at the report by UNESCO, where it was noted that "in the Ivory Coast in Africa and in Paris (France), people stopped the daily course of their lives just to watch a soap opera. I never expected that kind of success [...] Whenever I arrived anywhere, I was treated like royalty; even the press in some of these countries referred to me as the Aztec Queen, the Mexican Queen, or the ambassador of Mexico, and like a proud peacock, I always brought my country's flag with me wherever I went to represent my motherland. I was in the clouds at the pinnacle of my career [...] During my visit at the Philippines, the organizers informed me that the last time so many people gathered in the streets for a person was when Pope John Paul the Second came to visit on January fourteenth, 1995 [...] In the Philippines, the country that probably felt the greatest impact from Marimar, the show was more widely promoted than the 1998 World Cup and more highly rated than the Super Bowl or the Grammys. In fact while I was visiting the country, the people and the media were so enthralled to see Marimar in the flesh that a historic peace treaty between the government and the querillas and the centennial celebrations of the Philippine Revolutions that were happening at the same time were pushed aside in the midst of Marimar fever. As a result, the archipelago was temporarily dubbed "República de MariMar." The phenomenon of Thalía's telenovelas also became visible in countries like Brazil, Bulgaria, Libya, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Lebanon, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Syria, Turkey and the majority of Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Business endeavours In 2002, Thalía signed a deal with Kmart to release her own clothing collection for women, as well as accessories and home products. In the middle of 2003, the "Thalía Sodi" collection was officially available in the US market in over 2,000 stores. Thalía commented: "My collection is a dream come true. I'm so happy to have created a clothing line inspired by my culture, trying to show the colors and the passion of our culture, that captures also a big part of my personal style". Thalía became the first Mexican woman to launch a clothing brand in the US. Simultaneously, Thalía debuted her eyewear collection under the brand name "Thalía Eyewear Collection" in association with Kenmark Optical. In 2005, the line also became available in Mexico's market as Thalía signed a deal with "Devlyn" company. Up to 2007, Thalía had generated US$100 million from the sales of "Thalía Eyewear", with more than 1 million products sold. Precisely in 2007 Thalía presented a new eyewear collection in New York, and the brand was exported to over eighty countries around the world. In April 2004, she entered the editorial market by releasing her own magazine Thalía in US, produced by American Media and oriented to the female Latin youth. The magazine included consultation and reports about issues like health, fashion and beauty. Some months later, in September, Thalía became the face of jewels' company Jacob & Co. In 2004, she signed a contract with Hershey's with which she released her own chocolate and candy brand. In 2005, she designed a summer clothing line, and in the following year, she was converted into the face of "Carol's Daughter" company, specialized in beauty products, while in 2007 she launched her perfume, produced by "Fuller Cosmetics" company. In 2007, she joined ABC Radio and started her own radio show known as "The Conexión Thalía Radio Show", in which she discusses music, fashion, news and political issues, and invites various people to talk with her on different issues. The program, that is weekly and lasts two hours, premiered on 17 March 2007, and still goes on, while it has expanded to over 70 radio stations through the US. In September 2007, she released the beauty advice book "Thalía: ¡Belleza!-Lessons in Lipgloss and Happiness" and in June 2009, she released her second book entitled "Thalia: ¡Radiante!-Your Guide to a Fit and a Fabulous Pregnancy". In May 2010, she revealed new accessories and jewels available via her website, apart from a new clothing line in association with multinational company C&A. In February 2011, she became the new face of Head & Shoulders and in November, she released her third book, which is her autobiography and named "Growing Stronger". Thalía has also been the public face of various advertisements, like Dr Pepper in 2001 or Victoria's Secret in 2005. According to Mira! magazine, in 2008 it was estimated that Thalía was one of the most wealthy Mexican businesswomen with a net worth of over US$100 million. In April 2012, she inaugurated her own yoga center in New York. In 2015, she signed a contract with "ePura", a Mexican water company and she also signed an exclusive deal with Macy's to launch her apparel, shoes and jewelry collections. Jeffrey Gennette, Macy's president stated that "the Thalia Sodi collection is the biggest private-brand launch in the history of the company by a long shot." Philanthrophy and activism Thalía has participated in various humanitarian campaigns. Since 2004, she has been an official celebrity ambassador and volunteer of March of Dimes, to support national fundraising and awareness campaigns. March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. Also, since 2016 she is a UNICEF Mexico Ambassador. Thalía is also became a member of "ALAS Foundation", which is a non-profit organization that strives to launch a new social movement that will generate a collective commitment to comprehensive Early Childhood Development programs for the children in Latin America. Through various public service campaigns and through her own media channels, Thalia has been a strong voice for March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign. She also is featured in March of Dimes Education and Health Promotion materials in English and Spanish, while she has helped to raise awareness and critical funds for the March of Dimes year-round. Furthermore, she supports March for Babies and works to find ongoing opportunities for March of Dimes strategic alliances and media promotions. In 2006, Thalía along with her husband attended the event A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To Cure Parkinson's with the aim to economically support the foundation The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research of Michael J. Fox. In May 2009, Thalía and Tommy Mottola were recognized from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Miami for their support in children in need. In 2010, she reunited with other recording artists, performers and actors like Sharon Stone, Michael Douglas, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony between others, to raise funds for the "Foundation of the New York's police department", which works for better urban security. In 2011, she attended a beneficial event in New York, organized by the Robin Hood Foundation with the aim to raise money for homeless youth. In the same year, she closed the Mexican Teleton by offering a live concert. In November 2012, Thalía took humanitarian aid and comfort to compatriots of her in New York that were affected by Hurricane Sandy. She stated : "When I started seeing the destruction of Sandy I thought it was incredible, but, when I saw my Mexican brothers and sisters I felt the need to try and do something for them" in front of a group of families gathered at the Staten Island Immigrant Information Center in one of the most devastated by the storm areas. She went on to say that in times like this an artist should use the reach of the media to collect aid for the victims, and at the same time she called on the public to deposit money in the account opened by the Mexican Consulate for that purpose. In April 2013, Thalía was awarded with the "Your Voice Inspires Many" award by the Lyme Research Alliance. Personal life Thalía was in a relationship with actor Fernando Colunga from 1995 to 1996 while they appeared on the series María la del Barrio. Thalía married music executive Tommy Mottola on 2 December 2000. The couple have two children, daughter Sabrina Sakaë, born on 8 October 2007, and son Matthew Alejandro, born on 24 June 2011. Thalía has stated in her autobiography and elsewhere that she is religious and believes profoundly in God. She began studying Kabbalah in 2002, using many of its symbols in the artwork of her album El Sexto Sentido. In 2015 she accidentally revealed during an interview that she had multiple miscarriages which caused her depression and were some of the hardest times in her life. In September 2002, Thalía's sisters, Laura Zapata and Ernestina Sodi, were kidnapped in Mexico City. Zapata was released 18 days after her kidnapping, and her sister Ernestina was released on the 36th day. Thalía has had a series of familial conflicts, especially with her sister Laura Zapata. She has opted to keep her point of view regarding to her familial issues private, despite the attacks she has received from her older sister. In a press interview, Thalía stated that her familial problems with her sister are "just a dark cloud in a shiny sky". In 2008, Thalía was affected by Lyme disease, a disease commonly transmitted by ticks. The illness prevented her from promoting her album Lunada, while it functioned as a motivation for her to have a totally different perspective towards life. In reference to her illness, Thalía stated in her autobiography : "I would sweat profusely, soaking my pajamas, the sheets and even the mattress; everything hurt, even my hair, which, by the way, started to fall out. At times it felt as if my head were going to burst, as if there were lead inside of it; my eyes ached in their sockets....the hypersensitivity of my skin was so severe that sometimes I couldn't even handle the bed sheets." Influences According to Thalia herself, her major personal influence was her mother, who was a motivating manager for Thalia from the very beginning of her career until 2000. As for her artistic influences, Thalia's work is mostly influenced by Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Sade, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, The Doors, and Kylie Minogue, while she has stated that she always admired Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. Thalia's first idol, according to her, was athlete Nadia Comaneci. She has even stated that her record-breaking performance was a huge motivation for her to follow a career in entertainment. Cultural impact She is referred as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media at least since the early-2000s, and was named by Billboard during the late-1990s as "Latin American's Reigning Music Queen". Thalía's success and impact in Latin music has been noted and praised by many critics. According to Billboard, she has achieved critical acclaim and commercial success as both a singer and songwriter, and has remained as one of the leading female artists in Latin music. Before her crossover attempt to the English market with a homonymous album in 2003, she gained success with her Spanish recordings in Europe, Asia and all over the Americas, even before the crossover of contemporaries artists such as Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Shakira and Paulina Rubio. She also stated: "My internationalization has come for several years ago and in Spanish, which is very significant". Thalía was included in Billboard list the "Greatest Latin Artists of All Time" in 2020. According to the American magazine Ocean Drive, Thalía is "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". Similarly, Tammy Gagne in We Visit Mexico (2010) described her as "the most popular singer, actress, and dancer in Mexico", while Rough Guides discussed the Latin pop music stage in Latin America saying that in Mexico, "since the 1990s the biggest name has been Thalía". Univision placed Thalía at number 8 in their list of "25 most influential Mexican musicians", the highest peak by a female artist within the list. Thalía has been also described as an influential Latin woman, and has been part of diverse listicles. For instance, People en Español included her in their book Legends: the 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time (2008). The same magazine, include her at their "The 25 Most Influential Latin Women" and Terra Networks named her one of the most "powerful and iconic women in music" in 2011. Leila Cobo from Billboard wrote she "has carved out one of the most successful global Latin careers in memory". Producer Emilio Estefan called her "Mexico's diva of divas" and stated "Thalía is one of the few female artists in the Latino market who has legions of fans throughout Latin America, including Brazil". In 1998, French company Louis Vuitton invited her to appear in Rebonds publication, being at the time the first Latin celebrity to appear in that book. In 1997, 25 April was declared by the government of Los Angeles, as "Thalia's National Day", because of her growing popularity among the Latino community in the United States. Thalia's rise to international prominence coincided with the worldwide broadcast of the soap operas she starred in. Her soap operas were viewed in more than 180 countries by almost 2 billion viewers according to UNICEF, and many of her telenovelas became one of the most watched television broadcasts around the world. She is known as the "Queen of Telenovelas" ("Queen of Soap Operas") and Billboard once named her "the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world". She also gained success as a businesswoman, with commercial and critical recognition for her business ventures by launching several products under her brand name, and dominated the editorial business by writing and releasing three books, that became bestsellers. According to Felipe Escudero from El Mundo in 2006, Thalía was described as the "Latin Madonna of the Hispanic market" and a "Queen Midas" due her success as a businesswoman. Thalía is considered a gay icon and according to Infobae, many of her fans recognized her as the "Latin queen of gay community". The same publication also stated Thalía is one of the most "emulated pop singers by transvestite shows in gay nightclubs". Andrés del Real from La Tercera felt she is an icon for the sexual minority, and professor Ramón García in Chicano Representation and the Strategies of Modernism (1997) wrote Thalía is "the dream identity of many drag queens". Ed Grant from Time also commented that many of them called themselves "Thalíos". Thalia has been an influential artist for almost every younger Latin pop singer, including Anahí, Belinda, and urban Latin artists Becky G, Natti Natasha and Karol G among others, while Julio Iglesias, Tony Bennett, Juan Luis Guerra, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Laura Pausini, Tiziano Ferro, Michael Bublé, Espinoza Paz, Gloria Trevi, Inna, Erik Rubin, Pedro Capó, Maluma, Robbie Williams and many other artists have expressed their admiration towards her talent and charisma. Awards and achievements Thalía has achieved multiple milestones during her career with her music, acting career and business ventures. Luis Magaña from El Universal commented that those record figures in her career are "impressive" and found that she has been the first in place of different situations in life. Thalía has sold over 25 million records worldwide, and is one of the best-selling Latin music artists. She has numerous albums amongst the best-selling in Spanish-language that include En éxtasis, Amor a la Mexicana and Arrasando with sales of over 2 million copies worldwide and have at least one album amongst the best selling of all-time in Mexico, Chile and the Philippines. "No Me Acuerdo" is also one of the best-selling Latin singles in the United States. According to El Universal, Thalía is the first Latina to have a Top 10 in all continents, and Arrasando led her to be the first Latin woman selling a Spanish album in Japan. Thalía con banda is the first album of banda music with a certification in Spain. Thalía's versatility signing in other languages made her the first and only Latin artist with an album recorded primarily in Tagalog when she released Nandito Ako in 1997. María la del Barrio is the first telenovela translated into the Tagalog language. Thalía became the first actress to make a trilogy of telenovelas and Quinceañera is considered to be the first telenovela for a teen audience. Moreover, Thalía is the highest paid actress in the history of Televisa. With El Sexto Sentido, Thalía set a record for the largest number of interviews granted to an electronic medium, Televisa. The album also became the first Spanish-language release in the United States to have a preorder campaign through iTunes and was the most expensive Spanish album up that time. She is also the first woman to have a HBO Latino concert special. "Amor a la Mexicana" is the first Mexican song to be played in European dive bars. Thalía is also the first Mexican female artist to have a certification in Brazil, and remains the best-selling Mexican female soloist in that country. She is also the first Mexican woman with a line of clothing in the United States, as well the first Mexican woman closing bells at Nasdaq. Thalía became the first Mexican artist to hit one billion views on YouTube with "No Me Acuerdo". She also became in the first Mexican artist to have complete control over all the videos in her catalog. Thalía is the most followed Mexican female artist in Spotify, and with most views on YouTube. She also held the record in Instagram until being surpassed by Danna Paola. She is the first recipient of the Star Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards when she was honored in 2001. She received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013 as a recognition to her versatile trajectory and her impact in the world of music and entertainment. In doing so, Thalía became the first female singer born in Mexico with that achievement. She holds a record for appearing the most times in People en Españols annual list of the most beautiful Latin celebrities (Los más bellos). She became the first face of Jacob & Co, and the first Latina to make a deal with The Hershey Company. Filmography Discography Thalía (1990) Mundo de Cristal (1991) Love (1992) En éxtasis (1995) Nandito Ako (1997) Amor a la Mexicana (1997) Arrasando (2000) Thalía (2002) Thalía (2003) El Sexto Sentido (2005) Lunada (2008) Habítame Siempre (2012) Viva Kids Vol. 1 (2014) Amore Mío (2014) Latina (2016) Valiente (2018) Viva Kids Vol. 2 (2020) Desamorfosis (2021) Concert tours High Voltage Tour (2004) Viva! Tour (2013) Latina Love Tour (2016) Written works See also Sodi family List of most watched television broadcasts List of most expensive celebrity photographs List of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors References Bibliography Scott Robert Olson (1999). Hollywood Planet: Global Media and the Competitive Advantage of Narrative Transparency, Routledge publications, pages 134, 153–161. . Quiñones, Sam (2001). True Tales from Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino, and the Bronx. University of New Mexico Press. . Cl. Fernandez, Andrew Paxman (2001). El tigre: Emilio Azcárraga y su imperio Televisa. . Ruth Lorand (2002). Television: Aesthetic Reflections, P. Lang, Michigan University, digitized in 2008. Maria Immacolata, Vassallo de Lopes, Uribe Bertha (2004). Telenovela: internacionalização e interculturalidade, Edições Loyola. , 9788515028887, πορτογαλικά. Cobo, Leila (2005). Billboard : "Thalía's Sixth Sense", Nielsen Business Media, Inc – Prometheus Global Media, pages 59–60. . Lisa Shaw, Stephanie Dennison (2005). Pop Culture Latin America!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle, ABC-CLIO, pages 51, 233–239, 398. Stavans Ilan, Augenbraum Harold (2005). Encyclopedia Latina: History, culture, and society in the United States. Volumen 1, Grolier Academic Reference. . Antoine van Agtmael (2007). The Emerging Markets Century: How a New Breed of World-Class Companies Is Overtaking the World, Simon and Schuster, p. 255. Stavans, Ilan (2010). Telenovelas (The Ilan Stavans Library of Latino Civilization), ABC-CLIO. , 9780313364938. External links Thalia.com — Official website 1971 births Living people EMI Latin artists Fonovisa Records artists LGBT rights activists from Mexico Latin music musicians Mexican women in business Mexican women singers English-language singers from Mexico Portuguese-language singers of Mexico Mexican child actresses Mexican dance musicians Mexican emigrants to the United States Mexican record producers Mexican telenovela actresses Mexican women writers Actresses from Mexico City Singers from Mexico City 20th-century Mexican actresses Timbiriche members Latin pop singers Singers from New York City Sony Music Latin artists Mexican women pop singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century Mexican women singers 21st-century Mexican singers Mexican women record producers Mexican people of Italian descent Mexican people of French descent Women in Latin music
false
[ "Pac-Man VR is a 1996 video game by Virtuality set in the Pac-Man universe.\n\nThe game featured play in a 3D environment from a first-person perspective. The game did not change any gameplay mechanics of the original game, except adding a multiplayer feature. The game cabinet itself was expensive, as was play which cost five dollars for five minutes. The cabinet was a 2000 SU series model, where the player stood in a ring set at the waistline. The player could turn his head and a tracking system built into the glasses would detect it and turn Pac-Man's head in the game. Crouching and standing tall were also allowed and movement was done with a joystick.\nAn adaption for the SU-3000 Systems was released, later on, making Pac-man VR the only non-shooting game ever released for SU-3000 systems.\n\nThe promotional page that was originally on Virtuality's web site (which no longer exists), describes the game:\n\nPAC-MAN fever is spreading again with this new fully immersive 3D virtual reality game from Virtuality in which the player actually becomes PAC-MAN himself. Through a licensing agreement with NAMCO, the creators of the original PAC-MAN, Virtuality brings this fun packed game for Solo, Duo and Quattro Series 2000 SU systems.\n\nRetaining all of the original gameplay, Virtuality have enhanced this classic game by networking up to four PAC-MAN characters together, enabling them to see, talk and compete with each in the same virtual maze while still trying to outwit the ghosts.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Mirror of Virtuality's Pac-Man VR Web Site\n PAC-MAN Leaps Into VR; Virtuality Brings PAC-MAN into the Third-Dimension with PAC-MAN VR\n Video introduction to the game\n SU3000 software page\n\nArcade video games\nArcade-only video games\n1996 video games\nPac-Man\nVideo games developed in the United Kingdom\nVirtual reality games\nVirtuality games", "is a 2007 maze video game developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco Bandai Games) for the Xbox 360. It has since appeared on several other platforms, including the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and iOS. It is an HD reimagining of the original Pac-Man arcade game; players navigate Pac-Man through an enclosed maze, eating pellets and avoiding four ghosts that pursue him. Clearing an entire side of the maze of dots will cause a fruit item to appear, and eating it will cause a new maze to appear on the opposite side.\n\nDevelopment of Championship Edition was headed by director Tadashi Iguchi, alongside producer Nobutaka Nakajima and designer Toru Iwatani, the original creator of Pac-Man — Championship Edition was the final game he designed. Unhappy with earlier attempts to remake Pac-Man for removing many of the common elements present in the original, the development team focused on taking the original concept and expanding on two core features: the game speed and new mazes, which they felt would be the best way to \"modernize\" it. Iguchi was not much of a Pac-Man fan, spending much of his time thinking about how hardcore Pac-Man fans would react to the game's new features and ideas. It was chosen to make the game feel like an arcade game, due to it being released for the Xbox Live Arcade service.\n\nBacked by a large marketing campaign orchestrated by Microsoft and Namco Bandai, Pac-Man Championship Edition was well-received by critics. Publications commended the game for successfully translating the classic Pac-Man gameplay into a modern format, with its gameplay, soundtrack and online features also being praised. One critic labeled it as \"the true sequel to Pac-Man since Ms. Pac-Man\". However, some disliked the lack of a multiplayer mode and for reusing enemy movement patterns in the original. It was followed by two sequels; Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, and Pac-Man Championship Edition 2.\n\nGameplay\n\nLike the original Pac-Man, the basic game play of Pac-Man Championship Edition consists entirely of navigating Pac-Man through a maze, eating dots, power pellets and bonus items (such as fruits, keys, and other objects), and avoiding the four ghosts that roam the maze as well. If Pac-Man is caught by a ghost, the player loses a life. Eating a power pellet causes the ghosts to turn blue, allowing Pac-Man to eat them and send them back to their home, where they re-emerge in their original form.\n\nHowever, there are several major differences from its original counterpart, making Pac-Man C.E. a faster paced game. Each maze is divided into two halves. Eating all the dots on one half causes a bonus item to appear on the other side, and eating the item causes a new maze to appear on the other half. Players can also collect additional power pellets to increase their powered up time and continue earning maximum points for eating ghosts. The longer the player stays alive, the faster the game gets and the more points can be earned. As opposed to levels, the game is played within a certain time limit, with players attempting to get the highest score possible.\n\nThe game features six modes: Championship, which is the basic five-minute mode, two ten-minute Challenge modes which affect the stage (such as increasing power pellet pickups or putting the maze in darkness) and three Extra modes (one five-minute and two ten-minute) featuring different mazes. The game also supports online leader boards.\n\nDevelopment\nThe idea for the game that later became Pac-Man Championship Edition was conceived following the release of the original Pac-Man arcade game for the Xbox Live Arcade online service in 2006. Namco Bandai Games producer Nobutaka Nakajima noticed how the classic Pac-Man gameplay took place on a tall, vertical screen, in drastic comparison to the widescreen HD television sets most consumers have, alongside its \"very low-resolution, old-school gameplay.\" With next generation video game consoles posing much more powerful hardware, the idea of a modernized remake of Pac-Man for HD televisions came into fruition. Nakajima became the project's producer, assisted by director Tadashi Iguchi and designer Toru Iwatani, the original creator of Pac-Man. Championship Edition was the last game that Iwatani designed. When the game was being idealized, the development team focused on the question: \"We have all of this new technology and hardware and power. What would Pac-Man be like, taking this technology and putting it to the max?\"\n\nNakajima felt that most remakes and sequels to Pac-Man strive too far from what he considered \"the fundamentals of what made Pac-Man so great.\" With Championship Edition, he went back to the roots of the original to expand on its concept, while still keeping the game's core mechanics intact. Iwatani wanted the game to keep the simplicity of Pac-Man, as he felt that is what made the game fun and compelling. When the development team was discussing with Iwatani about the idea of the game, Namco Bandai was approached by Microsoft about a crossover promotional event centered around Pac-Man; with this in mind, the team focused on making the idea of players playing together a focal point for the game, wanting it to be full of excitement and action.\n\nIguchi claimed that the original Pac-Man was a success because of its \"compelling\" gameplay experience, and said that trying to improve on it was a difficult task. A total of twenty different ideas were proposed, only one of which was approved by Iwatani and became the basis for the game. With the original Pac-Man having already been done well in terms of its gameplay and design, Iguchi and the others stated that the only mechanics that could really be changed were the maze design and the speed of the game itself. The staff targeted those ideas specifically during production, and experimented with ways to improve them. When an idea was proposed, it was incorporated into the game and playtested to make sure if it was fun or interesting. Thanks to his background in designing arcade games during his time at Namco, specifically Pac-Man Arrangement for Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2 (1996), Iguchi was able to polish the concept to what he envisioned players wanted out of the arcade original. Microsoft had additional input on the project, requesting that the game have an arcade-like feel to it due to them wanting to release the game onto the Xbox Live Arcade service. The development team also wanted Championship Edition to be appealing towards more \"modern\" players, those who had never played Pac-Man during its heyday. Ideas such as the game increasing in speed as it progressed were added to draw in newer players. Iguchi was not much of a Pac-Man fan, and had to look at the game from the perspective of a hardcore fan of the franchise while working on it.\n\nRelease\n\nThe game was originally released on the Xbox Live Arcade service on June 6, 2007. The announcement of the game spurred more purchases of the Xbox 360 in Japan. Pac-Man C.E. is also available on a disc titled Xbox Live Arcade Compilation that is bundled with the Xbox 360 Arcade console bundle, as well as on the compilation package Namco Museum Virtual Arcade (in the latter however, it can't be accessed within NMVA itself; it must be accessed from the game library). Ports for iOS, J2ME, Android and PSP minis were released on December 10, 2009, middle of 2009, late 2010 and December 1, 2010 respectively. The follow-up Pac-Man Championship Edition DX was released on Xbox Live Arcade on November 17, 2010 and PlayStation Network on November 23, 2010. The original Pac-Man Championship Edition was ported to Nintendo 3DS as part of a retail game titled Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions in 2011 and is included in the downloadable game titled Pac-Man Museum in 2014.\n\nOn June 5, 2007, the first Pac-Man World Championship was held in New York City, which brought together ten competitors from eight countries to play the new Pac-Man Championship Edition just prior to its release on Xbox Live Arcade. The top two scorers, Robert Glashuettner of Austria and Carlos Daniel Borrego Romero of Mexico, competed for the championship in a single five-minute round. Borrego was named Pac-Man World Champion and won an Xbox 360 console, specially decorated with Pac-Man artwork and signed by Tōru Iwatani. A \"demastered\" version of Pac-Man Championship Edition that runs on real Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System hardware is included in the game compilation Namco Museum Archives Vol. 1 and physical editions of the Namcot Collection\n\nReception\n\nPac-Man Championship Edition was well-received by video game publications, and is seen among the best games in the Pac-Man series. Critics felt that Namco Bandai successfully brought the core idea of the original into the modern era of video games. Joystiq called it \"The first true sequel to Pac-Man since Ms. Pac-Man.\"\n\nPac-Man Championship Edition received mostly positive reviews by critics, with reviewers stating the gameplay was \"fresh and exciting,\" \"one of the best 'exclusive' pieces of downloadable/casual entertainment available,\" and that it was \"nice to see a classic remade instead of simply repackaged.\" Jared Rea of Joystiq called it \"The first true sequel to Pac-Man since Ms. Pac-Man.\" Criticisms include a lack of a multiplayer mode, and an apparent relapse to patterns that had been in the original. The game's Metacritic aggregator score is 83. The iOS port was criticised for its microtransaction strategy while the Android port was criticised for poor controls. IGN criticised the PSPminis version due to the absence of online leaderboards and its inferiority to its sequel.\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\n2007 video games\nBandai Namco games\nIOS games\nMaemo games\nMaze games\nPac-Man\nVideo game remakes\nXbox 360 Live Arcade games\nPlayStation 3 games\nPlayStation Network games\nPlayStation Portable games\nVideo games developed in Japan\nAndroid (operating system) games" ]
[ "Thalía", "1981-1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era", "What is the Timbiriche Era?", "In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band.", "Is Timbiriche Thalia's first band?", "In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man,", "How long was Thalia with Pac Man?", "After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist" ]
C_963c5d6c73044648a24858946d8e6313_1
Did Pac Man have any success?
4
Did Pac Man have any success?
Thalía
In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed in order to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play while singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalia performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En accion, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna nina del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sokol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubin, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalia obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalia was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre senorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalia's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceanera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalia was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalia was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalia recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clasicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalia departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles in order to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. CANNOTANSWER
Thalia performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico.
Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda Mottola (; born 26 August 1971), known mononymously as Thalía, is a Mexican singer and actress. She is considered one of the most successful and influential Mexican artists and is referred to as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media. Having sold around 25 million records worldwide, she is one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all-time. Aside from her native Spanish, Thalía has also sung in English, French, Portuguese and Tagalog. She has received numerous accolades, including five Billboard Latin Music Awards, eight Lo Nuestro Awards, as well as seven Latin Grammy Award nominations and their special "President's Merit Award" in 2019. She has collaborated with multiple artists, such as Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Robbie Williams, Marc Anthony, Laura Pausini, Romeo Santos, Maluma, Fat Joe, and Carlos Vives. As an actress, Thalía starred in a variety of successful telenovelas that aired in over 180 countries with an estimated audiece of 2 billion people according to UNICEF, which led to her being referred to as the "Queen of telenovelas" by the mass media. The global impact of her novelas helped her to popularize her music in non-Spanish speaking territories and markets in Europe and Asia. The Mexican media company Televisa has named her the best-paid telenovela actress in history, while Billboard names her the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world. Considered a Latin pop icon, Ocean Drive called Thalía as "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". She was included in Billboards Greatest Latin Artists of All Time in 2020 and in People En Españols The 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time in 2008. On 5 December 2013, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition for her achievements in the music industry. As a businesswoman, Thalía enjoyed success with a fashion brand (having signed a deal with Macy's), as well she had her own nationally syndicated radio show and is the author of four books, including her memoir. During her career, Thalía has been involved in humanitarian causes and is an UNICEF Mexico Ambassador since 2016. Early life Thalía was born on 26 August 1971 in Mexico City. She is the youngest of five daughters of Yolanda Miranda Mange (d. 2011), a painter who was Thalía's manager from 1980 to 1999 and Ernesto Sodi Pallares (d. 1977), a scientist, doctor of pathology, criminologist and writer. Her four sisters are Laura Zapata (daughter of Guillermo Zapata Pérez de Utrera), Federica, Gabriela and Ernestina Sodi. When she turned one, Thalía appeared in her first TV commercial in Mexico. At the age of four, she began taking ballet and piano classes at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música (Mexico). Her father suffered from diabetes and died in 1977 when Thalía was six years old. Years later, Thalía admitted publicly that her father's death had traumatized her drastically, since she had lost her voice for a whole year. This led to her being diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder (CDH), which belongs to a series of developmental disorders related to autism spectrum. She has said that she had psychological therapy for a few years. She has reportedly mentioned that she was a victim of bullying as a child because of the loss of her father. Thalía attended Lycée Franco-Mexicain elementary school, where she learned to speak French fluently at a very young age. In 1976, a year before her father's death, she had a guest appearance in the Mexican film La guerra de los pasteles ("War of Cakes"), although her name doesn't appear in the film credits. Music career 1981–1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era In 1981, when Thalía was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play like we're singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalía performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En acción, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalía participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna niña del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sökol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubín, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalía obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sökol from Timbiriche, Thalía became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalía was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalía's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceañera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalía was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalía was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalía recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clásicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalía departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. 1990–1993: First albums as a solo artist In 1990, Thalía returned to Mexico and released her first studio album as a solo artist, self-titled Thalía, which was produced by Alfredo Díaz Ordaz, and published by Fonovisa, Televisa's record label. From that album, she released a total of four singles that became radio hits: "Amarillo Azul", "Pienso en Ti", "Un Pacto Entre los Dos" and "Saliva". The last two tracks were co-written by her and Díaz Ordaz and they were considered as provocative at the time ("Un Pacto Entre Los Dos" was even labeled as a song with occult Satan-worship lyrics by various far-right parties). In September 1991, Thalía released her second studio album, Mundo de cristal, which marks Thalía's last project in collaboration with Alfredo Díaz Ordaz. Four songs became radio singles from the album, and all of them had big radio impact in Mexico. Due to the success of the singles, the album was certified as double gold in Thalía's native country, Mexico. In the same year, Thalía was co-presenter of the late Spanish show VIP Noche, along with Spanish presenter Emilio Aragón, produced by Telecinco. In October 1992, she released her third studio album and her last under the same label, entitled Love, which was recorded in Spain and was produced by Luis Carlos Esteban. The album spread six singles, that had huge radio impact: "Sangre", "Love", "María Mercedes" (official theme of the TV series), "No Trates de Engañarme", "Flor de Juventud", and "La Vida en Rosa" (La vie en rose), the last one being a Spanish-French cover of the classic French song originally performed by Edith Piaf. Thalía wrote the song "Sangre" inspired in Díaz Ordaz, with whom she had broken up her sentimental relation. The album was praised by the critics, as it was an artistic evolution for Thalía, who experimented for the first time in different music genres, especially electronic music. The album reached number 15 on Billboard's Latin Pop Albums in 1993. In Mexico, it sold over 200,000 copies in the first month upon its release and very soon it reached the platinum and gold certification, while it was a commercial success all over Latin America. 1994–1999: International breakout In 1994, during the successful transmission of Marimar, Thalía signed a contract with the record label EMI to prepare her fourth studio album that was entitled En éxtasis. The album was released in October 1995. En éxtasis was produced with the aid of celebrated producers such as Emilio Estefan, Jr. (husband of the famous Cuban singer Gloria Estefan) and Óscar López. The album spawned a total of seven singles including "Piel morena", "Amándote", "María la del barrio", "Quiero hacerte el amor", "Gracias a Dios, "Me Faltas Tú" and "Lágrimas". Piel morena became a huge international hit apart from being voted as the best Spanish song ever in the United States from a poll released by mass media company Univision. It must also be added that Thalía was more oriented to the latin pop music genre in that album, even though it was influenced by various music genres. Amandote became a number 1 hit in various radio stations in the Philippines in 1996, along with her phenomenal superstardom accompanied by her historic Manila tour. It was described by Philippine media as tantamount to that of Pope John Paul II's 1995 Manila visit. The broadcast of the telenovelas María Mercedes, Marimar and María la del barrio had already converted Thalía to a global television phenomenon by the end of 1996. In January 1997, she released her first compilation album entitled Nandito Ako, which contains four songs recorded in Filipino, five English versions from various tracks from the album En éxtasis and a Spanish remix of the song Amándote. The only single that was released from this album was Nandito Ako. The album became a commercial success in the Philippines as a result of Thalía's growing popularity, reaching platinum status set by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry. En éxtasis was her first album that was released worldwide, reaching gold, platinum or multi-platinum status in more than 20 countries. In July 1997, Thalía's fifth studio album was released, under the title Amor a la mexicana, produced again by Emilio Estefan, and including songs that became classic over the years like "Mujer Latina", "De dónde soy", "Por amor", "Noches sin luna" and "Amor a la mexicana". The album became a pure commercial success, while the first single of the album ("Amor a la mexicana") became a number one hit in 14 countries. With Amor a la mexicana, Thalía was able to bring her music and establish her projects in difficult markets like those of France, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Italy and all the Spanish-speaking countries. After the success of Amor a la mexicana, Thalía recorded the Spanish and Portuguese versions of the song "Journey to the Past", produced by Atlantic Records, as a part of the soundtrack of the Fox Animation Studios movie Anastasia (1997). In the following year, she starred for the first time in a movie in English, named "Mambo Café", written and directed by Reuben González. Mambo Café premiered in January 2000 in Mexico, Greece and Russia, distributed by Kushner Locke Entertainment. In 1999, after Mambo Café, Thalía returned in television with telenovela Rosalinda. "Rosalinda" was considered to be Televisa's most expensive production ever by that time, as well as the most exported in foreign countries, as it was sold in over 180 countries. In an interview of that period Thalía had commented: "The telenovelas are the ones that opened the doors of the world for me, because the audience of telenovelas is much more passionate than the audience of cinema. What's more, television is free". 2000–2005: Crossover and first tour in the United States Emilio Estefan also produced Thalía's sixth studio album, Arrasando, released on 25 April 2000, which was successful. It spawned the singles "Entre el mar y una estrella", "Regresa a mí", "Arrasando" and "Reencarnación". Thalía was nominated in the Latin Grammy category as the "Best Female Pop Vocal Album". The album received one Latin Grammy nomination and it won in its category as the "Best Sound Engineered Album of the year". The singles of this album were huge hits. In 2001 she was nominated for her record Arrasando and won a Lo Nuestro award in the category of People's Prize, and was the first artist to whom an innovative award from Billboard Awards for Latin Music was given, the "Star Award". On 4 May 2001, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, invited her to a party celebrating Cinco de mayo organized at the White House, where she interpreted a medley of popular Mexican songs with a Mexican mariachi band. On 28 August 2001, expressing her love for her country of birth, Mexico, she released her album Con Banda: Grandes Éxitos: a "greatest hits" album, but recorded with the typical Mexican "banda" sound. "Amor a la Mexicana" banda version was released as a single. The album was nominated for a Latin Grammy for "Best Banda Album" at the 3rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2002. Her seventh studio album, self-titled Thalía, was released on 21 May 2002. It was largely written and produced by Estéfano. Buoyed by a pair of chart-topping singles ("Tú y Yo" and "No me enseñaste") and a top-ten hit ("¿A quién le importa?") (cover of Alaska y Dinarama), this album hit number one for 6 consecutive weeks on the Top Latin Albums chart, reaching number eleven on the Billboard 200 chart and 2x Multi-Platinum status with sales in the U.S. of 200,000 copies. It was nominated in one Latin Grammy category – "Female Pop Vocal Album", and in four Latin Billboard categories – "Pop Track Female" and "Tropical Track Female" for "No Me Enseñaste", "Your World Award", and "Female Pop Album", for Thalía, winning the last two awards. "No Me Enseñaste" reached at No. 1 in Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks chart. On 25 February 2003, she released her first remix album, Thalía's Hits Remixed. This album contains some remixes of her EMI era hits, such as "Amor a la Mexicana", "Piel Morena", "No Me Enseñaste" and "Tú y Yo." It also contains the English version of "Arrasando", called "It's My Party". Furthermore, it includes the previously unreleased medley that Thalía had recorded especially for her 2001 Latin Grammy Awards performance, but was later cancelled, due to the September 11 attacks. On 8 July 2003, Thalía released her eighth studio album and the first one in English, the self-titled Thalía, featuring the rapper Fat Joe in "I Want You/Me Pones Sexy". "Baby, I'm in Love/Alguien Real", "Don't Look Back" and "Cerca De Ti" were singles too. The album landed at No. 11 in The Billboard 200. The song "I Want You" entered the American Top 40 with Casey Kasem and even reached the top 10 during that year. The song also entered the American Billboard Top 100 Singles Charts that year. She won an International Dance Music Award for her club-hit "Dance Dance (The Mexican)". On 10 February 2004, Thalía released her first official Greatest Hits album, and "Cerca de ti" and "Acción y Reacción" were the singles from this album. In April and May, she toured USA and Mexico with her "High Voltage Tour". Her ninth studio album, El Sexto Sentido, was released on 19 July 2005, and recorded mostly in Spanish, but with a few of the songs sung in English as well. It was reported to be the most expensive music album produced in Latin America in 2005. It had mild success, although the sound and the overall result make it one of her most integrated projects. "Amar sin ser amada" was the first single of the album and is considered as an infectious rock-edged tango-based song. "Un alma sentenciada", the second single of the album, is a feverish and, at points, hyperdramatic ballad. The explosive "Seducción" ("Seduction") and "Olvidame" were also releases as singles, gaining considerable success. The album was also certified gold in Argentina, Greece and Mexico and double platinum in the United States. 2006–2008: The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, Lyme disease and Lunada In 2006, the album received a reloaded version, El Sexto Sentido: Re+Loaded. Thalía was the 'godmother' of Cantando Por Un Sueño, a Mexican TV reality show. It was rumored she got paid 1 million dollars to perform. Thalía recorded the title song of the show, and it was included in the album. It was released in Mexico on 13 February 2006 (U.S. 6 June, Spain 29 May) and features four new songs, including a duet with the group Aventura, "No, No, No" which become a massive hit. "El Sexto Sentido" was nominated for one Latin Grammy as "Best Female Pop Vocal Album", it was also nominated in one Latin Billboard category – "Pop Female Album" and in eight Premios Juventud categories. In 2006, Thalía became a U.S. citizen at a swearing-in ceremony in New York, where she resides with her husband. Under Mexican law she is allowed to retain her Mexican citizenship. She also received an award by her then record company EMI, for sales of more than 10 million copies with all her discography with the company. In March 2007, Thalía also joined ABC Radio to start The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, where she talks about music, fashion, news and political issues. Afterwards, she was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in People en Español 2008 for a record-breaking seventh time where they called her their "Queen". She was once again featured in the 2010 edition for an eighth time. In May 2008, Thalía's single "Ten Paciencia", was premiered on the internet. Although, the single received a lukewarm response and did not perform well in the U.S. charts and Top 20 hits in Mexico, it was No. 1 in several countries of Latin America. Furthermore, her tenth studio album Lunada, was released on 24 June 2008, and debuted at number eight in Mexico and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Top Latin Albums (U.S). It was the last Thalía's studio album released by EMI. Thalía later appeared on El Show De Cristina, aired in late July by Univision's Spanish network to promote the album. According to Univision network, her appearance on the show received huge ratings, reaching No. 1 in both the Chicago and Miami markets. The show was said to have been viewed by over 87 million people in the US alone. "Será porque te amo", the second single, received no promotion and became another failed single. It is a Spanish language cover version of the Italian hit "Sarà perché ti amo", originally performed by the group Ricchi e Poveri. On 23 October, it was announced that Thalía was suffering from Lyme disease, which is transmitted by ticks. Fortunately, it was discovered quickly, and the singer, as well as her mother, Yolanda Miranda, were able to receive antibiotics in time. On 18 November, Thalía announced the end of her collaboration with EMI Music. Despite Lunada being a commercial disappointment, it was named as the "Best Album of the Year" by ¡Hola! readers. The latest work of the Mexican singer achieved 8,750 votes beating artists, such as Luis Miguel, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and Madonna. 2009–2011: Success of Primera Fila and Growing Stronger On 30 July 2009, Thalía recorded her acoustic album, Primera fila, her first album after she signed with Sony Music Entertainment. In October, Thalía performed at the White House, along with other Latin singers, in an event organized by President Barack Obama that celebrated Hispanic heritage. Thalía's performance was iconic and historic, as she was the first celebrity to publicly invite a United States President to dance. In October of the same year, she released the first single from Primera fila, a song named Equivocada. In December Thalía released her album, which contained duets with Joan Sebastian and Pedro Capó and various other songs, that became huge radio hits in the following months. The production received critical accept and very positive reviews, while Jason Birchmeier stated that "Primera Fila" was one of the best albums Thalía has released in her whole career, and definitely the one with the most surprises. As for Thalía, she considered Primera Fila as "the most personal album" in her career. Regarding to the album's commercial performance, Primera fila received diamond and triple platinum sales certifications in Mexico, where it was announced by the end of 2011 that the album had sold over 500,000 copies according to AMPROFON. Primera fila was the best selling album in Mexico in 2010, where it topped the charts for 55 non-consecutive weeks, the most weeks ever in Mexico's recorded music chart history. In Greece and Spain, the album reached the positions No. 6 and No. 32, respectively, while it reached No. 4 in Billboard's top Latin Albums and No. 2 in Billboard's Latin Pop Albums charts. Initially, Primera Fila had reached No. 1 on both aforementioned charts, but sales of the standard edition and the Walmart edition were later divided, leading to a retraction and update to Billboard's official peak positions for Primera Fila. After these changes, Primera fila went from a peak position of No. 167 to a peak position of No. 198 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Until the month of October 2012, Primera fila had sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In September 2010, Thalía released a special anniversary edition of the album under the title Primera fila... Un año después, which included 8 songs from the original album, as well as 2 never-released before songs, 2 remixes and a DVD with a documentary of the recording process of the album. In October 2010, Michael Bublé invited her to record a song with him in his holiday album Christmas. Together they recorded the bilingual song "Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad" and their collaboration received very positive reviews. 2012–2013: Habitame Siempre and VIVA! Tour Thalía had a collaboration with US music veteran Tony Bennett for his "Viva:Duets" album, which was released on 22 October 2012. Together they performed live the classic song "The way you look tonight" in Today's show and the Katie Couric's show. During the past months, she had announced that she was recording her eleventh studio album, Habítame siempre. On 21 September 2012, Thalía gave a private concert in New York City at Hammerstein Ballroom as a preview of the upcoming album. The album's lead single, "Manías", was released on 8 October 2012. Habítame siempre was released on 19 November 2012, in the United States and Latin America under the label of Sony Music Latin, while in Europe it is set to be released in 2013 by BMG Music. The album contains collaborations with Robbie Williams, Michael Bublé, Prince Royce and Gilberto Santa Rosa, among others and immensely after its release, it received mostly positive reviews. Habitame Siempre was certified triple platinum plus gold in Mexico for sales of more than 210,000 copies, gold in the United States for shipments exceeding 50,000 copies and platinum in Venezuela for over 10,000 copies shipped. In the meantime the second single of the album, "Te Perdiste Mi Amor", was certified platinum in Mexico for digital sales of over 60,000 copies. On 24 March 2013, Thalía launched her VIVA! Tour in support of Habítame Siempre. The VIVA! Tour marks Thalía's first tour in a decade and consists of a series of intimate concerts in the United States and Mexico. Thalía stated in an interview that she also plans to expand the tour to Latin America, Europe and Asia if it meets positive commercial reception. In October 2013, Thalía released in the United States and Latin America her fourth book Chupie (The Binky That Returned Home), and on 12 November, Thalía released in Mexico her second live album VIVA! Tour. This album was recorded on 27 April 2013, during her concert in Mexico City. In United States and Latin America, the album was released on 1 December 2013. It was certified gold in Mexico on its second week on the market for sales exceeding 30,000 copies. On 5 December 2013, she received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition of her success. 2014–2015: Viva Kids and Amore Mio On 25 March 2014, Thalía released her first children album Viva Kids Vol. 1 in Mexico. The album contains 11 songs and received one nomination to Latin Grammy Awards 2014. Vamos A Jugar was the first single of the album and was released on 18 March 2014. Viva Kids Vol. 1 was released in US, on 5 June 2014. On 22 July 2014, Italian singer Laura Pausini confirmed that by September that same year she would release a special version of her greatest hits album to the Hispanophone market, in an edition containing new duet with Thalía in Sino a ti. On 9 September 2014, Thalía released the lead single of Amore Mio, "Por Lo Que Reste De Vida". The song debuted No. 50 in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. The video music was released on 14 October 2014. Thalía released her 12th studio album on 17 November 2014. Amore Mio was Thalía's second album that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. The album debuted at No. 173 on the Billboard 200 with 3,000 copies sold in first week in the US. In Mexico, the album debuted at No. 1. In December 2014, to celebrate Thalía's 25th anniversary as a solo artist, her first three albums were released as a digital download from iTunes and Spotify. In January 2015, Thalía released her first fashion collection in United States with Macy's. 2016–2017: Latina, world tour, and directorial debut On 26 February 2016, she revealed through her social media accounts the album cover for her then-upcoming studio album, Latina, which was released on 21 April 2016. The album's first single, "Desde Esa Noche" featuring Maluma, peaked at number 16 on the Hot Latin Songs chart and number 4 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. The second single of the album, Vuélveme a Querer was released on 29 April 2016. The third single of album was Todavía Te Quiero featuring De La Ghetto was released on 2 December 2016. Thalía has announced she will embark on a new tour, her third overall, called Latina Love Tour. In 2017 she made her directorial debut when she co-directed "15: A Quinceañera Story", a four-part series of documentary shorts that follows five latina quinceañeras. For this she received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs at the 70th Directors Guild of America Awards That same year she collaborated with Colombian singer Carlos Vives in the song "Todo Me Gusta" from his album "Vives". The song was not released as a single but still managed to peak at number 12 in Bolivia and also peaked at number 14 the U.S. Tropical Digital Songs Chart. 2018–2019: Donna Summer Musical, Eyelure, Valiente, and Adria In 2018 she produced Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway. The musical is based on the life of Donna Summer. In August 2018 she released her false eyelash and eyebrow collection called Eyelure which is available at Walmart. Thalía released her fourteenth studio album, Valiente, on 9 November 2018. The lead single No Me Acuerdo was certified quadruple platinum in both Mexico and the United States as well as double platimun in Spain. The album also spawned the hits Me Oyen, Me Escuchan, Lento, and Lindo Pero Bruto with the latter being certified gold in the United States. The album had a total of 8 songs released as singles. In January 2019 she released her line of hair care products called Adria by Thalía. The 7 piece collection in available in stores at Walmart and Target as well as online. 2020–present: New collaborations, Viva Kids 2, and DesAMORfosis In January 2020 Thalía released the single "Ya Tú Me Conoces" with Venezuelan brother duo Mau y Ricky. The song served as the lead single from her 17th studio album. A month after that she collaborated with Mexican duo Rio Roma on their song "Lo Siento Mucho", which entered the top 10 on the Mexican charts. A month later she collaborated again, this time with Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar on the song "Tímida", which served as the fifth single for his album 111. In May 2020, the magazine People en Español named her the number-one most influential Mexican star of all time for her success as a singer, actress, and entrepreneur. Later that month, she released her second children's album titled Viva Kids Vol. 2. In June 2020 she collaborated with Peruvian singer Leslie Shaw on her single "Estoy Soltera", which also features Colombian singer Farina and served as the third single from Shaw's EP Yo Soy Leslie Shaw. She released the second single of her upcoming studio album titled "La Luz" on 28 August 2020, on which she collaborated with Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers. A month later she started on a Facebook watch series called Latin Music Queens alongside Sofía Reyes and Farina. The series would lead up to the release of two more singles with the first one being Ten Cuidao with Farina which premiered on episode three and the second single being Tick Tock which featured all three singers and premiered after the sixth and final episode. The latter also served as the third single from Thalía's upcoming album. On 7 May 2021 she released Mojito which served as the fourth single from her album DesAMORfosis which she released on 14 May 2021. Acting career Thalia was cast in a supporting role in the 1986 telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour with which she began her collaboration with Televisa, the largest mass media company in the Spanish-speaking world. In 1987, she went on to star in her first major role for Televisa in the 1987 teenage drama series Quinceañera, along with Mexican actress Adela Noriega. Quinceañera won the TV y Novelas award for Best Telenovela of the Year 1988. In 1989, she got her first lead role in Luz y Sombra, which was less successful. However, Thalía's explosion in popularity came in 1992, when she starred in María Mercedes for which she won a TV Y Novelas award as Best Young Actress in 1993. This series was the first of three telenovelas, named by the Mexican press as Las Tres Marias ("The Three Marías"), because the name of the heroine in all of these telenovelas was María. The second telenovela of the trilogy was Marimar in 1994, and the third and final was Maria la del Barrio in 1995. Among the trilogy, the third was the most successful of Thalía's career and it remains her most iconic role, while Marimar is considered the best Telenovela of all time. In 1999, Thalía starred in her last telenovela, "Rosalinda". All four telenovelas were basically based on the same rags to riches character. With these telenovelas, Thalía became famous worldwide and was consolidated as a television phenomenon, because of the extremely high ratings her TV series achieved in more than 180 countries (especially the Philippines). Although Thalía's presence in television is legendary, her presence in cinema is less important. She appeared for the first time in a movie when she was still a child in the 1979 film "La Guerra De los Pasteles" ("The War of the Cakes"). Furthermore, in 1999, she starred in "Mambo Café", a modest indie film production that had a poor reception from critics. Cultural impact of telenovelas Thalía has been labeled by various mass media companies as the "queen of soap operas", because her presence in television during the decade of the '90s was phenomenal. She became one of the world's foremost and most enduring television personalities as she starred in Mexico's highest-rated telenovelas ever that were exported in over 180 countries and viewed by about 2 billion people. It is stated by international media experts that at some point at the midst of the telenovela craze, Thalía's name even became synonymous with her native country, Mexico. According to the newspaper Ivoir'Soir: "At 7.30 sharp in the evening, when Marimar comes on, everything stops in Côte d'Ivoire". It is also mentioned that "Marimar" could attract more local fans than the 1998 World Cup, and that the program arrived in Africa after being a phenomenal rating hit in Indonesia and the Philippines, where in 1997 she was received in Manila like a foreign head of state. Thalía stated in her autobiography regarding to the impact of her telenovelas: "Soap operas made a lot of history; just look at the report by UNESCO, where it was noted that "in the Ivory Coast in Africa and in Paris (France), people stopped the daily course of their lives just to watch a soap opera. I never expected that kind of success [...] Whenever I arrived anywhere, I was treated like royalty; even the press in some of these countries referred to me as the Aztec Queen, the Mexican Queen, or the ambassador of Mexico, and like a proud peacock, I always brought my country's flag with me wherever I went to represent my motherland. I was in the clouds at the pinnacle of my career [...] During my visit at the Philippines, the organizers informed me that the last time so many people gathered in the streets for a person was when Pope John Paul the Second came to visit on January fourteenth, 1995 [...] In the Philippines, the country that probably felt the greatest impact from Marimar, the show was more widely promoted than the 1998 World Cup and more highly rated than the Super Bowl or the Grammys. In fact while I was visiting the country, the people and the media were so enthralled to see Marimar in the flesh that a historic peace treaty between the government and the querillas and the centennial celebrations of the Philippine Revolutions that were happening at the same time were pushed aside in the midst of Marimar fever. As a result, the archipelago was temporarily dubbed "República de MariMar." The phenomenon of Thalía's telenovelas also became visible in countries like Brazil, Bulgaria, Libya, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Lebanon, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Syria, Turkey and the majority of Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Business endeavours In 2002, Thalía signed a deal with Kmart to release her own clothing collection for women, as well as accessories and home products. In the middle of 2003, the "Thalía Sodi" collection was officially available in the US market in over 2,000 stores. Thalía commented: "My collection is a dream come true. I'm so happy to have created a clothing line inspired by my culture, trying to show the colors and the passion of our culture, that captures also a big part of my personal style". Thalía became the first Mexican woman to launch a clothing brand in the US. Simultaneously, Thalía debuted her eyewear collection under the brand name "Thalía Eyewear Collection" in association with Kenmark Optical. In 2005, the line also became available in Mexico's market as Thalía signed a deal with "Devlyn" company. Up to 2007, Thalía had generated US$100 million from the sales of "Thalía Eyewear", with more than 1 million products sold. Precisely in 2007 Thalía presented a new eyewear collection in New York, and the brand was exported to over eighty countries around the world. In April 2004, she entered the editorial market by releasing her own magazine Thalía in US, produced by American Media and oriented to the female Latin youth. The magazine included consultation and reports about issues like health, fashion and beauty. Some months later, in September, Thalía became the face of jewels' company Jacob & Co. In 2004, she signed a contract with Hershey's with which she released her own chocolate and candy brand. In 2005, she designed a summer clothing line, and in the following year, she was converted into the face of "Carol's Daughter" company, specialized in beauty products, while in 2007 she launched her perfume, produced by "Fuller Cosmetics" company. In 2007, she joined ABC Radio and started her own radio show known as "The Conexión Thalía Radio Show", in which she discusses music, fashion, news and political issues, and invites various people to talk with her on different issues. The program, that is weekly and lasts two hours, premiered on 17 March 2007, and still goes on, while it has expanded to over 70 radio stations through the US. In September 2007, she released the beauty advice book "Thalía: ¡Belleza!-Lessons in Lipgloss and Happiness" and in June 2009, she released her second book entitled "Thalia: ¡Radiante!-Your Guide to a Fit and a Fabulous Pregnancy". In May 2010, she revealed new accessories and jewels available via her website, apart from a new clothing line in association with multinational company C&A. In February 2011, she became the new face of Head & Shoulders and in November, she released her third book, which is her autobiography and named "Growing Stronger". Thalía has also been the public face of various advertisements, like Dr Pepper in 2001 or Victoria's Secret in 2005. According to Mira! magazine, in 2008 it was estimated that Thalía was one of the most wealthy Mexican businesswomen with a net worth of over US$100 million. In April 2012, she inaugurated her own yoga center in New York. In 2015, she signed a contract with "ePura", a Mexican water company and she also signed an exclusive deal with Macy's to launch her apparel, shoes and jewelry collections. Jeffrey Gennette, Macy's president stated that "the Thalia Sodi collection is the biggest private-brand launch in the history of the company by a long shot." Philanthrophy and activism Thalía has participated in various humanitarian campaigns. Since 2004, she has been an official celebrity ambassador and volunteer of March of Dimes, to support national fundraising and awareness campaigns. March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. Also, since 2016 she is a UNICEF Mexico Ambassador. Thalía is also became a member of "ALAS Foundation", which is a non-profit organization that strives to launch a new social movement that will generate a collective commitment to comprehensive Early Childhood Development programs for the children in Latin America. Through various public service campaigns and through her own media channels, Thalia has been a strong voice for March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign. She also is featured in March of Dimes Education and Health Promotion materials in English and Spanish, while she has helped to raise awareness and critical funds for the March of Dimes year-round. Furthermore, she supports March for Babies and works to find ongoing opportunities for March of Dimes strategic alliances and media promotions. In 2006, Thalía along with her husband attended the event A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To Cure Parkinson's with the aim to economically support the foundation The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research of Michael J. Fox. In May 2009, Thalía and Tommy Mottola were recognized from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Miami for their support in children in need. In 2010, she reunited with other recording artists, performers and actors like Sharon Stone, Michael Douglas, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony between others, to raise funds for the "Foundation of the New York's police department", which works for better urban security. In 2011, she attended a beneficial event in New York, organized by the Robin Hood Foundation with the aim to raise money for homeless youth. In the same year, she closed the Mexican Teleton by offering a live concert. In November 2012, Thalía took humanitarian aid and comfort to compatriots of her in New York that were affected by Hurricane Sandy. She stated : "When I started seeing the destruction of Sandy I thought it was incredible, but, when I saw my Mexican brothers and sisters I felt the need to try and do something for them" in front of a group of families gathered at the Staten Island Immigrant Information Center in one of the most devastated by the storm areas. She went on to say that in times like this an artist should use the reach of the media to collect aid for the victims, and at the same time she called on the public to deposit money in the account opened by the Mexican Consulate for that purpose. In April 2013, Thalía was awarded with the "Your Voice Inspires Many" award by the Lyme Research Alliance. Personal life Thalía was in a relationship with actor Fernando Colunga from 1995 to 1996 while they appeared on the series María la del Barrio. Thalía married music executive Tommy Mottola on 2 December 2000. The couple have two children, daughter Sabrina Sakaë, born on 8 October 2007, and son Matthew Alejandro, born on 24 June 2011. Thalía has stated in her autobiography and elsewhere that she is religious and believes profoundly in God. She began studying Kabbalah in 2002, using many of its symbols in the artwork of her album El Sexto Sentido. In 2015 she accidentally revealed during an interview that she had multiple miscarriages which caused her depression and were some of the hardest times in her life. In September 2002, Thalía's sisters, Laura Zapata and Ernestina Sodi, were kidnapped in Mexico City. Zapata was released 18 days after her kidnapping, and her sister Ernestina was released on the 36th day. Thalía has had a series of familial conflicts, especially with her sister Laura Zapata. She has opted to keep her point of view regarding to her familial issues private, despite the attacks she has received from her older sister. In a press interview, Thalía stated that her familial problems with her sister are "just a dark cloud in a shiny sky". In 2008, Thalía was affected by Lyme disease, a disease commonly transmitted by ticks. The illness prevented her from promoting her album Lunada, while it functioned as a motivation for her to have a totally different perspective towards life. In reference to her illness, Thalía stated in her autobiography : "I would sweat profusely, soaking my pajamas, the sheets and even the mattress; everything hurt, even my hair, which, by the way, started to fall out. At times it felt as if my head were going to burst, as if there were lead inside of it; my eyes ached in their sockets....the hypersensitivity of my skin was so severe that sometimes I couldn't even handle the bed sheets." Influences According to Thalia herself, her major personal influence was her mother, who was a motivating manager for Thalia from the very beginning of her career until 2000. As for her artistic influences, Thalia's work is mostly influenced by Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Sade, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, The Doors, and Kylie Minogue, while she has stated that she always admired Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. Thalia's first idol, according to her, was athlete Nadia Comaneci. She has even stated that her record-breaking performance was a huge motivation for her to follow a career in entertainment. Cultural impact She is referred as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media at least since the early-2000s, and was named by Billboard during the late-1990s as "Latin American's Reigning Music Queen". Thalía's success and impact in Latin music has been noted and praised by many critics. According to Billboard, she has achieved critical acclaim and commercial success as both a singer and songwriter, and has remained as one of the leading female artists in Latin music. Before her crossover attempt to the English market with a homonymous album in 2003, she gained success with her Spanish recordings in Europe, Asia and all over the Americas, even before the crossover of contemporaries artists such as Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Shakira and Paulina Rubio. She also stated: "My internationalization has come for several years ago and in Spanish, which is very significant". Thalía was included in Billboard list the "Greatest Latin Artists of All Time" in 2020. According to the American magazine Ocean Drive, Thalía is "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". Similarly, Tammy Gagne in We Visit Mexico (2010) described her as "the most popular singer, actress, and dancer in Mexico", while Rough Guides discussed the Latin pop music stage in Latin America saying that in Mexico, "since the 1990s the biggest name has been Thalía". Univision placed Thalía at number 8 in their list of "25 most influential Mexican musicians", the highest peak by a female artist within the list. Thalía has been also described as an influential Latin woman, and has been part of diverse listicles. For instance, People en Español included her in their book Legends: the 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time (2008). The same magazine, include her at their "The 25 Most Influential Latin Women" and Terra Networks named her one of the most "powerful and iconic women in music" in 2011. Leila Cobo from Billboard wrote she "has carved out one of the most successful global Latin careers in memory". Producer Emilio Estefan called her "Mexico's diva of divas" and stated "Thalía is one of the few female artists in the Latino market who has legions of fans throughout Latin America, including Brazil". In 1998, French company Louis Vuitton invited her to appear in Rebonds publication, being at the time the first Latin celebrity to appear in that book. In 1997, 25 April was declared by the government of Los Angeles, as "Thalia's National Day", because of her growing popularity among the Latino community in the United States. Thalia's rise to international prominence coincided with the worldwide broadcast of the soap operas she starred in. Her soap operas were viewed in more than 180 countries by almost 2 billion viewers according to UNICEF, and many of her telenovelas became one of the most watched television broadcasts around the world. She is known as the "Queen of Telenovelas" ("Queen of Soap Operas") and Billboard once named her "the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world". She also gained success as a businesswoman, with commercial and critical recognition for her business ventures by launching several products under her brand name, and dominated the editorial business by writing and releasing three books, that became bestsellers. According to Felipe Escudero from El Mundo in 2006, Thalía was described as the "Latin Madonna of the Hispanic market" and a "Queen Midas" due her success as a businesswoman. Thalía is considered a gay icon and according to Infobae, many of her fans recognized her as the "Latin queen of gay community". The same publication also stated Thalía is one of the most "emulated pop singers by transvestite shows in gay nightclubs". Andrés del Real from La Tercera felt she is an icon for the sexual minority, and professor Ramón García in Chicano Representation and the Strategies of Modernism (1997) wrote Thalía is "the dream identity of many drag queens". Ed Grant from Time also commented that many of them called themselves "Thalíos". Thalia has been an influential artist for almost every younger Latin pop singer, including Anahí, Belinda, and urban Latin artists Becky G, Natti Natasha and Karol G among others, while Julio Iglesias, Tony Bennett, Juan Luis Guerra, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Laura Pausini, Tiziano Ferro, Michael Bublé, Espinoza Paz, Gloria Trevi, Inna, Erik Rubin, Pedro Capó, Maluma, Robbie Williams and many other artists have expressed their admiration towards her talent and charisma. Awards and achievements Thalía has achieved multiple milestones during her career with her music, acting career and business ventures. Luis Magaña from El Universal commented that those record figures in her career are "impressive" and found that she has been the first in place of different situations in life. Thalía has sold over 25 million records worldwide, and is one of the best-selling Latin music artists. She has numerous albums amongst the best-selling in Spanish-language that include En éxtasis, Amor a la Mexicana and Arrasando with sales of over 2 million copies worldwide and have at least one album amongst the best selling of all-time in Mexico, Chile and the Philippines. "No Me Acuerdo" is also one of the best-selling Latin singles in the United States. According to El Universal, Thalía is the first Latina to have a Top 10 in all continents, and Arrasando led her to be the first Latin woman selling a Spanish album in Japan. Thalía con banda is the first album of banda music with a certification in Spain. Thalía's versatility signing in other languages made her the first and only Latin artist with an album recorded primarily in Tagalog when she released Nandito Ako in 1997. María la del Barrio is the first telenovela translated into the Tagalog language. Thalía became the first actress to make a trilogy of telenovelas and Quinceañera is considered to be the first telenovela for a teen audience. Moreover, Thalía is the highest paid actress in the history of Televisa. With El Sexto Sentido, Thalía set a record for the largest number of interviews granted to an electronic medium, Televisa. The album also became the first Spanish-language release in the United States to have a preorder campaign through iTunes and was the most expensive Spanish album up that time. She is also the first woman to have a HBO Latino concert special. "Amor a la Mexicana" is the first Mexican song to be played in European dive bars. Thalía is also the first Mexican female artist to have a certification in Brazil, and remains the best-selling Mexican female soloist in that country. She is also the first Mexican woman with a line of clothing in the United States, as well the first Mexican woman closing bells at Nasdaq. Thalía became the first Mexican artist to hit one billion views on YouTube with "No Me Acuerdo". She also became in the first Mexican artist to have complete control over all the videos in her catalog. Thalía is the most followed Mexican female artist in Spotify, and with most views on YouTube. She also held the record in Instagram until being surpassed by Danna Paola. She is the first recipient of the Star Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards when she was honored in 2001. She received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013 as a recognition to her versatile trajectory and her impact in the world of music and entertainment. In doing so, Thalía became the first female singer born in Mexico with that achievement. She holds a record for appearing the most times in People en Españols annual list of the most beautiful Latin celebrities (Los más bellos). She became the first face of Jacob & Co, and the first Latina to make a deal with The Hershey Company. Filmography Discography Thalía (1990) Mundo de Cristal (1991) Love (1992) En éxtasis (1995) Nandito Ako (1997) Amor a la Mexicana (1997) Arrasando (2000) Thalía (2002) Thalía (2003) El Sexto Sentido (2005) Lunada (2008) Habítame Siempre (2012) Viva Kids Vol. 1 (2014) Amore Mío (2014) Latina (2016) Valiente (2018) Viva Kids Vol. 2 (2020) Desamorfosis (2021) Concert tours High Voltage Tour (2004) Viva! Tour (2013) Latina Love Tour (2016) Written works See also Sodi family List of most watched television broadcasts List of most expensive celebrity photographs List of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors References Bibliography Scott Robert Olson (1999). Hollywood Planet: Global Media and the Competitive Advantage of Narrative Transparency, Routledge publications, pages 134, 153–161. . Quiñones, Sam (2001). True Tales from Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino, and the Bronx. University of New Mexico Press. . Cl. Fernandez, Andrew Paxman (2001). El tigre: Emilio Azcárraga y su imperio Televisa. . Ruth Lorand (2002). Television: Aesthetic Reflections, P. Lang, Michigan University, digitized in 2008. Maria Immacolata, Vassallo de Lopes, Uribe Bertha (2004). Telenovela: internacionalização e interculturalidade, Edições Loyola. , 9788515028887, πορτογαλικά. Cobo, Leila (2005). Billboard : "Thalía's Sixth Sense", Nielsen Business Media, Inc – Prometheus Global Media, pages 59–60. . Lisa Shaw, Stephanie Dennison (2005). Pop Culture Latin America!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle, ABC-CLIO, pages 51, 233–239, 398. Stavans Ilan, Augenbraum Harold (2005). Encyclopedia Latina: History, culture, and society in the United States. Volumen 1, Grolier Academic Reference. . Antoine van Agtmael (2007). The Emerging Markets Century: How a New Breed of World-Class Companies Is Overtaking the World, Simon and Schuster, p. 255. Stavans, Ilan (2010). Telenovelas (The Ilan Stavans Library of Latino Civilization), ABC-CLIO. , 9780313364938. External links Thalia.com — Official website 1971 births Living people EMI Latin artists Fonovisa Records artists LGBT rights activists from Mexico Latin music musicians Mexican women in business Mexican women singers English-language singers from Mexico Portuguese-language singers of Mexico Mexican child actresses Mexican dance musicians Mexican emigrants to the United States Mexican record producers Mexican telenovela actresses Mexican women writers Actresses from Mexico City Singers from Mexico City 20th-century Mexican actresses Timbiriche members Latin pop singers Singers from New York City Sony Music Latin artists Mexican women pop singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century Mexican women singers 21st-century Mexican singers Mexican women record producers Mexican people of Italian descent Mexican people of French descent Women in Latin music
false
[ "is a 1983 maze chase arcade game developed and published by Namco. It is part of the company's Pac-Man series, is the third to have been produced in-house. Players control Pac-Man as he must eat the items in an enclosed maze while avoiding four colored ghosts that pursue him. Pac-Man is assisted by a green-colored creature named Miru, the titular \"Pal\", who brings the items back to the center box. Pac-Man can also collect power-ups that allow him to briefly stun the ghosts.\n\nPac & Pal is largely based on Super Pac-Man, Namco's attempt at making a follow-up to the original Pac-Man. When Super Pac-Man proved to be unsuccessful, Pac & Pal was created to refine many of its mechanics and build on its concept. The game was intended to be released in North America by Midway Games under the name Pac-Man & Chomp Chomp, which replaced Miru with Pac-Man's dog from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. Chomp Chomp was never released in America, and was limited to a run of 300 machines produced for several European countries. Pac & Pal was a commercial failure and remained obscure for many years. Retrospectively, it has received attention for its premise and differences compared to its predecessors, and has been listed among the strangest games in the Pac-Man franchise. It is included in several Namco compilations for various platforms.\n\nGameplay\n\nThe player guides Pac-Man through an enclosed maze in which several items are locked behind doors. Several face-down cards are scattered throughout the maze; when Pac-Man runs over one of these, it flips over to reveal one of the items, which becomes unlocked so Pac-Man can eat it. Two items in each maze are power-ups, which correspond to \"S\" cards. Upon eating one of these, Pac-Man temporarily turns blue and grows larger; the player can now press the button to fire a beam that briefly stuns the ghosts. Items include a flagship from Galaxian, a red car from Rally-X, a trumpet, a snowman, and a miniature Pac-Man. The items are simply different cosmetically, and all of them have the same effect.\n\nAssisting Pac-Man is the titular \"Pal\" character Miru, a green-colored creature with a pink bow. Whenever any items are unlocked, Miru will try to pick one up and carry it toward the center box; if Pac-Man does not catch up to her and eat the item before she enters the box, it disappears. Once all the items are gone, the level ends and the player earns bonus points for each item eaten, receiving a larger bonus for preventing Miru from taking any of them into the box. An orange area immediately below the center box causes the ghosts to slow down whenever they are inside and obscures both them and Pac-Man, leaving only the ghosts' eyes visible. The third level and every fourth level thereafter is a bonus stage with 10 cards and no ghosts; one card shows Miru, one shows the ghost Blinky, and the other eight have dollar signs. Points are awarded for each card flipped, and Miru's card doubles the total. The stage ends immediately if Blinky is found, but the player earns a larger bonus for finding him last. The player loses one life whenever Pac-Man touches a non-stunned ghost, but can safely run through Miru at any time. When all lives are lost, the game ends.\n\nDevelopment and release\nPac & Pal was developed and published by Namco in July 1983 in Japan. It is the third game in the Pac-Man series that was made by Namco themselves, as Pac-Mans North American distributor Midway Games had produced many of their own sequels that Namco had little involvement with. Pac & Pal is largely based on Super Pac-Man, Namco's own sequel to the original, and retains a similar graphical style and many of its mechanics. With the Pac-Man brand increasing in popularity in Japan, Namco sought to produce a follow-up that matched its success. Super Pac-Man was largely unsuccessful, so Pac & Pal was made to improve on its flaws and update its core features. Yuriko Keino, who is best known for her work on games such as Dig Dug and Xevious, composed the soundtrack. Namco and Midway had plans to release Pac & Pal in North America under the new name Pac-Man & Chomp Chomp, which replaced Miru with Pac-Man's spherical dog from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. Pac-Man & Chomp Chomp was never released in North America due to the market being over-saturated with Pac-Man games. A limited run of 300 arcade units was produced for several European countries.\n\nPac & Pal never saw a home release until 1998, where it was included in the Japan-exclusive arcade collection Namco History Vol. 3 for Windows 95. Toy manufacturer Jakks Pacific included the game in many of their Pac-Man-branded \"plug'n play\" controllers throughout the mid-2000's. Pac & Pal is also included in a few Namco compilations such as Namco Museum Remix (2007), Namco Museum Virtual Arcade (2008), and Namco Museum Megamix (2010). To commemorate the launch of the Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures television series, Bandai added Pac & Pal to their Pac-Man Connect & Play controller in 2013. Pac & Pal is included in Pac-Man Museum (2014), alongside several other games in the series. In 2019, Arcade1UP released a Pac-Man \"counter-cade\" arcade machine that includes the original Pac-Man and Pac & Pal.\n\nReception\n\nWhile Pac & Pal saw success in its first few months on the market, it was relatively a commercial failure and remained obscure for many years. The game's drastic differences compared to the original Pac-Man and Super Pac-Man and its limited production run have been attributed to its downfall. Retrospectively, Pac & Pal has gained attention for its many changes to the gameplay of its predecessors, and is seen among the stranger entries in the Pac-Man franchise.\n\nIn 1998, Anthony Baize of Allgame was largely critical of the game. He described its gameplay as \"horrible\", and criticized it for being too distant from the gameplay of the original Pac-Man. He wrote: \"Overall, Pac & Pal is a travesty. In my mind, it holds the title as worst and weirdest Pac-Man sequel ever unleashed upon the world. Avoid this game.\" In his review of the Xbox 360 version of Pac-Man Museum, Hardcore Gamers Jahanzeb Khan called it a \"far more unusual sequel\" to Pac-Man, and criticized Miru for being more of a hindrance than an aid to the player. Writing for Paste, Preston Burt listed it among the weirdest Pac-Man sequels for the addition of a second player character and its premise, saying that: \"If you have no idea what's happening in this game, you're not alone.\"\n\nJeremy Parish of USgamer retrospectively reviewed Pac & Pal in commemoration of its 30th anniversary in 2013. He claimed that it made for one of the stranger entries in the series for its substantially different gameplay compared to Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. Parish also said that many of the game's additions, namely Miru and the power-up items, detracted from Pac-Man more minimalist approach and appeal. Ultimately, Parish said that the new mechanics and difference in play made it a much more difficult and stressful game compared to its predecessors, feeling that players would have a hard time succumbing to its \"strange\" ideas and gameplay that had a more action-oriented pace to it. He concluded his review with: \"While Namco clearly hoped to sustain Pac-Mans tremendous legacy with an inventive follow-up, Pac & Pal hastened the series' demise. Pac & Pal was one in a string of duds and doesn't hold up very well in retrospect -- it's a real oddball of a game. Sometimes, though, weirdness is just as interesting in hindsight as true significance.\" Bobinator of Hardcore Gaming 101 argued that the difference in gameplay made Pac & Pal standout from other Pac-Man sequels, and that it helped make the game feel fresh and unique. He also believed that it represents Namco's willingness to experiment with the mechanics and concepts established in the original. Bobinator wrote: \"Sadly, this would be the last time Namco would ever experiment quite this much with their well-used maze game formula. While Pac-Man would soon move into new genres entirely, later maze games would choose to play it safe. Experimentation like this would never be seen in the series again.\"\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1983 video games\nArcade video games\nJapan-exclusive video games\nMaze games\nNamco arcade games\nPac-Man arcade games\nVideo games developed in Japan\nVideo games scored by Yuriko Keino", "Pac-Man VR is a 1996 video game by Virtuality set in the Pac-Man universe.\n\nThe game featured play in a 3D environment from a first-person perspective. The game did not change any gameplay mechanics of the original game, except adding a multiplayer feature. The game cabinet itself was expensive, as was play which cost five dollars for five minutes. The cabinet was a 2000 SU series model, where the player stood in a ring set at the waistline. The player could turn his head and a tracking system built into the glasses would detect it and turn Pac-Man's head in the game. Crouching and standing tall were also allowed and movement was done with a joystick.\nAn adaption for the SU-3000 Systems was released, later on, making Pac-man VR the only non-shooting game ever released for SU-3000 systems.\n\nThe promotional page that was originally on Virtuality's web site (which no longer exists), describes the game:\n\nPAC-MAN fever is spreading again with this new fully immersive 3D virtual reality game from Virtuality in which the player actually becomes PAC-MAN himself. Through a licensing agreement with NAMCO, the creators of the original PAC-MAN, Virtuality brings this fun packed game for Solo, Duo and Quattro Series 2000 SU systems.\n\nRetaining all of the original gameplay, Virtuality have enhanced this classic game by networking up to four PAC-MAN characters together, enabling them to see, talk and compete with each in the same virtual maze while still trying to outwit the ghosts.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Mirror of Virtuality's Pac-Man VR Web Site\n PAC-MAN Leaps Into VR; Virtuality Brings PAC-MAN into the Third-Dimension with PAC-MAN VR\n Video introduction to the game\n SU3000 software page\n\nArcade video games\nArcade-only video games\n1996 video games\nPac-Man\nVideo games developed in the United Kingdom\nVirtual reality games\nVirtuality games" ]
[ "Thalía", "1981-1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era", "What is the Timbiriche Era?", "In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band.", "Is Timbiriche Thalia's first band?", "In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man,", "How long was Thalia with Pac Man?", "After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist", "Did Pac Man have any success?", "Thalia performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico." ]
C_963c5d6c73044648a24858946d8e6313_1
Who/what is Din-Din?
5
Who/what is Din-Din?
Thalía
In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed in order to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play while singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalia performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En accion, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna nina del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sokol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubin, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalia obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalia was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre senorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalia's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceanera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalia was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalia was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalia recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clasicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalia departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles in order to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. CANNOTANSWER
Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din".
Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda Mottola (; born 26 August 1971), known mononymously as Thalía, is a Mexican singer and actress. She is considered one of the most successful and influential Mexican artists and is referred to as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media. Having sold around 25 million records worldwide, she is one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all-time. Aside from her native Spanish, Thalía has also sung in English, French, Portuguese and Tagalog. She has received numerous accolades, including five Billboard Latin Music Awards, eight Lo Nuestro Awards, as well as seven Latin Grammy Award nominations and their special "President's Merit Award" in 2019. She has collaborated with multiple artists, such as Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Robbie Williams, Marc Anthony, Laura Pausini, Romeo Santos, Maluma, Fat Joe, and Carlos Vives. As an actress, Thalía starred in a variety of successful telenovelas that aired in over 180 countries with an estimated audiece of 2 billion people according to UNICEF, which led to her being referred to as the "Queen of telenovelas" by the mass media. The global impact of her novelas helped her to popularize her music in non-Spanish speaking territories and markets in Europe and Asia. The Mexican media company Televisa has named her the best-paid telenovela actress in history, while Billboard names her the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world. Considered a Latin pop icon, Ocean Drive called Thalía as "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". She was included in Billboards Greatest Latin Artists of All Time in 2020 and in People En Españols The 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time in 2008. On 5 December 2013, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition for her achievements in the music industry. As a businesswoman, Thalía enjoyed success with a fashion brand (having signed a deal with Macy's), as well she had her own nationally syndicated radio show and is the author of four books, including her memoir. During her career, Thalía has been involved in humanitarian causes and is an UNICEF Mexico Ambassador since 2016. Early life Thalía was born on 26 August 1971 in Mexico City. She is the youngest of five daughters of Yolanda Miranda Mange (d. 2011), a painter who was Thalía's manager from 1980 to 1999 and Ernesto Sodi Pallares (d. 1977), a scientist, doctor of pathology, criminologist and writer. Her four sisters are Laura Zapata (daughter of Guillermo Zapata Pérez de Utrera), Federica, Gabriela and Ernestina Sodi. When she turned one, Thalía appeared in her first TV commercial in Mexico. At the age of four, she began taking ballet and piano classes at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música (Mexico). Her father suffered from diabetes and died in 1977 when Thalía was six years old. Years later, Thalía admitted publicly that her father's death had traumatized her drastically, since she had lost her voice for a whole year. This led to her being diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder (CDH), which belongs to a series of developmental disorders related to autism spectrum. She has said that she had psychological therapy for a few years. She has reportedly mentioned that she was a victim of bullying as a child because of the loss of her father. Thalía attended Lycée Franco-Mexicain elementary school, where she learned to speak French fluently at a very young age. In 1976, a year before her father's death, she had a guest appearance in the Mexican film La guerra de los pasteles ("War of Cakes"), although her name doesn't appear in the film credits. Music career 1981–1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era In 1981, when Thalía was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play like we're singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalía performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En acción, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalía participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna niña del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sökol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubín, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalía obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sökol from Timbiriche, Thalía became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalía was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalía's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceañera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalía was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalía was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalía recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clásicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalía departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. 1990–1993: First albums as a solo artist In 1990, Thalía returned to Mexico and released her first studio album as a solo artist, self-titled Thalía, which was produced by Alfredo Díaz Ordaz, and published by Fonovisa, Televisa's record label. From that album, she released a total of four singles that became radio hits: "Amarillo Azul", "Pienso en Ti", "Un Pacto Entre los Dos" and "Saliva". The last two tracks were co-written by her and Díaz Ordaz and they were considered as provocative at the time ("Un Pacto Entre Los Dos" was even labeled as a song with occult Satan-worship lyrics by various far-right parties). In September 1991, Thalía released her second studio album, Mundo de cristal, which marks Thalía's last project in collaboration with Alfredo Díaz Ordaz. Four songs became radio singles from the album, and all of them had big radio impact in Mexico. Due to the success of the singles, the album was certified as double gold in Thalía's native country, Mexico. In the same year, Thalía was co-presenter of the late Spanish show VIP Noche, along with Spanish presenter Emilio Aragón, produced by Telecinco. In October 1992, she released her third studio album and her last under the same label, entitled Love, which was recorded in Spain and was produced by Luis Carlos Esteban. The album spread six singles, that had huge radio impact: "Sangre", "Love", "María Mercedes" (official theme of the TV series), "No Trates de Engañarme", "Flor de Juventud", and "La Vida en Rosa" (La vie en rose), the last one being a Spanish-French cover of the classic French song originally performed by Edith Piaf. Thalía wrote the song "Sangre" inspired in Díaz Ordaz, with whom she had broken up her sentimental relation. The album was praised by the critics, as it was an artistic evolution for Thalía, who experimented for the first time in different music genres, especially electronic music. The album reached number 15 on Billboard's Latin Pop Albums in 1993. In Mexico, it sold over 200,000 copies in the first month upon its release and very soon it reached the platinum and gold certification, while it was a commercial success all over Latin America. 1994–1999: International breakout In 1994, during the successful transmission of Marimar, Thalía signed a contract with the record label EMI to prepare her fourth studio album that was entitled En éxtasis. The album was released in October 1995. En éxtasis was produced with the aid of celebrated producers such as Emilio Estefan, Jr. (husband of the famous Cuban singer Gloria Estefan) and Óscar López. The album spawned a total of seven singles including "Piel morena", "Amándote", "María la del barrio", "Quiero hacerte el amor", "Gracias a Dios, "Me Faltas Tú" and "Lágrimas". Piel morena became a huge international hit apart from being voted as the best Spanish song ever in the United States from a poll released by mass media company Univision. It must also be added that Thalía was more oriented to the latin pop music genre in that album, even though it was influenced by various music genres. Amandote became a number 1 hit in various radio stations in the Philippines in 1996, along with her phenomenal superstardom accompanied by her historic Manila tour. It was described by Philippine media as tantamount to that of Pope John Paul II's 1995 Manila visit. The broadcast of the telenovelas María Mercedes, Marimar and María la del barrio had already converted Thalía to a global television phenomenon by the end of 1996. In January 1997, she released her first compilation album entitled Nandito Ako, which contains four songs recorded in Filipino, five English versions from various tracks from the album En éxtasis and a Spanish remix of the song Amándote. The only single that was released from this album was Nandito Ako. The album became a commercial success in the Philippines as a result of Thalía's growing popularity, reaching platinum status set by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry. En éxtasis was her first album that was released worldwide, reaching gold, platinum or multi-platinum status in more than 20 countries. In July 1997, Thalía's fifth studio album was released, under the title Amor a la mexicana, produced again by Emilio Estefan, and including songs that became classic over the years like "Mujer Latina", "De dónde soy", "Por amor", "Noches sin luna" and "Amor a la mexicana". The album became a pure commercial success, while the first single of the album ("Amor a la mexicana") became a number one hit in 14 countries. With Amor a la mexicana, Thalía was able to bring her music and establish her projects in difficult markets like those of France, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Italy and all the Spanish-speaking countries. After the success of Amor a la mexicana, Thalía recorded the Spanish and Portuguese versions of the song "Journey to the Past", produced by Atlantic Records, as a part of the soundtrack of the Fox Animation Studios movie Anastasia (1997). In the following year, she starred for the first time in a movie in English, named "Mambo Café", written and directed by Reuben González. Mambo Café premiered in January 2000 in Mexico, Greece and Russia, distributed by Kushner Locke Entertainment. In 1999, after Mambo Café, Thalía returned in television with telenovela Rosalinda. "Rosalinda" was considered to be Televisa's most expensive production ever by that time, as well as the most exported in foreign countries, as it was sold in over 180 countries. In an interview of that period Thalía had commented: "The telenovelas are the ones that opened the doors of the world for me, because the audience of telenovelas is much more passionate than the audience of cinema. What's more, television is free". 2000–2005: Crossover and first tour in the United States Emilio Estefan also produced Thalía's sixth studio album, Arrasando, released on 25 April 2000, which was successful. It spawned the singles "Entre el mar y una estrella", "Regresa a mí", "Arrasando" and "Reencarnación". Thalía was nominated in the Latin Grammy category as the "Best Female Pop Vocal Album". The album received one Latin Grammy nomination and it won in its category as the "Best Sound Engineered Album of the year". The singles of this album were huge hits. In 2001 she was nominated for her record Arrasando and won a Lo Nuestro award in the category of People's Prize, and was the first artist to whom an innovative award from Billboard Awards for Latin Music was given, the "Star Award". On 4 May 2001, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, invited her to a party celebrating Cinco de mayo organized at the White House, where she interpreted a medley of popular Mexican songs with a Mexican mariachi band. On 28 August 2001, expressing her love for her country of birth, Mexico, she released her album Con Banda: Grandes Éxitos: a "greatest hits" album, but recorded with the typical Mexican "banda" sound. "Amor a la Mexicana" banda version was released as a single. The album was nominated for a Latin Grammy for "Best Banda Album" at the 3rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2002. Her seventh studio album, self-titled Thalía, was released on 21 May 2002. It was largely written and produced by Estéfano. Buoyed by a pair of chart-topping singles ("Tú y Yo" and "No me enseñaste") and a top-ten hit ("¿A quién le importa?") (cover of Alaska y Dinarama), this album hit number one for 6 consecutive weeks on the Top Latin Albums chart, reaching number eleven on the Billboard 200 chart and 2x Multi-Platinum status with sales in the U.S. of 200,000 copies. It was nominated in one Latin Grammy category – "Female Pop Vocal Album", and in four Latin Billboard categories – "Pop Track Female" and "Tropical Track Female" for "No Me Enseñaste", "Your World Award", and "Female Pop Album", for Thalía, winning the last two awards. "No Me Enseñaste" reached at No. 1 in Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks chart. On 25 February 2003, she released her first remix album, Thalía's Hits Remixed. This album contains some remixes of her EMI era hits, such as "Amor a la Mexicana", "Piel Morena", "No Me Enseñaste" and "Tú y Yo." It also contains the English version of "Arrasando", called "It's My Party". Furthermore, it includes the previously unreleased medley that Thalía had recorded especially for her 2001 Latin Grammy Awards performance, but was later cancelled, due to the September 11 attacks. On 8 July 2003, Thalía released her eighth studio album and the first one in English, the self-titled Thalía, featuring the rapper Fat Joe in "I Want You/Me Pones Sexy". "Baby, I'm in Love/Alguien Real", "Don't Look Back" and "Cerca De Ti" were singles too. The album landed at No. 11 in The Billboard 200. The song "I Want You" entered the American Top 40 with Casey Kasem and even reached the top 10 during that year. The song also entered the American Billboard Top 100 Singles Charts that year. She won an International Dance Music Award for her club-hit "Dance Dance (The Mexican)". On 10 February 2004, Thalía released her first official Greatest Hits album, and "Cerca de ti" and "Acción y Reacción" were the singles from this album. In April and May, she toured USA and Mexico with her "High Voltage Tour". Her ninth studio album, El Sexto Sentido, was released on 19 July 2005, and recorded mostly in Spanish, but with a few of the songs sung in English as well. It was reported to be the most expensive music album produced in Latin America in 2005. It had mild success, although the sound and the overall result make it one of her most integrated projects. "Amar sin ser amada" was the first single of the album and is considered as an infectious rock-edged tango-based song. "Un alma sentenciada", the second single of the album, is a feverish and, at points, hyperdramatic ballad. The explosive "Seducción" ("Seduction") and "Olvidame" were also releases as singles, gaining considerable success. The album was also certified gold in Argentina, Greece and Mexico and double platinum in the United States. 2006–2008: The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, Lyme disease and Lunada In 2006, the album received a reloaded version, El Sexto Sentido: Re+Loaded. Thalía was the 'godmother' of Cantando Por Un Sueño, a Mexican TV reality show. It was rumored she got paid 1 million dollars to perform. Thalía recorded the title song of the show, and it was included in the album. It was released in Mexico on 13 February 2006 (U.S. 6 June, Spain 29 May) and features four new songs, including a duet with the group Aventura, "No, No, No" which become a massive hit. "El Sexto Sentido" was nominated for one Latin Grammy as "Best Female Pop Vocal Album", it was also nominated in one Latin Billboard category – "Pop Female Album" and in eight Premios Juventud categories. In 2006, Thalía became a U.S. citizen at a swearing-in ceremony in New York, where she resides with her husband. Under Mexican law she is allowed to retain her Mexican citizenship. She also received an award by her then record company EMI, for sales of more than 10 million copies with all her discography with the company. In March 2007, Thalía also joined ABC Radio to start The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, where she talks about music, fashion, news and political issues. Afterwards, she was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in People en Español 2008 for a record-breaking seventh time where they called her their "Queen". She was once again featured in the 2010 edition for an eighth time. In May 2008, Thalía's single "Ten Paciencia", was premiered on the internet. Although, the single received a lukewarm response and did not perform well in the U.S. charts and Top 20 hits in Mexico, it was No. 1 in several countries of Latin America. Furthermore, her tenth studio album Lunada, was released on 24 June 2008, and debuted at number eight in Mexico and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Top Latin Albums (U.S). It was the last Thalía's studio album released by EMI. Thalía later appeared on El Show De Cristina, aired in late July by Univision's Spanish network to promote the album. According to Univision network, her appearance on the show received huge ratings, reaching No. 1 in both the Chicago and Miami markets. The show was said to have been viewed by over 87 million people in the US alone. "Será porque te amo", the second single, received no promotion and became another failed single. It is a Spanish language cover version of the Italian hit "Sarà perché ti amo", originally performed by the group Ricchi e Poveri. On 23 October, it was announced that Thalía was suffering from Lyme disease, which is transmitted by ticks. Fortunately, it was discovered quickly, and the singer, as well as her mother, Yolanda Miranda, were able to receive antibiotics in time. On 18 November, Thalía announced the end of her collaboration with EMI Music. Despite Lunada being a commercial disappointment, it was named as the "Best Album of the Year" by ¡Hola! readers. The latest work of the Mexican singer achieved 8,750 votes beating artists, such as Luis Miguel, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and Madonna. 2009–2011: Success of Primera Fila and Growing Stronger On 30 July 2009, Thalía recorded her acoustic album, Primera fila, her first album after she signed with Sony Music Entertainment. In October, Thalía performed at the White House, along with other Latin singers, in an event organized by President Barack Obama that celebrated Hispanic heritage. Thalía's performance was iconic and historic, as she was the first celebrity to publicly invite a United States President to dance. In October of the same year, she released the first single from Primera fila, a song named Equivocada. In December Thalía released her album, which contained duets with Joan Sebastian and Pedro Capó and various other songs, that became huge radio hits in the following months. The production received critical accept and very positive reviews, while Jason Birchmeier stated that "Primera Fila" was one of the best albums Thalía has released in her whole career, and definitely the one with the most surprises. As for Thalía, she considered Primera Fila as "the most personal album" in her career. Regarding to the album's commercial performance, Primera fila received diamond and triple platinum sales certifications in Mexico, where it was announced by the end of 2011 that the album had sold over 500,000 copies according to AMPROFON. Primera fila was the best selling album in Mexico in 2010, where it topped the charts for 55 non-consecutive weeks, the most weeks ever in Mexico's recorded music chart history. In Greece and Spain, the album reached the positions No. 6 and No. 32, respectively, while it reached No. 4 in Billboard's top Latin Albums and No. 2 in Billboard's Latin Pop Albums charts. Initially, Primera Fila had reached No. 1 on both aforementioned charts, but sales of the standard edition and the Walmart edition were later divided, leading to a retraction and update to Billboard's official peak positions for Primera Fila. After these changes, Primera fila went from a peak position of No. 167 to a peak position of No. 198 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Until the month of October 2012, Primera fila had sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In September 2010, Thalía released a special anniversary edition of the album under the title Primera fila... Un año después, which included 8 songs from the original album, as well as 2 never-released before songs, 2 remixes and a DVD with a documentary of the recording process of the album. In October 2010, Michael Bublé invited her to record a song with him in his holiday album Christmas. Together they recorded the bilingual song "Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad" and their collaboration received very positive reviews. 2012–2013: Habitame Siempre and VIVA! Tour Thalía had a collaboration with US music veteran Tony Bennett for his "Viva:Duets" album, which was released on 22 October 2012. Together they performed live the classic song "The way you look tonight" in Today's show and the Katie Couric's show. During the past months, she had announced that she was recording her eleventh studio album, Habítame siempre. On 21 September 2012, Thalía gave a private concert in New York City at Hammerstein Ballroom as a preview of the upcoming album. The album's lead single, "Manías", was released on 8 October 2012. Habítame siempre was released on 19 November 2012, in the United States and Latin America under the label of Sony Music Latin, while in Europe it is set to be released in 2013 by BMG Music. The album contains collaborations with Robbie Williams, Michael Bublé, Prince Royce and Gilberto Santa Rosa, among others and immensely after its release, it received mostly positive reviews. Habitame Siempre was certified triple platinum plus gold in Mexico for sales of more than 210,000 copies, gold in the United States for shipments exceeding 50,000 copies and platinum in Venezuela for over 10,000 copies shipped. In the meantime the second single of the album, "Te Perdiste Mi Amor", was certified platinum in Mexico for digital sales of over 60,000 copies. On 24 March 2013, Thalía launched her VIVA! Tour in support of Habítame Siempre. The VIVA! Tour marks Thalía's first tour in a decade and consists of a series of intimate concerts in the United States and Mexico. Thalía stated in an interview that she also plans to expand the tour to Latin America, Europe and Asia if it meets positive commercial reception. In October 2013, Thalía released in the United States and Latin America her fourth book Chupie (The Binky That Returned Home), and on 12 November, Thalía released in Mexico her second live album VIVA! Tour. This album was recorded on 27 April 2013, during her concert in Mexico City. In United States and Latin America, the album was released on 1 December 2013. It was certified gold in Mexico on its second week on the market for sales exceeding 30,000 copies. On 5 December 2013, she received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition of her success. 2014–2015: Viva Kids and Amore Mio On 25 March 2014, Thalía released her first children album Viva Kids Vol. 1 in Mexico. The album contains 11 songs and received one nomination to Latin Grammy Awards 2014. Vamos A Jugar was the first single of the album and was released on 18 March 2014. Viva Kids Vol. 1 was released in US, on 5 June 2014. On 22 July 2014, Italian singer Laura Pausini confirmed that by September that same year she would release a special version of her greatest hits album to the Hispanophone market, in an edition containing new duet with Thalía in Sino a ti. On 9 September 2014, Thalía released the lead single of Amore Mio, "Por Lo Que Reste De Vida". The song debuted No. 50 in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. The video music was released on 14 October 2014. Thalía released her 12th studio album on 17 November 2014. Amore Mio was Thalía's second album that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. The album debuted at No. 173 on the Billboard 200 with 3,000 copies sold in first week in the US. In Mexico, the album debuted at No. 1. In December 2014, to celebrate Thalía's 25th anniversary as a solo artist, her first three albums were released as a digital download from iTunes and Spotify. In January 2015, Thalía released her first fashion collection in United States with Macy's. 2016–2017: Latina, world tour, and directorial debut On 26 February 2016, she revealed through her social media accounts the album cover for her then-upcoming studio album, Latina, which was released on 21 April 2016. The album's first single, "Desde Esa Noche" featuring Maluma, peaked at number 16 on the Hot Latin Songs chart and number 4 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. The second single of the album, Vuélveme a Querer was released on 29 April 2016. The third single of album was Todavía Te Quiero featuring De La Ghetto was released on 2 December 2016. Thalía has announced she will embark on a new tour, her third overall, called Latina Love Tour. In 2017 she made her directorial debut when she co-directed "15: A Quinceañera Story", a four-part series of documentary shorts that follows five latina quinceañeras. For this she received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs at the 70th Directors Guild of America Awards That same year she collaborated with Colombian singer Carlos Vives in the song "Todo Me Gusta" from his album "Vives". The song was not released as a single but still managed to peak at number 12 in Bolivia and also peaked at number 14 the U.S. Tropical Digital Songs Chart. 2018–2019: Donna Summer Musical, Eyelure, Valiente, and Adria In 2018 she produced Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway. The musical is based on the life of Donna Summer. In August 2018 she released her false eyelash and eyebrow collection called Eyelure which is available at Walmart. Thalía released her fourteenth studio album, Valiente, on 9 November 2018. The lead single No Me Acuerdo was certified quadruple platinum in both Mexico and the United States as well as double platimun in Spain. The album also spawned the hits Me Oyen, Me Escuchan, Lento, and Lindo Pero Bruto with the latter being certified gold in the United States. The album had a total of 8 songs released as singles. In January 2019 she released her line of hair care products called Adria by Thalía. The 7 piece collection in available in stores at Walmart and Target as well as online. 2020–present: New collaborations, Viva Kids 2, and DesAMORfosis In January 2020 Thalía released the single "Ya Tú Me Conoces" with Venezuelan brother duo Mau y Ricky. The song served as the lead single from her 17th studio album. A month after that she collaborated with Mexican duo Rio Roma on their song "Lo Siento Mucho", which entered the top 10 on the Mexican charts. A month later she collaborated again, this time with Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar on the song "Tímida", which served as the fifth single for his album 111. In May 2020, the magazine People en Español named her the number-one most influential Mexican star of all time for her success as a singer, actress, and entrepreneur. Later that month, she released her second children's album titled Viva Kids Vol. 2. In June 2020 she collaborated with Peruvian singer Leslie Shaw on her single "Estoy Soltera", which also features Colombian singer Farina and served as the third single from Shaw's EP Yo Soy Leslie Shaw. She released the second single of her upcoming studio album titled "La Luz" on 28 August 2020, on which she collaborated with Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers. A month later she started on a Facebook watch series called Latin Music Queens alongside Sofía Reyes and Farina. The series would lead up to the release of two more singles with the first one being Ten Cuidao with Farina which premiered on episode three and the second single being Tick Tock which featured all three singers and premiered after the sixth and final episode. The latter also served as the third single from Thalía's upcoming album. On 7 May 2021 she released Mojito which served as the fourth single from her album DesAMORfosis which she released on 14 May 2021. Acting career Thalia was cast in a supporting role in the 1986 telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour with which she began her collaboration with Televisa, the largest mass media company in the Spanish-speaking world. In 1987, she went on to star in her first major role for Televisa in the 1987 teenage drama series Quinceañera, along with Mexican actress Adela Noriega. Quinceañera won the TV y Novelas award for Best Telenovela of the Year 1988. In 1989, she got her first lead role in Luz y Sombra, which was less successful. However, Thalía's explosion in popularity came in 1992, when she starred in María Mercedes for which she won a TV Y Novelas award as Best Young Actress in 1993. This series was the first of three telenovelas, named by the Mexican press as Las Tres Marias ("The Three Marías"), because the name of the heroine in all of these telenovelas was María. The second telenovela of the trilogy was Marimar in 1994, and the third and final was Maria la del Barrio in 1995. Among the trilogy, the third was the most successful of Thalía's career and it remains her most iconic role, while Marimar is considered the best Telenovela of all time. In 1999, Thalía starred in her last telenovela, "Rosalinda". All four telenovelas were basically based on the same rags to riches character. With these telenovelas, Thalía became famous worldwide and was consolidated as a television phenomenon, because of the extremely high ratings her TV series achieved in more than 180 countries (especially the Philippines). Although Thalía's presence in television is legendary, her presence in cinema is less important. She appeared for the first time in a movie when she was still a child in the 1979 film "La Guerra De los Pasteles" ("The War of the Cakes"). Furthermore, in 1999, she starred in "Mambo Café", a modest indie film production that had a poor reception from critics. Cultural impact of telenovelas Thalía has been labeled by various mass media companies as the "queen of soap operas", because her presence in television during the decade of the '90s was phenomenal. She became one of the world's foremost and most enduring television personalities as she starred in Mexico's highest-rated telenovelas ever that were exported in over 180 countries and viewed by about 2 billion people. It is stated by international media experts that at some point at the midst of the telenovela craze, Thalía's name even became synonymous with her native country, Mexico. According to the newspaper Ivoir'Soir: "At 7.30 sharp in the evening, when Marimar comes on, everything stops in Côte d'Ivoire". It is also mentioned that "Marimar" could attract more local fans than the 1998 World Cup, and that the program arrived in Africa after being a phenomenal rating hit in Indonesia and the Philippines, where in 1997 she was received in Manila like a foreign head of state. Thalía stated in her autobiography regarding to the impact of her telenovelas: "Soap operas made a lot of history; just look at the report by UNESCO, where it was noted that "in the Ivory Coast in Africa and in Paris (France), people stopped the daily course of their lives just to watch a soap opera. I never expected that kind of success [...] Whenever I arrived anywhere, I was treated like royalty; even the press in some of these countries referred to me as the Aztec Queen, the Mexican Queen, or the ambassador of Mexico, and like a proud peacock, I always brought my country's flag with me wherever I went to represent my motherland. I was in the clouds at the pinnacle of my career [...] During my visit at the Philippines, the organizers informed me that the last time so many people gathered in the streets for a person was when Pope John Paul the Second came to visit on January fourteenth, 1995 [...] In the Philippines, the country that probably felt the greatest impact from Marimar, the show was more widely promoted than the 1998 World Cup and more highly rated than the Super Bowl or the Grammys. In fact while I was visiting the country, the people and the media were so enthralled to see Marimar in the flesh that a historic peace treaty between the government and the querillas and the centennial celebrations of the Philippine Revolutions that were happening at the same time were pushed aside in the midst of Marimar fever. As a result, the archipelago was temporarily dubbed "República de MariMar." The phenomenon of Thalía's telenovelas also became visible in countries like Brazil, Bulgaria, Libya, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Lebanon, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Syria, Turkey and the majority of Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Business endeavours In 2002, Thalía signed a deal with Kmart to release her own clothing collection for women, as well as accessories and home products. In the middle of 2003, the "Thalía Sodi" collection was officially available in the US market in over 2,000 stores. Thalía commented: "My collection is a dream come true. I'm so happy to have created a clothing line inspired by my culture, trying to show the colors and the passion of our culture, that captures also a big part of my personal style". Thalía became the first Mexican woman to launch a clothing brand in the US. Simultaneously, Thalía debuted her eyewear collection under the brand name "Thalía Eyewear Collection" in association with Kenmark Optical. In 2005, the line also became available in Mexico's market as Thalía signed a deal with "Devlyn" company. Up to 2007, Thalía had generated US$100 million from the sales of "Thalía Eyewear", with more than 1 million products sold. Precisely in 2007 Thalía presented a new eyewear collection in New York, and the brand was exported to over eighty countries around the world. In April 2004, she entered the editorial market by releasing her own magazine Thalía in US, produced by American Media and oriented to the female Latin youth. The magazine included consultation and reports about issues like health, fashion and beauty. Some months later, in September, Thalía became the face of jewels' company Jacob & Co. In 2004, she signed a contract with Hershey's with which she released her own chocolate and candy brand. In 2005, she designed a summer clothing line, and in the following year, she was converted into the face of "Carol's Daughter" company, specialized in beauty products, while in 2007 she launched her perfume, produced by "Fuller Cosmetics" company. In 2007, she joined ABC Radio and started her own radio show known as "The Conexión Thalía Radio Show", in which she discusses music, fashion, news and political issues, and invites various people to talk with her on different issues. The program, that is weekly and lasts two hours, premiered on 17 March 2007, and still goes on, while it has expanded to over 70 radio stations through the US. In September 2007, she released the beauty advice book "Thalía: ¡Belleza!-Lessons in Lipgloss and Happiness" and in June 2009, she released her second book entitled "Thalia: ¡Radiante!-Your Guide to a Fit and a Fabulous Pregnancy". In May 2010, she revealed new accessories and jewels available via her website, apart from a new clothing line in association with multinational company C&A. In February 2011, she became the new face of Head & Shoulders and in November, she released her third book, which is her autobiography and named "Growing Stronger". Thalía has also been the public face of various advertisements, like Dr Pepper in 2001 or Victoria's Secret in 2005. According to Mira! magazine, in 2008 it was estimated that Thalía was one of the most wealthy Mexican businesswomen with a net worth of over US$100 million. In April 2012, she inaugurated her own yoga center in New York. In 2015, she signed a contract with "ePura", a Mexican water company and she also signed an exclusive deal with Macy's to launch her apparel, shoes and jewelry collections. Jeffrey Gennette, Macy's president stated that "the Thalia Sodi collection is the biggest private-brand launch in the history of the company by a long shot." Philanthrophy and activism Thalía has participated in various humanitarian campaigns. Since 2004, she has been an official celebrity ambassador and volunteer of March of Dimes, to support national fundraising and awareness campaigns. March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. Also, since 2016 she is a UNICEF Mexico Ambassador. Thalía is also became a member of "ALAS Foundation", which is a non-profit organization that strives to launch a new social movement that will generate a collective commitment to comprehensive Early Childhood Development programs for the children in Latin America. Through various public service campaigns and through her own media channels, Thalia has been a strong voice for March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign. She also is featured in March of Dimes Education and Health Promotion materials in English and Spanish, while she has helped to raise awareness and critical funds for the March of Dimes year-round. Furthermore, she supports March for Babies and works to find ongoing opportunities for March of Dimes strategic alliances and media promotions. In 2006, Thalía along with her husband attended the event A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To Cure Parkinson's with the aim to economically support the foundation The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research of Michael J. Fox. In May 2009, Thalía and Tommy Mottola were recognized from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Miami for their support in children in need. In 2010, she reunited with other recording artists, performers and actors like Sharon Stone, Michael Douglas, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony between others, to raise funds for the "Foundation of the New York's police department", which works for better urban security. In 2011, she attended a beneficial event in New York, organized by the Robin Hood Foundation with the aim to raise money for homeless youth. In the same year, she closed the Mexican Teleton by offering a live concert. In November 2012, Thalía took humanitarian aid and comfort to compatriots of her in New York that were affected by Hurricane Sandy. She stated : "When I started seeing the destruction of Sandy I thought it was incredible, but, when I saw my Mexican brothers and sisters I felt the need to try and do something for them" in front of a group of families gathered at the Staten Island Immigrant Information Center in one of the most devastated by the storm areas. She went on to say that in times like this an artist should use the reach of the media to collect aid for the victims, and at the same time she called on the public to deposit money in the account opened by the Mexican Consulate for that purpose. In April 2013, Thalía was awarded with the "Your Voice Inspires Many" award by the Lyme Research Alliance. Personal life Thalía was in a relationship with actor Fernando Colunga from 1995 to 1996 while they appeared on the series María la del Barrio. Thalía married music executive Tommy Mottola on 2 December 2000. The couple have two children, daughter Sabrina Sakaë, born on 8 October 2007, and son Matthew Alejandro, born on 24 June 2011. Thalía has stated in her autobiography and elsewhere that she is religious and believes profoundly in God. She began studying Kabbalah in 2002, using many of its symbols in the artwork of her album El Sexto Sentido. In 2015 she accidentally revealed during an interview that she had multiple miscarriages which caused her depression and were some of the hardest times in her life. In September 2002, Thalía's sisters, Laura Zapata and Ernestina Sodi, were kidnapped in Mexico City. Zapata was released 18 days after her kidnapping, and her sister Ernestina was released on the 36th day. Thalía has had a series of familial conflicts, especially with her sister Laura Zapata. She has opted to keep her point of view regarding to her familial issues private, despite the attacks she has received from her older sister. In a press interview, Thalía stated that her familial problems with her sister are "just a dark cloud in a shiny sky". In 2008, Thalía was affected by Lyme disease, a disease commonly transmitted by ticks. The illness prevented her from promoting her album Lunada, while it functioned as a motivation for her to have a totally different perspective towards life. In reference to her illness, Thalía stated in her autobiography : "I would sweat profusely, soaking my pajamas, the sheets and even the mattress; everything hurt, even my hair, which, by the way, started to fall out. At times it felt as if my head were going to burst, as if there were lead inside of it; my eyes ached in their sockets....the hypersensitivity of my skin was so severe that sometimes I couldn't even handle the bed sheets." Influences According to Thalia herself, her major personal influence was her mother, who was a motivating manager for Thalia from the very beginning of her career until 2000. As for her artistic influences, Thalia's work is mostly influenced by Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Sade, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, The Doors, and Kylie Minogue, while she has stated that she always admired Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. Thalia's first idol, according to her, was athlete Nadia Comaneci. She has even stated that her record-breaking performance was a huge motivation for her to follow a career in entertainment. Cultural impact She is referred as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media at least since the early-2000s, and was named by Billboard during the late-1990s as "Latin American's Reigning Music Queen". Thalía's success and impact in Latin music has been noted and praised by many critics. According to Billboard, she has achieved critical acclaim and commercial success as both a singer and songwriter, and has remained as one of the leading female artists in Latin music. Before her crossover attempt to the English market with a homonymous album in 2003, she gained success with her Spanish recordings in Europe, Asia and all over the Americas, even before the crossover of contemporaries artists such as Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Shakira and Paulina Rubio. She also stated: "My internationalization has come for several years ago and in Spanish, which is very significant". Thalía was included in Billboard list the "Greatest Latin Artists of All Time" in 2020. According to the American magazine Ocean Drive, Thalía is "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". Similarly, Tammy Gagne in We Visit Mexico (2010) described her as "the most popular singer, actress, and dancer in Mexico", while Rough Guides discussed the Latin pop music stage in Latin America saying that in Mexico, "since the 1990s the biggest name has been Thalía". Univision placed Thalía at number 8 in their list of "25 most influential Mexican musicians", the highest peak by a female artist within the list. Thalía has been also described as an influential Latin woman, and has been part of diverse listicles. For instance, People en Español included her in their book Legends: the 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time (2008). The same magazine, include her at their "The 25 Most Influential Latin Women" and Terra Networks named her one of the most "powerful and iconic women in music" in 2011. Leila Cobo from Billboard wrote she "has carved out one of the most successful global Latin careers in memory". Producer Emilio Estefan called her "Mexico's diva of divas" and stated "Thalía is one of the few female artists in the Latino market who has legions of fans throughout Latin America, including Brazil". In 1998, French company Louis Vuitton invited her to appear in Rebonds publication, being at the time the first Latin celebrity to appear in that book. In 1997, 25 April was declared by the government of Los Angeles, as "Thalia's National Day", because of her growing popularity among the Latino community in the United States. Thalia's rise to international prominence coincided with the worldwide broadcast of the soap operas she starred in. Her soap operas were viewed in more than 180 countries by almost 2 billion viewers according to UNICEF, and many of her telenovelas became one of the most watched television broadcasts around the world. She is known as the "Queen of Telenovelas" ("Queen of Soap Operas") and Billboard once named her "the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world". She also gained success as a businesswoman, with commercial and critical recognition for her business ventures by launching several products under her brand name, and dominated the editorial business by writing and releasing three books, that became bestsellers. According to Felipe Escudero from El Mundo in 2006, Thalía was described as the "Latin Madonna of the Hispanic market" and a "Queen Midas" due her success as a businesswoman. Thalía is considered a gay icon and according to Infobae, many of her fans recognized her as the "Latin queen of gay community". The same publication also stated Thalía is one of the most "emulated pop singers by transvestite shows in gay nightclubs". Andrés del Real from La Tercera felt she is an icon for the sexual minority, and professor Ramón García in Chicano Representation and the Strategies of Modernism (1997) wrote Thalía is "the dream identity of many drag queens". Ed Grant from Time also commented that many of them called themselves "Thalíos". Thalia has been an influential artist for almost every younger Latin pop singer, including Anahí, Belinda, and urban Latin artists Becky G, Natti Natasha and Karol G among others, while Julio Iglesias, Tony Bennett, Juan Luis Guerra, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Laura Pausini, Tiziano Ferro, Michael Bublé, Espinoza Paz, Gloria Trevi, Inna, Erik Rubin, Pedro Capó, Maluma, Robbie Williams and many other artists have expressed their admiration towards her talent and charisma. Awards and achievements Thalía has achieved multiple milestones during her career with her music, acting career and business ventures. Luis Magaña from El Universal commented that those record figures in her career are "impressive" and found that she has been the first in place of different situations in life. Thalía has sold over 25 million records worldwide, and is one of the best-selling Latin music artists. She has numerous albums amongst the best-selling in Spanish-language that include En éxtasis, Amor a la Mexicana and Arrasando with sales of over 2 million copies worldwide and have at least one album amongst the best selling of all-time in Mexico, Chile and the Philippines. "No Me Acuerdo" is also one of the best-selling Latin singles in the United States. According to El Universal, Thalía is the first Latina to have a Top 10 in all continents, and Arrasando led her to be the first Latin woman selling a Spanish album in Japan. Thalía con banda is the first album of banda music with a certification in Spain. Thalía's versatility signing in other languages made her the first and only Latin artist with an album recorded primarily in Tagalog when she released Nandito Ako in 1997. María la del Barrio is the first telenovela translated into the Tagalog language. Thalía became the first actress to make a trilogy of telenovelas and Quinceañera is considered to be the first telenovela for a teen audience. Moreover, Thalía is the highest paid actress in the history of Televisa. With El Sexto Sentido, Thalía set a record for the largest number of interviews granted to an electronic medium, Televisa. The album also became the first Spanish-language release in the United States to have a preorder campaign through iTunes and was the most expensive Spanish album up that time. She is also the first woman to have a HBO Latino concert special. "Amor a la Mexicana" is the first Mexican song to be played in European dive bars. Thalía is also the first Mexican female artist to have a certification in Brazil, and remains the best-selling Mexican female soloist in that country. She is also the first Mexican woman with a line of clothing in the United States, as well the first Mexican woman closing bells at Nasdaq. Thalía became the first Mexican artist to hit one billion views on YouTube with "No Me Acuerdo". She also became in the first Mexican artist to have complete control over all the videos in her catalog. Thalía is the most followed Mexican female artist in Spotify, and with most views on YouTube. She also held the record in Instagram until being surpassed by Danna Paola. She is the first recipient of the Star Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards when she was honored in 2001. She received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013 as a recognition to her versatile trajectory and her impact in the world of music and entertainment. In doing so, Thalía became the first female singer born in Mexico with that achievement. She holds a record for appearing the most times in People en Españols annual list of the most beautiful Latin celebrities (Los más bellos). She became the first face of Jacob & Co, and the first Latina to make a deal with The Hershey Company. Filmography Discography Thalía (1990) Mundo de Cristal (1991) Love (1992) En éxtasis (1995) Nandito Ako (1997) Amor a la Mexicana (1997) Arrasando (2000) Thalía (2002) Thalía (2003) El Sexto Sentido (2005) Lunada (2008) Habítame Siempre (2012) Viva Kids Vol. 1 (2014) Amore Mío (2014) Latina (2016) Valiente (2018) Viva Kids Vol. 2 (2020) Desamorfosis (2021) Concert tours High Voltage Tour (2004) Viva! Tour (2013) Latina Love Tour (2016) Written works See also Sodi family List of most watched television broadcasts List of most expensive celebrity photographs List of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors References Bibliography Scott Robert Olson (1999). Hollywood Planet: Global Media and the Competitive Advantage of Narrative Transparency, Routledge publications, pages 134, 153–161. . Quiñones, Sam (2001). True Tales from Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino, and the Bronx. University of New Mexico Press. . Cl. Fernandez, Andrew Paxman (2001). El tigre: Emilio Azcárraga y su imperio Televisa. . Ruth Lorand (2002). Television: Aesthetic Reflections, P. Lang, Michigan University, digitized in 2008. Maria Immacolata, Vassallo de Lopes, Uribe Bertha (2004). Telenovela: internacionalização e interculturalidade, Edições Loyola. , 9788515028887, πορτογαλικά. Cobo, Leila (2005). Billboard : "Thalía's Sixth Sense", Nielsen Business Media, Inc – Prometheus Global Media, pages 59–60. . Lisa Shaw, Stephanie Dennison (2005). Pop Culture Latin America!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle, ABC-CLIO, pages 51, 233–239, 398. Stavans Ilan, Augenbraum Harold (2005). Encyclopedia Latina: History, culture, and society in the United States. Volumen 1, Grolier Academic Reference. . Antoine van Agtmael (2007). The Emerging Markets Century: How a New Breed of World-Class Companies Is Overtaking the World, Simon and Schuster, p. 255. Stavans, Ilan (2010). Telenovelas (The Ilan Stavans Library of Latino Civilization), ABC-CLIO. , 9780313364938. External links Thalia.com — Official website 1971 births Living people EMI Latin artists Fonovisa Records artists LGBT rights activists from Mexico Latin music musicians Mexican women in business Mexican women singers English-language singers from Mexico Portuguese-language singers of Mexico Mexican child actresses Mexican dance musicians Mexican emigrants to the United States Mexican record producers Mexican telenovela actresses Mexican women writers Actresses from Mexico City Singers from Mexico City 20th-century Mexican actresses Timbiriche members Latin pop singers Singers from New York City Sony Music Latin artists Mexican women pop singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century Mexican women singers 21st-century Mexican singers Mexican women record producers Mexican people of Italian descent Mexican people of French descent Women in Latin music
true
[ "The Daily Din News is an Urdu language daily newspaper based in Lahore, Pakistan. Daily Din newspaper is published by the Din Media Group. It is published from Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Din News is the television channel in Pakistan.\nEditor in chief of the Daily Din is Mehmood sadiq, Administrator is Malik Liaqat Ali, Group Editor Isar Rana, Circulation Manager is Karam Hussain Jami, CNE is Nasrullah Tafheemi city reporter is Asghar Bhatti, Railway reporter is Asif Masood Raza and chief reporter is Saqab Warrsich.and senior sports reporter Muhammad Shahnawaz rana\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n - Daily Din News\n E-Paper - Daily Din News e-paper\n\nDaily newspapers published in Pakistan\nUrdu-language newspapers published in Pakistan", "(DIN; in English, the German Institute for Standardisation) is the German national organization for standardization and is the German ISO member body. DIN is a German Registered Association (e.V.) headquartered in Berlin. There are currently around thirty thousand DIN Standards, covering nearly every field of technology.\n\nHistory \nFounded in 1917 as the (NADI, \"Standardisation Committee of German Industry\"), the NADI was renamed (DNA, \"German Standardisation Committee\") in 1926 to reflect that the organization now dealt with standardization issues in many fields; viz., not just for industrial products. In 1975 it was renamed again to , or 'DIN' and is recognised by the German government as the official national-standards body, representing German interests at the international and European levels.\n\nThe acronym, 'DIN' is often incorrectly expanded as (\"German Industry Standard\"). This is largely due to the historic origin of the DIN as \"NADI\". The NADI indeed published their standards as (). For example, the first published standard was '' (about tapered pins) in 1918. Many people still mistakenly associate DIN with the old naming convention.\n\nOne of the earliest, and probably the best known, is DIN 476 — the standard that introduced the A-series paper sizes in 1922 — adopted in 1975 as International Standard ISO 216. Common examples in modern technology include DIN and mini-DIN connectors for electronics, and the DIN rail.\n\nDIN SPEC 3105, published in 2020, is \"the first German standard to be published under an open license (CC-BY-SA 4.0) [...] to implement an open standardisation process\".\n\nDIN standard designation\nThe designation of a DIN standard shows its origin (# denotes a number):\n DIN # is used for German standards with primarily domestic significance or designed as a first step toward international status. E DIN # is a draft standard and DIN V # is a preliminary standard.\nDIN EN # is used for the German edition of European standards.\nDIN ISO # is used for the German edition of ISO standards.\nDIN EN ISO # is used if the standard has also been adopted as a European standard.\n\nExamples of DIN standards\n\n DIN 476: international paper sizes (now ISO 216 or DIN EN ISO 216)\n DIN 1451: typeface used by German railways and on traffic signs\n DIN 31635: transliteration of the Arabic language\n DIN 41612: mechanical standard for backplane electrical connection\n DIN 72552: electric terminal numbers in automobiles\n\nSee also\nAustrian Standards International\nSwiss Association for Standardization\nDie Brücke, an earlier German institute aiming to set standard paper sizes\nDIN film speed\nDIN connector\n DQS - Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Zertifizierung von Managementsystemen, a subsidiary of DIN\nDGQ - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Qualität, founded DQS in 1985 together with DIN\n\nExternal links \nDIN home page (German version)\nDIN home page (English version)\nGuidance paper (in German)\nFurther education (in German)\nWeb Courses (official education partner) (in German)\nSafety instructions (official DIN education partner) (in German)\nTraining for engineers, managers and experts (official education partner) (in German)\nInternational Organization for Standardization (ISO)\n\n \nISO member bodies\nOrganizations established in 1917\n1917 establishments in Germany" ]
[ "Thalía", "1981-1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era", "What is the Timbiriche Era?", "In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band.", "Is Timbiriche Thalia's first band?", "In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man,", "How long was Thalia with Pac Man?", "After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist", "Did Pac Man have any success?", "Thalia performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico.", "Who/what is Din-Din?", "Pac Man changed their band name to \"Din-Din\"." ]
C_963c5d6c73044648a24858946d8e6313_1
Who else was in Din-Din?
6
Besides Thalia, who else was in Din-Din?
Thalía
In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed in order to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play while singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalia performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En accion, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna nina del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sokol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubin, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalia obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalia was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre senorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalia's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceanera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalia was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalia was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalia recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clasicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalia departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles in order to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda Mottola (; born 26 August 1971), known mononymously as Thalía, is a Mexican singer and actress. She is considered one of the most successful and influential Mexican artists and is referred to as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media. Having sold around 25 million records worldwide, she is one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all-time. Aside from her native Spanish, Thalía has also sung in English, French, Portuguese and Tagalog. She has received numerous accolades, including five Billboard Latin Music Awards, eight Lo Nuestro Awards, as well as seven Latin Grammy Award nominations and their special "President's Merit Award" in 2019. She has collaborated with multiple artists, such as Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Robbie Williams, Marc Anthony, Laura Pausini, Romeo Santos, Maluma, Fat Joe, and Carlos Vives. As an actress, Thalía starred in a variety of successful telenovelas that aired in over 180 countries with an estimated audiece of 2 billion people according to UNICEF, which led to her being referred to as the "Queen of telenovelas" by the mass media. The global impact of her novelas helped her to popularize her music in non-Spanish speaking territories and markets in Europe and Asia. The Mexican media company Televisa has named her the best-paid telenovela actress in history, while Billboard names her the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world. Considered a Latin pop icon, Ocean Drive called Thalía as "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". She was included in Billboards Greatest Latin Artists of All Time in 2020 and in People En Españols The 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time in 2008. On 5 December 2013, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition for her achievements in the music industry. As a businesswoman, Thalía enjoyed success with a fashion brand (having signed a deal with Macy's), as well she had her own nationally syndicated radio show and is the author of four books, including her memoir. During her career, Thalía has been involved in humanitarian causes and is an UNICEF Mexico Ambassador since 2016. Early life Thalía was born on 26 August 1971 in Mexico City. She is the youngest of five daughters of Yolanda Miranda Mange (d. 2011), a painter who was Thalía's manager from 1980 to 1999 and Ernesto Sodi Pallares (d. 1977), a scientist, doctor of pathology, criminologist and writer. Her four sisters are Laura Zapata (daughter of Guillermo Zapata Pérez de Utrera), Federica, Gabriela and Ernestina Sodi. When she turned one, Thalía appeared in her first TV commercial in Mexico. At the age of four, she began taking ballet and piano classes at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música (Mexico). Her father suffered from diabetes and died in 1977 when Thalía was six years old. Years later, Thalía admitted publicly that her father's death had traumatized her drastically, since she had lost her voice for a whole year. This led to her being diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder (CDH), which belongs to a series of developmental disorders related to autism spectrum. She has said that she had psychological therapy for a few years. She has reportedly mentioned that she was a victim of bullying as a child because of the loss of her father. Thalía attended Lycée Franco-Mexicain elementary school, where she learned to speak French fluently at a very young age. In 1976, a year before her father's death, she had a guest appearance in the Mexican film La guerra de los pasteles ("War of Cakes"), although her name doesn't appear in the film credits. Music career 1981–1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era In 1981, when Thalía was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play like we're singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalía performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En acción, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalía participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna niña del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sökol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubín, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalía obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sökol from Timbiriche, Thalía became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalía was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalía's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceañera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalía was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalía was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalía recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clásicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalía departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. 1990–1993: First albums as a solo artist In 1990, Thalía returned to Mexico and released her first studio album as a solo artist, self-titled Thalía, which was produced by Alfredo Díaz Ordaz, and published by Fonovisa, Televisa's record label. From that album, she released a total of four singles that became radio hits: "Amarillo Azul", "Pienso en Ti", "Un Pacto Entre los Dos" and "Saliva". The last two tracks were co-written by her and Díaz Ordaz and they were considered as provocative at the time ("Un Pacto Entre Los Dos" was even labeled as a song with occult Satan-worship lyrics by various far-right parties). In September 1991, Thalía released her second studio album, Mundo de cristal, which marks Thalía's last project in collaboration with Alfredo Díaz Ordaz. Four songs became radio singles from the album, and all of them had big radio impact in Mexico. Due to the success of the singles, the album was certified as double gold in Thalía's native country, Mexico. In the same year, Thalía was co-presenter of the late Spanish show VIP Noche, along with Spanish presenter Emilio Aragón, produced by Telecinco. In October 1992, she released her third studio album and her last under the same label, entitled Love, which was recorded in Spain and was produced by Luis Carlos Esteban. The album spread six singles, that had huge radio impact: "Sangre", "Love", "María Mercedes" (official theme of the TV series), "No Trates de Engañarme", "Flor de Juventud", and "La Vida en Rosa" (La vie en rose), the last one being a Spanish-French cover of the classic French song originally performed by Edith Piaf. Thalía wrote the song "Sangre" inspired in Díaz Ordaz, with whom she had broken up her sentimental relation. The album was praised by the critics, as it was an artistic evolution for Thalía, who experimented for the first time in different music genres, especially electronic music. The album reached number 15 on Billboard's Latin Pop Albums in 1993. In Mexico, it sold over 200,000 copies in the first month upon its release and very soon it reached the platinum and gold certification, while it was a commercial success all over Latin America. 1994–1999: International breakout In 1994, during the successful transmission of Marimar, Thalía signed a contract with the record label EMI to prepare her fourth studio album that was entitled En éxtasis. The album was released in October 1995. En éxtasis was produced with the aid of celebrated producers such as Emilio Estefan, Jr. (husband of the famous Cuban singer Gloria Estefan) and Óscar López. The album spawned a total of seven singles including "Piel morena", "Amándote", "María la del barrio", "Quiero hacerte el amor", "Gracias a Dios, "Me Faltas Tú" and "Lágrimas". Piel morena became a huge international hit apart from being voted as the best Spanish song ever in the United States from a poll released by mass media company Univision. It must also be added that Thalía was more oriented to the latin pop music genre in that album, even though it was influenced by various music genres. Amandote became a number 1 hit in various radio stations in the Philippines in 1996, along with her phenomenal superstardom accompanied by her historic Manila tour. It was described by Philippine media as tantamount to that of Pope John Paul II's 1995 Manila visit. The broadcast of the telenovelas María Mercedes, Marimar and María la del barrio had already converted Thalía to a global television phenomenon by the end of 1996. In January 1997, she released her first compilation album entitled Nandito Ako, which contains four songs recorded in Filipino, five English versions from various tracks from the album En éxtasis and a Spanish remix of the song Amándote. The only single that was released from this album was Nandito Ako. The album became a commercial success in the Philippines as a result of Thalía's growing popularity, reaching platinum status set by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry. En éxtasis was her first album that was released worldwide, reaching gold, platinum or multi-platinum status in more than 20 countries. In July 1997, Thalía's fifth studio album was released, under the title Amor a la mexicana, produced again by Emilio Estefan, and including songs that became classic over the years like "Mujer Latina", "De dónde soy", "Por amor", "Noches sin luna" and "Amor a la mexicana". The album became a pure commercial success, while the first single of the album ("Amor a la mexicana") became a number one hit in 14 countries. With Amor a la mexicana, Thalía was able to bring her music and establish her projects in difficult markets like those of France, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Italy and all the Spanish-speaking countries. After the success of Amor a la mexicana, Thalía recorded the Spanish and Portuguese versions of the song "Journey to the Past", produced by Atlantic Records, as a part of the soundtrack of the Fox Animation Studios movie Anastasia (1997). In the following year, she starred for the first time in a movie in English, named "Mambo Café", written and directed by Reuben González. Mambo Café premiered in January 2000 in Mexico, Greece and Russia, distributed by Kushner Locke Entertainment. In 1999, after Mambo Café, Thalía returned in television with telenovela Rosalinda. "Rosalinda" was considered to be Televisa's most expensive production ever by that time, as well as the most exported in foreign countries, as it was sold in over 180 countries. In an interview of that period Thalía had commented: "The telenovelas are the ones that opened the doors of the world for me, because the audience of telenovelas is much more passionate than the audience of cinema. What's more, television is free". 2000–2005: Crossover and first tour in the United States Emilio Estefan also produced Thalía's sixth studio album, Arrasando, released on 25 April 2000, which was successful. It spawned the singles "Entre el mar y una estrella", "Regresa a mí", "Arrasando" and "Reencarnación". Thalía was nominated in the Latin Grammy category as the "Best Female Pop Vocal Album". The album received one Latin Grammy nomination and it won in its category as the "Best Sound Engineered Album of the year". The singles of this album were huge hits. In 2001 she was nominated for her record Arrasando and won a Lo Nuestro award in the category of People's Prize, and was the first artist to whom an innovative award from Billboard Awards for Latin Music was given, the "Star Award". On 4 May 2001, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, invited her to a party celebrating Cinco de mayo organized at the White House, where she interpreted a medley of popular Mexican songs with a Mexican mariachi band. On 28 August 2001, expressing her love for her country of birth, Mexico, she released her album Con Banda: Grandes Éxitos: a "greatest hits" album, but recorded with the typical Mexican "banda" sound. "Amor a la Mexicana" banda version was released as a single. The album was nominated for a Latin Grammy for "Best Banda Album" at the 3rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2002. Her seventh studio album, self-titled Thalía, was released on 21 May 2002. It was largely written and produced by Estéfano. Buoyed by a pair of chart-topping singles ("Tú y Yo" and "No me enseñaste") and a top-ten hit ("¿A quién le importa?") (cover of Alaska y Dinarama), this album hit number one for 6 consecutive weeks on the Top Latin Albums chart, reaching number eleven on the Billboard 200 chart and 2x Multi-Platinum status with sales in the U.S. of 200,000 copies. It was nominated in one Latin Grammy category – "Female Pop Vocal Album", and in four Latin Billboard categories – "Pop Track Female" and "Tropical Track Female" for "No Me Enseñaste", "Your World Award", and "Female Pop Album", for Thalía, winning the last two awards. "No Me Enseñaste" reached at No. 1 in Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks chart. On 25 February 2003, she released her first remix album, Thalía's Hits Remixed. This album contains some remixes of her EMI era hits, such as "Amor a la Mexicana", "Piel Morena", "No Me Enseñaste" and "Tú y Yo." It also contains the English version of "Arrasando", called "It's My Party". Furthermore, it includes the previously unreleased medley that Thalía had recorded especially for her 2001 Latin Grammy Awards performance, but was later cancelled, due to the September 11 attacks. On 8 July 2003, Thalía released her eighth studio album and the first one in English, the self-titled Thalía, featuring the rapper Fat Joe in "I Want You/Me Pones Sexy". "Baby, I'm in Love/Alguien Real", "Don't Look Back" and "Cerca De Ti" were singles too. The album landed at No. 11 in The Billboard 200. The song "I Want You" entered the American Top 40 with Casey Kasem and even reached the top 10 during that year. The song also entered the American Billboard Top 100 Singles Charts that year. She won an International Dance Music Award for her club-hit "Dance Dance (The Mexican)". On 10 February 2004, Thalía released her first official Greatest Hits album, and "Cerca de ti" and "Acción y Reacción" were the singles from this album. In April and May, she toured USA and Mexico with her "High Voltage Tour". Her ninth studio album, El Sexto Sentido, was released on 19 July 2005, and recorded mostly in Spanish, but with a few of the songs sung in English as well. It was reported to be the most expensive music album produced in Latin America in 2005. It had mild success, although the sound and the overall result make it one of her most integrated projects. "Amar sin ser amada" was the first single of the album and is considered as an infectious rock-edged tango-based song. "Un alma sentenciada", the second single of the album, is a feverish and, at points, hyperdramatic ballad. The explosive "Seducción" ("Seduction") and "Olvidame" were also releases as singles, gaining considerable success. The album was also certified gold in Argentina, Greece and Mexico and double platinum in the United States. 2006–2008: The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, Lyme disease and Lunada In 2006, the album received a reloaded version, El Sexto Sentido: Re+Loaded. Thalía was the 'godmother' of Cantando Por Un Sueño, a Mexican TV reality show. It was rumored she got paid 1 million dollars to perform. Thalía recorded the title song of the show, and it was included in the album. It was released in Mexico on 13 February 2006 (U.S. 6 June, Spain 29 May) and features four new songs, including a duet with the group Aventura, "No, No, No" which become a massive hit. "El Sexto Sentido" was nominated for one Latin Grammy as "Best Female Pop Vocal Album", it was also nominated in one Latin Billboard category – "Pop Female Album" and in eight Premios Juventud categories. In 2006, Thalía became a U.S. citizen at a swearing-in ceremony in New York, where she resides with her husband. Under Mexican law she is allowed to retain her Mexican citizenship. She also received an award by her then record company EMI, for sales of more than 10 million copies with all her discography with the company. In March 2007, Thalía also joined ABC Radio to start The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, where she talks about music, fashion, news and political issues. Afterwards, she was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in People en Español 2008 for a record-breaking seventh time where they called her their "Queen". She was once again featured in the 2010 edition for an eighth time. In May 2008, Thalía's single "Ten Paciencia", was premiered on the internet. Although, the single received a lukewarm response and did not perform well in the U.S. charts and Top 20 hits in Mexico, it was No. 1 in several countries of Latin America. Furthermore, her tenth studio album Lunada, was released on 24 June 2008, and debuted at number eight in Mexico and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Top Latin Albums (U.S). It was the last Thalía's studio album released by EMI. Thalía later appeared on El Show De Cristina, aired in late July by Univision's Spanish network to promote the album. According to Univision network, her appearance on the show received huge ratings, reaching No. 1 in both the Chicago and Miami markets. The show was said to have been viewed by over 87 million people in the US alone. "Será porque te amo", the second single, received no promotion and became another failed single. It is a Spanish language cover version of the Italian hit "Sarà perché ti amo", originally performed by the group Ricchi e Poveri. On 23 October, it was announced that Thalía was suffering from Lyme disease, which is transmitted by ticks. Fortunately, it was discovered quickly, and the singer, as well as her mother, Yolanda Miranda, were able to receive antibiotics in time. On 18 November, Thalía announced the end of her collaboration with EMI Music. Despite Lunada being a commercial disappointment, it was named as the "Best Album of the Year" by ¡Hola! readers. The latest work of the Mexican singer achieved 8,750 votes beating artists, such as Luis Miguel, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and Madonna. 2009–2011: Success of Primera Fila and Growing Stronger On 30 July 2009, Thalía recorded her acoustic album, Primera fila, her first album after she signed with Sony Music Entertainment. In October, Thalía performed at the White House, along with other Latin singers, in an event organized by President Barack Obama that celebrated Hispanic heritage. Thalía's performance was iconic and historic, as she was the first celebrity to publicly invite a United States President to dance. In October of the same year, she released the first single from Primera fila, a song named Equivocada. In December Thalía released her album, which contained duets with Joan Sebastian and Pedro Capó and various other songs, that became huge radio hits in the following months. The production received critical accept and very positive reviews, while Jason Birchmeier stated that "Primera Fila" was one of the best albums Thalía has released in her whole career, and definitely the one with the most surprises. As for Thalía, she considered Primera Fila as "the most personal album" in her career. Regarding to the album's commercial performance, Primera fila received diamond and triple platinum sales certifications in Mexico, where it was announced by the end of 2011 that the album had sold over 500,000 copies according to AMPROFON. Primera fila was the best selling album in Mexico in 2010, where it topped the charts for 55 non-consecutive weeks, the most weeks ever in Mexico's recorded music chart history. In Greece and Spain, the album reached the positions No. 6 and No. 32, respectively, while it reached No. 4 in Billboard's top Latin Albums and No. 2 in Billboard's Latin Pop Albums charts. Initially, Primera Fila had reached No. 1 on both aforementioned charts, but sales of the standard edition and the Walmart edition were later divided, leading to a retraction and update to Billboard's official peak positions for Primera Fila. After these changes, Primera fila went from a peak position of No. 167 to a peak position of No. 198 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Until the month of October 2012, Primera fila had sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In September 2010, Thalía released a special anniversary edition of the album under the title Primera fila... Un año después, which included 8 songs from the original album, as well as 2 never-released before songs, 2 remixes and a DVD with a documentary of the recording process of the album. In October 2010, Michael Bublé invited her to record a song with him in his holiday album Christmas. Together they recorded the bilingual song "Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad" and their collaboration received very positive reviews. 2012–2013: Habitame Siempre and VIVA! Tour Thalía had a collaboration with US music veteran Tony Bennett for his "Viva:Duets" album, which was released on 22 October 2012. Together they performed live the classic song "The way you look tonight" in Today's show and the Katie Couric's show. During the past months, she had announced that she was recording her eleventh studio album, Habítame siempre. On 21 September 2012, Thalía gave a private concert in New York City at Hammerstein Ballroom as a preview of the upcoming album. The album's lead single, "Manías", was released on 8 October 2012. Habítame siempre was released on 19 November 2012, in the United States and Latin America under the label of Sony Music Latin, while in Europe it is set to be released in 2013 by BMG Music. The album contains collaborations with Robbie Williams, Michael Bublé, Prince Royce and Gilberto Santa Rosa, among others and immensely after its release, it received mostly positive reviews. Habitame Siempre was certified triple platinum plus gold in Mexico for sales of more than 210,000 copies, gold in the United States for shipments exceeding 50,000 copies and platinum in Venezuela for over 10,000 copies shipped. In the meantime the second single of the album, "Te Perdiste Mi Amor", was certified platinum in Mexico for digital sales of over 60,000 copies. On 24 March 2013, Thalía launched her VIVA! Tour in support of Habítame Siempre. The VIVA! Tour marks Thalía's first tour in a decade and consists of a series of intimate concerts in the United States and Mexico. Thalía stated in an interview that she also plans to expand the tour to Latin America, Europe and Asia if it meets positive commercial reception. In October 2013, Thalía released in the United States and Latin America her fourth book Chupie (The Binky That Returned Home), and on 12 November, Thalía released in Mexico her second live album VIVA! Tour. This album was recorded on 27 April 2013, during her concert in Mexico City. In United States and Latin America, the album was released on 1 December 2013. It was certified gold in Mexico on its second week on the market for sales exceeding 30,000 copies. On 5 December 2013, she received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition of her success. 2014–2015: Viva Kids and Amore Mio On 25 March 2014, Thalía released her first children album Viva Kids Vol. 1 in Mexico. The album contains 11 songs and received one nomination to Latin Grammy Awards 2014. Vamos A Jugar was the first single of the album and was released on 18 March 2014. Viva Kids Vol. 1 was released in US, on 5 June 2014. On 22 July 2014, Italian singer Laura Pausini confirmed that by September that same year she would release a special version of her greatest hits album to the Hispanophone market, in an edition containing new duet with Thalía in Sino a ti. On 9 September 2014, Thalía released the lead single of Amore Mio, "Por Lo Que Reste De Vida". The song debuted No. 50 in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. The video music was released on 14 October 2014. Thalía released her 12th studio album on 17 November 2014. Amore Mio was Thalía's second album that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. The album debuted at No. 173 on the Billboard 200 with 3,000 copies sold in first week in the US. In Mexico, the album debuted at No. 1. In December 2014, to celebrate Thalía's 25th anniversary as a solo artist, her first three albums were released as a digital download from iTunes and Spotify. In January 2015, Thalía released her first fashion collection in United States with Macy's. 2016–2017: Latina, world tour, and directorial debut On 26 February 2016, she revealed through her social media accounts the album cover for her then-upcoming studio album, Latina, which was released on 21 April 2016. The album's first single, "Desde Esa Noche" featuring Maluma, peaked at number 16 on the Hot Latin Songs chart and number 4 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. The second single of the album, Vuélveme a Querer was released on 29 April 2016. The third single of album was Todavía Te Quiero featuring De La Ghetto was released on 2 December 2016. Thalía has announced she will embark on a new tour, her third overall, called Latina Love Tour. In 2017 she made her directorial debut when she co-directed "15: A Quinceañera Story", a four-part series of documentary shorts that follows five latina quinceañeras. For this she received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs at the 70th Directors Guild of America Awards That same year she collaborated with Colombian singer Carlos Vives in the song "Todo Me Gusta" from his album "Vives". The song was not released as a single but still managed to peak at number 12 in Bolivia and also peaked at number 14 the U.S. Tropical Digital Songs Chart. 2018–2019: Donna Summer Musical, Eyelure, Valiente, and Adria In 2018 she produced Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway. The musical is based on the life of Donna Summer. In August 2018 she released her false eyelash and eyebrow collection called Eyelure which is available at Walmart. Thalía released her fourteenth studio album, Valiente, on 9 November 2018. The lead single No Me Acuerdo was certified quadruple platinum in both Mexico and the United States as well as double platimun in Spain. The album also spawned the hits Me Oyen, Me Escuchan, Lento, and Lindo Pero Bruto with the latter being certified gold in the United States. The album had a total of 8 songs released as singles. In January 2019 she released her line of hair care products called Adria by Thalía. The 7 piece collection in available in stores at Walmart and Target as well as online. 2020–present: New collaborations, Viva Kids 2, and DesAMORfosis In January 2020 Thalía released the single "Ya Tú Me Conoces" with Venezuelan brother duo Mau y Ricky. The song served as the lead single from her 17th studio album. A month after that she collaborated with Mexican duo Rio Roma on their song "Lo Siento Mucho", which entered the top 10 on the Mexican charts. A month later she collaborated again, this time with Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar on the song "Tímida", which served as the fifth single for his album 111. In May 2020, the magazine People en Español named her the number-one most influential Mexican star of all time for her success as a singer, actress, and entrepreneur. Later that month, she released her second children's album titled Viva Kids Vol. 2. In June 2020 she collaborated with Peruvian singer Leslie Shaw on her single "Estoy Soltera", which also features Colombian singer Farina and served as the third single from Shaw's EP Yo Soy Leslie Shaw. She released the second single of her upcoming studio album titled "La Luz" on 28 August 2020, on which she collaborated with Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers. A month later she started on a Facebook watch series called Latin Music Queens alongside Sofía Reyes and Farina. The series would lead up to the release of two more singles with the first one being Ten Cuidao with Farina which premiered on episode three and the second single being Tick Tock which featured all three singers and premiered after the sixth and final episode. The latter also served as the third single from Thalía's upcoming album. On 7 May 2021 she released Mojito which served as the fourth single from her album DesAMORfosis which she released on 14 May 2021. Acting career Thalia was cast in a supporting role in the 1986 telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour with which she began her collaboration with Televisa, the largest mass media company in the Spanish-speaking world. In 1987, she went on to star in her first major role for Televisa in the 1987 teenage drama series Quinceañera, along with Mexican actress Adela Noriega. Quinceañera won the TV y Novelas award for Best Telenovela of the Year 1988. In 1989, she got her first lead role in Luz y Sombra, which was less successful. However, Thalía's explosion in popularity came in 1992, when she starred in María Mercedes for which she won a TV Y Novelas award as Best Young Actress in 1993. This series was the first of three telenovelas, named by the Mexican press as Las Tres Marias ("The Three Marías"), because the name of the heroine in all of these telenovelas was María. The second telenovela of the trilogy was Marimar in 1994, and the third and final was Maria la del Barrio in 1995. Among the trilogy, the third was the most successful of Thalía's career and it remains her most iconic role, while Marimar is considered the best Telenovela of all time. In 1999, Thalía starred in her last telenovela, "Rosalinda". All four telenovelas were basically based on the same rags to riches character. With these telenovelas, Thalía became famous worldwide and was consolidated as a television phenomenon, because of the extremely high ratings her TV series achieved in more than 180 countries (especially the Philippines). Although Thalía's presence in television is legendary, her presence in cinema is less important. She appeared for the first time in a movie when she was still a child in the 1979 film "La Guerra De los Pasteles" ("The War of the Cakes"). Furthermore, in 1999, she starred in "Mambo Café", a modest indie film production that had a poor reception from critics. Cultural impact of telenovelas Thalía has been labeled by various mass media companies as the "queen of soap operas", because her presence in television during the decade of the '90s was phenomenal. She became one of the world's foremost and most enduring television personalities as she starred in Mexico's highest-rated telenovelas ever that were exported in over 180 countries and viewed by about 2 billion people. It is stated by international media experts that at some point at the midst of the telenovela craze, Thalía's name even became synonymous with her native country, Mexico. According to the newspaper Ivoir'Soir: "At 7.30 sharp in the evening, when Marimar comes on, everything stops in Côte d'Ivoire". It is also mentioned that "Marimar" could attract more local fans than the 1998 World Cup, and that the program arrived in Africa after being a phenomenal rating hit in Indonesia and the Philippines, where in 1997 she was received in Manila like a foreign head of state. Thalía stated in her autobiography regarding to the impact of her telenovelas: "Soap operas made a lot of history; just look at the report by UNESCO, where it was noted that "in the Ivory Coast in Africa and in Paris (France), people stopped the daily course of their lives just to watch a soap opera. I never expected that kind of success [...] Whenever I arrived anywhere, I was treated like royalty; even the press in some of these countries referred to me as the Aztec Queen, the Mexican Queen, or the ambassador of Mexico, and like a proud peacock, I always brought my country's flag with me wherever I went to represent my motherland. I was in the clouds at the pinnacle of my career [...] During my visit at the Philippines, the organizers informed me that the last time so many people gathered in the streets for a person was when Pope John Paul the Second came to visit on January fourteenth, 1995 [...] In the Philippines, the country that probably felt the greatest impact from Marimar, the show was more widely promoted than the 1998 World Cup and more highly rated than the Super Bowl or the Grammys. In fact while I was visiting the country, the people and the media were so enthralled to see Marimar in the flesh that a historic peace treaty between the government and the querillas and the centennial celebrations of the Philippine Revolutions that were happening at the same time were pushed aside in the midst of Marimar fever. As a result, the archipelago was temporarily dubbed "República de MariMar." The phenomenon of Thalía's telenovelas also became visible in countries like Brazil, Bulgaria, Libya, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Lebanon, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Syria, Turkey and the majority of Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Business endeavours In 2002, Thalía signed a deal with Kmart to release her own clothing collection for women, as well as accessories and home products. In the middle of 2003, the "Thalía Sodi" collection was officially available in the US market in over 2,000 stores. Thalía commented: "My collection is a dream come true. I'm so happy to have created a clothing line inspired by my culture, trying to show the colors and the passion of our culture, that captures also a big part of my personal style". Thalía became the first Mexican woman to launch a clothing brand in the US. Simultaneously, Thalía debuted her eyewear collection under the brand name "Thalía Eyewear Collection" in association with Kenmark Optical. In 2005, the line also became available in Mexico's market as Thalía signed a deal with "Devlyn" company. Up to 2007, Thalía had generated US$100 million from the sales of "Thalía Eyewear", with more than 1 million products sold. Precisely in 2007 Thalía presented a new eyewear collection in New York, and the brand was exported to over eighty countries around the world. In April 2004, she entered the editorial market by releasing her own magazine Thalía in US, produced by American Media and oriented to the female Latin youth. The magazine included consultation and reports about issues like health, fashion and beauty. Some months later, in September, Thalía became the face of jewels' company Jacob & Co. In 2004, she signed a contract with Hershey's with which she released her own chocolate and candy brand. In 2005, she designed a summer clothing line, and in the following year, she was converted into the face of "Carol's Daughter" company, specialized in beauty products, while in 2007 she launched her perfume, produced by "Fuller Cosmetics" company. In 2007, she joined ABC Radio and started her own radio show known as "The Conexión Thalía Radio Show", in which she discusses music, fashion, news and political issues, and invites various people to talk with her on different issues. The program, that is weekly and lasts two hours, premiered on 17 March 2007, and still goes on, while it has expanded to over 70 radio stations through the US. In September 2007, she released the beauty advice book "Thalía: ¡Belleza!-Lessons in Lipgloss and Happiness" and in June 2009, she released her second book entitled "Thalia: ¡Radiante!-Your Guide to a Fit and a Fabulous Pregnancy". In May 2010, she revealed new accessories and jewels available via her website, apart from a new clothing line in association with multinational company C&A. In February 2011, she became the new face of Head & Shoulders and in November, she released her third book, which is her autobiography and named "Growing Stronger". Thalía has also been the public face of various advertisements, like Dr Pepper in 2001 or Victoria's Secret in 2005. According to Mira! magazine, in 2008 it was estimated that Thalía was one of the most wealthy Mexican businesswomen with a net worth of over US$100 million. In April 2012, she inaugurated her own yoga center in New York. In 2015, she signed a contract with "ePura", a Mexican water company and she also signed an exclusive deal with Macy's to launch her apparel, shoes and jewelry collections. Jeffrey Gennette, Macy's president stated that "the Thalia Sodi collection is the biggest private-brand launch in the history of the company by a long shot." Philanthrophy and activism Thalía has participated in various humanitarian campaigns. Since 2004, she has been an official celebrity ambassador and volunteer of March of Dimes, to support national fundraising and awareness campaigns. March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. Also, since 2016 she is a UNICEF Mexico Ambassador. Thalía is also became a member of "ALAS Foundation", which is a non-profit organization that strives to launch a new social movement that will generate a collective commitment to comprehensive Early Childhood Development programs for the children in Latin America. Through various public service campaigns and through her own media channels, Thalia has been a strong voice for March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign. She also is featured in March of Dimes Education and Health Promotion materials in English and Spanish, while she has helped to raise awareness and critical funds for the March of Dimes year-round. Furthermore, she supports March for Babies and works to find ongoing opportunities for March of Dimes strategic alliances and media promotions. In 2006, Thalía along with her husband attended the event A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To Cure Parkinson's with the aim to economically support the foundation The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research of Michael J. Fox. In May 2009, Thalía and Tommy Mottola were recognized from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Miami for their support in children in need. In 2010, she reunited with other recording artists, performers and actors like Sharon Stone, Michael Douglas, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony between others, to raise funds for the "Foundation of the New York's police department", which works for better urban security. In 2011, she attended a beneficial event in New York, organized by the Robin Hood Foundation with the aim to raise money for homeless youth. In the same year, she closed the Mexican Teleton by offering a live concert. In November 2012, Thalía took humanitarian aid and comfort to compatriots of her in New York that were affected by Hurricane Sandy. She stated : "When I started seeing the destruction of Sandy I thought it was incredible, but, when I saw my Mexican brothers and sisters I felt the need to try and do something for them" in front of a group of families gathered at the Staten Island Immigrant Information Center in one of the most devastated by the storm areas. She went on to say that in times like this an artist should use the reach of the media to collect aid for the victims, and at the same time she called on the public to deposit money in the account opened by the Mexican Consulate for that purpose. In April 2013, Thalía was awarded with the "Your Voice Inspires Many" award by the Lyme Research Alliance. Personal life Thalía was in a relationship with actor Fernando Colunga from 1995 to 1996 while they appeared on the series María la del Barrio. Thalía married music executive Tommy Mottola on 2 December 2000. The couple have two children, daughter Sabrina Sakaë, born on 8 October 2007, and son Matthew Alejandro, born on 24 June 2011. Thalía has stated in her autobiography and elsewhere that she is religious and believes profoundly in God. She began studying Kabbalah in 2002, using many of its symbols in the artwork of her album El Sexto Sentido. In 2015 she accidentally revealed during an interview that she had multiple miscarriages which caused her depression and were some of the hardest times in her life. In September 2002, Thalía's sisters, Laura Zapata and Ernestina Sodi, were kidnapped in Mexico City. Zapata was released 18 days after her kidnapping, and her sister Ernestina was released on the 36th day. Thalía has had a series of familial conflicts, especially with her sister Laura Zapata. She has opted to keep her point of view regarding to her familial issues private, despite the attacks she has received from her older sister. In a press interview, Thalía stated that her familial problems with her sister are "just a dark cloud in a shiny sky". In 2008, Thalía was affected by Lyme disease, a disease commonly transmitted by ticks. The illness prevented her from promoting her album Lunada, while it functioned as a motivation for her to have a totally different perspective towards life. In reference to her illness, Thalía stated in her autobiography : "I would sweat profusely, soaking my pajamas, the sheets and even the mattress; everything hurt, even my hair, which, by the way, started to fall out. At times it felt as if my head were going to burst, as if there were lead inside of it; my eyes ached in their sockets....the hypersensitivity of my skin was so severe that sometimes I couldn't even handle the bed sheets." Influences According to Thalia herself, her major personal influence was her mother, who was a motivating manager for Thalia from the very beginning of her career until 2000. As for her artistic influences, Thalia's work is mostly influenced by Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Sade, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, The Doors, and Kylie Minogue, while she has stated that she always admired Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. Thalia's first idol, according to her, was athlete Nadia Comaneci. She has even stated that her record-breaking performance was a huge motivation for her to follow a career in entertainment. Cultural impact She is referred as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media at least since the early-2000s, and was named by Billboard during the late-1990s as "Latin American's Reigning Music Queen". Thalía's success and impact in Latin music has been noted and praised by many critics. According to Billboard, she has achieved critical acclaim and commercial success as both a singer and songwriter, and has remained as one of the leading female artists in Latin music. Before her crossover attempt to the English market with a homonymous album in 2003, she gained success with her Spanish recordings in Europe, Asia and all over the Americas, even before the crossover of contemporaries artists such as Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Shakira and Paulina Rubio. She also stated: "My internationalization has come for several years ago and in Spanish, which is very significant". Thalía was included in Billboard list the "Greatest Latin Artists of All Time" in 2020. According to the American magazine Ocean Drive, Thalía is "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". Similarly, Tammy Gagne in We Visit Mexico (2010) described her as "the most popular singer, actress, and dancer in Mexico", while Rough Guides discussed the Latin pop music stage in Latin America saying that in Mexico, "since the 1990s the biggest name has been Thalía". Univision placed Thalía at number 8 in their list of "25 most influential Mexican musicians", the highest peak by a female artist within the list. Thalía has been also described as an influential Latin woman, and has been part of diverse listicles. For instance, People en Español included her in their book Legends: the 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time (2008). The same magazine, include her at their "The 25 Most Influential Latin Women" and Terra Networks named her one of the most "powerful and iconic women in music" in 2011. Leila Cobo from Billboard wrote she "has carved out one of the most successful global Latin careers in memory". Producer Emilio Estefan called her "Mexico's diva of divas" and stated "Thalía is one of the few female artists in the Latino market who has legions of fans throughout Latin America, including Brazil". In 1998, French company Louis Vuitton invited her to appear in Rebonds publication, being at the time the first Latin celebrity to appear in that book. In 1997, 25 April was declared by the government of Los Angeles, as "Thalia's National Day", because of her growing popularity among the Latino community in the United States. Thalia's rise to international prominence coincided with the worldwide broadcast of the soap operas she starred in. Her soap operas were viewed in more than 180 countries by almost 2 billion viewers according to UNICEF, and many of her telenovelas became one of the most watched television broadcasts around the world. She is known as the "Queen of Telenovelas" ("Queen of Soap Operas") and Billboard once named her "the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world". She also gained success as a businesswoman, with commercial and critical recognition for her business ventures by launching several products under her brand name, and dominated the editorial business by writing and releasing three books, that became bestsellers. According to Felipe Escudero from El Mundo in 2006, Thalía was described as the "Latin Madonna of the Hispanic market" and a "Queen Midas" due her success as a businesswoman. Thalía is considered a gay icon and according to Infobae, many of her fans recognized her as the "Latin queen of gay community". The same publication also stated Thalía is one of the most "emulated pop singers by transvestite shows in gay nightclubs". Andrés del Real from La Tercera felt she is an icon for the sexual minority, and professor Ramón García in Chicano Representation and the Strategies of Modernism (1997) wrote Thalía is "the dream identity of many drag queens". Ed Grant from Time also commented that many of them called themselves "Thalíos". Thalia has been an influential artist for almost every younger Latin pop singer, including Anahí, Belinda, and urban Latin artists Becky G, Natti Natasha and Karol G among others, while Julio Iglesias, Tony Bennett, Juan Luis Guerra, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Laura Pausini, Tiziano Ferro, Michael Bublé, Espinoza Paz, Gloria Trevi, Inna, Erik Rubin, Pedro Capó, Maluma, Robbie Williams and many other artists have expressed their admiration towards her talent and charisma. Awards and achievements Thalía has achieved multiple milestones during her career with her music, acting career and business ventures. Luis Magaña from El Universal commented that those record figures in her career are "impressive" and found that she has been the first in place of different situations in life. Thalía has sold over 25 million records worldwide, and is one of the best-selling Latin music artists. She has numerous albums amongst the best-selling in Spanish-language that include En éxtasis, Amor a la Mexicana and Arrasando with sales of over 2 million copies worldwide and have at least one album amongst the best selling of all-time in Mexico, Chile and the Philippines. "No Me Acuerdo" is also one of the best-selling Latin singles in the United States. According to El Universal, Thalía is the first Latina to have a Top 10 in all continents, and Arrasando led her to be the first Latin woman selling a Spanish album in Japan. Thalía con banda is the first album of banda music with a certification in Spain. Thalía's versatility signing in other languages made her the first and only Latin artist with an album recorded primarily in Tagalog when she released Nandito Ako in 1997. María la del Barrio is the first telenovela translated into the Tagalog language. Thalía became the first actress to make a trilogy of telenovelas and Quinceañera is considered to be the first telenovela for a teen audience. Moreover, Thalía is the highest paid actress in the history of Televisa. With El Sexto Sentido, Thalía set a record for the largest number of interviews granted to an electronic medium, Televisa. The album also became the first Spanish-language release in the United States to have a preorder campaign through iTunes and was the most expensive Spanish album up that time. She is also the first woman to have a HBO Latino concert special. "Amor a la Mexicana" is the first Mexican song to be played in European dive bars. Thalía is also the first Mexican female artist to have a certification in Brazil, and remains the best-selling Mexican female soloist in that country. She is also the first Mexican woman with a line of clothing in the United States, as well the first Mexican woman closing bells at Nasdaq. Thalía became the first Mexican artist to hit one billion views on YouTube with "No Me Acuerdo". She also became in the first Mexican artist to have complete control over all the videos in her catalog. Thalía is the most followed Mexican female artist in Spotify, and with most views on YouTube. She also held the record in Instagram until being surpassed by Danna Paola. She is the first recipient of the Star Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards when she was honored in 2001. She received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013 as a recognition to her versatile trajectory and her impact in the world of music and entertainment. In doing so, Thalía became the first female singer born in Mexico with that achievement. She holds a record for appearing the most times in People en Españols annual list of the most beautiful Latin celebrities (Los más bellos). She became the first face of Jacob & Co, and the first Latina to make a deal with The Hershey Company. Filmography Discography Thalía (1990) Mundo de Cristal (1991) Love (1992) En éxtasis (1995) Nandito Ako (1997) Amor a la Mexicana (1997) Arrasando (2000) Thalía (2002) Thalía (2003) El Sexto Sentido (2005) Lunada (2008) Habítame Siempre (2012) Viva Kids Vol. 1 (2014) Amore Mío (2014) Latina (2016) Valiente (2018) Viva Kids Vol. 2 (2020) Desamorfosis (2021) Concert tours High Voltage Tour (2004) Viva! Tour (2013) Latina Love Tour (2016) Written works See also Sodi family List of most watched television broadcasts List of most expensive celebrity photographs List of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors References Bibliography Scott Robert Olson (1999). Hollywood Planet: Global Media and the Competitive Advantage of Narrative Transparency, Routledge publications, pages 134, 153–161. . Quiñones, Sam (2001). True Tales from Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino, and the Bronx. University of New Mexico Press. . Cl. Fernandez, Andrew Paxman (2001). El tigre: Emilio Azcárraga y su imperio Televisa. . Ruth Lorand (2002). Television: Aesthetic Reflections, P. Lang, Michigan University, digitized in 2008. Maria Immacolata, Vassallo de Lopes, Uribe Bertha (2004). Telenovela: internacionalização e interculturalidade, Edições Loyola. , 9788515028887, πορτογαλικά. Cobo, Leila (2005). Billboard : "Thalía's Sixth Sense", Nielsen Business Media, Inc – Prometheus Global Media, pages 59–60. . Lisa Shaw, Stephanie Dennison (2005). Pop Culture Latin America!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle, ABC-CLIO, pages 51, 233–239, 398. Stavans Ilan, Augenbraum Harold (2005). Encyclopedia Latina: History, culture, and society in the United States. Volumen 1, Grolier Academic Reference. . Antoine van Agtmael (2007). The Emerging Markets Century: How a New Breed of World-Class Companies Is Overtaking the World, Simon and Schuster, p. 255. Stavans, Ilan (2010). Telenovelas (The Ilan Stavans Library of Latino Civilization), ABC-CLIO. , 9780313364938. External links Thalia.com — Official website 1971 births Living people EMI Latin artists Fonovisa Records artists LGBT rights activists from Mexico Latin music musicians Mexican women in business Mexican women singers English-language singers from Mexico Portuguese-language singers of Mexico Mexican child actresses Mexican dance musicians Mexican emigrants to the United States Mexican record producers Mexican telenovela actresses Mexican women writers Actresses from Mexico City Singers from Mexico City 20th-century Mexican actresses Timbiriche members Latin pop singers Singers from New York City Sony Music Latin artists Mexican women pop singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century Mexican women singers 21st-century Mexican singers Mexican women record producers Mexican people of Italian descent Mexican people of French descent Women in Latin music
false
[ "Zia al-Din Ali ibn Shuja al-Din Mohammad (), also known as Ala al-Din Ali (ضیاء الدین), was the last Sultan of the Ghurid dynasty from 1214 to 1215. He was the cousin and successor of Ala al-Din Atsiz.\n\nBiography \nZia al-Din Ali was the son Shuja al-Din Muhammad and a princess known as Malek-ye Hajji. During his early years, Zia al-Din Ali was appointed as governor of Khorasan in ca. 1199/1200 by his cousin Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad. Ghiyath later died in 1202, and was succeeded by his brother Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad, who shortly appointed Ala al-Din Ali as the governor of Ghur, Gharchistan and Zamindawar. Ala al-Din Ali later lead a campaign against the Ismailis in Quhistan.\n\nAfter the death of Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad in 1206, Ala al-Din Ali was dismissed by the new Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Mahmud, who had him imprisoned in a fortress in Gharchistan. Ala al-Din Ali, however, was later freed by the ghulam Tajuddin Yildoz, who crowned him as the Sultan of the Ghurid dynasty. After a year Tajuddin Yildoz was forced to surrender Firuzkuh to the Khwarazmian dynasty, and Ala al-Din Ali was captured by a Khwarazmian army and was brought to Khwarazm, where he lived in an honorable exile in Khwarazm. Ala al-Din Ali died a few years later.\n\nSources \n\n \n\n13th-century Iranian people\n12th-century Iranian people\nGhurid dynasty\n13th-century deaths\nYear of birth unknown", "Ian Boddy is a British electronic musician and composer. In the early 1980s Boddy began experimenting at an Arts Council funded studio in Newcastle. This period resulted in 3 cassette releases on the Mirage label, which showcased Boddy's work with analogue synthesis and tape manipulation. \"Images\" (1980), \"Elements of Chance\" (1981) and \"Jade\". In 1983 Boddy's first LP, The Climb, was released, followed by two more LPs, Spirits (1984) and Phoenix (1986). In 1989 Boddy released his first CD, Odyssey, on the Surreal To Real label, followed by Drive (1991). Following these releases, Boddy founded the Something Else Records label, releasing another 4 albums, \"The Uncertainty Principle\" (1993), \"The Deep\" (1994), \"Continuum\" (1996), \"Rare Elements\" (1997) and reissuing his first 3 LPs and one of his early cassettes, \"Jade\"(1992). On Something Else Records he also released 3 collaborations, \"Symbiont\" (1995) with Andy Pickford, \"Phase 3\" (1997) with Ron Boots and \"Octane\" (1998) with Mark Shreeve under the name of ARC. A cassette-only release of live recordings between 1980 and 1989 was also available for a short period. In 1999 he founded the DiN Records label.\n\nMore recent recordings have included:\n\"Box of Secrets\" DiN1 (1999)\n\"Distant Rituals\" DiN2 (1999) with Markus Reuter\n\"Autonomic\" DiN4 (1999) with Nigel Mullaney as Dub Atomica\n\"Caged\" DiN5 (2000) with Chris Carter\n\"Radio Sputnik\" DiN7 (2000) with Mark Shreeve as ARC\n\"Shrouded\" Space For Music Records (2000) Live recording for Philadelphia\n\"Triptych\" DiN9 (2001) with Markus Reuter and Nigel Mullaney\n\"Outpost\" DiN11 (2002) with Robert Rich\n\"Aurora\" DiN12 (2002)\n\"Blaze\" DiN15 (2003) with Mark Shreeve as ARC\n\"Chiasmata\" DiN16 (2004)\n\"Pure\" DiN17 (2004) with Markus Reuter\n\"Moire\" DiN18 (2005) with Bernhard Wostheinrich\n\"Arcturus\" DiN19 (2005) with Mark Shreeve as ARC\n\"Jodrell Bank Concert\" Space For Music Records (2002) with Markus Reuter. Live recording from 1999.\n\"Lithosphere\" DiN21 (2005) with Robert Rich\n\"Elemental\" DiN25 (2006)\n\"Fracture\" Din26 (2007) with Mark Shreeve as ARC\n\"React\" DiN29 (2008) with Robert Rich\n\"Slide\" DiN31 (2008)\n\"Dervish\" DiN33 (2009) with Markus Reuter\n\"Shifting Sands\" AD072 (2009) with David Wright\nFrontiers DIN39 (2012) with Erik Wøllo\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial Ian Boddy website\nProfile at Starsend website\nProfile at Planet Origo\nDiN Records website\n\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nLiving people\nBritish electronic musicians\nBritish composers\nThird Mind Records artists\nCassette culture 1970s–1990s" ]
[ "Thalía", "1981-1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era", "What is the Timbiriche Era?", "In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band.", "Is Timbiriche Thalia's first band?", "In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man,", "How long was Thalia with Pac Man?", "After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist", "Did Pac Man have any success?", "Thalia performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico.", "Who/what is Din-Din?", "Pac Man changed their band name to \"Din-Din\".", "Who else was in Din-Din?", "I don't know." ]
C_963c5d6c73044648a24858946d8e6313_1
How long was Thalia with Timbiriche?
7
How long was Thalia with Timbiriche?
Thalía
In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed in order to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play while singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalia performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En accion, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna nina del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sokol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubin, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalia obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalia was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre senorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalia's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceanera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalia was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalia was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalia recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clasicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalia departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles in order to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. CANNOTANSWER
In 1989, Thalia departed from Timbiriche.
Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda Mottola (; born 26 August 1971), known mononymously as Thalía, is a Mexican singer and actress. She is considered one of the most successful and influential Mexican artists and is referred to as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media. Having sold around 25 million records worldwide, she is one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all-time. Aside from her native Spanish, Thalía has also sung in English, French, Portuguese and Tagalog. She has received numerous accolades, including five Billboard Latin Music Awards, eight Lo Nuestro Awards, as well as seven Latin Grammy Award nominations and their special "President's Merit Award" in 2019. She has collaborated with multiple artists, such as Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Robbie Williams, Marc Anthony, Laura Pausini, Romeo Santos, Maluma, Fat Joe, and Carlos Vives. As an actress, Thalía starred in a variety of successful telenovelas that aired in over 180 countries with an estimated audiece of 2 billion people according to UNICEF, which led to her being referred to as the "Queen of telenovelas" by the mass media. The global impact of her novelas helped her to popularize her music in non-Spanish speaking territories and markets in Europe and Asia. The Mexican media company Televisa has named her the best-paid telenovela actress in history, while Billboard names her the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world. Considered a Latin pop icon, Ocean Drive called Thalía as "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". She was included in Billboards Greatest Latin Artists of All Time in 2020 and in People En Españols The 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time in 2008. On 5 December 2013, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition for her achievements in the music industry. As a businesswoman, Thalía enjoyed success with a fashion brand (having signed a deal with Macy's), as well she had her own nationally syndicated radio show and is the author of four books, including her memoir. During her career, Thalía has been involved in humanitarian causes and is an UNICEF Mexico Ambassador since 2016. Early life Thalía was born on 26 August 1971 in Mexico City. She is the youngest of five daughters of Yolanda Miranda Mange (d. 2011), a painter who was Thalía's manager from 1980 to 1999 and Ernesto Sodi Pallares (d. 1977), a scientist, doctor of pathology, criminologist and writer. Her four sisters are Laura Zapata (daughter of Guillermo Zapata Pérez de Utrera), Federica, Gabriela and Ernestina Sodi. When she turned one, Thalía appeared in her first TV commercial in Mexico. At the age of four, she began taking ballet and piano classes at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música (Mexico). Her father suffered from diabetes and died in 1977 when Thalía was six years old. Years later, Thalía admitted publicly that her father's death had traumatized her drastically, since she had lost her voice for a whole year. This led to her being diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder (CDH), which belongs to a series of developmental disorders related to autism spectrum. She has said that she had psychological therapy for a few years. She has reportedly mentioned that she was a victim of bullying as a child because of the loss of her father. Thalía attended Lycée Franco-Mexicain elementary school, where she learned to speak French fluently at a very young age. In 1976, a year before her father's death, she had a guest appearance in the Mexican film La guerra de los pasteles ("War of Cakes"), although her name doesn't appear in the film credits. Music career 1981–1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era In 1981, when Thalía was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play like we're singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalía performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En acción, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalía participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna niña del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sökol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubín, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalía obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sökol from Timbiriche, Thalía became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalía was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalía's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceañera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalía was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalía was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalía recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clásicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalía departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. 1990–1993: First albums as a solo artist In 1990, Thalía returned to Mexico and released her first studio album as a solo artist, self-titled Thalía, which was produced by Alfredo Díaz Ordaz, and published by Fonovisa, Televisa's record label. From that album, she released a total of four singles that became radio hits: "Amarillo Azul", "Pienso en Ti", "Un Pacto Entre los Dos" and "Saliva". The last two tracks were co-written by her and Díaz Ordaz and they were considered as provocative at the time ("Un Pacto Entre Los Dos" was even labeled as a song with occult Satan-worship lyrics by various far-right parties). In September 1991, Thalía released her second studio album, Mundo de cristal, which marks Thalía's last project in collaboration with Alfredo Díaz Ordaz. Four songs became radio singles from the album, and all of them had big radio impact in Mexico. Due to the success of the singles, the album was certified as double gold in Thalía's native country, Mexico. In the same year, Thalía was co-presenter of the late Spanish show VIP Noche, along with Spanish presenter Emilio Aragón, produced by Telecinco. In October 1992, she released her third studio album and her last under the same label, entitled Love, which was recorded in Spain and was produced by Luis Carlos Esteban. The album spread six singles, that had huge radio impact: "Sangre", "Love", "María Mercedes" (official theme of the TV series), "No Trates de Engañarme", "Flor de Juventud", and "La Vida en Rosa" (La vie en rose), the last one being a Spanish-French cover of the classic French song originally performed by Edith Piaf. Thalía wrote the song "Sangre" inspired in Díaz Ordaz, with whom she had broken up her sentimental relation. The album was praised by the critics, as it was an artistic evolution for Thalía, who experimented for the first time in different music genres, especially electronic music. The album reached number 15 on Billboard's Latin Pop Albums in 1993. In Mexico, it sold over 200,000 copies in the first month upon its release and very soon it reached the platinum and gold certification, while it was a commercial success all over Latin America. 1994–1999: International breakout In 1994, during the successful transmission of Marimar, Thalía signed a contract with the record label EMI to prepare her fourth studio album that was entitled En éxtasis. The album was released in October 1995. En éxtasis was produced with the aid of celebrated producers such as Emilio Estefan, Jr. (husband of the famous Cuban singer Gloria Estefan) and Óscar López. The album spawned a total of seven singles including "Piel morena", "Amándote", "María la del barrio", "Quiero hacerte el amor", "Gracias a Dios, "Me Faltas Tú" and "Lágrimas". Piel morena became a huge international hit apart from being voted as the best Spanish song ever in the United States from a poll released by mass media company Univision. It must also be added that Thalía was more oriented to the latin pop music genre in that album, even though it was influenced by various music genres. Amandote became a number 1 hit in various radio stations in the Philippines in 1996, along with her phenomenal superstardom accompanied by her historic Manila tour. It was described by Philippine media as tantamount to that of Pope John Paul II's 1995 Manila visit. The broadcast of the telenovelas María Mercedes, Marimar and María la del barrio had already converted Thalía to a global television phenomenon by the end of 1996. In January 1997, she released her first compilation album entitled Nandito Ako, which contains four songs recorded in Filipino, five English versions from various tracks from the album En éxtasis and a Spanish remix of the song Amándote. The only single that was released from this album was Nandito Ako. The album became a commercial success in the Philippines as a result of Thalía's growing popularity, reaching platinum status set by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry. En éxtasis was her first album that was released worldwide, reaching gold, platinum or multi-platinum status in more than 20 countries. In July 1997, Thalía's fifth studio album was released, under the title Amor a la mexicana, produced again by Emilio Estefan, and including songs that became classic over the years like "Mujer Latina", "De dónde soy", "Por amor", "Noches sin luna" and "Amor a la mexicana". The album became a pure commercial success, while the first single of the album ("Amor a la mexicana") became a number one hit in 14 countries. With Amor a la mexicana, Thalía was able to bring her music and establish her projects in difficult markets like those of France, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Italy and all the Spanish-speaking countries. After the success of Amor a la mexicana, Thalía recorded the Spanish and Portuguese versions of the song "Journey to the Past", produced by Atlantic Records, as a part of the soundtrack of the Fox Animation Studios movie Anastasia (1997). In the following year, she starred for the first time in a movie in English, named "Mambo Café", written and directed by Reuben González. Mambo Café premiered in January 2000 in Mexico, Greece and Russia, distributed by Kushner Locke Entertainment. In 1999, after Mambo Café, Thalía returned in television with telenovela Rosalinda. "Rosalinda" was considered to be Televisa's most expensive production ever by that time, as well as the most exported in foreign countries, as it was sold in over 180 countries. In an interview of that period Thalía had commented: "The telenovelas are the ones that opened the doors of the world for me, because the audience of telenovelas is much more passionate than the audience of cinema. What's more, television is free". 2000–2005: Crossover and first tour in the United States Emilio Estefan also produced Thalía's sixth studio album, Arrasando, released on 25 April 2000, which was successful. It spawned the singles "Entre el mar y una estrella", "Regresa a mí", "Arrasando" and "Reencarnación". Thalía was nominated in the Latin Grammy category as the "Best Female Pop Vocal Album". The album received one Latin Grammy nomination and it won in its category as the "Best Sound Engineered Album of the year". The singles of this album were huge hits. In 2001 she was nominated for her record Arrasando and won a Lo Nuestro award in the category of People's Prize, and was the first artist to whom an innovative award from Billboard Awards for Latin Music was given, the "Star Award". On 4 May 2001, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, invited her to a party celebrating Cinco de mayo organized at the White House, where she interpreted a medley of popular Mexican songs with a Mexican mariachi band. On 28 August 2001, expressing her love for her country of birth, Mexico, she released her album Con Banda: Grandes Éxitos: a "greatest hits" album, but recorded with the typical Mexican "banda" sound. "Amor a la Mexicana" banda version was released as a single. The album was nominated for a Latin Grammy for "Best Banda Album" at the 3rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2002. Her seventh studio album, self-titled Thalía, was released on 21 May 2002. It was largely written and produced by Estéfano. Buoyed by a pair of chart-topping singles ("Tú y Yo" and "No me enseñaste") and a top-ten hit ("¿A quién le importa?") (cover of Alaska y Dinarama), this album hit number one for 6 consecutive weeks on the Top Latin Albums chart, reaching number eleven on the Billboard 200 chart and 2x Multi-Platinum status with sales in the U.S. of 200,000 copies. It was nominated in one Latin Grammy category – "Female Pop Vocal Album", and in four Latin Billboard categories – "Pop Track Female" and "Tropical Track Female" for "No Me Enseñaste", "Your World Award", and "Female Pop Album", for Thalía, winning the last two awards. "No Me Enseñaste" reached at No. 1 in Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks chart. On 25 February 2003, she released her first remix album, Thalía's Hits Remixed. This album contains some remixes of her EMI era hits, such as "Amor a la Mexicana", "Piel Morena", "No Me Enseñaste" and "Tú y Yo." It also contains the English version of "Arrasando", called "It's My Party". Furthermore, it includes the previously unreleased medley that Thalía had recorded especially for her 2001 Latin Grammy Awards performance, but was later cancelled, due to the September 11 attacks. On 8 July 2003, Thalía released her eighth studio album and the first one in English, the self-titled Thalía, featuring the rapper Fat Joe in "I Want You/Me Pones Sexy". "Baby, I'm in Love/Alguien Real", "Don't Look Back" and "Cerca De Ti" were singles too. The album landed at No. 11 in The Billboard 200. The song "I Want You" entered the American Top 40 with Casey Kasem and even reached the top 10 during that year. The song also entered the American Billboard Top 100 Singles Charts that year. She won an International Dance Music Award for her club-hit "Dance Dance (The Mexican)". On 10 February 2004, Thalía released her first official Greatest Hits album, and "Cerca de ti" and "Acción y Reacción" were the singles from this album. In April and May, she toured USA and Mexico with her "High Voltage Tour". Her ninth studio album, El Sexto Sentido, was released on 19 July 2005, and recorded mostly in Spanish, but with a few of the songs sung in English as well. It was reported to be the most expensive music album produced in Latin America in 2005. It had mild success, although the sound and the overall result make it one of her most integrated projects. "Amar sin ser amada" was the first single of the album and is considered as an infectious rock-edged tango-based song. "Un alma sentenciada", the second single of the album, is a feverish and, at points, hyperdramatic ballad. The explosive "Seducción" ("Seduction") and "Olvidame" were also releases as singles, gaining considerable success. The album was also certified gold in Argentina, Greece and Mexico and double platinum in the United States. 2006–2008: The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, Lyme disease and Lunada In 2006, the album received a reloaded version, El Sexto Sentido: Re+Loaded. Thalía was the 'godmother' of Cantando Por Un Sueño, a Mexican TV reality show. It was rumored she got paid 1 million dollars to perform. Thalía recorded the title song of the show, and it was included in the album. It was released in Mexico on 13 February 2006 (U.S. 6 June, Spain 29 May) and features four new songs, including a duet with the group Aventura, "No, No, No" which become a massive hit. "El Sexto Sentido" was nominated for one Latin Grammy as "Best Female Pop Vocal Album", it was also nominated in one Latin Billboard category – "Pop Female Album" and in eight Premios Juventud categories. In 2006, Thalía became a U.S. citizen at a swearing-in ceremony in New York, where she resides with her husband. Under Mexican law she is allowed to retain her Mexican citizenship. She also received an award by her then record company EMI, for sales of more than 10 million copies with all her discography with the company. In March 2007, Thalía also joined ABC Radio to start The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, where she talks about music, fashion, news and political issues. Afterwards, she was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in People en Español 2008 for a record-breaking seventh time where they called her their "Queen". She was once again featured in the 2010 edition for an eighth time. In May 2008, Thalía's single "Ten Paciencia", was premiered on the internet. Although, the single received a lukewarm response and did not perform well in the U.S. charts and Top 20 hits in Mexico, it was No. 1 in several countries of Latin America. Furthermore, her tenth studio album Lunada, was released on 24 June 2008, and debuted at number eight in Mexico and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Top Latin Albums (U.S). It was the last Thalía's studio album released by EMI. Thalía later appeared on El Show De Cristina, aired in late July by Univision's Spanish network to promote the album. According to Univision network, her appearance on the show received huge ratings, reaching No. 1 in both the Chicago and Miami markets. The show was said to have been viewed by over 87 million people in the US alone. "Será porque te amo", the second single, received no promotion and became another failed single. It is a Spanish language cover version of the Italian hit "Sarà perché ti amo", originally performed by the group Ricchi e Poveri. On 23 October, it was announced that Thalía was suffering from Lyme disease, which is transmitted by ticks. Fortunately, it was discovered quickly, and the singer, as well as her mother, Yolanda Miranda, were able to receive antibiotics in time. On 18 November, Thalía announced the end of her collaboration with EMI Music. Despite Lunada being a commercial disappointment, it was named as the "Best Album of the Year" by ¡Hola! readers. The latest work of the Mexican singer achieved 8,750 votes beating artists, such as Luis Miguel, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and Madonna. 2009–2011: Success of Primera Fila and Growing Stronger On 30 July 2009, Thalía recorded her acoustic album, Primera fila, her first album after she signed with Sony Music Entertainment. In October, Thalía performed at the White House, along with other Latin singers, in an event organized by President Barack Obama that celebrated Hispanic heritage. Thalía's performance was iconic and historic, as she was the first celebrity to publicly invite a United States President to dance. In October of the same year, she released the first single from Primera fila, a song named Equivocada. In December Thalía released her album, which contained duets with Joan Sebastian and Pedro Capó and various other songs, that became huge radio hits in the following months. The production received critical accept and very positive reviews, while Jason Birchmeier stated that "Primera Fila" was one of the best albums Thalía has released in her whole career, and definitely the one with the most surprises. As for Thalía, she considered Primera Fila as "the most personal album" in her career. Regarding to the album's commercial performance, Primera fila received diamond and triple platinum sales certifications in Mexico, where it was announced by the end of 2011 that the album had sold over 500,000 copies according to AMPROFON. Primera fila was the best selling album in Mexico in 2010, where it topped the charts for 55 non-consecutive weeks, the most weeks ever in Mexico's recorded music chart history. In Greece and Spain, the album reached the positions No. 6 and No. 32, respectively, while it reached No. 4 in Billboard's top Latin Albums and No. 2 in Billboard's Latin Pop Albums charts. Initially, Primera Fila had reached No. 1 on both aforementioned charts, but sales of the standard edition and the Walmart edition were later divided, leading to a retraction and update to Billboard's official peak positions for Primera Fila. After these changes, Primera fila went from a peak position of No. 167 to a peak position of No. 198 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Until the month of October 2012, Primera fila had sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In September 2010, Thalía released a special anniversary edition of the album under the title Primera fila... Un año después, which included 8 songs from the original album, as well as 2 never-released before songs, 2 remixes and a DVD with a documentary of the recording process of the album. In October 2010, Michael Bublé invited her to record a song with him in his holiday album Christmas. Together they recorded the bilingual song "Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad" and their collaboration received very positive reviews. 2012–2013: Habitame Siempre and VIVA! Tour Thalía had a collaboration with US music veteran Tony Bennett for his "Viva:Duets" album, which was released on 22 October 2012. Together they performed live the classic song "The way you look tonight" in Today's show and the Katie Couric's show. During the past months, she had announced that she was recording her eleventh studio album, Habítame siempre. On 21 September 2012, Thalía gave a private concert in New York City at Hammerstein Ballroom as a preview of the upcoming album. The album's lead single, "Manías", was released on 8 October 2012. Habítame siempre was released on 19 November 2012, in the United States and Latin America under the label of Sony Music Latin, while in Europe it is set to be released in 2013 by BMG Music. The album contains collaborations with Robbie Williams, Michael Bublé, Prince Royce and Gilberto Santa Rosa, among others and immensely after its release, it received mostly positive reviews. Habitame Siempre was certified triple platinum plus gold in Mexico for sales of more than 210,000 copies, gold in the United States for shipments exceeding 50,000 copies and platinum in Venezuela for over 10,000 copies shipped. In the meantime the second single of the album, "Te Perdiste Mi Amor", was certified platinum in Mexico for digital sales of over 60,000 copies. On 24 March 2013, Thalía launched her VIVA! Tour in support of Habítame Siempre. The VIVA! Tour marks Thalía's first tour in a decade and consists of a series of intimate concerts in the United States and Mexico. Thalía stated in an interview that she also plans to expand the tour to Latin America, Europe and Asia if it meets positive commercial reception. In October 2013, Thalía released in the United States and Latin America her fourth book Chupie (The Binky That Returned Home), and on 12 November, Thalía released in Mexico her second live album VIVA! Tour. This album was recorded on 27 April 2013, during her concert in Mexico City. In United States and Latin America, the album was released on 1 December 2013. It was certified gold in Mexico on its second week on the market for sales exceeding 30,000 copies. On 5 December 2013, she received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition of her success. 2014–2015: Viva Kids and Amore Mio On 25 March 2014, Thalía released her first children album Viva Kids Vol. 1 in Mexico. The album contains 11 songs and received one nomination to Latin Grammy Awards 2014. Vamos A Jugar was the first single of the album and was released on 18 March 2014. Viva Kids Vol. 1 was released in US, on 5 June 2014. On 22 July 2014, Italian singer Laura Pausini confirmed that by September that same year she would release a special version of her greatest hits album to the Hispanophone market, in an edition containing new duet with Thalía in Sino a ti. On 9 September 2014, Thalía released the lead single of Amore Mio, "Por Lo Que Reste De Vida". The song debuted No. 50 in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. The video music was released on 14 October 2014. Thalía released her 12th studio album on 17 November 2014. Amore Mio was Thalía's second album that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. The album debuted at No. 173 on the Billboard 200 with 3,000 copies sold in first week in the US. In Mexico, the album debuted at No. 1. In December 2014, to celebrate Thalía's 25th anniversary as a solo artist, her first three albums were released as a digital download from iTunes and Spotify. In January 2015, Thalía released her first fashion collection in United States with Macy's. 2016–2017: Latina, world tour, and directorial debut On 26 February 2016, she revealed through her social media accounts the album cover for her then-upcoming studio album, Latina, which was released on 21 April 2016. The album's first single, "Desde Esa Noche" featuring Maluma, peaked at number 16 on the Hot Latin Songs chart and number 4 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. The second single of the album, Vuélveme a Querer was released on 29 April 2016. The third single of album was Todavía Te Quiero featuring De La Ghetto was released on 2 December 2016. Thalía has announced she will embark on a new tour, her third overall, called Latina Love Tour. In 2017 she made her directorial debut when she co-directed "15: A Quinceañera Story", a four-part series of documentary shorts that follows five latina quinceañeras. For this she received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs at the 70th Directors Guild of America Awards That same year she collaborated with Colombian singer Carlos Vives in the song "Todo Me Gusta" from his album "Vives". The song was not released as a single but still managed to peak at number 12 in Bolivia and also peaked at number 14 the U.S. Tropical Digital Songs Chart. 2018–2019: Donna Summer Musical, Eyelure, Valiente, and Adria In 2018 she produced Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway. The musical is based on the life of Donna Summer. In August 2018 she released her false eyelash and eyebrow collection called Eyelure which is available at Walmart. Thalía released her fourteenth studio album, Valiente, on 9 November 2018. The lead single No Me Acuerdo was certified quadruple platinum in both Mexico and the United States as well as double platimun in Spain. The album also spawned the hits Me Oyen, Me Escuchan, Lento, and Lindo Pero Bruto with the latter being certified gold in the United States. The album had a total of 8 songs released as singles. In January 2019 she released her line of hair care products called Adria by Thalía. The 7 piece collection in available in stores at Walmart and Target as well as online. 2020–present: New collaborations, Viva Kids 2, and DesAMORfosis In January 2020 Thalía released the single "Ya Tú Me Conoces" with Venezuelan brother duo Mau y Ricky. The song served as the lead single from her 17th studio album. A month after that she collaborated with Mexican duo Rio Roma on their song "Lo Siento Mucho", which entered the top 10 on the Mexican charts. A month later she collaborated again, this time with Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar on the song "Tímida", which served as the fifth single for his album 111. In May 2020, the magazine People en Español named her the number-one most influential Mexican star of all time for her success as a singer, actress, and entrepreneur. Later that month, she released her second children's album titled Viva Kids Vol. 2. In June 2020 she collaborated with Peruvian singer Leslie Shaw on her single "Estoy Soltera", which also features Colombian singer Farina and served as the third single from Shaw's EP Yo Soy Leslie Shaw. She released the second single of her upcoming studio album titled "La Luz" on 28 August 2020, on which she collaborated with Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers. A month later she started on a Facebook watch series called Latin Music Queens alongside Sofía Reyes and Farina. The series would lead up to the release of two more singles with the first one being Ten Cuidao with Farina which premiered on episode three and the second single being Tick Tock which featured all three singers and premiered after the sixth and final episode. The latter also served as the third single from Thalía's upcoming album. On 7 May 2021 she released Mojito which served as the fourth single from her album DesAMORfosis which she released on 14 May 2021. Acting career Thalia was cast in a supporting role in the 1986 telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour with which she began her collaboration with Televisa, the largest mass media company in the Spanish-speaking world. In 1987, she went on to star in her first major role for Televisa in the 1987 teenage drama series Quinceañera, along with Mexican actress Adela Noriega. Quinceañera won the TV y Novelas award for Best Telenovela of the Year 1988. In 1989, she got her first lead role in Luz y Sombra, which was less successful. However, Thalía's explosion in popularity came in 1992, when she starred in María Mercedes for which she won a TV Y Novelas award as Best Young Actress in 1993. This series was the first of three telenovelas, named by the Mexican press as Las Tres Marias ("The Three Marías"), because the name of the heroine in all of these telenovelas was María. The second telenovela of the trilogy was Marimar in 1994, and the third and final was Maria la del Barrio in 1995. Among the trilogy, the third was the most successful of Thalía's career and it remains her most iconic role, while Marimar is considered the best Telenovela of all time. In 1999, Thalía starred in her last telenovela, "Rosalinda". All four telenovelas were basically based on the same rags to riches character. With these telenovelas, Thalía became famous worldwide and was consolidated as a television phenomenon, because of the extremely high ratings her TV series achieved in more than 180 countries (especially the Philippines). Although Thalía's presence in television is legendary, her presence in cinema is less important. She appeared for the first time in a movie when she was still a child in the 1979 film "La Guerra De los Pasteles" ("The War of the Cakes"). Furthermore, in 1999, she starred in "Mambo Café", a modest indie film production that had a poor reception from critics. Cultural impact of telenovelas Thalía has been labeled by various mass media companies as the "queen of soap operas", because her presence in television during the decade of the '90s was phenomenal. She became one of the world's foremost and most enduring television personalities as she starred in Mexico's highest-rated telenovelas ever that were exported in over 180 countries and viewed by about 2 billion people. It is stated by international media experts that at some point at the midst of the telenovela craze, Thalía's name even became synonymous with her native country, Mexico. According to the newspaper Ivoir'Soir: "At 7.30 sharp in the evening, when Marimar comes on, everything stops in Côte d'Ivoire". It is also mentioned that "Marimar" could attract more local fans than the 1998 World Cup, and that the program arrived in Africa after being a phenomenal rating hit in Indonesia and the Philippines, where in 1997 she was received in Manila like a foreign head of state. Thalía stated in her autobiography regarding to the impact of her telenovelas: "Soap operas made a lot of history; just look at the report by UNESCO, where it was noted that "in the Ivory Coast in Africa and in Paris (France), people stopped the daily course of their lives just to watch a soap opera. I never expected that kind of success [...] Whenever I arrived anywhere, I was treated like royalty; even the press in some of these countries referred to me as the Aztec Queen, the Mexican Queen, or the ambassador of Mexico, and like a proud peacock, I always brought my country's flag with me wherever I went to represent my motherland. I was in the clouds at the pinnacle of my career [...] During my visit at the Philippines, the organizers informed me that the last time so many people gathered in the streets for a person was when Pope John Paul the Second came to visit on January fourteenth, 1995 [...] In the Philippines, the country that probably felt the greatest impact from Marimar, the show was more widely promoted than the 1998 World Cup and more highly rated than the Super Bowl or the Grammys. In fact while I was visiting the country, the people and the media were so enthralled to see Marimar in the flesh that a historic peace treaty between the government and the querillas and the centennial celebrations of the Philippine Revolutions that were happening at the same time were pushed aside in the midst of Marimar fever. As a result, the archipelago was temporarily dubbed "República de MariMar." The phenomenon of Thalía's telenovelas also became visible in countries like Brazil, Bulgaria, Libya, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Lebanon, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Syria, Turkey and the majority of Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Business endeavours In 2002, Thalía signed a deal with Kmart to release her own clothing collection for women, as well as accessories and home products. In the middle of 2003, the "Thalía Sodi" collection was officially available in the US market in over 2,000 stores. Thalía commented: "My collection is a dream come true. I'm so happy to have created a clothing line inspired by my culture, trying to show the colors and the passion of our culture, that captures also a big part of my personal style". Thalía became the first Mexican woman to launch a clothing brand in the US. Simultaneously, Thalía debuted her eyewear collection under the brand name "Thalía Eyewear Collection" in association with Kenmark Optical. In 2005, the line also became available in Mexico's market as Thalía signed a deal with "Devlyn" company. Up to 2007, Thalía had generated US$100 million from the sales of "Thalía Eyewear", with more than 1 million products sold. Precisely in 2007 Thalía presented a new eyewear collection in New York, and the brand was exported to over eighty countries around the world. In April 2004, she entered the editorial market by releasing her own magazine Thalía in US, produced by American Media and oriented to the female Latin youth. The magazine included consultation and reports about issues like health, fashion and beauty. Some months later, in September, Thalía became the face of jewels' company Jacob & Co. In 2004, she signed a contract with Hershey's with which she released her own chocolate and candy brand. In 2005, she designed a summer clothing line, and in the following year, she was converted into the face of "Carol's Daughter" company, specialized in beauty products, while in 2007 she launched her perfume, produced by "Fuller Cosmetics" company. In 2007, she joined ABC Radio and started her own radio show known as "The Conexión Thalía Radio Show", in which she discusses music, fashion, news and political issues, and invites various people to talk with her on different issues. The program, that is weekly and lasts two hours, premiered on 17 March 2007, and still goes on, while it has expanded to over 70 radio stations through the US. In September 2007, she released the beauty advice book "Thalía: ¡Belleza!-Lessons in Lipgloss and Happiness" and in June 2009, she released her second book entitled "Thalia: ¡Radiante!-Your Guide to a Fit and a Fabulous Pregnancy". In May 2010, she revealed new accessories and jewels available via her website, apart from a new clothing line in association with multinational company C&A. In February 2011, she became the new face of Head & Shoulders and in November, she released her third book, which is her autobiography and named "Growing Stronger". Thalía has also been the public face of various advertisements, like Dr Pepper in 2001 or Victoria's Secret in 2005. According to Mira! magazine, in 2008 it was estimated that Thalía was one of the most wealthy Mexican businesswomen with a net worth of over US$100 million. In April 2012, she inaugurated her own yoga center in New York. In 2015, she signed a contract with "ePura", a Mexican water company and she also signed an exclusive deal with Macy's to launch her apparel, shoes and jewelry collections. Jeffrey Gennette, Macy's president stated that "the Thalia Sodi collection is the biggest private-brand launch in the history of the company by a long shot." Philanthrophy and activism Thalía has participated in various humanitarian campaigns. Since 2004, she has been an official celebrity ambassador and volunteer of March of Dimes, to support national fundraising and awareness campaigns. March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. Also, since 2016 she is a UNICEF Mexico Ambassador. Thalía is also became a member of "ALAS Foundation", which is a non-profit organization that strives to launch a new social movement that will generate a collective commitment to comprehensive Early Childhood Development programs for the children in Latin America. Through various public service campaigns and through her own media channels, Thalia has been a strong voice for March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign. She also is featured in March of Dimes Education and Health Promotion materials in English and Spanish, while she has helped to raise awareness and critical funds for the March of Dimes year-round. Furthermore, she supports March for Babies and works to find ongoing opportunities for March of Dimes strategic alliances and media promotions. In 2006, Thalía along with her husband attended the event A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To Cure Parkinson's with the aim to economically support the foundation The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research of Michael J. Fox. In May 2009, Thalía and Tommy Mottola were recognized from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Miami for their support in children in need. In 2010, she reunited with other recording artists, performers and actors like Sharon Stone, Michael Douglas, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony between others, to raise funds for the "Foundation of the New York's police department", which works for better urban security. In 2011, she attended a beneficial event in New York, organized by the Robin Hood Foundation with the aim to raise money for homeless youth. In the same year, she closed the Mexican Teleton by offering a live concert. In November 2012, Thalía took humanitarian aid and comfort to compatriots of her in New York that were affected by Hurricane Sandy. She stated : "When I started seeing the destruction of Sandy I thought it was incredible, but, when I saw my Mexican brothers and sisters I felt the need to try and do something for them" in front of a group of families gathered at the Staten Island Immigrant Information Center in one of the most devastated by the storm areas. She went on to say that in times like this an artist should use the reach of the media to collect aid for the victims, and at the same time she called on the public to deposit money in the account opened by the Mexican Consulate for that purpose. In April 2013, Thalía was awarded with the "Your Voice Inspires Many" award by the Lyme Research Alliance. Personal life Thalía was in a relationship with actor Fernando Colunga from 1995 to 1996 while they appeared on the series María la del Barrio. Thalía married music executive Tommy Mottola on 2 December 2000. The couple have two children, daughter Sabrina Sakaë, born on 8 October 2007, and son Matthew Alejandro, born on 24 June 2011. Thalía has stated in her autobiography and elsewhere that she is religious and believes profoundly in God. She began studying Kabbalah in 2002, using many of its symbols in the artwork of her album El Sexto Sentido. In 2015 she accidentally revealed during an interview that she had multiple miscarriages which caused her depression and were some of the hardest times in her life. In September 2002, Thalía's sisters, Laura Zapata and Ernestina Sodi, were kidnapped in Mexico City. Zapata was released 18 days after her kidnapping, and her sister Ernestina was released on the 36th day. Thalía has had a series of familial conflicts, especially with her sister Laura Zapata. She has opted to keep her point of view regarding to her familial issues private, despite the attacks she has received from her older sister. In a press interview, Thalía stated that her familial problems with her sister are "just a dark cloud in a shiny sky". In 2008, Thalía was affected by Lyme disease, a disease commonly transmitted by ticks. The illness prevented her from promoting her album Lunada, while it functioned as a motivation for her to have a totally different perspective towards life. In reference to her illness, Thalía stated in her autobiography : "I would sweat profusely, soaking my pajamas, the sheets and even the mattress; everything hurt, even my hair, which, by the way, started to fall out. At times it felt as if my head were going to burst, as if there were lead inside of it; my eyes ached in their sockets....the hypersensitivity of my skin was so severe that sometimes I couldn't even handle the bed sheets." Influences According to Thalia herself, her major personal influence was her mother, who was a motivating manager for Thalia from the very beginning of her career until 2000. As for her artistic influences, Thalia's work is mostly influenced by Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Sade, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, The Doors, and Kylie Minogue, while she has stated that she always admired Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. Thalia's first idol, according to her, was athlete Nadia Comaneci. She has even stated that her record-breaking performance was a huge motivation for her to follow a career in entertainment. Cultural impact She is referred as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media at least since the early-2000s, and was named by Billboard during the late-1990s as "Latin American's Reigning Music Queen". Thalía's success and impact in Latin music has been noted and praised by many critics. According to Billboard, she has achieved critical acclaim and commercial success as both a singer and songwriter, and has remained as one of the leading female artists in Latin music. Before her crossover attempt to the English market with a homonymous album in 2003, she gained success with her Spanish recordings in Europe, Asia and all over the Americas, even before the crossover of contemporaries artists such as Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Shakira and Paulina Rubio. She also stated: "My internationalization has come for several years ago and in Spanish, which is very significant". Thalía was included in Billboard list the "Greatest Latin Artists of All Time" in 2020. According to the American magazine Ocean Drive, Thalía is "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". Similarly, Tammy Gagne in We Visit Mexico (2010) described her as "the most popular singer, actress, and dancer in Mexico", while Rough Guides discussed the Latin pop music stage in Latin America saying that in Mexico, "since the 1990s the biggest name has been Thalía". Univision placed Thalía at number 8 in their list of "25 most influential Mexican musicians", the highest peak by a female artist within the list. Thalía has been also described as an influential Latin woman, and has been part of diverse listicles. For instance, People en Español included her in their book Legends: the 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time (2008). The same magazine, include her at their "The 25 Most Influential Latin Women" and Terra Networks named her one of the most "powerful and iconic women in music" in 2011. Leila Cobo from Billboard wrote she "has carved out one of the most successful global Latin careers in memory". Producer Emilio Estefan called her "Mexico's diva of divas" and stated "Thalía is one of the few female artists in the Latino market who has legions of fans throughout Latin America, including Brazil". In 1998, French company Louis Vuitton invited her to appear in Rebonds publication, being at the time the first Latin celebrity to appear in that book. In 1997, 25 April was declared by the government of Los Angeles, as "Thalia's National Day", because of her growing popularity among the Latino community in the United States. Thalia's rise to international prominence coincided with the worldwide broadcast of the soap operas she starred in. Her soap operas were viewed in more than 180 countries by almost 2 billion viewers according to UNICEF, and many of her telenovelas became one of the most watched television broadcasts around the world. She is known as the "Queen of Telenovelas" ("Queen of Soap Operas") and Billboard once named her "the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world". She also gained success as a businesswoman, with commercial and critical recognition for her business ventures by launching several products under her brand name, and dominated the editorial business by writing and releasing three books, that became bestsellers. According to Felipe Escudero from El Mundo in 2006, Thalía was described as the "Latin Madonna of the Hispanic market" and a "Queen Midas" due her success as a businesswoman. Thalía is considered a gay icon and according to Infobae, many of her fans recognized her as the "Latin queen of gay community". The same publication also stated Thalía is one of the most "emulated pop singers by transvestite shows in gay nightclubs". Andrés del Real from La Tercera felt she is an icon for the sexual minority, and professor Ramón García in Chicano Representation and the Strategies of Modernism (1997) wrote Thalía is "the dream identity of many drag queens". Ed Grant from Time also commented that many of them called themselves "Thalíos". Thalia has been an influential artist for almost every younger Latin pop singer, including Anahí, Belinda, and urban Latin artists Becky G, Natti Natasha and Karol G among others, while Julio Iglesias, Tony Bennett, Juan Luis Guerra, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Laura Pausini, Tiziano Ferro, Michael Bublé, Espinoza Paz, Gloria Trevi, Inna, Erik Rubin, Pedro Capó, Maluma, Robbie Williams and many other artists have expressed their admiration towards her talent and charisma. Awards and achievements Thalía has achieved multiple milestones during her career with her music, acting career and business ventures. Luis Magaña from El Universal commented that those record figures in her career are "impressive" and found that she has been the first in place of different situations in life. Thalía has sold over 25 million records worldwide, and is one of the best-selling Latin music artists. She has numerous albums amongst the best-selling in Spanish-language that include En éxtasis, Amor a la Mexicana and Arrasando with sales of over 2 million copies worldwide and have at least one album amongst the best selling of all-time in Mexico, Chile and the Philippines. "No Me Acuerdo" is also one of the best-selling Latin singles in the United States. According to El Universal, Thalía is the first Latina to have a Top 10 in all continents, and Arrasando led her to be the first Latin woman selling a Spanish album in Japan. Thalía con banda is the first album of banda music with a certification in Spain. Thalía's versatility signing in other languages made her the first and only Latin artist with an album recorded primarily in Tagalog when she released Nandito Ako in 1997. María la del Barrio is the first telenovela translated into the Tagalog language. Thalía became the first actress to make a trilogy of telenovelas and Quinceañera is considered to be the first telenovela for a teen audience. Moreover, Thalía is the highest paid actress in the history of Televisa. With El Sexto Sentido, Thalía set a record for the largest number of interviews granted to an electronic medium, Televisa. The album also became the first Spanish-language release in the United States to have a preorder campaign through iTunes and was the most expensive Spanish album up that time. She is also the first woman to have a HBO Latino concert special. "Amor a la Mexicana" is the first Mexican song to be played in European dive bars. Thalía is also the first Mexican female artist to have a certification in Brazil, and remains the best-selling Mexican female soloist in that country. She is also the first Mexican woman with a line of clothing in the United States, as well the first Mexican woman closing bells at Nasdaq. Thalía became the first Mexican artist to hit one billion views on YouTube with "No Me Acuerdo". She also became in the first Mexican artist to have complete control over all the videos in her catalog. Thalía is the most followed Mexican female artist in Spotify, and with most views on YouTube. She also held the record in Instagram until being surpassed by Danna Paola. She is the first recipient of the Star Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards when she was honored in 2001. She received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013 as a recognition to her versatile trajectory and her impact in the world of music and entertainment. In doing so, Thalía became the first female singer born in Mexico with that achievement. She holds a record for appearing the most times in People en Españols annual list of the most beautiful Latin celebrities (Los más bellos). She became the first face of Jacob & Co, and the first Latina to make a deal with The Hershey Company. Filmography Discography Thalía (1990) Mundo de Cristal (1991) Love (1992) En éxtasis (1995) Nandito Ako (1997) Amor a la Mexicana (1997) Arrasando (2000) Thalía (2002) Thalía (2003) El Sexto Sentido (2005) Lunada (2008) Habítame Siempre (2012) Viva Kids Vol. 1 (2014) Amore Mío (2014) Latina (2016) Valiente (2018) Viva Kids Vol. 2 (2020) Desamorfosis (2021) Concert tours High Voltage Tour (2004) Viva! Tour (2013) Latina Love Tour (2016) Written works See also Sodi family List of most watched television broadcasts List of most expensive celebrity photographs List of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors References Bibliography Scott Robert Olson (1999). Hollywood Planet: Global Media and the Competitive Advantage of Narrative Transparency, Routledge publications, pages 134, 153–161. . Quiñones, Sam (2001). True Tales from Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino, and the Bronx. University of New Mexico Press. . Cl. Fernandez, Andrew Paxman (2001). El tigre: Emilio Azcárraga y su imperio Televisa. . Ruth Lorand (2002). Television: Aesthetic Reflections, P. Lang, Michigan University, digitized in 2008. Maria Immacolata, Vassallo de Lopes, Uribe Bertha (2004). Telenovela: internacionalização e interculturalidade, Edições Loyola. , 9788515028887, πορτογαλικά. Cobo, Leila (2005). Billboard : "Thalía's Sixth Sense", Nielsen Business Media, Inc – Prometheus Global Media, pages 59–60. . Lisa Shaw, Stephanie Dennison (2005). Pop Culture Latin America!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle, ABC-CLIO, pages 51, 233–239, 398. Stavans Ilan, Augenbraum Harold (2005). Encyclopedia Latina: History, culture, and society in the United States. Volumen 1, Grolier Academic Reference. . Antoine van Agtmael (2007). The Emerging Markets Century: How a New Breed of World-Class Companies Is Overtaking the World, Simon and Schuster, p. 255. Stavans, Ilan (2010). Telenovelas (The Ilan Stavans Library of Latino Civilization), ABC-CLIO. , 9780313364938. External links Thalia.com — Official website 1971 births Living people EMI Latin artists Fonovisa Records artists LGBT rights activists from Mexico Latin music musicians Mexican women in business Mexican women singers English-language singers from Mexico Portuguese-language singers of Mexico Mexican child actresses Mexican dance musicians Mexican emigrants to the United States Mexican record producers Mexican telenovela actresses Mexican women writers Actresses from Mexico City Singers from Mexico City 20th-century Mexican actresses Timbiriche members Latin pop singers Singers from New York City Sony Music Latin artists Mexican women pop singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century Mexican women singers 21st-century Mexican singers Mexican women record producers Mexican people of Italian descent Mexican people of French descent Women in Latin music
false
[ "Timbiriche Rock Show is the sixth studio album by Mexican pop group Timbiriche. It was released in July 1985 and contains Spanish-language covers of notable pop hits during the 1980s, such as \"99 Luftballons\" (\"Mi Globo Azul\") and \"Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)\" (\"Teléfono\").\n\nWith this album Timbiriche evolved into a new sound, aimed at teenagers. They stopped being a children's group and became a teen group. The songs on this album and the promotional videos shot for them were more commercially-oriented and more marketable than before. The album spawned several hit singles, including \"Soy un Desastre\", \"Corro, Vuelo, Me Acelero\", \"Teléfono\" and \"Me Plantó\". The album was certified Gold in Mexico.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences \n\n1985 albums\nTimbiriche albums", "Timbiriche (also known for a brief time as La Banda Timbiriche) is a Mexican pop music group. The group started as a children's group in 1982 and managed to evolve successfully into adulthood.\n\nTimbiriche is considered one of the most iconic Latin Pop acts of the 1980s and the early 1990s. It was the start of numerous figures in the Latin American entertainment world, including successful singers like Thalía, Paulina Rubio and Edith Márquez, as well as actors, composers and conductors.\n\nThe discography of the band consists of twelve studio albums released between 1982 and 1993, in addition to two compilation albums and two discs recorded live. Timbiriche is considered one of the most popular Latin Pop bands of all time. They have met in three successful reunions. The first occurred in 1998, the second in 2007 celebrating 25 years since the foundation of the band and the third one in 2017, celebrated by a sold out tour.\n\nThe band have also starred in a documentary directed by Carlos Marcovich entitled La Misma Piedra that followed step by step the band's adventures in the preparation of the tours, concerts and behind the scenes of its 25th anniversary. In 2007, Televisa also produced a reality show whose objective was to integrate a new lineup for the band.\n\nHistory\n\nName\nTimbiriche (known in the United States as Dots and Boxes), is a Paper-and-pencil game of mathematical structure. The objective of the game is to complete squares using points, and thus claim as many of these as possible on paper.\nThe idea of naming the musical group comes in response to the Spanish children's musical group Parchís, whose name is also inspired by a table game.\n\nOrigin\nThe idea of forming the musical group goes back to the founding of the children's area of the Centro de Educación Artística (CEA) of the Mexican television network Televisa. The responsibility of recruiting a group of children for the ranks of the school was in charge of the Mexican actress and producer Martha Zavaleta. The children chosen to join the institution were Mariana Garza, Alix Bauer, Paulina Rubio and Diego Schoening. They were eventually joined by Benny Ibarra and Sasha Sokol. The group of children were trained in singing, dancing and acting in the institution. Eventually they staged a play. It was thanks to this work that the executives of Televisa had the idea of forming a children's musical group with the six children.\nAt that time, the Spanish musical group Parchís caused a sensation in Mexico and several countries of Spanish Speaking. Televisa formed Timbiriche as a Mexican response to Parchís. The creative team in charge of launching this group was formed by Victor Hugo O'Farril, former partner, producer and creative of the television station and producer Luis de Llano Macedo. María Eugenia La Gorda Galindo, was selected as manager of the group.\n\nChildren's Band (1982-1984)\nAfter a few months of preparation, Timbiriche made its official debut on 30 April 1982 on the Mexican television show Siempre en Domingo, featuring Spanish singer Miguel Bosé as its godfather. The group launches their first record production titled Timbiriche, which included the hit singles Amor para tí, Hoy tengo que decirte Papá, Y la fiesta comenzó and Somos amigos.\n\nDue to the success obtained, and in order to have a wider repertoire in their presentations, the group recorded a second album titled La Banda Timbiriche, which included the hit singles La Banda Timbiriche, La vida es mejor cantando, México and Mamá . The group is also chosen to interpret the musical theme of the children's telenovela Chispita. In that same year, the group participates in a special of television where it shares scene with the group Parchís.\n\nIn 1983, the group released the album La Banda Timbiriche: En Concierto an album that was released under the concept of being a live album, although in fact the sound effects of the public were added in the recording studio. The album includes covers of songs in English and of musicals famous at that time like Time Warp of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, One Step (cover of Liza Minnelli and Goldie Hawn' song), Summer Nights (from the musical Grease) and Mickey (cover by Toni Basil). In this third album, the group already enjoyed a great acceptance in Mexico, receiving several disks of gold by the high sales of its albums.\n\nAt that moment of the group, the voices of the only two male members of the group were confused with those of the female members due to their young age. Because of this, the producers considered the idea of integrating a third male member into the group. The chosen one was Erik Rubín, who joins the band in December 1983. The band launches its fourth disc, titled Timbiriche Disco Ruido. The album was the first big challenge of the band, because it was not known what the public reaction would be to the new member, who had to go through many conflicts to adapt with his peers. However, the album had a good reception and contained hits such as Disco ruido and Adiós a la escuela.\n\nTeen Band (1985-1987)\nIn 1984, Timbiriche, along with several other children actors and singers, starred in a version of the play Grease (called Vaselina in Mexico). The play was produced by the actress and producer Julissa. From this staging comes the album Timbiriche Vaselina, which was another success of the grouping. The album released the hit singles Amor primero (Those Magic Changes), Rayo Rebelde (Grease Lightnin'), Freddy mi amor (Freddy My love) and Iremos juntos (We Go Together).\n\nFor 1985, the group begins an evolution. They were no longer a children's group, and this situation leads to a new, fresher sound aimed at teenagers. This change is evident in the record Timbiriche Rock Show, released in 1985.\n\nBut in the middle of the success, Benny decides to leave the group in September of that same year, after the recording of the album and after to have participated only in the promotion of the first two singles. His reason was that he wanted to prepare in music by enrolling in a school in the United States. The chosen one to replace it was Eduardo Capetillo, that already had been made known before for his stellar roll in the play Grease. Eduardo is the one who performs the rest of the album promotion. From this production stand out songs like Teléfono (cover of Sheena Easton's song Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)), Juntos, Soy un desastre, Corro, vuelo, me acelero, Me planto y Mi globo azul (cover of Nena' s song 99 Luftballons).\n\nIn August 1986 Sasha, another founding member, announced her departure from the group in order to become independent and launch herself as a solo singer. A month later, her place is occupied by Thalía, who had been announced a few years ago in a children's musical group called Din-Din, and also served as a substitute for Sasha in the Grease play.<ref>[https://www.helloforos.com/t/thalia-din-din-y-moderna-nina-del-rock/58940 Helloforos.com: Thalía, Din-Din and Moderna niña del rock]</ref>\n\nIn 1987, Timbiriche released the album Timbiriche VII. With this album, the group obtains a success superior to the one of the previous disc, consolidating like one of the youthful groups leaders of Latin America and Spain. The album included hits like No seas tan cruel, Besos de ceniza, Mírame (Cuestión de tiempo), Si no es ahora, Con todos menos conmigo, Rompecabezas, Mágico amor and Ya estaba escrito.\n\nIn that same year, Timbiriche interprets the main theme of the telenovela Quinceañera, that was carried out by Thalía and the actress Adela Noriega.\n\nIn December of that same year, the group is invited to participate in the Christmas album Esta navidad, next to another artists. Timbiriche interprets the song ¡Ay del Chiquirritín!. In that same month, Mariana Garza, another of the founding members of the group, announces her departure from the group to enter as a television actress. It is Mariana herself who chooses for her replacement Edith Márquez, another young girl who was also part of Greases cast. In addition, Edith already was well-known for her participation in the TV sitcom Papá soltero. Edith lived a difficult process of adaptation when arriving at the group.\n\nAdult Band (1988-1991)\nThe double album Timbiriche VIII & IX was released on 7 May 1988. The record was produced as a double album, as producers did not decide to choose the repertoire of songs that would include in the new album. At the time, the double discs were a novelty in Latin America and few artists were encouraged to produce them. The album (which was also released for sale separately) included the hit singles Tú y yo somos uno mismo, Ámame hasta con los dientes, Acelerar, Yo no se si es amor, Me estoy volviendo loca, Junto a tí, Máscaras, Pasos and Tú me vuelves loco. This period is considered as the zenith in the trajectory of the group and gives another step in its evolution, positioning itself as a young adult band.\n\nIn November 1988, Alix, another of the founders, decides to leave the group to prepare her solo career. After a series of auditions, in February 1989 her place is occupied by Bibi Gaytán, who ends next to the rest of the members the tour corresponding to the double album.\n\nIn February 1989 goes out for sale the first compilation album of the group titled Los Clásicos de Timbiriche. The album contains a compilation of the group's greatest hits, accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra of Mexico City, and was recorded in the Sala Netzahualcoyotl of Mexico City. The disc included an unpublished song, titled Por tí, and counted with the participation of Benny, Sasha and Mariana, the former members of the group. The production was recorded at the end of 1988, when Alix was still part of the group, but was released on sale until February 1989. That's why Bibi was not included in the album.\n\nIn August 1989 Eduardo Capetillo and Thalía also opt to leave the group to prepare their solo careers. After new auditions, their places are occupied by Claudio Bermúdez and Patty Tanús respectively.\n\nThe album Timbiriche X is considered by many as the last album that retains the original style of the band that, at the moment, already had only three of the original members: Paulina, Diego and Erik, besides Edith and Bibi, who were joined by Claudio and Patty. However, after only a few months, Patty is expelled from the group for having lied to producers regarding her age and marital status, being replaced by Silvia Campos, who although she did not record the album, if she toured and promoted it . The disc contained a strong influence of the dance music, that at that moment enjoyed enormous popularity in the dance floors of the world. The album included the successful singles Princesa Tibetana, Me pongo mal, Historia de amor, Yo no soy una más, Sacudete and Como te diré. With this record, Timbiriche receives his first Eres Award as Best Pop Group. In 1991, the group celebrates its 10th anniversary.\n\nBut at the end of the tour, Paulina, another of the founding members, leaves the group to open a career as a soloist. Just two weeks later, Erik, Edith and Bibi also announce their departure from the group to pursue a career as soloists. This situation leaves Diego as the only original member of the band, in addition to Claudio and Silvia.\n\nThe Second Generation (1991-1994)\n\nWithout the majority of its original members, the group was in decline, but the producers decided to continue with the concept and bet on launching a new generation. Surprisingly, in the midst of production, Claudio is fired from the group.\n\nBy the end of 1991, the band returns with five new members: Lorena Shelley, Daniel Gaytan, Tannya Velasco, Kenya Hijuelos and Alexa Lozano. Together with Diego and Silvia they record the album Timbiriche XI. Kenya leaves the group before the official presentation of the disc by decision of the creators of the group by conflicts between the new members, being replaced by Jean Duverger. This second generation is officially presented during a broadcast of Siempre en domingo, in which all former members were invited to introduce the new members. This meeting was unique, since it had almost all the members of the group, being the only ones missing Diego, due to health problems and Thalía, who was working in Spain.\n\nDespite retaining the name and concept in general, there was a new musical style that mixed dance and tropical rhythms. Although the album was not so popular with fans of the first generation, it began to appeal to younger generations, thanks to hits like Vanidosa, Sólo te quiero a tí, Tierra dorada, and Piel a piel, receiving disc of Gold and platinum by high sales. Thanks to this the group could survive another year.\n\nFor 1993 they record Timbiriche XII, disc of which it was detached like the last success of the group: Muriendo Lento (cover of Slowly original song of the ex- singer of the Swedish group ABBA, Anni-Frid Lyngstad). But at the beginning of 1994 Alexa decided to leave the group, announcing it in a concert in Monterrey to the fans without having said before to the managers and companions. This was one of the reasons that led to the final disintegration.\n\nFirst Reunion (1998-1999)\nIn 1998, in the frame of the Festival Acapulco '98, the original six members reunited in the scene in a historical night that broke record of hearing. After the success obtained, it reissues the disc Los Clásicos de Timbiriche, now with the name of Timbiriche Symphonic that generated great stir among the followers.\n\nPlans for a formal reunion crystallized in late November 1998, when the group performed a concert at the Auditorio Nacional of Mexico City. This concert also included Erik Rubín. For 1999, the group initiated a tour that was developed by all Mexico and part of Latin America. The reunion established in the Auditorio Nacional a record of hearing with more than 20 consecutive concerts. The tour would conclude with a massive concert at Foro Sol, also in Mexico City.\n\nFrom that tour a double album titled Timbiriche, El concierto, was recorded that was recorded live in the Auditorio Nacional on 20 December 1998. This album also included three new songs: Esta Despierto, Suma Cósmica and La Fuerza del Amor.\n\n25th Anniversary Reunion (2007-2008)\nThe original members of the group (including Erik, and with the exception of Paulina Rubio, who can not participate for personal commitments), reunited in 2007 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the band (30 April 2007). The celebration took place through a tour of concerts and three albums: one before the concerts, titled Timbiriche 25, with new versions of 12 classic songs of the group, a live album with some songs of the concert titled Somos Timbiriche 25 and finally the live album Timbiriche Vivo en Vivo (cd double + DVD) with the full version of the concert. The album also includes three unpublished songs: Vuelvo a Comenzar, Atado a tí and Domar el Aire. These themes are a gift and thanks to the fans who helped make Timbiriche's 25th anniversary a great success.\n\nTimbiriche broke its record in the Auditorio Nacional with more than 20 consecutive performances with full masses and more than 30 concerts throughout Mexico. On Monday, 5 May 2008 Timbiriche closed the celebration of its 25 years at Foro Sol.\n\nOn 17 May 2008, the group participated at the Mexico City ALAS concert, benefitting poor children in Latin America. The group performed alongside singers like Miguel Bosé, Ricky Martin, Maná, and Chayanne, among others.\n\nIn addition, film director Carlos Marcovich who accompanied the group for much of the tour, announced the production of a documentary feature on Timbiriche, which was called La misma Piedra and premiered on Friday, 21 November 2008 in all Mexico cinemas.\n\nThe Reality Show\nTo celebrate the group's 25th anniversary, Televisa launched a great call for the formation of a new Band Timbiriche, this time formed by seven young people between 15-22 years old. The process was carried out through a reality show called Buscando a Timbiriche, La Nueva Banda. It was attended by 30 young people, and was endorsed by some of the original creators of the concept and other personalities of the show (Luis de Llano, Memo Méndez Guiú, Marco Flavio Cruz, Marta Zavaleta, Amparo Rubin and Kiko Campos). The six members of the project Timbiriche 25 (Diego, Erick, Sasha, Alix, Mariana and Benny) who participated as a jury evaluating the performance of the candidates. The band would be called The New Timbiriche Band.\n\nBrissia, Fernanda, Gabriela, Taide, Alberto, Eduardo and Yurem, were chosen to form this new group. But the concept did not have the expected success. Only the single Tú, tú, tú achieve some acceptance of the public. The group disbanded in April 2009.\n\nThe Musical\nIn October 2007, producer Pedro Damián announced that he was planning to make a feature film based on Timbiriche's songs.\n\nThe script was written by Martha Carrillo and Cristina García (who wrote the script for the telenovela Tres Mujeres) which tells the story of adolescent love through the music of Sasha, Benny, Diego, Mariana, Álix, Érick, and Paulina.\n\nAbout the project, Damián said, \"It's like the play Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar'' (with music from Mecano) or like the Abba play Mamma Mia! — plays that used the music from the groups with different stories.\"\n\nCarrillo told a Mexican newspaper that the plot deals with \"the life of some kids who are trying to move forward with music, but not as a band; the main character is a composer, but she's not the one who sings.\"\n\nThe idea for a movie has been put on hiatus and the project has been initiated as a theatrical touring musical. The musical began auditions in January 2010 and is called Timbiriche: El Musical (Timbiriche: The Musical). The musical play is a love story that uses Timbiriche's songs as expressions but does not tell the story of the Timbiriche band.\n\n35th Anniversary Reunion (2017)\nOn 30 April 2017, Timbiriche celebrated its 35th Anniversary. After several rumors and requests from fans through social networks, on 29 May 2017, Erik Rubin held a press conference where he announced the group's third reunion to commemorate its anniversary. As revealed by Rubin, this reunion started in September 2017 with an initial tour of 30 shows. The reunion tour featured the six original members of the band: Benny Ibarra, Sasha Sokol, Erik Rubin, Alix Bauer, Mariana Garza and Diego Schoening.\n\nMembers\n\nTimeline\n\nDiscography\n\nStudio albums\n\nLive albums\n\nCompilation albums\n\nSingles\n\nVideography\n\nVideo albums\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Official Twitter\n Official Facebook\n Timbiriche, Nuevos ´Ålbums, Billboard en Español\n\n \nChildren's musical groups\nLatin pop music groups\nMexican pop music groups\nMexican vocal groups\nMusical groups from Mexico City\nMusical groups established in 1982\nMusical groups disestablished in 1994" ]
[ "Thalía", "1981-1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era", "What is the Timbiriche Era?", "In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band.", "Is Timbiriche Thalia's first band?", "In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man,", "How long was Thalia with Pac Man?", "After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist", "Did Pac Man have any success?", "Thalia performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico.", "Who/what is Din-Din?", "Pac Man changed their band name to \"Din-Din\".", "Who else was in Din-Din?", "I don't know.", "How long was Thalia with Timbiriche?", "In 1989, Thalia departed from Timbiriche." ]
C_963c5d6c73044648a24858946d8e6313_1
Why did Thalia leave Timbiriche?
8
Why did Thalia leave Timbiriche?
Thalía
In 1981, when Thalia was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed in order to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play while singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalia performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En accion, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalia participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna nina del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sokol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubin, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalia obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sokol from Timbiriche, Thalia became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalia was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre senorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalia's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceanera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalia was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalia was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalia recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clasicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalia departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles in order to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. CANNOTANSWER
she visited Los Angeles in order to take English courses in the University of California.
Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda Mottola (; born 26 August 1971), known mononymously as Thalía, is a Mexican singer and actress. She is considered one of the most successful and influential Mexican artists and is referred to as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media. Having sold around 25 million records worldwide, she is one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all-time. Aside from her native Spanish, Thalía has also sung in English, French, Portuguese and Tagalog. She has received numerous accolades, including five Billboard Latin Music Awards, eight Lo Nuestro Awards, as well as seven Latin Grammy Award nominations and their special "President's Merit Award" in 2019. She has collaborated with multiple artists, such as Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Robbie Williams, Marc Anthony, Laura Pausini, Romeo Santos, Maluma, Fat Joe, and Carlos Vives. As an actress, Thalía starred in a variety of successful telenovelas that aired in over 180 countries with an estimated audiece of 2 billion people according to UNICEF, which led to her being referred to as the "Queen of telenovelas" by the mass media. The global impact of her novelas helped her to popularize her music in non-Spanish speaking territories and markets in Europe and Asia. The Mexican media company Televisa has named her the best-paid telenovela actress in history, while Billboard names her the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world. Considered a Latin pop icon, Ocean Drive called Thalía as "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". She was included in Billboards Greatest Latin Artists of All Time in 2020 and in People En Españols The 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time in 2008. On 5 December 2013, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition for her achievements in the music industry. As a businesswoman, Thalía enjoyed success with a fashion brand (having signed a deal with Macy's), as well she had her own nationally syndicated radio show and is the author of four books, including her memoir. During her career, Thalía has been involved in humanitarian causes and is an UNICEF Mexico Ambassador since 2016. Early life Thalía was born on 26 August 1971 in Mexico City. She is the youngest of five daughters of Yolanda Miranda Mange (d. 2011), a painter who was Thalía's manager from 1980 to 1999 and Ernesto Sodi Pallares (d. 1977), a scientist, doctor of pathology, criminologist and writer. Her four sisters are Laura Zapata (daughter of Guillermo Zapata Pérez de Utrera), Federica, Gabriela and Ernestina Sodi. When she turned one, Thalía appeared in her first TV commercial in Mexico. At the age of four, she began taking ballet and piano classes at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música (Mexico). Her father suffered from diabetes and died in 1977 when Thalía was six years old. Years later, Thalía admitted publicly that her father's death had traumatized her drastically, since she had lost her voice for a whole year. This led to her being diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder (CDH), which belongs to a series of developmental disorders related to autism spectrum. She has said that she had psychological therapy for a few years. She has reportedly mentioned that she was a victim of bullying as a child because of the loss of her father. Thalía attended Lycée Franco-Mexicain elementary school, where she learned to speak French fluently at a very young age. In 1976, a year before her father's death, she had a guest appearance in the Mexican film La guerra de los pasteles ("War of Cakes"), although her name doesn't appear in the film credits. Music career 1981–1989: Career beginnings and the Timbiriche era In 1981, when Thalía was nine years old, she was incorporated as a vocalist in a children's group named Pac Man, which was formed to participate in a popular music festival known as Juguemos a cantar ("Let's play like we're singing"), a TV program by Televisa. Later, Pac Man changed their band name to "Din-Din". Thalía performed various times along with Din-Din in occasional events and parties, touring all over Mexico. The band recorded a total of 4 studio albums between 1982 and 1983 (En acción, Recordando el Rock and Roll, Somos alguien muy especial and Pitubailando), and later it was disbanded. After Din-Din broke up in 1984, Thalía participated as a solo artist in two annual music festivals of Juguemos a cantar. In 1984, she placed second there with her interpretation of "Moderna niña del rock" ("Modern rock girl"); this brought her the opportunity to participate in the chorus of the popular musical Vaselina, a child version of the successful musical Grease, in which the band Timbiriche was acting and singing. The line-up of the band consisted of Sasha Sökol, Benny Ibarra, Erik Rubín, Diego Schoening, Mariana Garza and Paulina Rubio. Timbiriche was highly promoted at the time by Televisa, one of the most massive media enterprises globally and the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Some time later, Thalía obtained the protagonist role of Sandy Dee in the musical, and she performed in 500 theater presentations of Vaselina along with Timbiriche. In 1986, after the departure of Sasha Sökol from Timbiriche, Thalía became a member of the band. By that time, Timbiriche had already recorded five albums. In the following year, Thalía was invited to participate in the telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour; this production was actually Thalía's debut as a TV actress. However, she appeared in only one episode. In the same year, she recorded with Timbiriche the principal theme of the juvenile telenovela Quinceañera ("Fifteen-year-old"), in which Thalía was the co-protagonist with the role of Beatriz. The TV series was awarded as the "Best telenovela" by "Premios TVyNovelas" in 1988 and Thalía was awarded as "the best new actress of 1988". With Timbiriche, Thalía recorded four studio albums: Timbiriche VII (1987), the double album Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988) and Los clásicos de Timbiriche (1989). The last one is a compilation of the band's greatest hits, recorded originally in 1987, with new symphonic arrangements as it included the participation of Mexico's philharmonic orchestra. In 1989, Thalía departed from Timbiriche. In that year, she also starred in another TV series, Luz y sombra ("Light and shadow"), which was her first protagonist role. Some time later she visited Los Angeles to take English courses in the University of California. She also attended music, singing, acting and dancing classes before beginning her career as a solo artist. 1990–1993: First albums as a solo artist In 1990, Thalía returned to Mexico and released her first studio album as a solo artist, self-titled Thalía, which was produced by Alfredo Díaz Ordaz, and published by Fonovisa, Televisa's record label. From that album, she released a total of four singles that became radio hits: "Amarillo Azul", "Pienso en Ti", "Un Pacto Entre los Dos" and "Saliva". The last two tracks were co-written by her and Díaz Ordaz and they were considered as provocative at the time ("Un Pacto Entre Los Dos" was even labeled as a song with occult Satan-worship lyrics by various far-right parties). In September 1991, Thalía released her second studio album, Mundo de cristal, which marks Thalía's last project in collaboration with Alfredo Díaz Ordaz. Four songs became radio singles from the album, and all of them had big radio impact in Mexico. Due to the success of the singles, the album was certified as double gold in Thalía's native country, Mexico. In the same year, Thalía was co-presenter of the late Spanish show VIP Noche, along with Spanish presenter Emilio Aragón, produced by Telecinco. In October 1992, she released her third studio album and her last under the same label, entitled Love, which was recorded in Spain and was produced by Luis Carlos Esteban. The album spread six singles, that had huge radio impact: "Sangre", "Love", "María Mercedes" (official theme of the TV series), "No Trates de Engañarme", "Flor de Juventud", and "La Vida en Rosa" (La vie en rose), the last one being a Spanish-French cover of the classic French song originally performed by Edith Piaf. Thalía wrote the song "Sangre" inspired in Díaz Ordaz, with whom she had broken up her sentimental relation. The album was praised by the critics, as it was an artistic evolution for Thalía, who experimented for the first time in different music genres, especially electronic music. The album reached number 15 on Billboard's Latin Pop Albums in 1993. In Mexico, it sold over 200,000 copies in the first month upon its release and very soon it reached the platinum and gold certification, while it was a commercial success all over Latin America. 1994–1999: International breakout In 1994, during the successful transmission of Marimar, Thalía signed a contract with the record label EMI to prepare her fourth studio album that was entitled En éxtasis. The album was released in October 1995. En éxtasis was produced with the aid of celebrated producers such as Emilio Estefan, Jr. (husband of the famous Cuban singer Gloria Estefan) and Óscar López. The album spawned a total of seven singles including "Piel morena", "Amándote", "María la del barrio", "Quiero hacerte el amor", "Gracias a Dios, "Me Faltas Tú" and "Lágrimas". Piel morena became a huge international hit apart from being voted as the best Spanish song ever in the United States from a poll released by mass media company Univision. It must also be added that Thalía was more oriented to the latin pop music genre in that album, even though it was influenced by various music genres. Amandote became a number 1 hit in various radio stations in the Philippines in 1996, along with her phenomenal superstardom accompanied by her historic Manila tour. It was described by Philippine media as tantamount to that of Pope John Paul II's 1995 Manila visit. The broadcast of the telenovelas María Mercedes, Marimar and María la del barrio had already converted Thalía to a global television phenomenon by the end of 1996. In January 1997, she released her first compilation album entitled Nandito Ako, which contains four songs recorded in Filipino, five English versions from various tracks from the album En éxtasis and a Spanish remix of the song Amándote. The only single that was released from this album was Nandito Ako. The album became a commercial success in the Philippines as a result of Thalía's growing popularity, reaching platinum status set by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry. En éxtasis was her first album that was released worldwide, reaching gold, platinum or multi-platinum status in more than 20 countries. In July 1997, Thalía's fifth studio album was released, under the title Amor a la mexicana, produced again by Emilio Estefan, and including songs that became classic over the years like "Mujer Latina", "De dónde soy", "Por amor", "Noches sin luna" and "Amor a la mexicana". The album became a pure commercial success, while the first single of the album ("Amor a la mexicana") became a number one hit in 14 countries. With Amor a la mexicana, Thalía was able to bring her music and establish her projects in difficult markets like those of France, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Italy and all the Spanish-speaking countries. After the success of Amor a la mexicana, Thalía recorded the Spanish and Portuguese versions of the song "Journey to the Past", produced by Atlantic Records, as a part of the soundtrack of the Fox Animation Studios movie Anastasia (1997). In the following year, she starred for the first time in a movie in English, named "Mambo Café", written and directed by Reuben González. Mambo Café premiered in January 2000 in Mexico, Greece and Russia, distributed by Kushner Locke Entertainment. In 1999, after Mambo Café, Thalía returned in television with telenovela Rosalinda. "Rosalinda" was considered to be Televisa's most expensive production ever by that time, as well as the most exported in foreign countries, as it was sold in over 180 countries. In an interview of that period Thalía had commented: "The telenovelas are the ones that opened the doors of the world for me, because the audience of telenovelas is much more passionate than the audience of cinema. What's more, television is free". 2000–2005: Crossover and first tour in the United States Emilio Estefan also produced Thalía's sixth studio album, Arrasando, released on 25 April 2000, which was successful. It spawned the singles "Entre el mar y una estrella", "Regresa a mí", "Arrasando" and "Reencarnación". Thalía was nominated in the Latin Grammy category as the "Best Female Pop Vocal Album". The album received one Latin Grammy nomination and it won in its category as the "Best Sound Engineered Album of the year". The singles of this album were huge hits. In 2001 she was nominated for her record Arrasando and won a Lo Nuestro award in the category of People's Prize, and was the first artist to whom an innovative award from Billboard Awards for Latin Music was given, the "Star Award". On 4 May 2001, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, invited her to a party celebrating Cinco de mayo organized at the White House, where she interpreted a medley of popular Mexican songs with a Mexican mariachi band. On 28 August 2001, expressing her love for her country of birth, Mexico, she released her album Con Banda: Grandes Éxitos: a "greatest hits" album, but recorded with the typical Mexican "banda" sound. "Amor a la Mexicana" banda version was released as a single. The album was nominated for a Latin Grammy for "Best Banda Album" at the 3rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2002. Her seventh studio album, self-titled Thalía, was released on 21 May 2002. It was largely written and produced by Estéfano. Buoyed by a pair of chart-topping singles ("Tú y Yo" and "No me enseñaste") and a top-ten hit ("¿A quién le importa?") (cover of Alaska y Dinarama), this album hit number one for 6 consecutive weeks on the Top Latin Albums chart, reaching number eleven on the Billboard 200 chart and 2x Multi-Platinum status with sales in the U.S. of 200,000 copies. It was nominated in one Latin Grammy category – "Female Pop Vocal Album", and in four Latin Billboard categories – "Pop Track Female" and "Tropical Track Female" for "No Me Enseñaste", "Your World Award", and "Female Pop Album", for Thalía, winning the last two awards. "No Me Enseñaste" reached at No. 1 in Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks chart. On 25 February 2003, she released her first remix album, Thalía's Hits Remixed. This album contains some remixes of her EMI era hits, such as "Amor a la Mexicana", "Piel Morena", "No Me Enseñaste" and "Tú y Yo." It also contains the English version of "Arrasando", called "It's My Party". Furthermore, it includes the previously unreleased medley that Thalía had recorded especially for her 2001 Latin Grammy Awards performance, but was later cancelled, due to the September 11 attacks. On 8 July 2003, Thalía released her eighth studio album and the first one in English, the self-titled Thalía, featuring the rapper Fat Joe in "I Want You/Me Pones Sexy". "Baby, I'm in Love/Alguien Real", "Don't Look Back" and "Cerca De Ti" were singles too. The album landed at No. 11 in The Billboard 200. The song "I Want You" entered the American Top 40 with Casey Kasem and even reached the top 10 during that year. The song also entered the American Billboard Top 100 Singles Charts that year. She won an International Dance Music Award for her club-hit "Dance Dance (The Mexican)". On 10 February 2004, Thalía released her first official Greatest Hits album, and "Cerca de ti" and "Acción y Reacción" were the singles from this album. In April and May, she toured USA and Mexico with her "High Voltage Tour". Her ninth studio album, El Sexto Sentido, was released on 19 July 2005, and recorded mostly in Spanish, but with a few of the songs sung in English as well. It was reported to be the most expensive music album produced in Latin America in 2005. It had mild success, although the sound and the overall result make it one of her most integrated projects. "Amar sin ser amada" was the first single of the album and is considered as an infectious rock-edged tango-based song. "Un alma sentenciada", the second single of the album, is a feverish and, at points, hyperdramatic ballad. The explosive "Seducción" ("Seduction") and "Olvidame" were also releases as singles, gaining considerable success. The album was also certified gold in Argentina, Greece and Mexico and double platinum in the United States. 2006–2008: The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, Lyme disease and Lunada In 2006, the album received a reloaded version, El Sexto Sentido: Re+Loaded. Thalía was the 'godmother' of Cantando Por Un Sueño, a Mexican TV reality show. It was rumored she got paid 1 million dollars to perform. Thalía recorded the title song of the show, and it was included in the album. It was released in Mexico on 13 February 2006 (U.S. 6 June, Spain 29 May) and features four new songs, including a duet with the group Aventura, "No, No, No" which become a massive hit. "El Sexto Sentido" was nominated for one Latin Grammy as "Best Female Pop Vocal Album", it was also nominated in one Latin Billboard category – "Pop Female Album" and in eight Premios Juventud categories. In 2006, Thalía became a U.S. citizen at a swearing-in ceremony in New York, where she resides with her husband. Under Mexican law she is allowed to retain her Mexican citizenship. She also received an award by her then record company EMI, for sales of more than 10 million copies with all her discography with the company. In March 2007, Thalía also joined ABC Radio to start The Conexión Thalía Radio Show, where she talks about music, fashion, news and political issues. Afterwards, she was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in People en Español 2008 for a record-breaking seventh time where they called her their "Queen". She was once again featured in the 2010 edition for an eighth time. In May 2008, Thalía's single "Ten Paciencia", was premiered on the internet. Although, the single received a lukewarm response and did not perform well in the U.S. charts and Top 20 hits in Mexico, it was No. 1 in several countries of Latin America. Furthermore, her tenth studio album Lunada, was released on 24 June 2008, and debuted at number eight in Mexico and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Top Latin Albums (U.S). It was the last Thalía's studio album released by EMI. Thalía later appeared on El Show De Cristina, aired in late July by Univision's Spanish network to promote the album. According to Univision network, her appearance on the show received huge ratings, reaching No. 1 in both the Chicago and Miami markets. The show was said to have been viewed by over 87 million people in the US alone. "Será porque te amo", the second single, received no promotion and became another failed single. It is a Spanish language cover version of the Italian hit "Sarà perché ti amo", originally performed by the group Ricchi e Poveri. On 23 October, it was announced that Thalía was suffering from Lyme disease, which is transmitted by ticks. Fortunately, it was discovered quickly, and the singer, as well as her mother, Yolanda Miranda, were able to receive antibiotics in time. On 18 November, Thalía announced the end of her collaboration with EMI Music. Despite Lunada being a commercial disappointment, it was named as the "Best Album of the Year" by ¡Hola! readers. The latest work of the Mexican singer achieved 8,750 votes beating artists, such as Luis Miguel, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and Madonna. 2009–2011: Success of Primera Fila and Growing Stronger On 30 July 2009, Thalía recorded her acoustic album, Primera fila, her first album after she signed with Sony Music Entertainment. In October, Thalía performed at the White House, along with other Latin singers, in an event organized by President Barack Obama that celebrated Hispanic heritage. Thalía's performance was iconic and historic, as she was the first celebrity to publicly invite a United States President to dance. In October of the same year, she released the first single from Primera fila, a song named Equivocada. In December Thalía released her album, which contained duets with Joan Sebastian and Pedro Capó and various other songs, that became huge radio hits in the following months. The production received critical accept and very positive reviews, while Jason Birchmeier stated that "Primera Fila" was one of the best albums Thalía has released in her whole career, and definitely the one with the most surprises. As for Thalía, she considered Primera Fila as "the most personal album" in her career. Regarding to the album's commercial performance, Primera fila received diamond and triple platinum sales certifications in Mexico, where it was announced by the end of 2011 that the album had sold over 500,000 copies according to AMPROFON. Primera fila was the best selling album in Mexico in 2010, where it topped the charts for 55 non-consecutive weeks, the most weeks ever in Mexico's recorded music chart history. In Greece and Spain, the album reached the positions No. 6 and No. 32, respectively, while it reached No. 4 in Billboard's top Latin Albums and No. 2 in Billboard's Latin Pop Albums charts. Initially, Primera Fila had reached No. 1 on both aforementioned charts, but sales of the standard edition and the Walmart edition were later divided, leading to a retraction and update to Billboard's official peak positions for Primera Fila. After these changes, Primera fila went from a peak position of No. 167 to a peak position of No. 198 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Until the month of October 2012, Primera fila had sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In September 2010, Thalía released a special anniversary edition of the album under the title Primera fila... Un año después, which included 8 songs from the original album, as well as 2 never-released before songs, 2 remixes and a DVD with a documentary of the recording process of the album. In October 2010, Michael Bublé invited her to record a song with him in his holiday album Christmas. Together they recorded the bilingual song "Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad" and their collaboration received very positive reviews. 2012–2013: Habitame Siempre and VIVA! Tour Thalía had a collaboration with US music veteran Tony Bennett for his "Viva:Duets" album, which was released on 22 October 2012. Together they performed live the classic song "The way you look tonight" in Today's show and the Katie Couric's show. During the past months, she had announced that she was recording her eleventh studio album, Habítame siempre. On 21 September 2012, Thalía gave a private concert in New York City at Hammerstein Ballroom as a preview of the upcoming album. The album's lead single, "Manías", was released on 8 October 2012. Habítame siempre was released on 19 November 2012, in the United States and Latin America under the label of Sony Music Latin, while in Europe it is set to be released in 2013 by BMG Music. The album contains collaborations with Robbie Williams, Michael Bublé, Prince Royce and Gilberto Santa Rosa, among others and immensely after its release, it received mostly positive reviews. Habitame Siempre was certified triple platinum plus gold in Mexico for sales of more than 210,000 copies, gold in the United States for shipments exceeding 50,000 copies and platinum in Venezuela for over 10,000 copies shipped. In the meantime the second single of the album, "Te Perdiste Mi Amor", was certified platinum in Mexico for digital sales of over 60,000 copies. On 24 March 2013, Thalía launched her VIVA! Tour in support of Habítame Siempre. The VIVA! Tour marks Thalía's first tour in a decade and consists of a series of intimate concerts in the United States and Mexico. Thalía stated in an interview that she also plans to expand the tour to Latin America, Europe and Asia if it meets positive commercial reception. In October 2013, Thalía released in the United States and Latin America her fourth book Chupie (The Binky That Returned Home), and on 12 November, Thalía released in Mexico her second live album VIVA! Tour. This album was recorded on 27 April 2013, during her concert in Mexico City. In United States and Latin America, the album was released on 1 December 2013. It was certified gold in Mexico on its second week on the market for sales exceeding 30,000 copies. On 5 December 2013, she received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a recognition of her success. 2014–2015: Viva Kids and Amore Mio On 25 March 2014, Thalía released her first children album Viva Kids Vol. 1 in Mexico. The album contains 11 songs and received one nomination to Latin Grammy Awards 2014. Vamos A Jugar was the first single of the album and was released on 18 March 2014. Viva Kids Vol. 1 was released in US, on 5 June 2014. On 22 July 2014, Italian singer Laura Pausini confirmed that by September that same year she would release a special version of her greatest hits album to the Hispanophone market, in an edition containing new duet with Thalía in Sino a ti. On 9 September 2014, Thalía released the lead single of Amore Mio, "Por Lo Que Reste De Vida". The song debuted No. 50 in the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. The video music was released on 14 October 2014. Thalía released her 12th studio album on 17 November 2014. Amore Mio was Thalía's second album that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. The album debuted at No. 173 on the Billboard 200 with 3,000 copies sold in first week in the US. In Mexico, the album debuted at No. 1. In December 2014, to celebrate Thalía's 25th anniversary as a solo artist, her first three albums were released as a digital download from iTunes and Spotify. In January 2015, Thalía released her first fashion collection in United States with Macy's. 2016–2017: Latina, world tour, and directorial debut On 26 February 2016, she revealed through her social media accounts the album cover for her then-upcoming studio album, Latina, which was released on 21 April 2016. The album's first single, "Desde Esa Noche" featuring Maluma, peaked at number 16 on the Hot Latin Songs chart and number 4 on the Latin Pop Airplay chart. The second single of the album, Vuélveme a Querer was released on 29 April 2016. The third single of album was Todavía Te Quiero featuring De La Ghetto was released on 2 December 2016. Thalía has announced she will embark on a new tour, her third overall, called Latina Love Tour. In 2017 she made her directorial debut when she co-directed "15: A Quinceañera Story", a four-part series of documentary shorts that follows five latina quinceañeras. For this she received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs at the 70th Directors Guild of America Awards That same year she collaborated with Colombian singer Carlos Vives in the song "Todo Me Gusta" from his album "Vives". The song was not released as a single but still managed to peak at number 12 in Bolivia and also peaked at number 14 the U.S. Tropical Digital Songs Chart. 2018–2019: Donna Summer Musical, Eyelure, Valiente, and Adria In 2018 she produced Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway. The musical is based on the life of Donna Summer. In August 2018 she released her false eyelash and eyebrow collection called Eyelure which is available at Walmart. Thalía released her fourteenth studio album, Valiente, on 9 November 2018. The lead single No Me Acuerdo was certified quadruple platinum in both Mexico and the United States as well as double platimun in Spain. The album also spawned the hits Me Oyen, Me Escuchan, Lento, and Lindo Pero Bruto with the latter being certified gold in the United States. The album had a total of 8 songs released as singles. In January 2019 she released her line of hair care products called Adria by Thalía. The 7 piece collection in available in stores at Walmart and Target as well as online. 2020–present: New collaborations, Viva Kids 2, and DesAMORfosis In January 2020 Thalía released the single "Ya Tú Me Conoces" with Venezuelan brother duo Mau y Ricky. The song served as the lead single from her 17th studio album. A month after that she collaborated with Mexican duo Rio Roma on their song "Lo Siento Mucho", which entered the top 10 on the Mexican charts. A month later she collaborated again, this time with Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar on the song "Tímida", which served as the fifth single for his album 111. In May 2020, the magazine People en Español named her the number-one most influential Mexican star of all time for her success as a singer, actress, and entrepreneur. Later that month, she released her second children's album titled Viva Kids Vol. 2. In June 2020 she collaborated with Peruvian singer Leslie Shaw on her single "Estoy Soltera", which also features Colombian singer Farina and served as the third single from Shaw's EP Yo Soy Leslie Shaw. She released the second single of her upcoming studio album titled "La Luz" on 28 August 2020, on which she collaborated with Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers. A month later she started on a Facebook watch series called Latin Music Queens alongside Sofía Reyes and Farina. The series would lead up to the release of two more singles with the first one being Ten Cuidao with Farina which premiered on episode three and the second single being Tick Tock which featured all three singers and premiered after the sixth and final episode. The latter also served as the third single from Thalía's upcoming album. On 7 May 2021 she released Mojito which served as the fourth single from her album DesAMORfosis which she released on 14 May 2021. Acting career Thalia was cast in a supporting role in the 1986 telenovela Pobre señorita Limantour with which she began her collaboration with Televisa, the largest mass media company in the Spanish-speaking world. In 1987, she went on to star in her first major role for Televisa in the 1987 teenage drama series Quinceañera, along with Mexican actress Adela Noriega. Quinceañera won the TV y Novelas award for Best Telenovela of the Year 1988. In 1989, she got her first lead role in Luz y Sombra, which was less successful. However, Thalía's explosion in popularity came in 1992, when she starred in María Mercedes for which she won a TV Y Novelas award as Best Young Actress in 1993. This series was the first of three telenovelas, named by the Mexican press as Las Tres Marias ("The Three Marías"), because the name of the heroine in all of these telenovelas was María. The second telenovela of the trilogy was Marimar in 1994, and the third and final was Maria la del Barrio in 1995. Among the trilogy, the third was the most successful of Thalía's career and it remains her most iconic role, while Marimar is considered the best Telenovela of all time. In 1999, Thalía starred in her last telenovela, "Rosalinda". All four telenovelas were basically based on the same rags to riches character. With these telenovelas, Thalía became famous worldwide and was consolidated as a television phenomenon, because of the extremely high ratings her TV series achieved in more than 180 countries (especially the Philippines). Although Thalía's presence in television is legendary, her presence in cinema is less important. She appeared for the first time in a movie when she was still a child in the 1979 film "La Guerra De los Pasteles" ("The War of the Cakes"). Furthermore, in 1999, she starred in "Mambo Café", a modest indie film production that had a poor reception from critics. Cultural impact of telenovelas Thalía has been labeled by various mass media companies as the "queen of soap operas", because her presence in television during the decade of the '90s was phenomenal. She became one of the world's foremost and most enduring television personalities as she starred in Mexico's highest-rated telenovelas ever that were exported in over 180 countries and viewed by about 2 billion people. It is stated by international media experts that at some point at the midst of the telenovela craze, Thalía's name even became synonymous with her native country, Mexico. According to the newspaper Ivoir'Soir: "At 7.30 sharp in the evening, when Marimar comes on, everything stops in Côte d'Ivoire". It is also mentioned that "Marimar" could attract more local fans than the 1998 World Cup, and that the program arrived in Africa after being a phenomenal rating hit in Indonesia and the Philippines, where in 1997 she was received in Manila like a foreign head of state. Thalía stated in her autobiography regarding to the impact of her telenovelas: "Soap operas made a lot of history; just look at the report by UNESCO, where it was noted that "in the Ivory Coast in Africa and in Paris (France), people stopped the daily course of their lives just to watch a soap opera. I never expected that kind of success [...] Whenever I arrived anywhere, I was treated like royalty; even the press in some of these countries referred to me as the Aztec Queen, the Mexican Queen, or the ambassador of Mexico, and like a proud peacock, I always brought my country's flag with me wherever I went to represent my motherland. I was in the clouds at the pinnacle of my career [...] During my visit at the Philippines, the organizers informed me that the last time so many people gathered in the streets for a person was when Pope John Paul the Second came to visit on January fourteenth, 1995 [...] In the Philippines, the country that probably felt the greatest impact from Marimar, the show was more widely promoted than the 1998 World Cup and more highly rated than the Super Bowl or the Grammys. In fact while I was visiting the country, the people and the media were so enthralled to see Marimar in the flesh that a historic peace treaty between the government and the querillas and the centennial celebrations of the Philippine Revolutions that were happening at the same time were pushed aside in the midst of Marimar fever. As a result, the archipelago was temporarily dubbed "República de MariMar." The phenomenon of Thalía's telenovelas also became visible in countries like Brazil, Bulgaria, Libya, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Lebanon, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Syria, Turkey and the majority of Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Business endeavours In 2002, Thalía signed a deal with Kmart to release her own clothing collection for women, as well as accessories and home products. In the middle of 2003, the "Thalía Sodi" collection was officially available in the US market in over 2,000 stores. Thalía commented: "My collection is a dream come true. I'm so happy to have created a clothing line inspired by my culture, trying to show the colors and the passion of our culture, that captures also a big part of my personal style". Thalía became the first Mexican woman to launch a clothing brand in the US. Simultaneously, Thalía debuted her eyewear collection under the brand name "Thalía Eyewear Collection" in association with Kenmark Optical. In 2005, the line also became available in Mexico's market as Thalía signed a deal with "Devlyn" company. Up to 2007, Thalía had generated US$100 million from the sales of "Thalía Eyewear", with more than 1 million products sold. Precisely in 2007 Thalía presented a new eyewear collection in New York, and the brand was exported to over eighty countries around the world. In April 2004, she entered the editorial market by releasing her own magazine Thalía in US, produced by American Media and oriented to the female Latin youth. The magazine included consultation and reports about issues like health, fashion and beauty. Some months later, in September, Thalía became the face of jewels' company Jacob & Co. In 2004, she signed a contract with Hershey's with which she released her own chocolate and candy brand. In 2005, she designed a summer clothing line, and in the following year, she was converted into the face of "Carol's Daughter" company, specialized in beauty products, while in 2007 she launched her perfume, produced by "Fuller Cosmetics" company. In 2007, she joined ABC Radio and started her own radio show known as "The Conexión Thalía Radio Show", in which she discusses music, fashion, news and political issues, and invites various people to talk with her on different issues. The program, that is weekly and lasts two hours, premiered on 17 March 2007, and still goes on, while it has expanded to over 70 radio stations through the US. In September 2007, she released the beauty advice book "Thalía: ¡Belleza!-Lessons in Lipgloss and Happiness" and in June 2009, she released her second book entitled "Thalia: ¡Radiante!-Your Guide to a Fit and a Fabulous Pregnancy". In May 2010, she revealed new accessories and jewels available via her website, apart from a new clothing line in association with multinational company C&A. In February 2011, she became the new face of Head & Shoulders and in November, she released her third book, which is her autobiography and named "Growing Stronger". Thalía has also been the public face of various advertisements, like Dr Pepper in 2001 or Victoria's Secret in 2005. According to Mira! magazine, in 2008 it was estimated that Thalía was one of the most wealthy Mexican businesswomen with a net worth of over US$100 million. In April 2012, she inaugurated her own yoga center in New York. In 2015, she signed a contract with "ePura", a Mexican water company and she also signed an exclusive deal with Macy's to launch her apparel, shoes and jewelry collections. Jeffrey Gennette, Macy's president stated that "the Thalia Sodi collection is the biggest private-brand launch in the history of the company by a long shot." Philanthrophy and activism Thalía has participated in various humanitarian campaigns. Since 2004, she has been an official celebrity ambassador and volunteer of March of Dimes, to support national fundraising and awareness campaigns. March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. Also, since 2016 she is a UNICEF Mexico Ambassador. Thalía is also became a member of "ALAS Foundation", which is a non-profit organization that strives to launch a new social movement that will generate a collective commitment to comprehensive Early Childhood Development programs for the children in Latin America. Through various public service campaigns and through her own media channels, Thalia has been a strong voice for March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign. She also is featured in March of Dimes Education and Health Promotion materials in English and Spanish, while she has helped to raise awareness and critical funds for the March of Dimes year-round. Furthermore, she supports March for Babies and works to find ongoing opportunities for March of Dimes strategic alliances and media promotions. In 2006, Thalía along with her husband attended the event A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To Cure Parkinson's with the aim to economically support the foundation The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research of Michael J. Fox. In May 2009, Thalía and Tommy Mottola were recognized from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Miami for their support in children in need. In 2010, she reunited with other recording artists, performers and actors like Sharon Stone, Michael Douglas, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony between others, to raise funds for the "Foundation of the New York's police department", which works for better urban security. In 2011, she attended a beneficial event in New York, organized by the Robin Hood Foundation with the aim to raise money for homeless youth. In the same year, she closed the Mexican Teleton by offering a live concert. In November 2012, Thalía took humanitarian aid and comfort to compatriots of her in New York that were affected by Hurricane Sandy. She stated : "When I started seeing the destruction of Sandy I thought it was incredible, but, when I saw my Mexican brothers and sisters I felt the need to try and do something for them" in front of a group of families gathered at the Staten Island Immigrant Information Center in one of the most devastated by the storm areas. She went on to say that in times like this an artist should use the reach of the media to collect aid for the victims, and at the same time she called on the public to deposit money in the account opened by the Mexican Consulate for that purpose. In April 2013, Thalía was awarded with the "Your Voice Inspires Many" award by the Lyme Research Alliance. Personal life Thalía was in a relationship with actor Fernando Colunga from 1995 to 1996 while they appeared on the series María la del Barrio. Thalía married music executive Tommy Mottola on 2 December 2000. The couple have two children, daughter Sabrina Sakaë, born on 8 October 2007, and son Matthew Alejandro, born on 24 June 2011. Thalía has stated in her autobiography and elsewhere that she is religious and believes profoundly in God. She began studying Kabbalah in 2002, using many of its symbols in the artwork of her album El Sexto Sentido. In 2015 she accidentally revealed during an interview that she had multiple miscarriages which caused her depression and were some of the hardest times in her life. In September 2002, Thalía's sisters, Laura Zapata and Ernestina Sodi, were kidnapped in Mexico City. Zapata was released 18 days after her kidnapping, and her sister Ernestina was released on the 36th day. Thalía has had a series of familial conflicts, especially with her sister Laura Zapata. She has opted to keep her point of view regarding to her familial issues private, despite the attacks she has received from her older sister. In a press interview, Thalía stated that her familial problems with her sister are "just a dark cloud in a shiny sky". In 2008, Thalía was affected by Lyme disease, a disease commonly transmitted by ticks. The illness prevented her from promoting her album Lunada, while it functioned as a motivation for her to have a totally different perspective towards life. In reference to her illness, Thalía stated in her autobiography : "I would sweat profusely, soaking my pajamas, the sheets and even the mattress; everything hurt, even my hair, which, by the way, started to fall out. At times it felt as if my head were going to burst, as if there were lead inside of it; my eyes ached in their sockets....the hypersensitivity of my skin was so severe that sometimes I couldn't even handle the bed sheets." Influences According to Thalia herself, her major personal influence was her mother, who was a motivating manager for Thalia from the very beginning of her career until 2000. As for her artistic influences, Thalia's work is mostly influenced by Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Sade, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, The Doors, and Kylie Minogue, while she has stated that she always admired Marilyn Monroe and Madonna. Thalia's first idol, according to her, was athlete Nadia Comaneci. She has even stated that her record-breaking performance was a huge motivation for her to follow a career in entertainment. Cultural impact She is referred as the "Queen of Latin Pop" by international media at least since the early-2000s, and was named by Billboard during the late-1990s as "Latin American's Reigning Music Queen". Thalía's success and impact in Latin music has been noted and praised by many critics. According to Billboard, she has achieved critical acclaim and commercial success as both a singer and songwriter, and has remained as one of the leading female artists in Latin music. Before her crossover attempt to the English market with a homonymous album in 2003, she gained success with her Spanish recordings in Europe, Asia and all over the Americas, even before the crossover of contemporaries artists such as Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Shakira and Paulina Rubio. She also stated: "My internationalization has come for several years ago and in Spanish, which is very significant". Thalía was included in Billboard list the "Greatest Latin Artists of All Time" in 2020. According to the American magazine Ocean Drive, Thalía is "the biggest star Mexico has exported in the last decades". Similarly, Tammy Gagne in We Visit Mexico (2010) described her as "the most popular singer, actress, and dancer in Mexico", while Rough Guides discussed the Latin pop music stage in Latin America saying that in Mexico, "since the 1990s the biggest name has been Thalía". Univision placed Thalía at number 8 in their list of "25 most influential Mexican musicians", the highest peak by a female artist within the list. Thalía has been also described as an influential Latin woman, and has been part of diverse listicles. For instance, People en Español included her in their book Legends: the 100 most iconic Hispanic entertainers of all time (2008). The same magazine, include her at their "The 25 Most Influential Latin Women" and Terra Networks named her one of the most "powerful and iconic women in music" in 2011. Leila Cobo from Billboard wrote she "has carved out one of the most successful global Latin careers in memory". Producer Emilio Estefan called her "Mexico's diva of divas" and stated "Thalía is one of the few female artists in the Latino market who has legions of fans throughout Latin America, including Brazil". In 1998, French company Louis Vuitton invited her to appear in Rebonds publication, being at the time the first Latin celebrity to appear in that book. In 1997, 25 April was declared by the government of Los Angeles, as "Thalia's National Day", because of her growing popularity among the Latino community in the United States. Thalia's rise to international prominence coincided with the worldwide broadcast of the soap operas she starred in. Her soap operas were viewed in more than 180 countries by almost 2 billion viewers according to UNICEF, and many of her telenovelas became one of the most watched television broadcasts around the world. She is known as the "Queen of Telenovelas" ("Queen of Soap Operas") and Billboard once named her "the most widely recognized Spanish-speaking soap star in the world". She also gained success as a businesswoman, with commercial and critical recognition for her business ventures by launching several products under her brand name, and dominated the editorial business by writing and releasing three books, that became bestsellers. According to Felipe Escudero from El Mundo in 2006, Thalía was described as the "Latin Madonna of the Hispanic market" and a "Queen Midas" due her success as a businesswoman. Thalía is considered a gay icon and according to Infobae, many of her fans recognized her as the "Latin queen of gay community". The same publication also stated Thalía is one of the most "emulated pop singers by transvestite shows in gay nightclubs". Andrés del Real from La Tercera felt she is an icon for the sexual minority, and professor Ramón García in Chicano Representation and the Strategies of Modernism (1997) wrote Thalía is "the dream identity of many drag queens". Ed Grant from Time also commented that many of them called themselves "Thalíos". Thalia has been an influential artist for almost every younger Latin pop singer, including Anahí, Belinda, and urban Latin artists Becky G, Natti Natasha and Karol G among others, while Julio Iglesias, Tony Bennett, Juan Luis Guerra, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Laura Pausini, Tiziano Ferro, Michael Bublé, Espinoza Paz, Gloria Trevi, Inna, Erik Rubin, Pedro Capó, Maluma, Robbie Williams and many other artists have expressed their admiration towards her talent and charisma. Awards and achievements Thalía has achieved multiple milestones during her career with her music, acting career and business ventures. Luis Magaña from El Universal commented that those record figures in her career are "impressive" and found that she has been the first in place of different situations in life. Thalía has sold over 25 million records worldwide, and is one of the best-selling Latin music artists. She has numerous albums amongst the best-selling in Spanish-language that include En éxtasis, Amor a la Mexicana and Arrasando with sales of over 2 million copies worldwide and have at least one album amongst the best selling of all-time in Mexico, Chile and the Philippines. "No Me Acuerdo" is also one of the best-selling Latin singles in the United States. According to El Universal, Thalía is the first Latina to have a Top 10 in all continents, and Arrasando led her to be the first Latin woman selling a Spanish album in Japan. Thalía con banda is the first album of banda music with a certification in Spain. Thalía's versatility signing in other languages made her the first and only Latin artist with an album recorded primarily in Tagalog when she released Nandito Ako in 1997. María la del Barrio is the first telenovela translated into the Tagalog language. Thalía became the first actress to make a trilogy of telenovelas and Quinceañera is considered to be the first telenovela for a teen audience. Moreover, Thalía is the highest paid actress in the history of Televisa. With El Sexto Sentido, Thalía set a record for the largest number of interviews granted to an electronic medium, Televisa. The album also became the first Spanish-language release in the United States to have a preorder campaign through iTunes and was the most expensive Spanish album up that time. She is also the first woman to have a HBO Latino concert special. "Amor a la Mexicana" is the first Mexican song to be played in European dive bars. Thalía is also the first Mexican female artist to have a certification in Brazil, and remains the best-selling Mexican female soloist in that country. She is also the first Mexican woman with a line of clothing in the United States, as well the first Mexican woman closing bells at Nasdaq. Thalía became the first Mexican artist to hit one billion views on YouTube with "No Me Acuerdo". She also became in the first Mexican artist to have complete control over all the videos in her catalog. Thalía is the most followed Mexican female artist in Spotify, and with most views on YouTube. She also held the record in Instagram until being surpassed by Danna Paola. She is the first recipient of the Star Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards when she was honored in 2001. She received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013 as a recognition to her versatile trajectory and her impact in the world of music and entertainment. In doing so, Thalía became the first female singer born in Mexico with that achievement. She holds a record for appearing the most times in People en Españols annual list of the most beautiful Latin celebrities (Los más bellos). She became the first face of Jacob & Co, and the first Latina to make a deal with The Hershey Company. Filmography Discography Thalía (1990) Mundo de Cristal (1991) Love (1992) En éxtasis (1995) Nandito Ako (1997) Amor a la Mexicana (1997) Arrasando (2000) Thalía (2002) Thalía (2003) El Sexto Sentido (2005) Lunada (2008) Habítame Siempre (2012) Viva Kids Vol. 1 (2014) Amore Mío (2014) Latina (2016) Valiente (2018) Viva Kids Vol. 2 (2020) Desamorfosis (2021) Concert tours High Voltage Tour (2004) Viva! Tour (2013) Latina Love Tour (2016) Written works See also Sodi family List of most watched television broadcasts List of most expensive celebrity photographs List of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors References Bibliography Scott Robert Olson (1999). Hollywood Planet: Global Media and the Competitive Advantage of Narrative Transparency, Routledge publications, pages 134, 153–161. . Quiñones, Sam (2001). True Tales from Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino, and the Bronx. University of New Mexico Press. . Cl. Fernandez, Andrew Paxman (2001). El tigre: Emilio Azcárraga y su imperio Televisa. . Ruth Lorand (2002). Television: Aesthetic Reflections, P. Lang, Michigan University, digitized in 2008. Maria Immacolata, Vassallo de Lopes, Uribe Bertha (2004). Telenovela: internacionalização e interculturalidade, Edições Loyola. , 9788515028887, πορτογαλικά. Cobo, Leila (2005). Billboard : "Thalía's Sixth Sense", Nielsen Business Media, Inc – Prometheus Global Media, pages 59–60. . Lisa Shaw, Stephanie Dennison (2005). Pop Culture Latin America!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle, ABC-CLIO, pages 51, 233–239, 398. Stavans Ilan, Augenbraum Harold (2005). Encyclopedia Latina: History, culture, and society in the United States. Volumen 1, Grolier Academic Reference. . Antoine van Agtmael (2007). The Emerging Markets Century: How a New Breed of World-Class Companies Is Overtaking the World, Simon and Schuster, p. 255. Stavans, Ilan (2010). Telenovelas (The Ilan Stavans Library of Latino Civilization), ABC-CLIO. , 9780313364938. External links Thalia.com — Official website 1971 births Living people EMI Latin artists Fonovisa Records artists LGBT rights activists from Mexico Latin music musicians Mexican women in business Mexican women singers English-language singers from Mexico Portuguese-language singers of Mexico Mexican child actresses Mexican dance musicians Mexican emigrants to the United States Mexican record producers Mexican telenovela actresses Mexican women writers Actresses from Mexico City Singers from Mexico City 20th-century Mexican actresses Timbiriche members Latin pop singers Singers from New York City Sony Music Latin artists Mexican women pop singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century Mexican women singers 21st-century Mexican singers Mexican women record producers Mexican people of Italian descent Mexican people of French descent Women in Latin music
false
[ "Mariana Garza Alardín, (born October 19, 1970 in Mexico City, Mexico) is a Mexican singer and actress.\n\nBiography \nMariana Garza is the daughter of Ana Silvia Garza, (and the granddaughter of Ramiro Garza and Mexican poet Carmen Alardín). She has a brother Sebastián. \n\nHer first work was \"Elisa\" in 1979. Next year, Mariana debuted on theatre in the play \"La Maravilla de crecer\". Her success started in 1982, when Mariana joined the band \"Timbiriche\". \n\nIn 1987,with the greater success of the band, Mariana decided to leave to concentrate on her career as an actress. \n\nMariana has performed in several soap operas such as \"Flor y Canela\" and Alcanzar Una Estrella, her big success. As a TV host, Mariana participated in the popular Mexican program \"Mi barrio\" (My Neighborhood) for almost two years. \n\nIn her personal life, Mariana is married with actor Pablo Perroni and is the mother of two daughters, Shamadhi (from her first marriage) and Maria. \n\nIn 2001 she released her only record as a solo artist, called \"Todo Tiene Tambor\". However her most remembered hit was \"Alcanzar una Estrella\" from the soap opera of same title.\n\nMariana is currently co-starring in Mentir para Vivir (Lying to Live), as Maria Jiménez Flores, Sebastián's mother, a \"lunatic, suffers from epilepsy, dies because of tumor\".\n\nIn 2017, Mariana joined the original founding members of Timbiriche (current line up includes original members Sasha Sokol, Benny Ibarra, Alix Bauer, Erik Rubin, Mariana Garza and Diego Schoening) to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the group. The tour will continue into 2018.\n\nDiscography with Timbiriche \n Timbiriche (1982)\n La Banda Timbiriche (1982)\n La banda Timbiriche: En concierto (1983)\n Timbiriche Disco Ruido (1983)\n Timbiriche Vaselina (1984)\n Timbiriche Rock Show (1985)\n Timbiriche 7 (1987)\n En Concierto (1999)\n Somos Timbiriche 25 en Vivo (2007)\n Vivo En Vivo (2008)\n Timbiriche Juntos (2017)\n\nDiscography \n Alcanzar Una Estrella (1990)\n Solidaridad (1991)\n Más que alcanzar una estrella (1992)\n Ellas cantan a Cri Cri (1999) \n Todo tiene tambor (2001)\n\nFilmography\n\nFilm\n Amor a la mexicana (1979)\n Más que alcanzar una estrella (1992)...Rosita\n Timbiriche: La misma piedra (2008)...Mariana Garza (Película de la historia de Timbiriche)\n\n Telenovelas \n Elisa (1979)\n Dos vidas(1988)\n Flor a canela (1989)...Marianela\n Alcanzar una estrella (1990)...Lorena Caetano\n Alcanzar una estrella II (1991)...Lorena Caetano\n Tenías que ser tú (1993)...Santa\n [[A flor de piel (telenovela)|A flor de piel]] (1996)...Mariana\n [[Alborada (telenovela)|Alborada]] (2005)... Esperanza de Corsa de Manrique\n Mentir para Vivir (2013)... Maria Jimenez Flores\n\nTV programs\n\n Hola México!! (1984) As Guest Star\n Mi Barrio (1990) As young host together Ricky Luis\n Las cosas simple (1993) \n Timbiriche: El concierto (1998) (Reencuentro con Timbiriche)\n Hoy (1998) (Guest Star)\n Mujer casos de la vida real (Guest Star)\n Dilo, dilo VIP (2004) As Host\n Buscando a Timbiriche, la nueva banda (2007) (Reencuentro con Timbiriche)\n Como dice el dicho (2012) 2 Episodes\n\nTheatre \n\n La maravilla de crecer (1980)\n Vaselina (1984)\n Oz, el mago de Oz (1989)\n El soldadito de plomo (1993)\n Él y sus mujeres (1994)\n Todo tiene tambor (2000)\n Musical, \"Regina\" (2003)\n Yo madre, yo hija (2004)\n Musical \"Pinocho\" (2004)\n Sherezada (2005)\n Aquí y Ahora (2014)\n Los Monólogos de la Vagina (2014)\n\nReferences\n\n1970 births\nLiving people\nMexican actresses\nMexican women singers\nTimbiriche members\nActresses from Mexico City\nSingers from Mexico City", "Diego Schoening (born August 5, 1969 in Mexico City), is a Mexican singer, actor and television host.\n\nSchoening started his career in the band Timbiriche in 1981, where he remained until its disbanding in 1994. In Timbiriche, he recorded 19 records, performed soap operas \"Acompañame\" (1977),\"Nosotras las Mujeres\" (1981) \"La Pasion de Isabela\" (1984), Angélica (1985), Muchachitas (1991), Agujetas de color de rosa (1994), Confidente de secundaria (1996) and Soñadoras (1998) and participated in episodes of Mujer casos de la vida real, among others and in the movie Embrujo del rock, also he was the television host of 'Nuevas Tardes\" Hoy 100% Mujer'''Super Sabado' . In 1998 he joined with the old members of Timbiriche Paulina Rubio, Alix Bauer, Erik Rubin, Sasha Sokol, Mariana Garza and Benny Ibarra. In 1999 he released his first solo album Voy a mí. In 2007 he rejoined with Timbiriche to celebrate 25 years since the beginning of the group. In 2009 he released his second album Lo que soy.\n\n Filmography \n\nTelenovelas\n Acompañame (1977)\n Nosotras las mujeres (1981)\n La pasion de Isabela (1984)\n Angélica (1985)\n Muchachitas (1991) As Rodrigo.\n Agujetas de color de rosa (1994) As Tavo.\n Confidente de secundaria (1996) As Roberto.\n Soñadoras (1998) En el papel de Benjamín \"El terco\".\n\n TV episodes \n Mujer casos de la vida real \n Anabel La hora marcada Al derecho y al Derbez Papa Soltero TVO Dr. Candido Perez Mi generacion Noche a noche Mala noche no Otro Rollo Familia Peluche La vida es una cancion Lo que callamos las mujeres Si se puedeFilmography\n Embrujo del rock (1995)\n Brother Bear (2003) voice of Denahi\n Timbiriche: La misma piedra (2008)\n\nTelevision\n Hoy (1998) (Host on 2000)\n 100% mujer (2003) TV Host (2003–2005)\n Super Sabado (2005)(Host)\n Te regalo mi cancion (2005)(vocal coach)\n Buscando a la Nueva Banda Timbiriche (2007) (Judge)\n\n Discography with Timbiriche \n Timbiriche (1982)\n La Banda Timbiriche (1982)\n La banda Timbiriche: En concierto (1983)\n Timbiriche Disco Ruido (1983)\n Que no acabe Navidad (1983)\n Timbiriche Vaselina (1984)\n Timbiriche Rock Show (1985)\n Timbiriche VII (1987)\n Quinceañera (1988)\n Timbiriche VIII & IX (1988)\n Los Clásicos de Timbiriche (1989)\n Timbiriche X (1990)\n Timbiriche 11 (1992)\n Timbiriche XII (1993)\n Timbiriche: El concierto (1998)\n Timbiriche 25 (2007)\n Somos Timbiriche 25 (2007)\n Timbiriche: Vivo en vivo (2008)\n\n Discography as solo \n Voy a mí (1999)\n Lo que Soy'' (2009)\n\nSolo singles\n Quiero Darme Tiempo (1999)\n Nena Peligrosa (1999)\n Estás dentro de mi (1999)\n Enamorado de Ti (2009)\n No Puedo (2009)\n Amar es un arte (2010)\n\nMusical theatre\n La maravilla de crecer (1980)\n Jesucristo Superestrella (1982)\n Vaselina (1984)\n Snoopy y la Pandilla (2000)\n Francisco (2002)\n Ana Verdad? (2003)\n Timbiriche el musical (2010)\n\nSpoke celebrity for commercials and advertising campaigns\n Ace Procter & Gamble From 2001 to this date\n Codet Aris Vision (2003)\n Nokia Timbiriche special edition (2007-2008)\n Umano Cards (2011)\n\nMotivational speaker\nConferencias pareja Congreso internacional Gente Nueva\nCongreso Familia DIF Cd Victoria Tamps\nPrimer congreso valores juveniles monclova\n“Influencias positivas y negativas en la juventud”\nGIRA DE LA GRAN CRUZADA “LÁNZATE” CONTRA LAS ADICCIONES, SI QUIERES… ¡ SI PUEDES!\nXVII Congreso Internacional Gente Nueva 2006 “Sin Mascaras”\nHomenaje a Juan Pablo II Puebla, PueblaChetumal, Qroo\nEncuentro de valorES Sonora\nMaster de Liderazgo Gente Nueva\nCongreso Teleton, Edo de Mex, Guadalajara, Irapuato, Tampico, Coahuila\nCampaña Presidencial Felipe Calderon\nCongreso Reynosa\n\nReferences \n\n1969 births\nMexican male telenovela actors\nMexican male television actors\nMexican male singers\nTimbiriche members\nLiving people\nMale actors from Mexico City\nSingers from Mexico City\nMexican Jews\nMexican people of German-Jewish descent" ]
[ "Michele Bachmann", "Early life, education, and early career" ]
C_2e05f2abec0143e9ad890a7f98273efd_1
When was she born?
1
When was Michele Bachmann born?
Michele Bachmann
Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; her family moved from Iowa to Minnesota when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced, Bachmann's father, David John Amble, moved to California, and Bachmann was raised by her mother, Arlene Jean (nee Johnson), who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota. Her mother remarried when Bachmann was a teenager; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working on kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). While there, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986 Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. CANNOTANSWER
Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa,
Michele Marie Bachmann (; née Amble; born April 6, 1956) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election, but lost the Republican nomination to Mitt Romney. Born in Waterloo, Iowa, Bachmann moved to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, as a teenager. She graduated from O. W. Coburn School of Law, the law school of Oral Roberts University, and the William & Mary Law School. After graduating, she briefly worked in tax law for the Internal Revenue Service before becoming a stay-at-home mom. She became involved in local politics, specifically around education. Bachmann formally entered politics in 2000, when she was elected to the Minnesota Senate. In 2006, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. After her unsuccessful run for president, Bachmann was elected to another term in the House in 2012, before announcing her retirement before the 2014 election. Early life, education, and early career Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, to Norwegian-American parents David John Amble (1929–2003) and Arlene Jean Amble (née Johnson; born c. 1932). Two of her great-great-great-grandparents, Melchior and Martha Munson, emigrated from Sogndal, Norway, to Wisconsin in 1857. David was an engineer. Her family moved from Iowa to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced when she was 14, David moved to California and remarried. Bachmann was raised by her mother, who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota, where they moved again. Three years later her mother married widower Raymond J. LaFave; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. Bachmann graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working at kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). There she studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986, Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. Early political activism Bachmann grew up in a Democratic family and has said she became a Republican during her senior year at Winona State University. She told the Star Tribune that she was reading Gore Vidal's 1973 novel Burr and claimed that "[h]e was kind of mocking the Founding Fathers and I just thought—I just remember reading the book, putting it in my lap, looking out the window and thinking, 'You know what? I don't think I am a Democrat. I must be a Republican. While still a Democrat, she and her then-fiancé, Marcus, were motivated to join the anti-abortion movement after watching Francis Schaeffer's 1976 Christian documentary film How Should We Then Live? They prayed outside of clinics and engaged in sidewalk interference, an activity in which anti-abortion activists attempt to persuade women entering clinics not to get abortions. Bachmann has since made statements supportive of sidewalk interference. Bachmann supported Jimmy Carter for president in 1976, and she and her husband worked on his campaign. During Carter's presidency, Bachmann became disappointed with his liberal approach to public policy, support for legalized abortion and economic decisions she held responsible for increased gas prices. In the 1980 presidential election, she voted for Ronald Reagan and worked for his campaign. Bachmann's political activism gained media attention at an anti-abortion protest in 1991. She and approximately 30 other protesters went to a Ramsey County Board meeting where $3 million was to be appropriated to build a morgue for the county at St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center (now Regions Hospital). The Medical Center performed abortions and employed pro-choice activist Jane Hodgson. Bachmann voiced her opposition to tax dollars going to the hospital; to the Star Tribune, she said, "in effect, since 1973, I have been a landlord of an abortion clinic, and I don't like that distinction". In 1993, Bachmann and other parents started the K–12 New Heights Charter School in Stillwater. The publicly funded school's charter mandated that it be non-sectarian in all programs and practices, but the school soon developed a strong Christian orientation. Parents of students at the school complained and the superintendent of schools warned Bachmann that the school was in violation of state law. Six months after the school's founding, Bachmann resigned and the Christian orientation was removed from the curriculum, allowing the school to keep its charter. Bachmann began speaking against a state-mandated set of educational standards, which propelled her into politics. Bachmann became a critic and opponent of Minnesota's School-to-Work policies. In a 1999 column, she wrote, "School-to-Work alters the basic mission and purpose of K–12 academic education away from traditional broad-based academic studies geared toward maximizing intellectual achievement of the individual. Instead, School-to-Work utilizes the school day to promote children's acquisition of workplace skills, viewing children as trainees for increased economic productivity." In November 1999, Bachmann and four other Republicans were candidates, as the "Slate of Five", in an election for the school board of Stillwater. All five lost. Minnesota Senate In 2000 Bachmann defeated 18-year incumbent Gary Laidig for the Republican nomination for state senator in Minnesota District 56. In the general election she defeated Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Ted Thompson and Minnesota Independence Party Lyno Sullivan. In 2002, after redistricting due to the 2000 Census, Bachmann defeated another incumbent, DFL State Senator Jane Krentz, in the newly drawn State Senate District 52. Bachmann's agenda as a state senator focused on opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment On November 20, 2003, Bachmann and Representative Mary Liz Holberg proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar the state from legally recognizing same-sex marriage. In 2004 Bachmann and a coalition of religious leaders announced plans for a "Minnesota for Marriage" rally. Her effort to place a marriage amendment on a referendum ballot in 2004 failed. She resurrected the proposal in March 2005, but it stalled indefinitely in a senate committee that April. Assistant Minority Leader In November 2004 Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Day appointed Bachmann Assistant Minority Leader in charge of policy of the Senate Republican Caucus. In July 2005 the Republican Caucus removed her from her leadership position. Bachmann said that disagreements with Day over her anti-tax stance were the reason for her ouster. U.S. House of Representatives From 2007 to 2015 Bachmann represented , which includes the northernmost and eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities and St. Cloud. She is the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House from Minnesota. 110th Congress Foreign affairs Bachmann voted "No" on a January 2007 resolution in the House of Representatives opposing President George W. Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq, but called for a full hearing in advance of the troop surge, saying, "the American people deserve to hear and understand the merits of increasing U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Increased troop presence is justifiable if that measure would bring a swift conclusion to a difficult conflict." She hesitated to give a firm endorsement, calling the hearings "a good first step in explaining to the American people the course toward victory in Iraq." Member of Congressional delegation In July 2007 Bachmann joined a Congressional delegation visiting Ireland, Germany, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Iraq. She met briefly (due to security concerns) with U.S. personnel in the Green Zone and upon her return said she "was encouraged by reports of progress from Crocker, General David Petraeus and other personnel in Iraq linked to the surge". She said the surge "hasn't had a chance to be in place long enough to offer a critique of how it's working. [Petraeus] said al-Qaida in Iraq is off its plan and we want to keep it that way. The surge has only been fully in place for a week or so." Bachmann also spoke of the delegation's visit to Islamabad to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Aziz at the same time as the siege of Islamic fundamentalists at the Lal Masjid mosque elsewhere in the city. She reported, "The group [of U.S. Legislators] had to travel in armored vehicles and was constantly accompanied by Pakistani military ... We were all able to see extremely up close and personal what it's like to be in a region where fighting is occurring. We constantly felt like we were in need of security." Bachmann told reporters upon her return that "the dangers posed by Islamic terrorism in Iraq, Britain and Pakistan justified the continued American military presence in Iraq." She said, "We don't want to see al-Qaida get a presence in the United States. Al-Qaida doesn't seem to show any signs of letting up. We have to keep that in mind." Higher education On July 11, 2007, Bachmann voted against the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The act raised the maximum Pell grant from $4,310 to $5,200, lowered interest rates on subsidized student loans from 6.8% to 3.4%, raised loan limits from $7,500 to $30,500, disfavored married students who filed joint tax returns, provided more favorable repayment terms to students who could not use their education to prosper financially, and favored public sector over private sector workers with much more favorable loan forgiveness benefits. Supporters of the bill said it would allow more students to attend college and prosper for the rest of their lives. Bachmann said she opposed the act because "it fails students and taxpayers with gimmicks, hidden costs and poorly targeted aid. It contains no serious reform of existing programs, and it favors the costly, government-run direct lending program over nonprofit and commercial lenders." The bill passed the House and was signed by President Bush. Energy and environment During the summer of 2008, as national gasoline prices rose to over $4 a gallon, Bachmann became a leading Congressional advocate for increased domestic oil and natural gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf. She joined ten other House Republicans and members of the media on a Congressional Energy Tour to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, and to Alaska. The trip was arranged by Arctic Power, an Alaskan lobbying group that advocates for ANWR development. Its purpose was to receive a firsthand account of emerging renewable energy technologies and the prospects of increased domestic oil and natural gas production in Alaska, including ANWR. Bachmann rejects the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is real, progressing, and primarily caused by humans. She has claimed that global warming is "all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax" and has been called "one of the GOP's loudest global warming skeptics." She has claimed, baselessly, that "because life requires carbon dioxide and it is part of the planet's life cycle, it cannot be harmful." On the House floor on Earth Day 2009, Bachmann said she opposed cap and trade climate legislation, again making disproven claims that "carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas. Carbon dioxide is natural; it is not harmful ... We're being told we have to reduce this natural substance to create an arbitrary reduction in something that is naturally occurring in the earth." In March 2008 Bachmann introduced H.R. 849, the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act. The bill would have repealed two sections of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 signed into law by George W. Bush. The 2007 Energy Act mandates energy efficiency and labeling standards for incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. Bachmann's bill would have required the Government Accountability Office to show that a change to fluorescent bulbs would have "clear economic, health and environmental benefits" before enforcing lighting efficiency regulations. The bill would have allowed these standards to remain in place if the comptroller general found they would lead to consumer savings, reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and pose no health risks to consumers (such as risks posed by the presence of mercury in fluorescent bulbs). The bill languished in the House and became inactive at the end of the 110th Congress. Bachmann reintroduced the bill in March 2011. Tort reform On June 3, 2008, President Bush signed the Credit and Debit Card Receipt Clarification Act (H.R. 4008) into law. The bipartisan bill, which Bachmann cosponsored with Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.), removed statutory damages for violations of a 2003 federal law prohibiting merchants from printing consumers' credit card numbers and expiration dates on sales receipts, in order to end class-action lawsuits aimed at businesses that violated the law. Financial sector Bachmann opposed both versions of the Wall Street bailout bill for America's financial sector. She voted against the first proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions, which failed to pass, by a vote of 205–228. She also advocated breaking up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and barring executives from excessive compensation or golden parachutes, and advocated a plan that would suspend mark-to-market accounting rules and suspend the capital gains tax. Auto industry The American auto companies approached Congress to ask for roughly $15 billion in loans to keep them operational into 2009. Bachmann criticized that bill, fearing that the initial sum of money would be followed by subsequent ones without the companies making changes to revive their business. Bachmann supported an alternative plan for American auto companies and the rest of the auto industry that would have set benchmarks for reducing their debt and renegotiating labor deals and have set up the financial assistance as interim insurance instead of a taxpayer-financed bailout. Call for a media "exposé" of alleged "anti-Americanism" of Barack Obama and members of Congress On October 17, 2008, Bachmann gave an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews in support of the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain that brought the Minnesota 6th Congressional District race national attention. During the interview she criticized Barack Obama for his association with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, saying, "usually we associate with people who have similar ideas to us, and it seems that it calls into question what Barack Obama's true beliefs, and values, and thoughts are ... I am very concerned that he [Obama] may have anti-American views." She noted the bombing campaign orchestrated by Bill Ayers before discussing his association with Obama, arguing that "Bill Ayers is not someone the average American wants to see their president have an association with." Matthews followed up by asking "But he [Obama] is a Senator from the state of Illinois; he's one of the members of Congress you suspect of being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama; is he alone or are there others?" Bachmann answered, "What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look ... I wish they would ... I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America, or anti-America. I think people would love to see an exposé like that." In response, the five Democratic members of Minnesota's congressional delegation—Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar—issued a joint statement questioning Bachmann's ability to "work in a bipartisan way to put the interests of our country first in this time of crisis." Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson said her comments had influenced their decisions to endorse Obama for president. Bachmann brought up the interview before business leaders and Republicans during a campaign stop in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on October 21, 2008. She claimed she never intended to question Obama's patriotism. "I made a misstatement. I said a comment that I would take back. I did not, nor do I, question Barack Obama's patriotism ... I did not say that Barack Obama is anti-American nor do I believe that Barack Obama is anti-American ... [But] I'm very concerned about Barack Obama's views. I don't believe that socialism is a good thing for America." At a March 2010 fund-raiser for the Susan B. Anthony List, Bachmann said, "I said I had very serious concerns that Barack Obama had anti-American views—and now I look like Nostradamus". In March 2011 she was asked on Meet the Press whether she still believed that Obama held un-American views. She responded, "I believe that the actions of this government have—have been emblematic of ones that have not been based on true American values." Pressed for clarification, she said, "I've already answered that question before. I said I had very serious concerns about the president's views." 111th Congress Global currency On March 26, 2009, following comments by China proposing adoption of a global reserve currency, Bachmann introduced a resolution calling for a Constitutional amendment to bar the dollar from being replaced by a foreign currency. Current law prohibits foreign currency from being recognized in the U.S., but Bachmann expressed concerns relating to the president's power to make and interpret treaties. Earlier that month, at a Financial Services Committee hearing, Bachmann asked both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke whether they would reject calls for the U.S. to move away from the U.S. dollar and they replied that they would. 2010 Census In a June 17, 2009, interview with The Washington Times, Bachmann expressed concern that the questions on the 2010 United States Census had become "very intricate, very personal" and that ACORN, a community organizing group that had come under fire the previous year, might be part of the Census Bureau's door-to-door information collection efforts. She said, "I know, for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that." According to Politifact, her statement was incorrect, as the Constitution does require citizens to complete the census. Fellow Republican Representatives Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.) and John Mica (Fla.), members of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives, which oversees the census, subsequently asked Bachmann not to boycott the population count. Along with Congressman Ted Poe (Tex.-02), Bachmann introduced the American Community Survey Act to limit the amount of personal information the U.S. Census Bureau solicits. She reiterated her belief that the census asked too many personal questions. Cap-and-Trade legislation In March 2009 Bachmann was interviewed by the Northern Alliance Radio Network and promoted two forums she was hosting the next month in St. Cloud and Woodbury about Obama's proposed cap-and-trade tax policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions. She said she wanted Minnesotans "armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back." Bachmann's office quickly clarified that she was speaking metaphorically, meaning "armed with knowledge". According to the Star Tribune, her quote went viral across the Internet. AmeriCorps In 2009 Bachmann became a critic of what she characterized as proposals for mandatory public service. Of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an expansion to AmeriCorps (a federal community service organization), she said in April: The original bill called for an exploration of whether a mandatory public service program could be established, but the section on creating a "Congressional Commission on Civic Service" was stripped from the bill. In August 2009 Bachmann's political opponents publicized in the local media and the blogosphere what they described as the "ironic" fact that her son, Harrison, joined Teach for America, part of the AmeriCorps program. Health care Bachmann contributed to the "death panel" controversy when she read from a July 24 article by former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey on the House floor. Sarah Palin said that her "death panel" remark was inspired by what she called the "Orwellian" opinions of Ezekiel Emanuel as described by Bachmann, who accused him of advocating health care rationing by age and disability. According to PolitiFact and Time, Bachmann's euthanasia remarks distorted Emanuel's position on health care for the elderly and disabled. FactCheck.org stated, "We agree that Emanuel's meaning is being twisted." When many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it. On August 31, 2009, Bachmann spoke at an event in Colorado, saying of Democratic health care overhaul proposals that: She outlined ideas for changing the health care system, including: "Erase the boundaries around every single state when it comes to health care", enabling consumers to purchase insurance across state lines; increase the use of health savings accounts and allow everyone to "take full deductibility of all medical expenses", including insurance premiums; and tort reform. Bachmann denounced the government-run health insurance public option, calling it a "government takeover of health care" that would "squeeze out private health insurance". Criticism of President Obama's visit to Asia In a November 3, 2010, interview with Anderson Cooper, while discussing spending cuts for Medicare and Social Security suggested by Representative Paul Ryan, Bachmann was asked what spending cuts she would make to reduce the deficit. She cited President Obama's then-upcoming visit to Asia as an example, saying it "is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. He's taking two thousand people with him. He'll be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are 5-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending—it's a very small example, Anderson." Bachmann was apparently referring to information in a story from the Press Trust of India, attributed to "a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit", information that was also published in U.S.-based media such as The Drudge Report. A Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, dismissed the report's claim that 34 warships were accompanying the President as "comical". The White House said that the press report figures were "wildly inflated" and had "no basis in reality". While stating that they could not give the actual projected figures for security reasons, staffers maintained costs were in line with the official travel costs of previous presidents Bush and Clinton. 112th Congress Leadership run After the 2010 elections and Representative Mike Pence's announcement that he was stepping away from his leadership position in the House, Bachmann announced her intention to seek the position of House Republican Conference Chair. As Bachmann was the founder of the House's Tea Party Caucus, her announcement caused some to see the leadership election as "an early test of how GOP leaders will treat the antiestablishment movement's winners". Many among the House's Republican leadership, including Eric Cantor and the retiring Pence, were quick to endorse Representative Jeb Hensarling for the position; Speaker-to-be John Boehner remained neutral on the issue. Supporters of Bachmann's run included Representatives Steve King, John Kline, Louie Gohmert, Chip Cravaack, and Erik Paulsen, as well as media personality and political commentator Glenn Beck. Listing her qualifications for the position, Bachmann noted, "I've done an effective job speaking out at a national and local level, motivating people with our message, calling attention to deficits in Obama's policy. I was instrumental in bringing tens of thousands of people to the U.S. capitol to rally against Obama care and to attend our press conference." She noted her work to keep the Tea Party within the GOP rather than having it become a third party, thereby helping the party capture the House, saying, "I have been able to bring a voice and motivate people to, in effect, put that gavel in John Boehner's hands, so that Republicans can lead going forward. …It's important that leadership represents the choice of the people coming into our caucus….I think I have motivated a high number of people to get involved in this cycle who may have sat it out and that have made a difference on a number of these races. I gave a large amount of money to NRCC and individual candidates and started Michele PAC, which raised $650,000 for members since July, so I was able to financially help about 50 people out." Bachmann's bid suffered a setback when she was passed over for the GOP's transition team on which Hensarling was placed. Despite Bachmann's leading all other Representatives in fundraising, a Republican aide said some "members are getting resentful of Bachmann, who they say is making the argument that you're not really a Tea Party supporter unless you support her. That's gone through the formation of the Tea Party Caucus and the formation of this candidacy of hers. It's just not so." Sarah Palin, with whom Bachmann had campaigned earlier in the year, declined to endorse her leadership bid, while other Tea Party favorites, Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Tim Scott, were placed on the transition team. According to some senior House staff members, the party leadership was concerned about some of Bachmann's high-profile faux pas, the high rate of turnover among her staff, and how willing she would be to advance the party's messaging rather than her own. On November 10 Bachmann released a statement ending her campaign for Conference Chair and giving Hensarling her "enthusiastic" support. Committee assignment House Speaker John Boehner selected Bachmann for a position "on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, giving her a new role as overseer of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community." Bachmann, who had "not served on any committee that deals with foreign policy issues" requested the position, "a move that has fueled speculation that she may be planning to carry the Tea Party banner into the GOP presidential primaries." Repeal of Dodd–Frank reform Soon after beginning her third term, Bachmann introduced legislation to repeal the Dodd–Frank financial reform law. She said, "I'm pleased to offer a full repeal of the job-killing Dodd–Frank financial regulatory bill. Dodd–Frank grossly expanded the federal government beyond its jurisdictional boundaries. It gave Washington bureaucrats the power to interpret and enforce the legislation with little oversight. Real financial regulatory reform must deal with these lenders who were a leading cause of our economic recession. True reform must also end the bailout mind-set that was perpetuated by the last Congress." She also took issue with the law for not addressing the liabilities of the tax-payer funded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bachmann's bill was endorsed by conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity. It gained four other Republican co-sponsors, including Representative Darrell Issa, who became the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at the start of the 112th Congress. Bachmann's call for total repeal was seen as more drastic than the approach advocated by her fellow Republican Spencer Bachus, who became the House Financial Services Committee Chairman when Republicans gained the House majority. Bachus planned "to provide 'vigorous' oversight of regulators efforts to reform banking and housing ... reform Fannie and Freddie", and "dismantle pieces of [the] Dodd–Frank Act that he believes 'unnecessarily punish small businesses and community banks.'" In response to Bachmann's legislation Representative Barney Frank said, "Michele Bachmann, the Club for Growth, and others in the right-wing coalition have now made their agenda for the financial sector very clear: they yearn to return to the thrilling days of yesteryear, so the loan arrangers can ride again—untrammeled by any rules restraining irresponsibility, excess, deception, and most of all, infinite leverage." It was seen as unlikely that Bachmann's legislation would pass, with the Financial Times writing, "Like the Republican move to repeal healthcare reform, Ms. Bachmann's bill could be passed by the House of Representatives but be blocked by the Senate or White House." State of the Union response Bachmann responded to Obama's 2011 State of the Union speech on the Tea Party Express website; her speech was broadcast live by CNN. She insisted that her response was not intended to counter Paul Ryan's official Republican party response. When asked whether the speech was an indication of competition with Ryan and Boehner's leadership team, Bachmann dismissed such a view as "a fiction of the media", saying she had alerted Ryan and the leadership team that her response might go national and that no objections were raised. Health care Bachmann continually called for repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). She recalled to reporters that she called for debate to repeal the act "the morning after Obamacare passed". With Steve King she introduced "the Bachmann-King repeal of health care bill", saying that it "is our intent in our heart to make sure that Obamacare is completely repealed." In light of the Democratic-majority Senate's and Obama's opposition to repeal, Bachmann called on the Republican held House of Representatives not to provide any funds for implementation of the act. "But until we can see that [repeal] happen, we want to fully defund this bill so that, like, it would be akin to a helium balloon that gets no helium inside so that it can't take off the ground, and that's what we're planning to do. I'm very, very grateful for nothing else; having a majority in the House of Representatives so that we have the ability of the power of the purse to not fund Obamacare, and this is exactly the right way to go", she said. On March 4, 2011, Bachmann, one of the six House Republicans to vote against the continuing resolution that gave a two-week extension until a possible government shutdown, expressed her unhappiness with its passage. In an appearance on Meet the Press on March 6 and during a March 7 interview with Sean Hannity, Bachmann claimed that the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats had hidden $105 billion in spending in the overhaul of the American Health Care System. She portrayed the Democratic leadership as timing the release of the bill's text to avoid detection of the spending. "We didn't get the bill until a literally couple of hours before we were supposed to vote on it", she said. She also said the spending was split up within different portions of the bill to mask its total cost. Bachmann was told this by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which claimed to have read the tallies of the Congressional Research Service and Congressional Budget Office. According to some reports of the costs, "about $40 billion would go to the Children's Health Insurance Program, $15 billion would go to Medicare and Medicaid innovation programs, and $9.5 billion would go to the Community Health Centers Fund." As the funds are designated mandatory spending (not controlled by the annual appropriations acts), the funds would have remained even if the move to defund the reform law had succeeded. Bachmann stated that $16 billion of the money gives Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius a "slush fund ... [to do] whatever she wants with this money." She called on the bills supporters to return the money, saying, "I think this deception that the president and [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid put forward with appropriating over $105 billion needs to be given back to the people." When asked during the Meet the Press interview if she would take back her previous comments that Obama "may have anti-American views" and that his administration had "embraced something called gangster government", Bachmann stood by her statements, saying, "I do believe that actions that have been taken by this White House—I don't take back my statements on gangster government. I think that there have been actions taken by the government that are corrupt ... I said I have very serious concerns about the president's views, and I think the president's actions in the last two years speak for themselves." In response to Bachmann's charges, Chief Deputy Democratic Whip Jan Schakowsky, who served on the House health subcommittee, pointed out that the report in question was an update of a report that came out in October 2010 and that the costs were spelled out in both the bill and the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of its cost, saying, "Michele Bachmann obviously didn't read the bill, because there was absolutely nothing hidden in that legislation." Schakowsky said the costs were not kept secret, citing the $40 billion for the Children's Health Insurance Program as an example: "There was a robust debate about whether or not that should be included, etc. So this idea of somehow, now at the last minute, there was a secret addition to some kind of funding ... is absolute nonsense." In a September 2011 Republican presidential debate in Tampa, Bachmann criticized Rick Perry for his support for the humanpapilloma virus (HPV) vaccine and his support for mandating the HPV vaccine for all sixth-grade Texas girls. The American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and other medical organizations worldwide support immunizing girls and boys against HPV. HPV can cause lesions and genital warts, and has been linked to cervical cancer as well as genital and oral cancers in people of any gender. Because the vaccine is effective only if given before the onset of sexual activity and subsequent exposure to the virus, medical groups recommend the three-dose vaccine be given to 11- and 12-year-olds. During the debate and in interviews afterward, Bachmann accused Perry of "crony capitalism" (because Perry's former chief of staff was chief lobbyist for a drug company manufacturing the vaccine), and baselessly claimed that the HPV vaccine was dangerous and caused "mental retardation." She repeatedly referred to an anecdotal account from a mother of a girl who had been immunized for HPV, saying, "She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered mental retardation thereafter ... There is no second chance for these little girls if there is [sic] any dangerous consequences to their bodies." Shortly after Bachmann's statements at the debate, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement: "The American Academy of Pediatrics would like to correct false statements made in the Republican presidential campaign that the HPV vaccine is dangerous and can cause mental retardation. There is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement. Since the vaccine has been introduced, more than 35 million doses have been administered, and it has an excellent safety record." Fewer than one percent of those receiving the vaccine reported neurological side effects or, in rare cases, severe allergic reactions, none linked to changes in cognitive ability. Bachmann later acknowledged that she was not a doctor or a scientist. Muslim Brotherhood In June–July 2012, Bachmann and several other Republican legislators sent a series of letters to oversight agencies at five federal departments citing "serious security concerns" about what Bachmann has called a "deep penetration in the halls of our United States government" by the Muslim Brotherhood. They requested formal investigations into what Bachmann called "influence operations" by the Brotherhood. Bachmann also accused Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Rep. Anthony Weiner's wife, of having family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. Bachmann's comments have drawn what the Washington Post calls "fierce criticism from fellow lawmakers and religious groups." In a speech on the Senate floor, 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain denounced Bachmann's charges as "specious and degrading". He defended Abedin as a "hard-working and loyal servant of our country and our government" and stated "these attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no merit. They need to stop now." House Speaker John Boehner termed Bachmann's allegations "dangerous", and other Republicans have also criticized the remarks. Ed Rollins, Bachmann’s former campaign manager, called on her to apologize to Abedin and characterized her allegations as “extreme and dishonest.” In a letter to Bachmann, her colleague Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a Muslim, asked for evidence backing her claims and stated, "Your response simply rehashes claims that have existed for years on anti-Muslim websites and contains no reliable information that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. government". Bachmann replied that "the intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group's access to top Obama administration officials". In a July 19 interview with radio and TV show host Glenn Beck, Bachmann repeated and expanded her allegations, accusing Ellison of having "a long record of being associated with the Council on American–Islamic Relations and with the Muslim Brotherhood". Ellison replied that "I am not now, nor have I ever been, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood." 113th Congress Presidential campaign finance investigation In 2013, Bachmann was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, the Federal Election Commission, the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee, the Urbandale Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation because of alleged campaign finance violations in her 2012 campaign for president. It is alleged that members of her staff made under-the-table payments, that funds were illegally transferred from her leadership PAC to pay consultants for her presidential campaign and that hidden payments were made to Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson. Additionally, a lawsuit was filed alleging that Bachmann and several former staffers stole and misused an Iowa homeschool group's e-mail distribution list. The trial, Heki v. Bachmann, had been set for May 14, 2014, but the case was settled out of court on June 28, 2013. On July 26, 2013, the House Ethics Committee announced they were conducting a full investigation of Bachmann, saying that they had received a referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics. Retirement On May 29, 2013, Bachmann announced that she would not seek reelection to her Congressional seat in 2014. In a June 2013 Fox News interview, she said she was "not going silent" and would remain involved in politics. She did not rule out a future run for office, or even the White House. With her retirement from Congress, the ethics investigations against her were dropped. During a December 2017 New Year's weekend interview with televangelist Jim Bakker, Bachmann said that she was considering running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Al Franken but was awaiting "God's counsel" before deciding. David Lightman and Trevor Graff, writing for McClatchyDC, argued that Bachmann left a "legacy of political missteps and lots of incendiary rhetoric—often loaded with false accusations and wild exaggerations." Committee assignments Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Political positions Education Bachmann supports the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in public school science classes. During a 2003 interview on the KKMS Christian radio program Talk The Walk, Bachmann said that evolution is a theory that has never been proven one way or the other. She co-authored a bill (with no additional endorsements among her fellow legislators) that would require public schools to include alternative explanations for the origin of life as part of the state's public school science curricula. In October 2006, Bachmann told a debate audience in St. Cloud, Minnesota, "there is a controversy among scientists about whether evolution is a fact or not ... There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design." Despite this, there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that evolution is real, and that intelligent design is not. Indeed, at least one news report presenting a "sampling of Bachmann's ... ludicrous or plain old false claims", stated that Bachmann’s claims are untrue, and that "when the science isn't on [Bachmann's] side, she simply improvises." Bachmann has praised the Christian youth ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCRBYCH), hailing "the group's work of sharing the gospel in public schools". She appeared as a keynote speaker at their fundraisers in 2006 and 2009. Following a 2011 controversial invocation for the Minnesota House, YCRBYCH founder Bradlee Dean declared that criticisms of him and his ministry were also "intended to harm and destroy the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann ... [who] previously praised and prayed for the work of my ministry". Bachmann has had a history of opposing anti-bullying legislation. In 2006, she told the Minnesota Legislature that passing an anti-bullying bill would be a waste of time. "I think for all of us, our experience in public schools is there have always been bullies", she said. "Always have been, always will be. I just don't know how we're ever going to get to the point of zero tolerance ... What does it mean? ... Will we be expecting boys to be girls?" Fiscal policy In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann opposed minimum wage increases. In a June 2011 interview, she did not back away from her earlier proposal to eliminate the federal minimum wage, a change she said would "virtually wipe out unemployment." In a 2001 flyer, Bachmann and Michael J. Chapman wrote that federal policies manage a centralized, state-controlled economy in the United States. She wrote that education laws passed by Congress in 2001, including "School To Work" and "Goals 2000", created a new national school curriculum that embraced "a socialist, globalist worldview; loyalty to all government and not America." In 2003, Bachmann said that the "Tax Free Zones" economic initiatives of Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty were based on the Marxist principle of "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." She also said the administration was attempting to govern and run centrally planned economies through the Minnesota Economic Leadership Team (MELT), an advisory board on economic and workforce policy Pawlenty chaired. Before her election to the state senate, and again in 2005, Bachmann signed a "no new taxes" pledge sponsored by the Taxpayers League of Minnesota. As a state senator, she introduced two bills that would have severely limited state taxation. In 2003, she proposed amending the Minnesota Constitution to adopt the "Taxpayers' Bill of Rights" (TABOR). In 2005, Bachmann opposed Pawlenty's proposal of a state surcharge of 75 cents per pack on the wholesale cost of cigarettes. She said she opposed the surcharge "100 percent—it's a tax increase." The Taxpayers' League later criticized her for reversing her position and voting for the surcharge. Bachmann promised to bring the price of gasoline down to $2 per gallon, without specifying a plan to accomplish this. Environment Bachmann supports increased domestic drilling of oil and natural gas, as well as pursuing renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar. She is a strong proponent of nuclear power. Bachmann has strongly opposed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pledging at an August 2011 campaign rally, "I guarantee you the EPA will have doors locked and lights turned off and they will only be about conservation." In 2007 and 2010, she actively solicited funds from the EPA on behalf of constituents in her congressional district. Social Security and Medicare phase-out Bachmann has called for phasing out Social Security and Medicare: "what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system... But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off." Foreign policy Bachmann has said that in dealing with Iran, diplomacy "is our option", but that other options, including a nuclear strike, should not be ruled out. She has also said that she is "a longtime supporter of Israel". Global economy In a discussion about the G-20 summit in Toronto, during an interview with conservative radio host Scott Hennen, Bachmann stated that she did not want America to be part of the international global economy. Bachmann told The Wall Street Journal that Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams influenced her economic views. She said she was "an Art Laffer fiend" and loved Ludwig von Mises. Immigration Bachmann believes that strengthened enforcement of immigration laws is required for the growth of the American job market. She supports amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow only the immediate family of legal immigrants (not extended family members) priority consideration in the immigration process. She voted against the DREAM Act. She has also said the current law does not need modification but proper enforcement. Bachmann said, "the immigration system in the United States worked very, very well up until the mid-1960s when liberal members of Congress changed the immigration laws." She has expressed support for immigration of highly skilled professionals such as chemists and engineers. Bachmann opposed the 2013 immigration reform bill, claiming that its passage would mean the end of the Republican Party. On WorldNetDaily she said, "This is President Obama's number one political agenda because he knows we will never again have a Republican president ever if amnesty goes into effect." Social issues Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment Bachmann supports both federal and state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and any legal equivalents. In August 2006, the Star Tribune reported that in March 2006, while on a Minneapolis radio show, Bachmann advocated a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. A caller asked her to explain how he, a heterosexual, would be harmed if his gay neighbors were allowed to marry. Bachmann replied, "Public schools would have to teach that homosexuality and same-sex marriage are normal, natural and that maybe children should try them." The Star Tribune also reported that Bachmann had publicly called homosexuality "sexual dysfunction", "sexual identity disorders", and "personal enslavement" leading to "sexual anarchy". In a July 2014 radio interview, Bachmann claimed that gay rights activists want to abolish age of consent laws in the United States so that adults can "prey on little children sexually." In 2020, Bachmann claimed that "transgender Black Marxists" were "seeking the overthrow of the United States and the dissolution of the traditional family." Abortion Bachmann has identified herself as pro-life and has been endorsed in her runs for Congress by the Susan B. Anthony List and Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. At a New Hampshire debate among presidential candidates, when asked if abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest, she responded that she was "100 percent pro-life," implying that such a fetus would have to be carried to term. In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann introduced a bill proposing a constitutional amendment restricting state funds for abortion. The bill died in committee. Federal-backed home loans According to the Washington Post, in 2008 Bachmann may have taken advantage of a federal program for a home loan, then called for dismantling the program, though the Post noted that the public and other members of Congress have taken advantage of such loans despite seeing reasons to criticize them. When asked about it, she said: "This is the problem. It is almost impossible to buy a home in this country today without the federal government being involved". Opinion on President Obama's birth certificate Bachmann claimed not to be part of the birther movement, but said that Obama could resolve the dispute by producing his long-form birth certificate. In April 2011, after Obama released the certificate, George Stephanopoulos asked Bachmann about the issue on Good Morning America. She said that its release "should settle the matter", that "I take the president at his word", and that "We have bigger fish to fry". Political campaigns 2006 congressional campaign Bachmann won her Congressional seat in the 2006 election with 50% of the vote, defeating the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Patty Wetterling and the Independence Party's John Binkowski. The 6th District's representative since 2001, Mark Kennedy, announced in late 2005 that he would run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mark Dayton. Bachmann said, "God then called me to run" for the U.S. House seat, and that she and her husband fasted for three days to be more sure. According to Bloomberg.com, evangelical conservative leader James Dobson put his organization Focus on the Family's resources behind Bachmann's 2006 campaign. The group planned to distribute 250,000 voter guides in Minnesota churches to reach social conservatives, according to Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, a local affiliate of the group. In addition to Minnesota, Dobson's group also organized turnout drives in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and Montana. During a debate televised by WCCO-TV on October 28, 2006, news reporter Pat Kessler quoted a story that appeared in the Star Tribune and asked Bachmann whether it was true that the church she belonged to taught that the Pope is the Anti-Christ. Bachmann replied that her church "does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that's absolutely false ... I'm very grateful that my pastor has come out and been very clear on this matter, and I think it's patently absurd and it's a false statement." In early July 2006, Bachmann received a fundraising visit from Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. On July 21, Karl Rove visited Minnesota to raise funds for her election. In August, President Bush was the keynote speaker at her congressional fundraiser, which raised about $500,000. Bachmann also received fundraising support from Vice President Dick Cheney. The National Republican Congressional Committee put nearly $3 million into the race, for electronic and direct-mail ads against Wetterling, significantly more than the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent on Wetterling's behalf. On November 7, Bachmann won the election with 50% of the vote to Wetterling's 42% and Binkowski's 8%. 2008 congressional campaign In 2008 Bachmann was reelected, defeating DFL and Independence Party nominee Elwyn Tinklenberg with 46.4% of the vote to Tinklenberg's 43.4%. Because Tinklenberg was running as a DFL member in the Democratic primary, Bob Anderson was able to run in the Independence Party primary unopposed, despite not having that party's endorsement. Anderson received 10% of the vote. 2010 congressional campaign In 2010 Bachmann was challenged by DFL nominee Tarryl Clark and Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson. With more than $8.5 million, Bachmann spent more than any other House of Representative candidate, although Clark was able to raise $4 million, one of the largest fundraising efforts in the nation for a U.S. House challenger. On November 2, 2010, Bachmann defeated Clark, 52% to 40%. 2012 presidential campaign In early 2011, amid substantial speculation, Bachmann announced her candidacy for president. She participated in the second Republican presidential debate, in New Hampshire, on June 13, 2011, and during the debate announced that she had filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) earlier that day to become a candidate for the nomination. Bachmann formally announced her candidacy for the nomination on June 27, 2011, during an appearance in Waterloo, Iowa, her birth city. Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll hosted by the Iowa GOP on August 13, 2011, becoming the first woman ever to win the poll, but finished sixth in the January 3, 2012, caucuses, with 4.98% of the vote. On January 4 she canceled her scheduled campaign trips to South Carolina and suspended her campaign. 2012 congressional campaign On January 25, 2012, Bachmann announced that she would run for reelection for her seat in Congress. According to Politico.com, as of July 2012 Bachmann had "raised close to $15 million" for the 2012 election, a figure it called "astounding ... more than some Senate candidates will collect this year." From July to the end of September, Bachmann raised $4.5 million. This amount put her ahead of all other members of Congress (including Allen West who was in second place with $4 million) for the third quarter. Bachmann said she was "humbled by the enormous outpouring of grassroots support for my campaign focused on keeping America the most secure and prosperous nation in the world." Despite a more favorable district Bachmann won reelection only narrowly, receiving just 4,298 more votes than her DFL challenger, Jim Graves. Electoral history Local elections Congressional elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 Autobiography In November 2011 Bachmann published her autobiography, Core of Conviction, in which she outlined the events and people who have shaped her values and beliefs. The book describes her break with the Democratic Party. "It was in the perilous fires of the Carter administration that my ideology was forged," she wrote. "In the seventies, Carter taught me what I was against, and then in the eighties, Reagan taught me what I was for." Reflecting on her role as a Tea Party leader, she elaborated, "I once said that the Tea Party represents 90 percent of Americans. I now realize that I misspoke. I should have said 100 percent, because I believe that nearly all Americans retain faith in the ordered liberty that the Constitution offers." Personal life Family In 1978, as Michele Amble, she married Marcus Bachmann, now a clinical therapist with a master's degree from Regent University and a Ph.D. from Union Graduate School, whom she met while they were undergraduates. After she received an LL.M. in taxation from William & Mary School of Law in 1988, the couple moved to Stillwater, Minnesota, a town of 18,000 near Saint Paul, where they run a Christian counseling center that administered gay conversion therapy. Bachmann and her husband have five children: Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia. In a 2011 town hall meeting, she said that she suffered a miscarriage after the birth of their second child, Harrison, an event she said shaped her anti-abortion views. Bachmann and her husband have also provided foster care to 23 other children, all of whom were teenage girls. The Bachmanns were licensed from 1992 to 2000 to handle up to three foster children at a time, with the last arriving in 1998. The Bachmanns began by providing short-term care for girls with eating disorders who were patients in a University of Minnesota program. Their home was legally defined as a treatment home, with a daily reimbursement rate per child from the state. Some girls stayed a few months, others more than a year. Bachmann is a former beauty pageant queen. Citizenship In May 2012 it was reported that Marcus Bachmann had registered for Swiss citizenship, and thus, under Swiss nationality law, so would Michele and their children. Within two days of the first reports of Bachmann's dual citizenship, Michele Bachmann announced that she had written to the Swiss consulate to withdraw her Swiss citizenship. Religion Bachmann was raised "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; she was a longtime member of Salem Lutheran Church (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) in Stillwater. She and her husband withdrew their membership on June 21, 2011, just before she officially began her presidential campaign. They had not attended the church for over two years. In 2011, the Bachmanns began attending Rockpoint Church in Lake Elmo, member of Evangelical Free Church of America. Bachmann has cited theologian Francis Schaeffer as a "profound influence" on her life and her husband's, especially his film series How Should We Then Live?. She has also described Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity by Nancy Pearcey as a "wonderful" book. Journalist Ryan Lizza has argued that Bachmann's worldview is deeply influenced by the Christian movement known as Dominionism, citing the influence of Schaeffer and Pearcey as evidence. Others have criticized Lizza's article, especially its connection of Schaeffer with Dominionism. Religion writer Sarah Posner broadly concurs with Lizza, pointing to the influence of Christian Reconstructionists Herb Titus and R. J. Rushdoony on Bachmann via the curriculum at O. W. Coburn School of Law. Businesses Bachmann and her husband own a Christian counseling practice, Bachmann & Associates. The clinic is run by her husband, who has a Ph.D. with "a concentration in clinical psychology" from Union Graduate School. Marcus Bachmann is not a licensed clinical psychologist in Minnesota. The clinic received nearly $30,000 from Minnesota government agencies between 2006 and 2010 in addition to at least $137,000 in federal payments and $24,000 in government grants for counselor training. In an interview, Michele Bachmann said that she and her husband had not benefited at taxpayer expense, saying, "the money that went to the clinic was actually training money for employees". Marcus Bachmann has falsely claimed that Bachmann & Associates did not provide conversion therapy, a controversial psychological treatment that has been repudiated by the American Psychological Association as unethical and without medical basis. A former client of Bachmann's clinic and a hidden camera investigator with the activist group Truth Wins Out showed that therapists at the clinic do engage in such practices. In a subsequent interview with the Star Tribune, Marcus Bachmann did not deny that he or other counselors at his clinic used the technique, but said they did so only at a client's request. In personal financial disclosure reports for 2006 through 2009, Bachmann reported earning $32,500 to $105,000 from a farm that was owned at the time by her ailing father-in-law, Paul Bachmann. The farm received $260,000 in federal crop and disaster subsidies between 1995 and 2008. Bachmann said that in 2006–2009, her husband acted as a trustee of the farm for his dying father and so, out of "an abundance of caution", she claimed the farm as income in financial disclosures, though it was her in-laws who profited from the farm during that period. Anonymous threat against her In August 2011 a man tweeted his "desire to engage in sadomasochistic activities" with Bachmann using "a Vietnam era machete" while misspelling her given name as "Michelle" in his tweet. Federal investigators ordered Twitter to reveal his identity. Called Mr. X in the grand jury's subpoena, the man filed a motion to quash the order at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in February 2012. Then-Chief Judge Royce Lamberth denied the request, citing the seriousness of the threat that might have posed to Bachmann, but X was granted the redaction of his identity in a separate order. Donald Trump Bachmann vocally supported then-President Donald Trump, saying in 2017 that he "has had the courage and the fortitude to stand up where other Republicans wouldn't dare to stand up." In December 2020, after the presidential election, she posted a video online praying for a Trump second term. Her online prayer specifically called out the contested election results in Georgia, saying: Lord, would you deliver these races in Georgia? O Father, would you deliver various local and state races, Father, that they aren't stolen? Would you give us a true vote? And, O God, I personally ask, from myself, Michele Bachmann, Lord, would you allow Donald Trump to have a second term as president of the United States? See also United States congressional delegations from Minnesota List of United States representatives from Minnesota Women in the United States House of Representatives References External links Politifact.com File on Michele Bachmann 2008 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org 2010 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org |- |- |- 1956 births Living people 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American women writers 20th-century Lutherans 21st-century Lutherans 21st-century Protestants American autobiographers American Christian Zionists American critics of Islam American evangelicals American people of Norwegian descent American political writers American anti-abortion activists American women lawyers American women non-fiction writers Anoka High School alumni Christians from Iowa Christians from Minnesota Converts to Evangelicalism from Lutheranism Christian critics of Islam Dominion theology Female members of the United States House of Representatives Female candidates for President of the United States Intelligent design advocates Internal Revenue Service people Members of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota Minnesota lawyers Minnesota Republicans Minnesota state senators Oral Roberts University alumni People from Anoka, Minnesota People from Stillwater, Minnesota Politicians from Waterloo, Iowa Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Tea Party movement activists Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election William & Mary Law School alumni Winona State University alumni Women autobiographers Women state legislators in Minnesota
true
[ "This is a list of notable books by young authors and of books written by notable writers in their early years. These books were written, or substantially completed, before the author's twentieth birthday. \n\nAlexandra Adornetto (born 18 April 1994) wrote her debut novel, The Shadow Thief, when she was 13. It was published in 2007. Other books written by her as a teenager are: The Lampo Circus (2008), Von Gobstopper's Arcade (2009), Halo (2010) and Hades (2011).\nMargery Allingham (1904–1966) had her first novel, Blackkerchief Dick, about smugglers in 17th century Essex, published in 1923, when she was 19.\nJorge Amado (1912–2001) had his debut novel, The Country of Carnival, published in 1931, when he was 18.\nPrateek Arora wrote his debut novel Village 1104 at the age of 16. It was published in 2010.\nDaisy Ashford (1881–1972) wrote The Young Visiters while aged nine. This novella was first published in 1919, preserving her juvenile punctuation and spelling. An earlier work, The Life of Father McSwiney, was dictated to her father when she was four. It was published almost a century later in 1983.\nAmelia Atwater-Rhodes (born 1984) had her first novel, In the Forests of the Night, published in 1999. Subsequent novels include Demon in My View (2000), Shattered Mirror (2001), Midnight Predator (2002), Hawksong (2003) and Snakecharm (2004).\nJane Austen (1775–1817) wrote Lady Susan, a short epistolary novel, between 1793 and 1795 when she was aged 18-20.\nRuskin Bond (born 1934) wrote his semi-autobiographical novel The Room on the Roof when he was 17. It was published in 1955.\nMarjorie Bowen (1885–1952) wrote the historical novel The Viper of Milan when she was 16. Published in 1906 after several rejections, it became a bestseller.\nOliver Madox Brown (1855–1874) finished his novel Gabriel Denver in early 1872, when he was 17. It was published the following year.\nPamela Brown (1924–1989) finished her children's novel about an amateur theatre company, The Swish of the Curtain (1941), when she was 16 and later wrote other books about the stage.\nCeleste and Carmel Buckingham wrote The Lost Princess when they were 11 and 9.\nFlavia Bujor (born 8 August 1988) wrote The Prophecy of the Stones (2002) when she was 13.\nLord Byron (1788–1824) published two volumes of poetry in his teens, Fugitive Pieces and Hours of Idleness.\nTaylor Caldwell's The Romance of Atlantis was written when she was 12.\n (1956–1976), Le Don de Vorace, was published in 1974.\nHilda Conkling (1910–1986) had her poems published in Poems by a Little Girl (1920), Shoes of the Wind (1922) and Silverhorn (1924).\nAbraham Cowley (1618–1667), Tragicall History of Piramus and Thisbe (1628), Poetical Blossoms (published 1633).\nMaureen Daly (1921–2006) completed Seventeenth Summer before she was 20. It was published in 1942.\nJuliette Davies (born 2000) wrote the first book in the JJ Halo series when she was eight years old. The series was published the following year.\nSamuel R. Delany (born 1 April 1942) published his The Jewels of Aptor in 1962.\nPatricia Finney's A Shadow of Gulls was published in 1977 when she was 18. Its sequel, The Crow Goddess, was published in 1978.\nBarbara Newhall Follett (1914–1939) wrote her first novel The House Without Windows at the age of eight. The manuscript was destroyed in a house fire and she later retyped her manuscript at the age of 12. The novel was published by Knopf publishing house in January 1927.\nFord Madox Ford (né Hueffer) (1873–1939) published in 1892 two children's stories, The Brown Owl and The Feather, and a novel, The Shifting of the Fire.\nAnne Frank (1929–1945) wrote her diary for two-and-a-half years starting on her 13th birthday. It was published posthumously as Het Achterhuis in 1947 and then in English translation in 1952 as Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. An unabridged translation followed in 1996.\nMiles Franklin wrote My Brilliant Career (1901) when she was a teenager.\nAlec Greven's How to Talk to Girls was published in 2008 when he was nine years old. Subsequently he has published How to Talk to Moms, How to Talk to Dads and How to Talk to Santa.\nFaïza Guène (born 1985) had Kiffe kiffe demain published in 2004, when she was 19. It has since been translated into 22 languages, including English (as Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow).\nSonya Hartnett (born 1968) was thirteen years old when she wrote her first novel, Trouble All the Way, which was published in Australia in 1984.\nAlex and Brett Harris wrote the best-selling book Do Hard Things (2008), a non-fiction book challenging teenagers to \"rebel against low expectations\", at age 19. Two years later came a follow-up book called Start Here (2010).\nGeorgette Heyer (1902–1974) wrote The Black Moth when she was 17 and received a publishing contract when she was 18. It was published just after she turned 19.\nSusan Hill (born 1942), The Enclosure, published in 1961.\nS. E. Hinton (born 1948), The Outsiders, first published in 1967.\nPalle Huld (1912–2010) wrote A Boy Scout Around the World (Jorden Rundt i 44 dage) when he was 15, following a sponsored journey around the world.\nGeorge Vernon Hudson (1867–1946) completed An Elementary Manual of New Zealand Entomology at the end of 1886, when he was 19, but not published until 1892.\nKatharine Hull (1921–1977) and Pamela Whitlock (1920–1982) wrote the children's outdoor adventure novel The Far-Distant Oxus in 1937. It was followed in 1938 by Escape to Persia and in 1939 by Oxus in Summer.\nLeigh Hunt (1784–1859) published Juvenilia; or, a Collection of Poems Written between the ages of Twelve and Sixteen by J. H. L. Hunt, Late of the Grammar School of Christ's Hospital in March 1801.\nKody Keplinger (born 1991) wrote her debut novel The DUFF when she was 17.\nGordon Korman (born 1963), This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall (1978), three sequels, and I Want to Go Home (1981).\nMatthew Gregory Lewis (1775–1818) wrote the Gothic novel The Monk, now regarded as a classic of the genre, before he was twenty. It was published in 1796.\nNina Lugovskaya (1918–1993), a painter, theater director and Gulag survivor, kept a diary in 1932–37, which shows strong social sensitivities. It was found in the Russian State Archives and published 2003. It appeared in English in the same year.\nJoyce Maynard (born 1953) completed Looking Back while she was 19. It was first published in 1973.\nMargaret Mitchell (1900–1949) wrote her novella Lost Laysen at the age of fifteen and gave the two notebooks containing the manuscript to her boyfriend, Henry Love Angel. The novel was published posthumously in 1996.\nBen Okri, the Nigerian poet and novelist, (born 1959) wrote his first book Flowers and Shadows while he was 19.\nAlice Oseman(born 1994) wrote the novel Solitaire when she was 17 and it was published in 2014.\nHelen Oyeyemi (born 1984) completed The Icarus Girl while still 18. First published in 2005.\nChristopher Paolini (born 1983) had Eragon, the first novel of the Inheritance Cycle, first published 2002.\nEmily Pepys (1833–1877), daughter of a bishop, wrote a vivid private journal over six months of 1844–45, aged ten. It was discovered much later and published in 1984.\nAnya Reiss (born 1991) wrote her play Spur of the Moment when she was 17. It was both performed and published in 2010, when she was 18.\nArthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) wrote almost all his prose and poetry while still a teenager, for example Le Soleil était encore chaud (1866), Le Bateau ivre (1871) and Une Saison en Enfer (1873).\nJohn Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882) saw his juvenile poems published in 1806, when he was 13.\nFrançoise Sagan (1935–2004) had Bonjour tristesse published in 1954, when she was 18.\nMary Shelley (1797–1851) completed Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus during May 1817, when she was 19. It was first published in the following year.\nMattie Stepanek (1990–2004), an American poet, published seven best-selling books of poetry.\nJohn Steptoe (1950–1989), author and illustrator, began his picture book Stevie at 16. It was published in 1969 in Life.\nAnna Stothard (born 1983) saw her Isabel and Rocco published when she was 19.\nDorothy Straight (born 1958) in 1962 wrote How the World Began, which was published by Pantheon Books in 1964. She holds the Guinness world record for the youngest female published author.\nJalaluddin Al-Suyuti (c. 1445–1505) wrote his first book, Sharh Al-Isti'aadha wal-Basmalah, at the age of 17.\nF. J. Thwaites (1908–1979) wrote his bestselling novel The Broken Melody when he was 19.\nJohn Kennedy Toole (1937–1969) wrote The Neon Bible in 1954 when he was 16. It was not published until 1989.\nAlec Waugh (1898–1981) wrote his novel about school life, The Loom of Youth, after leaving school. It was published in 1917.\nCatherine Webb (born 1986) had five young adult books published before she was 20: Mirror Dreams (2002), Mirror Wakes (2003), Waywalkers (2003), Timekeepers (2004) and The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle (February 2006).\nNancy Yi Fan (born 1993) published her debut Swordbird when she was 12. Other books she published as a teenager include Sword Quest (2008) and Sword Mountain (2012).\nKat Zhang (born 1991) was 20 when she sold, in a three-book deal, her entire Hybrid Chronicles trilogy. The first book, What's Left of Me, was published 2012.\n\nSee also \nLists of books\n\nReferences \n\nBooks Written By Children and Teenagers\nbooks\nChildren And Teenagers, Written By\nChi", "Alannah Yip (born October 26, 1993) is a Canadian engineer and sport climber. She was a national champion for her age when she was twelve. She won a gold medal at the American Climbing Championships 2020 in Los Angeles, which qualified her for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.\n\nLife\nYip was born and raised in North Vancouver. She began climbing when she was nine when her godparent's children became interested in climbing. She won her first National Climbing Championship when she was twelve. She trained to be an engineer, specialising in mechatronics. She tried giving up climbing to concentrate on her university studies, but she realised that sport was essential. In 2015 she was able to visit Switzerland as part of her studies and she was able to practice climbing in her spare time with the Swiss national team. When she returned to Canada she began training with the \"Climb Base 5\" in preparation for the following years World Cup climbing events.\n\nYip graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2018.\n\nHer coach was Andrew Wilson in 2018 and she has been supported by Petro-Canada. She qualified for a place in sport climbing at the 2020 Summer Olympics by winning the 2020 IFSC Pan-American Championships.\n\nResults\n\nWorld championships\n\nPan American championships\n\nReferences\n\n1993 births\nLiving people\nPeople from North Vancouver\nCanadian engineers\nCanadian rock climbers\nSport climbers at the 2020 Summer Olympics\nOlympic sport climbers of Canada" ]
[ "Michele Bachmann", "Early life, education, and early career", "When was she born?", "Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa," ]
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when was she born?
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when was Michele Bachmann born?
Michele Bachmann
Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; her family moved from Iowa to Minnesota when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced, Bachmann's father, David John Amble, moved to California, and Bachmann was raised by her mother, Arlene Jean (nee Johnson), who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota. Her mother remarried when Bachmann was a teenager; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working on kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). While there, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986 Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. CANNOTANSWER
Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa,
Michele Marie Bachmann (; née Amble; born April 6, 1956) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election, but lost the Republican nomination to Mitt Romney. Born in Waterloo, Iowa, Bachmann moved to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, as a teenager. She graduated from O. W. Coburn School of Law, the law school of Oral Roberts University, and the William & Mary Law School. After graduating, she briefly worked in tax law for the Internal Revenue Service before becoming a stay-at-home mom. She became involved in local politics, specifically around education. Bachmann formally entered politics in 2000, when she was elected to the Minnesota Senate. In 2006, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. After her unsuccessful run for president, Bachmann was elected to another term in the House in 2012, before announcing her retirement before the 2014 election. Early life, education, and early career Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, to Norwegian-American parents David John Amble (1929–2003) and Arlene Jean Amble (née Johnson; born c. 1932). Two of her great-great-great-grandparents, Melchior and Martha Munson, emigrated from Sogndal, Norway, to Wisconsin in 1857. David was an engineer. Her family moved from Iowa to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced when she was 14, David moved to California and remarried. Bachmann was raised by her mother, who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota, where they moved again. Three years later her mother married widower Raymond J. LaFave; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. Bachmann graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working at kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). There she studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986, Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. Early political activism Bachmann grew up in a Democratic family and has said she became a Republican during her senior year at Winona State University. She told the Star Tribune that she was reading Gore Vidal's 1973 novel Burr and claimed that "[h]e was kind of mocking the Founding Fathers and I just thought—I just remember reading the book, putting it in my lap, looking out the window and thinking, 'You know what? I don't think I am a Democrat. I must be a Republican. While still a Democrat, she and her then-fiancé, Marcus, were motivated to join the anti-abortion movement after watching Francis Schaeffer's 1976 Christian documentary film How Should We Then Live? They prayed outside of clinics and engaged in sidewalk interference, an activity in which anti-abortion activists attempt to persuade women entering clinics not to get abortions. Bachmann has since made statements supportive of sidewalk interference. Bachmann supported Jimmy Carter for president in 1976, and she and her husband worked on his campaign. During Carter's presidency, Bachmann became disappointed with his liberal approach to public policy, support for legalized abortion and economic decisions she held responsible for increased gas prices. In the 1980 presidential election, she voted for Ronald Reagan and worked for his campaign. Bachmann's political activism gained media attention at an anti-abortion protest in 1991. She and approximately 30 other protesters went to a Ramsey County Board meeting where $3 million was to be appropriated to build a morgue for the county at St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center (now Regions Hospital). The Medical Center performed abortions and employed pro-choice activist Jane Hodgson. Bachmann voiced her opposition to tax dollars going to the hospital; to the Star Tribune, she said, "in effect, since 1973, I have been a landlord of an abortion clinic, and I don't like that distinction". In 1993, Bachmann and other parents started the K–12 New Heights Charter School in Stillwater. The publicly funded school's charter mandated that it be non-sectarian in all programs and practices, but the school soon developed a strong Christian orientation. Parents of students at the school complained and the superintendent of schools warned Bachmann that the school was in violation of state law. Six months after the school's founding, Bachmann resigned and the Christian orientation was removed from the curriculum, allowing the school to keep its charter. Bachmann began speaking against a state-mandated set of educational standards, which propelled her into politics. Bachmann became a critic and opponent of Minnesota's School-to-Work policies. In a 1999 column, she wrote, "School-to-Work alters the basic mission and purpose of K–12 academic education away from traditional broad-based academic studies geared toward maximizing intellectual achievement of the individual. Instead, School-to-Work utilizes the school day to promote children's acquisition of workplace skills, viewing children as trainees for increased economic productivity." In November 1999, Bachmann and four other Republicans were candidates, as the "Slate of Five", in an election for the school board of Stillwater. All five lost. Minnesota Senate In 2000 Bachmann defeated 18-year incumbent Gary Laidig for the Republican nomination for state senator in Minnesota District 56. In the general election she defeated Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Ted Thompson and Minnesota Independence Party Lyno Sullivan. In 2002, after redistricting due to the 2000 Census, Bachmann defeated another incumbent, DFL State Senator Jane Krentz, in the newly drawn State Senate District 52. Bachmann's agenda as a state senator focused on opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment On November 20, 2003, Bachmann and Representative Mary Liz Holberg proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar the state from legally recognizing same-sex marriage. In 2004 Bachmann and a coalition of religious leaders announced plans for a "Minnesota for Marriage" rally. Her effort to place a marriage amendment on a referendum ballot in 2004 failed. She resurrected the proposal in March 2005, but it stalled indefinitely in a senate committee that April. Assistant Minority Leader In November 2004 Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Day appointed Bachmann Assistant Minority Leader in charge of policy of the Senate Republican Caucus. In July 2005 the Republican Caucus removed her from her leadership position. Bachmann said that disagreements with Day over her anti-tax stance were the reason for her ouster. U.S. House of Representatives From 2007 to 2015 Bachmann represented , which includes the northernmost and eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities and St. Cloud. She is the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House from Minnesota. 110th Congress Foreign affairs Bachmann voted "No" on a January 2007 resolution in the House of Representatives opposing President George W. Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq, but called for a full hearing in advance of the troop surge, saying, "the American people deserve to hear and understand the merits of increasing U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Increased troop presence is justifiable if that measure would bring a swift conclusion to a difficult conflict." She hesitated to give a firm endorsement, calling the hearings "a good first step in explaining to the American people the course toward victory in Iraq." Member of Congressional delegation In July 2007 Bachmann joined a Congressional delegation visiting Ireland, Germany, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Iraq. She met briefly (due to security concerns) with U.S. personnel in the Green Zone and upon her return said she "was encouraged by reports of progress from Crocker, General David Petraeus and other personnel in Iraq linked to the surge". She said the surge "hasn't had a chance to be in place long enough to offer a critique of how it's working. [Petraeus] said al-Qaida in Iraq is off its plan and we want to keep it that way. The surge has only been fully in place for a week or so." Bachmann also spoke of the delegation's visit to Islamabad to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Aziz at the same time as the siege of Islamic fundamentalists at the Lal Masjid mosque elsewhere in the city. She reported, "The group [of U.S. Legislators] had to travel in armored vehicles and was constantly accompanied by Pakistani military ... We were all able to see extremely up close and personal what it's like to be in a region where fighting is occurring. We constantly felt like we were in need of security." Bachmann told reporters upon her return that "the dangers posed by Islamic terrorism in Iraq, Britain and Pakistan justified the continued American military presence in Iraq." She said, "We don't want to see al-Qaida get a presence in the United States. Al-Qaida doesn't seem to show any signs of letting up. We have to keep that in mind." Higher education On July 11, 2007, Bachmann voted against the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The act raised the maximum Pell grant from $4,310 to $5,200, lowered interest rates on subsidized student loans from 6.8% to 3.4%, raised loan limits from $7,500 to $30,500, disfavored married students who filed joint tax returns, provided more favorable repayment terms to students who could not use their education to prosper financially, and favored public sector over private sector workers with much more favorable loan forgiveness benefits. Supporters of the bill said it would allow more students to attend college and prosper for the rest of their lives. Bachmann said she opposed the act because "it fails students and taxpayers with gimmicks, hidden costs and poorly targeted aid. It contains no serious reform of existing programs, and it favors the costly, government-run direct lending program over nonprofit and commercial lenders." The bill passed the House and was signed by President Bush. Energy and environment During the summer of 2008, as national gasoline prices rose to over $4 a gallon, Bachmann became a leading Congressional advocate for increased domestic oil and natural gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf. She joined ten other House Republicans and members of the media on a Congressional Energy Tour to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, and to Alaska. The trip was arranged by Arctic Power, an Alaskan lobbying group that advocates for ANWR development. Its purpose was to receive a firsthand account of emerging renewable energy technologies and the prospects of increased domestic oil and natural gas production in Alaska, including ANWR. Bachmann rejects the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is real, progressing, and primarily caused by humans. She has claimed that global warming is "all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax" and has been called "one of the GOP's loudest global warming skeptics." She has claimed, baselessly, that "because life requires carbon dioxide and it is part of the planet's life cycle, it cannot be harmful." On the House floor on Earth Day 2009, Bachmann said she opposed cap and trade climate legislation, again making disproven claims that "carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas. Carbon dioxide is natural; it is not harmful ... We're being told we have to reduce this natural substance to create an arbitrary reduction in something that is naturally occurring in the earth." In March 2008 Bachmann introduced H.R. 849, the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act. The bill would have repealed two sections of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 signed into law by George W. Bush. The 2007 Energy Act mandates energy efficiency and labeling standards for incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. Bachmann's bill would have required the Government Accountability Office to show that a change to fluorescent bulbs would have "clear economic, health and environmental benefits" before enforcing lighting efficiency regulations. The bill would have allowed these standards to remain in place if the comptroller general found they would lead to consumer savings, reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and pose no health risks to consumers (such as risks posed by the presence of mercury in fluorescent bulbs). The bill languished in the House and became inactive at the end of the 110th Congress. Bachmann reintroduced the bill in March 2011. Tort reform On June 3, 2008, President Bush signed the Credit and Debit Card Receipt Clarification Act (H.R. 4008) into law. The bipartisan bill, which Bachmann cosponsored with Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.), removed statutory damages for violations of a 2003 federal law prohibiting merchants from printing consumers' credit card numbers and expiration dates on sales receipts, in order to end class-action lawsuits aimed at businesses that violated the law. Financial sector Bachmann opposed both versions of the Wall Street bailout bill for America's financial sector. She voted against the first proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions, which failed to pass, by a vote of 205–228. She also advocated breaking up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and barring executives from excessive compensation or golden parachutes, and advocated a plan that would suspend mark-to-market accounting rules and suspend the capital gains tax. Auto industry The American auto companies approached Congress to ask for roughly $15 billion in loans to keep them operational into 2009. Bachmann criticized that bill, fearing that the initial sum of money would be followed by subsequent ones without the companies making changes to revive their business. Bachmann supported an alternative plan for American auto companies and the rest of the auto industry that would have set benchmarks for reducing their debt and renegotiating labor deals and have set up the financial assistance as interim insurance instead of a taxpayer-financed bailout. Call for a media "exposé" of alleged "anti-Americanism" of Barack Obama and members of Congress On October 17, 2008, Bachmann gave an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews in support of the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain that brought the Minnesota 6th Congressional District race national attention. During the interview she criticized Barack Obama for his association with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, saying, "usually we associate with people who have similar ideas to us, and it seems that it calls into question what Barack Obama's true beliefs, and values, and thoughts are ... I am very concerned that he [Obama] may have anti-American views." She noted the bombing campaign orchestrated by Bill Ayers before discussing his association with Obama, arguing that "Bill Ayers is not someone the average American wants to see their president have an association with." Matthews followed up by asking "But he [Obama] is a Senator from the state of Illinois; he's one of the members of Congress you suspect of being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama; is he alone or are there others?" Bachmann answered, "What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look ... I wish they would ... I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America, or anti-America. I think people would love to see an exposé like that." In response, the five Democratic members of Minnesota's congressional delegation—Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar—issued a joint statement questioning Bachmann's ability to "work in a bipartisan way to put the interests of our country first in this time of crisis." Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson said her comments had influenced their decisions to endorse Obama for president. Bachmann brought up the interview before business leaders and Republicans during a campaign stop in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on October 21, 2008. She claimed she never intended to question Obama's patriotism. "I made a misstatement. I said a comment that I would take back. I did not, nor do I, question Barack Obama's patriotism ... I did not say that Barack Obama is anti-American nor do I believe that Barack Obama is anti-American ... [But] I'm very concerned about Barack Obama's views. I don't believe that socialism is a good thing for America." At a March 2010 fund-raiser for the Susan B. Anthony List, Bachmann said, "I said I had very serious concerns that Barack Obama had anti-American views—and now I look like Nostradamus". In March 2011 she was asked on Meet the Press whether she still believed that Obama held un-American views. She responded, "I believe that the actions of this government have—have been emblematic of ones that have not been based on true American values." Pressed for clarification, she said, "I've already answered that question before. I said I had very serious concerns about the president's views." 111th Congress Global currency On March 26, 2009, following comments by China proposing adoption of a global reserve currency, Bachmann introduced a resolution calling for a Constitutional amendment to bar the dollar from being replaced by a foreign currency. Current law prohibits foreign currency from being recognized in the U.S., but Bachmann expressed concerns relating to the president's power to make and interpret treaties. Earlier that month, at a Financial Services Committee hearing, Bachmann asked both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke whether they would reject calls for the U.S. to move away from the U.S. dollar and they replied that they would. 2010 Census In a June 17, 2009, interview with The Washington Times, Bachmann expressed concern that the questions on the 2010 United States Census had become "very intricate, very personal" and that ACORN, a community organizing group that had come under fire the previous year, might be part of the Census Bureau's door-to-door information collection efforts. She said, "I know, for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that." According to Politifact, her statement was incorrect, as the Constitution does require citizens to complete the census. Fellow Republican Representatives Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.) and John Mica (Fla.), members of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives, which oversees the census, subsequently asked Bachmann not to boycott the population count. Along with Congressman Ted Poe (Tex.-02), Bachmann introduced the American Community Survey Act to limit the amount of personal information the U.S. Census Bureau solicits. She reiterated her belief that the census asked too many personal questions. Cap-and-Trade legislation In March 2009 Bachmann was interviewed by the Northern Alliance Radio Network and promoted two forums she was hosting the next month in St. Cloud and Woodbury about Obama's proposed cap-and-trade tax policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions. She said she wanted Minnesotans "armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back." Bachmann's office quickly clarified that she was speaking metaphorically, meaning "armed with knowledge". According to the Star Tribune, her quote went viral across the Internet. AmeriCorps In 2009 Bachmann became a critic of what she characterized as proposals for mandatory public service. Of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an expansion to AmeriCorps (a federal community service organization), she said in April: The original bill called for an exploration of whether a mandatory public service program could be established, but the section on creating a "Congressional Commission on Civic Service" was stripped from the bill. In August 2009 Bachmann's political opponents publicized in the local media and the blogosphere what they described as the "ironic" fact that her son, Harrison, joined Teach for America, part of the AmeriCorps program. Health care Bachmann contributed to the "death panel" controversy when she read from a July 24 article by former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey on the House floor. Sarah Palin said that her "death panel" remark was inspired by what she called the "Orwellian" opinions of Ezekiel Emanuel as described by Bachmann, who accused him of advocating health care rationing by age and disability. According to PolitiFact and Time, Bachmann's euthanasia remarks distorted Emanuel's position on health care for the elderly and disabled. FactCheck.org stated, "We agree that Emanuel's meaning is being twisted." When many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it. On August 31, 2009, Bachmann spoke at an event in Colorado, saying of Democratic health care overhaul proposals that: She outlined ideas for changing the health care system, including: "Erase the boundaries around every single state when it comes to health care", enabling consumers to purchase insurance across state lines; increase the use of health savings accounts and allow everyone to "take full deductibility of all medical expenses", including insurance premiums; and tort reform. Bachmann denounced the government-run health insurance public option, calling it a "government takeover of health care" that would "squeeze out private health insurance". Criticism of President Obama's visit to Asia In a November 3, 2010, interview with Anderson Cooper, while discussing spending cuts for Medicare and Social Security suggested by Representative Paul Ryan, Bachmann was asked what spending cuts she would make to reduce the deficit. She cited President Obama's then-upcoming visit to Asia as an example, saying it "is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. He's taking two thousand people with him. He'll be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are 5-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending—it's a very small example, Anderson." Bachmann was apparently referring to information in a story from the Press Trust of India, attributed to "a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit", information that was also published in U.S.-based media such as The Drudge Report. A Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, dismissed the report's claim that 34 warships were accompanying the President as "comical". The White House said that the press report figures were "wildly inflated" and had "no basis in reality". While stating that they could not give the actual projected figures for security reasons, staffers maintained costs were in line with the official travel costs of previous presidents Bush and Clinton. 112th Congress Leadership run After the 2010 elections and Representative Mike Pence's announcement that he was stepping away from his leadership position in the House, Bachmann announced her intention to seek the position of House Republican Conference Chair. As Bachmann was the founder of the House's Tea Party Caucus, her announcement caused some to see the leadership election as "an early test of how GOP leaders will treat the antiestablishment movement's winners". Many among the House's Republican leadership, including Eric Cantor and the retiring Pence, were quick to endorse Representative Jeb Hensarling for the position; Speaker-to-be John Boehner remained neutral on the issue. Supporters of Bachmann's run included Representatives Steve King, John Kline, Louie Gohmert, Chip Cravaack, and Erik Paulsen, as well as media personality and political commentator Glenn Beck. Listing her qualifications for the position, Bachmann noted, "I've done an effective job speaking out at a national and local level, motivating people with our message, calling attention to deficits in Obama's policy. I was instrumental in bringing tens of thousands of people to the U.S. capitol to rally against Obama care and to attend our press conference." She noted her work to keep the Tea Party within the GOP rather than having it become a third party, thereby helping the party capture the House, saying, "I have been able to bring a voice and motivate people to, in effect, put that gavel in John Boehner's hands, so that Republicans can lead going forward. …It's important that leadership represents the choice of the people coming into our caucus….I think I have motivated a high number of people to get involved in this cycle who may have sat it out and that have made a difference on a number of these races. I gave a large amount of money to NRCC and individual candidates and started Michele PAC, which raised $650,000 for members since July, so I was able to financially help about 50 people out." Bachmann's bid suffered a setback when she was passed over for the GOP's transition team on which Hensarling was placed. Despite Bachmann's leading all other Representatives in fundraising, a Republican aide said some "members are getting resentful of Bachmann, who they say is making the argument that you're not really a Tea Party supporter unless you support her. That's gone through the formation of the Tea Party Caucus and the formation of this candidacy of hers. It's just not so." Sarah Palin, with whom Bachmann had campaigned earlier in the year, declined to endorse her leadership bid, while other Tea Party favorites, Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Tim Scott, were placed on the transition team. According to some senior House staff members, the party leadership was concerned about some of Bachmann's high-profile faux pas, the high rate of turnover among her staff, and how willing she would be to advance the party's messaging rather than her own. On November 10 Bachmann released a statement ending her campaign for Conference Chair and giving Hensarling her "enthusiastic" support. Committee assignment House Speaker John Boehner selected Bachmann for a position "on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, giving her a new role as overseer of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community." Bachmann, who had "not served on any committee that deals with foreign policy issues" requested the position, "a move that has fueled speculation that she may be planning to carry the Tea Party banner into the GOP presidential primaries." Repeal of Dodd–Frank reform Soon after beginning her third term, Bachmann introduced legislation to repeal the Dodd–Frank financial reform law. She said, "I'm pleased to offer a full repeal of the job-killing Dodd–Frank financial regulatory bill. Dodd–Frank grossly expanded the federal government beyond its jurisdictional boundaries. It gave Washington bureaucrats the power to interpret and enforce the legislation with little oversight. Real financial regulatory reform must deal with these lenders who were a leading cause of our economic recession. True reform must also end the bailout mind-set that was perpetuated by the last Congress." She also took issue with the law for not addressing the liabilities of the tax-payer funded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bachmann's bill was endorsed by conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity. It gained four other Republican co-sponsors, including Representative Darrell Issa, who became the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at the start of the 112th Congress. Bachmann's call for total repeal was seen as more drastic than the approach advocated by her fellow Republican Spencer Bachus, who became the House Financial Services Committee Chairman when Republicans gained the House majority. Bachus planned "to provide 'vigorous' oversight of regulators efforts to reform banking and housing ... reform Fannie and Freddie", and "dismantle pieces of [the] Dodd–Frank Act that he believes 'unnecessarily punish small businesses and community banks.'" In response to Bachmann's legislation Representative Barney Frank said, "Michele Bachmann, the Club for Growth, and others in the right-wing coalition have now made their agenda for the financial sector very clear: they yearn to return to the thrilling days of yesteryear, so the loan arrangers can ride again—untrammeled by any rules restraining irresponsibility, excess, deception, and most of all, infinite leverage." It was seen as unlikely that Bachmann's legislation would pass, with the Financial Times writing, "Like the Republican move to repeal healthcare reform, Ms. Bachmann's bill could be passed by the House of Representatives but be blocked by the Senate or White House." State of the Union response Bachmann responded to Obama's 2011 State of the Union speech on the Tea Party Express website; her speech was broadcast live by CNN. She insisted that her response was not intended to counter Paul Ryan's official Republican party response. When asked whether the speech was an indication of competition with Ryan and Boehner's leadership team, Bachmann dismissed such a view as "a fiction of the media", saying she had alerted Ryan and the leadership team that her response might go national and that no objections were raised. Health care Bachmann continually called for repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). She recalled to reporters that she called for debate to repeal the act "the morning after Obamacare passed". With Steve King she introduced "the Bachmann-King repeal of health care bill", saying that it "is our intent in our heart to make sure that Obamacare is completely repealed." In light of the Democratic-majority Senate's and Obama's opposition to repeal, Bachmann called on the Republican held House of Representatives not to provide any funds for implementation of the act. "But until we can see that [repeal] happen, we want to fully defund this bill so that, like, it would be akin to a helium balloon that gets no helium inside so that it can't take off the ground, and that's what we're planning to do. I'm very, very grateful for nothing else; having a majority in the House of Representatives so that we have the ability of the power of the purse to not fund Obamacare, and this is exactly the right way to go", she said. On March 4, 2011, Bachmann, one of the six House Republicans to vote against the continuing resolution that gave a two-week extension until a possible government shutdown, expressed her unhappiness with its passage. In an appearance on Meet the Press on March 6 and during a March 7 interview with Sean Hannity, Bachmann claimed that the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats had hidden $105 billion in spending in the overhaul of the American Health Care System. She portrayed the Democratic leadership as timing the release of the bill's text to avoid detection of the spending. "We didn't get the bill until a literally couple of hours before we were supposed to vote on it", she said. She also said the spending was split up within different portions of the bill to mask its total cost. Bachmann was told this by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which claimed to have read the tallies of the Congressional Research Service and Congressional Budget Office. According to some reports of the costs, "about $40 billion would go to the Children's Health Insurance Program, $15 billion would go to Medicare and Medicaid innovation programs, and $9.5 billion would go to the Community Health Centers Fund." As the funds are designated mandatory spending (not controlled by the annual appropriations acts), the funds would have remained even if the move to defund the reform law had succeeded. Bachmann stated that $16 billion of the money gives Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius a "slush fund ... [to do] whatever she wants with this money." She called on the bills supporters to return the money, saying, "I think this deception that the president and [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid put forward with appropriating over $105 billion needs to be given back to the people." When asked during the Meet the Press interview if she would take back her previous comments that Obama "may have anti-American views" and that his administration had "embraced something called gangster government", Bachmann stood by her statements, saying, "I do believe that actions that have been taken by this White House—I don't take back my statements on gangster government. I think that there have been actions taken by the government that are corrupt ... I said I have very serious concerns about the president's views, and I think the president's actions in the last two years speak for themselves." In response to Bachmann's charges, Chief Deputy Democratic Whip Jan Schakowsky, who served on the House health subcommittee, pointed out that the report in question was an update of a report that came out in October 2010 and that the costs were spelled out in both the bill and the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of its cost, saying, "Michele Bachmann obviously didn't read the bill, because there was absolutely nothing hidden in that legislation." Schakowsky said the costs were not kept secret, citing the $40 billion for the Children's Health Insurance Program as an example: "There was a robust debate about whether or not that should be included, etc. So this idea of somehow, now at the last minute, there was a secret addition to some kind of funding ... is absolute nonsense." In a September 2011 Republican presidential debate in Tampa, Bachmann criticized Rick Perry for his support for the humanpapilloma virus (HPV) vaccine and his support for mandating the HPV vaccine for all sixth-grade Texas girls. The American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and other medical organizations worldwide support immunizing girls and boys against HPV. HPV can cause lesions and genital warts, and has been linked to cervical cancer as well as genital and oral cancers in people of any gender. Because the vaccine is effective only if given before the onset of sexual activity and subsequent exposure to the virus, medical groups recommend the three-dose vaccine be given to 11- and 12-year-olds. During the debate and in interviews afterward, Bachmann accused Perry of "crony capitalism" (because Perry's former chief of staff was chief lobbyist for a drug company manufacturing the vaccine), and baselessly claimed that the HPV vaccine was dangerous and caused "mental retardation." She repeatedly referred to an anecdotal account from a mother of a girl who had been immunized for HPV, saying, "She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered mental retardation thereafter ... There is no second chance for these little girls if there is [sic] any dangerous consequences to their bodies." Shortly after Bachmann's statements at the debate, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement: "The American Academy of Pediatrics would like to correct false statements made in the Republican presidential campaign that the HPV vaccine is dangerous and can cause mental retardation. There is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement. Since the vaccine has been introduced, more than 35 million doses have been administered, and it has an excellent safety record." Fewer than one percent of those receiving the vaccine reported neurological side effects or, in rare cases, severe allergic reactions, none linked to changes in cognitive ability. Bachmann later acknowledged that she was not a doctor or a scientist. Muslim Brotherhood In June–July 2012, Bachmann and several other Republican legislators sent a series of letters to oversight agencies at five federal departments citing "serious security concerns" about what Bachmann has called a "deep penetration in the halls of our United States government" by the Muslim Brotherhood. They requested formal investigations into what Bachmann called "influence operations" by the Brotherhood. Bachmann also accused Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Rep. Anthony Weiner's wife, of having family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. Bachmann's comments have drawn what the Washington Post calls "fierce criticism from fellow lawmakers and religious groups." In a speech on the Senate floor, 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain denounced Bachmann's charges as "specious and degrading". He defended Abedin as a "hard-working and loyal servant of our country and our government" and stated "these attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no merit. They need to stop now." House Speaker John Boehner termed Bachmann's allegations "dangerous", and other Republicans have also criticized the remarks. Ed Rollins, Bachmann’s former campaign manager, called on her to apologize to Abedin and characterized her allegations as “extreme and dishonest.” In a letter to Bachmann, her colleague Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a Muslim, asked for evidence backing her claims and stated, "Your response simply rehashes claims that have existed for years on anti-Muslim websites and contains no reliable information that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. government". Bachmann replied that "the intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group's access to top Obama administration officials". In a July 19 interview with radio and TV show host Glenn Beck, Bachmann repeated and expanded her allegations, accusing Ellison of having "a long record of being associated with the Council on American–Islamic Relations and with the Muslim Brotherhood". Ellison replied that "I am not now, nor have I ever been, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood." 113th Congress Presidential campaign finance investigation In 2013, Bachmann was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, the Federal Election Commission, the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee, the Urbandale Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation because of alleged campaign finance violations in her 2012 campaign for president. It is alleged that members of her staff made under-the-table payments, that funds were illegally transferred from her leadership PAC to pay consultants for her presidential campaign and that hidden payments were made to Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson. Additionally, a lawsuit was filed alleging that Bachmann and several former staffers stole and misused an Iowa homeschool group's e-mail distribution list. The trial, Heki v. Bachmann, had been set for May 14, 2014, but the case was settled out of court on June 28, 2013. On July 26, 2013, the House Ethics Committee announced they were conducting a full investigation of Bachmann, saying that they had received a referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics. Retirement On May 29, 2013, Bachmann announced that she would not seek reelection to her Congressional seat in 2014. In a June 2013 Fox News interview, she said she was "not going silent" and would remain involved in politics. She did not rule out a future run for office, or even the White House. With her retirement from Congress, the ethics investigations against her were dropped. During a December 2017 New Year's weekend interview with televangelist Jim Bakker, Bachmann said that she was considering running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Al Franken but was awaiting "God's counsel" before deciding. David Lightman and Trevor Graff, writing for McClatchyDC, argued that Bachmann left a "legacy of political missteps and lots of incendiary rhetoric—often loaded with false accusations and wild exaggerations." Committee assignments Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Political positions Education Bachmann supports the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in public school science classes. During a 2003 interview on the KKMS Christian radio program Talk The Walk, Bachmann said that evolution is a theory that has never been proven one way or the other. She co-authored a bill (with no additional endorsements among her fellow legislators) that would require public schools to include alternative explanations for the origin of life as part of the state's public school science curricula. In October 2006, Bachmann told a debate audience in St. Cloud, Minnesota, "there is a controversy among scientists about whether evolution is a fact or not ... There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design." Despite this, there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that evolution is real, and that intelligent design is not. Indeed, at least one news report presenting a "sampling of Bachmann's ... ludicrous or plain old false claims", stated that Bachmann’s claims are untrue, and that "when the science isn't on [Bachmann's] side, she simply improvises." Bachmann has praised the Christian youth ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCRBYCH), hailing "the group's work of sharing the gospel in public schools". She appeared as a keynote speaker at their fundraisers in 2006 and 2009. Following a 2011 controversial invocation for the Minnesota House, YCRBYCH founder Bradlee Dean declared that criticisms of him and his ministry were also "intended to harm and destroy the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann ... [who] previously praised and prayed for the work of my ministry". Bachmann has had a history of opposing anti-bullying legislation. In 2006, she told the Minnesota Legislature that passing an anti-bullying bill would be a waste of time. "I think for all of us, our experience in public schools is there have always been bullies", she said. "Always have been, always will be. I just don't know how we're ever going to get to the point of zero tolerance ... What does it mean? ... Will we be expecting boys to be girls?" Fiscal policy In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann opposed minimum wage increases. In a June 2011 interview, she did not back away from her earlier proposal to eliminate the federal minimum wage, a change she said would "virtually wipe out unemployment." In a 2001 flyer, Bachmann and Michael J. Chapman wrote that federal policies manage a centralized, state-controlled economy in the United States. She wrote that education laws passed by Congress in 2001, including "School To Work" and "Goals 2000", created a new national school curriculum that embraced "a socialist, globalist worldview; loyalty to all government and not America." In 2003, Bachmann said that the "Tax Free Zones" economic initiatives of Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty were based on the Marxist principle of "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." She also said the administration was attempting to govern and run centrally planned economies through the Minnesota Economic Leadership Team (MELT), an advisory board on economic and workforce policy Pawlenty chaired. Before her election to the state senate, and again in 2005, Bachmann signed a "no new taxes" pledge sponsored by the Taxpayers League of Minnesota. As a state senator, she introduced two bills that would have severely limited state taxation. In 2003, she proposed amending the Minnesota Constitution to adopt the "Taxpayers' Bill of Rights" (TABOR). In 2005, Bachmann opposed Pawlenty's proposal of a state surcharge of 75 cents per pack on the wholesale cost of cigarettes. She said she opposed the surcharge "100 percent—it's a tax increase." The Taxpayers' League later criticized her for reversing her position and voting for the surcharge. Bachmann promised to bring the price of gasoline down to $2 per gallon, without specifying a plan to accomplish this. Environment Bachmann supports increased domestic drilling of oil and natural gas, as well as pursuing renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar. She is a strong proponent of nuclear power. Bachmann has strongly opposed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pledging at an August 2011 campaign rally, "I guarantee you the EPA will have doors locked and lights turned off and they will only be about conservation." In 2007 and 2010, she actively solicited funds from the EPA on behalf of constituents in her congressional district. Social Security and Medicare phase-out Bachmann has called for phasing out Social Security and Medicare: "what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system... But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off." Foreign policy Bachmann has said that in dealing with Iran, diplomacy "is our option", but that other options, including a nuclear strike, should not be ruled out. She has also said that she is "a longtime supporter of Israel". Global economy In a discussion about the G-20 summit in Toronto, during an interview with conservative radio host Scott Hennen, Bachmann stated that she did not want America to be part of the international global economy. Bachmann told The Wall Street Journal that Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams influenced her economic views. She said she was "an Art Laffer fiend" and loved Ludwig von Mises. Immigration Bachmann believes that strengthened enforcement of immigration laws is required for the growth of the American job market. She supports amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow only the immediate family of legal immigrants (not extended family members) priority consideration in the immigration process. She voted against the DREAM Act. She has also said the current law does not need modification but proper enforcement. Bachmann said, "the immigration system in the United States worked very, very well up until the mid-1960s when liberal members of Congress changed the immigration laws." She has expressed support for immigration of highly skilled professionals such as chemists and engineers. Bachmann opposed the 2013 immigration reform bill, claiming that its passage would mean the end of the Republican Party. On WorldNetDaily she said, "This is President Obama's number one political agenda because he knows we will never again have a Republican president ever if amnesty goes into effect." Social issues Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment Bachmann supports both federal and state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and any legal equivalents. In August 2006, the Star Tribune reported that in March 2006, while on a Minneapolis radio show, Bachmann advocated a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. A caller asked her to explain how he, a heterosexual, would be harmed if his gay neighbors were allowed to marry. Bachmann replied, "Public schools would have to teach that homosexuality and same-sex marriage are normal, natural and that maybe children should try them." The Star Tribune also reported that Bachmann had publicly called homosexuality "sexual dysfunction", "sexual identity disorders", and "personal enslavement" leading to "sexual anarchy". In a July 2014 radio interview, Bachmann claimed that gay rights activists want to abolish age of consent laws in the United States so that adults can "prey on little children sexually." In 2020, Bachmann claimed that "transgender Black Marxists" were "seeking the overthrow of the United States and the dissolution of the traditional family." Abortion Bachmann has identified herself as pro-life and has been endorsed in her runs for Congress by the Susan B. Anthony List and Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. At a New Hampshire debate among presidential candidates, when asked if abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest, she responded that she was "100 percent pro-life," implying that such a fetus would have to be carried to term. In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann introduced a bill proposing a constitutional amendment restricting state funds for abortion. The bill died in committee. Federal-backed home loans According to the Washington Post, in 2008 Bachmann may have taken advantage of a federal program for a home loan, then called for dismantling the program, though the Post noted that the public and other members of Congress have taken advantage of such loans despite seeing reasons to criticize them. When asked about it, she said: "This is the problem. It is almost impossible to buy a home in this country today without the federal government being involved". Opinion on President Obama's birth certificate Bachmann claimed not to be part of the birther movement, but said that Obama could resolve the dispute by producing his long-form birth certificate. In April 2011, after Obama released the certificate, George Stephanopoulos asked Bachmann about the issue on Good Morning America. She said that its release "should settle the matter", that "I take the president at his word", and that "We have bigger fish to fry". Political campaigns 2006 congressional campaign Bachmann won her Congressional seat in the 2006 election with 50% of the vote, defeating the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Patty Wetterling and the Independence Party's John Binkowski. The 6th District's representative since 2001, Mark Kennedy, announced in late 2005 that he would run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mark Dayton. Bachmann said, "God then called me to run" for the U.S. House seat, and that she and her husband fasted for three days to be more sure. According to Bloomberg.com, evangelical conservative leader James Dobson put his organization Focus on the Family's resources behind Bachmann's 2006 campaign. The group planned to distribute 250,000 voter guides in Minnesota churches to reach social conservatives, according to Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, a local affiliate of the group. In addition to Minnesota, Dobson's group also organized turnout drives in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and Montana. During a debate televised by WCCO-TV on October 28, 2006, news reporter Pat Kessler quoted a story that appeared in the Star Tribune and asked Bachmann whether it was true that the church she belonged to taught that the Pope is the Anti-Christ. Bachmann replied that her church "does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that's absolutely false ... I'm very grateful that my pastor has come out and been very clear on this matter, and I think it's patently absurd and it's a false statement." In early July 2006, Bachmann received a fundraising visit from Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. On July 21, Karl Rove visited Minnesota to raise funds for her election. In August, President Bush was the keynote speaker at her congressional fundraiser, which raised about $500,000. Bachmann also received fundraising support from Vice President Dick Cheney. The National Republican Congressional Committee put nearly $3 million into the race, for electronic and direct-mail ads against Wetterling, significantly more than the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent on Wetterling's behalf. On November 7, Bachmann won the election with 50% of the vote to Wetterling's 42% and Binkowski's 8%. 2008 congressional campaign In 2008 Bachmann was reelected, defeating DFL and Independence Party nominee Elwyn Tinklenberg with 46.4% of the vote to Tinklenberg's 43.4%. Because Tinklenberg was running as a DFL member in the Democratic primary, Bob Anderson was able to run in the Independence Party primary unopposed, despite not having that party's endorsement. Anderson received 10% of the vote. 2010 congressional campaign In 2010 Bachmann was challenged by DFL nominee Tarryl Clark and Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson. With more than $8.5 million, Bachmann spent more than any other House of Representative candidate, although Clark was able to raise $4 million, one of the largest fundraising efforts in the nation for a U.S. House challenger. On November 2, 2010, Bachmann defeated Clark, 52% to 40%. 2012 presidential campaign In early 2011, amid substantial speculation, Bachmann announced her candidacy for president. She participated in the second Republican presidential debate, in New Hampshire, on June 13, 2011, and during the debate announced that she had filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) earlier that day to become a candidate for the nomination. Bachmann formally announced her candidacy for the nomination on June 27, 2011, during an appearance in Waterloo, Iowa, her birth city. Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll hosted by the Iowa GOP on August 13, 2011, becoming the first woman ever to win the poll, but finished sixth in the January 3, 2012, caucuses, with 4.98% of the vote. On January 4 she canceled her scheduled campaign trips to South Carolina and suspended her campaign. 2012 congressional campaign On January 25, 2012, Bachmann announced that she would run for reelection for her seat in Congress. According to Politico.com, as of July 2012 Bachmann had "raised close to $15 million" for the 2012 election, a figure it called "astounding ... more than some Senate candidates will collect this year." From July to the end of September, Bachmann raised $4.5 million. This amount put her ahead of all other members of Congress (including Allen West who was in second place with $4 million) for the third quarter. Bachmann said she was "humbled by the enormous outpouring of grassroots support for my campaign focused on keeping America the most secure and prosperous nation in the world." Despite a more favorable district Bachmann won reelection only narrowly, receiving just 4,298 more votes than her DFL challenger, Jim Graves. Electoral history Local elections Congressional elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 Autobiography In November 2011 Bachmann published her autobiography, Core of Conviction, in which she outlined the events and people who have shaped her values and beliefs. The book describes her break with the Democratic Party. "It was in the perilous fires of the Carter administration that my ideology was forged," she wrote. "In the seventies, Carter taught me what I was against, and then in the eighties, Reagan taught me what I was for." Reflecting on her role as a Tea Party leader, she elaborated, "I once said that the Tea Party represents 90 percent of Americans. I now realize that I misspoke. I should have said 100 percent, because I believe that nearly all Americans retain faith in the ordered liberty that the Constitution offers." Personal life Family In 1978, as Michele Amble, she married Marcus Bachmann, now a clinical therapist with a master's degree from Regent University and a Ph.D. from Union Graduate School, whom she met while they were undergraduates. After she received an LL.M. in taxation from William & Mary School of Law in 1988, the couple moved to Stillwater, Minnesota, a town of 18,000 near Saint Paul, where they run a Christian counseling center that administered gay conversion therapy. Bachmann and her husband have five children: Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia. In a 2011 town hall meeting, she said that she suffered a miscarriage after the birth of their second child, Harrison, an event she said shaped her anti-abortion views. Bachmann and her husband have also provided foster care to 23 other children, all of whom were teenage girls. The Bachmanns were licensed from 1992 to 2000 to handle up to three foster children at a time, with the last arriving in 1998. The Bachmanns began by providing short-term care for girls with eating disorders who were patients in a University of Minnesota program. Their home was legally defined as a treatment home, with a daily reimbursement rate per child from the state. Some girls stayed a few months, others more than a year. Bachmann is a former beauty pageant queen. Citizenship In May 2012 it was reported that Marcus Bachmann had registered for Swiss citizenship, and thus, under Swiss nationality law, so would Michele and their children. Within two days of the first reports of Bachmann's dual citizenship, Michele Bachmann announced that she had written to the Swiss consulate to withdraw her Swiss citizenship. Religion Bachmann was raised "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; she was a longtime member of Salem Lutheran Church (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) in Stillwater. She and her husband withdrew their membership on June 21, 2011, just before she officially began her presidential campaign. They had not attended the church for over two years. In 2011, the Bachmanns began attending Rockpoint Church in Lake Elmo, member of Evangelical Free Church of America. Bachmann has cited theologian Francis Schaeffer as a "profound influence" on her life and her husband's, especially his film series How Should We Then Live?. She has also described Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity by Nancy Pearcey as a "wonderful" book. Journalist Ryan Lizza has argued that Bachmann's worldview is deeply influenced by the Christian movement known as Dominionism, citing the influence of Schaeffer and Pearcey as evidence. Others have criticized Lizza's article, especially its connection of Schaeffer with Dominionism. Religion writer Sarah Posner broadly concurs with Lizza, pointing to the influence of Christian Reconstructionists Herb Titus and R. J. Rushdoony on Bachmann via the curriculum at O. W. Coburn School of Law. Businesses Bachmann and her husband own a Christian counseling practice, Bachmann & Associates. The clinic is run by her husband, who has a Ph.D. with "a concentration in clinical psychology" from Union Graduate School. Marcus Bachmann is not a licensed clinical psychologist in Minnesota. The clinic received nearly $30,000 from Minnesota government agencies between 2006 and 2010 in addition to at least $137,000 in federal payments and $24,000 in government grants for counselor training. In an interview, Michele Bachmann said that she and her husband had not benefited at taxpayer expense, saying, "the money that went to the clinic was actually training money for employees". Marcus Bachmann has falsely claimed that Bachmann & Associates did not provide conversion therapy, a controversial psychological treatment that has been repudiated by the American Psychological Association as unethical and without medical basis. A former client of Bachmann's clinic and a hidden camera investigator with the activist group Truth Wins Out showed that therapists at the clinic do engage in such practices. In a subsequent interview with the Star Tribune, Marcus Bachmann did not deny that he or other counselors at his clinic used the technique, but said they did so only at a client's request. In personal financial disclosure reports for 2006 through 2009, Bachmann reported earning $32,500 to $105,000 from a farm that was owned at the time by her ailing father-in-law, Paul Bachmann. The farm received $260,000 in federal crop and disaster subsidies between 1995 and 2008. Bachmann said that in 2006–2009, her husband acted as a trustee of the farm for his dying father and so, out of "an abundance of caution", she claimed the farm as income in financial disclosures, though it was her in-laws who profited from the farm during that period. Anonymous threat against her In August 2011 a man tweeted his "desire to engage in sadomasochistic activities" with Bachmann using "a Vietnam era machete" while misspelling her given name as "Michelle" in his tweet. Federal investigators ordered Twitter to reveal his identity. Called Mr. X in the grand jury's subpoena, the man filed a motion to quash the order at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in February 2012. Then-Chief Judge Royce Lamberth denied the request, citing the seriousness of the threat that might have posed to Bachmann, but X was granted the redaction of his identity in a separate order. Donald Trump Bachmann vocally supported then-President Donald Trump, saying in 2017 that he "has had the courage and the fortitude to stand up where other Republicans wouldn't dare to stand up." In December 2020, after the presidential election, she posted a video online praying for a Trump second term. Her online prayer specifically called out the contested election results in Georgia, saying: Lord, would you deliver these races in Georgia? O Father, would you deliver various local and state races, Father, that they aren't stolen? Would you give us a true vote? And, O God, I personally ask, from myself, Michele Bachmann, Lord, would you allow Donald Trump to have a second term as president of the United States? See also United States congressional delegations from Minnesota List of United States representatives from Minnesota Women in the United States House of Representatives References External links Politifact.com File on Michele Bachmann 2008 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org 2010 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org |- |- |- 1956 births Living people 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American women writers 20th-century Lutherans 21st-century Lutherans 21st-century Protestants American autobiographers American Christian Zionists American critics of Islam American evangelicals American people of Norwegian descent American political writers American anti-abortion activists American women lawyers American women non-fiction writers Anoka High School alumni Christians from Iowa Christians from Minnesota Converts to Evangelicalism from Lutheranism Christian critics of Islam Dominion theology Female members of the United States House of Representatives Female candidates for President of the United States Intelligent design advocates Internal Revenue Service people Members of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota Minnesota lawyers Minnesota Republicans Minnesota state senators Oral Roberts University alumni People from Anoka, Minnesota People from Stillwater, Minnesota Politicians from Waterloo, Iowa Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Tea Party movement activists Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election William & Mary Law School alumni Winona State University alumni Women autobiographers Women state legislators in Minnesota
true
[ "This is a list of notable books by young authors and of books written by notable writers in their early years. These books were written, or substantially completed, before the author's twentieth birthday. \n\nAlexandra Adornetto (born 18 April 1994) wrote her debut novel, The Shadow Thief, when she was 13. It was published in 2007. Other books written by her as a teenager are: The Lampo Circus (2008), Von Gobstopper's Arcade (2009), Halo (2010) and Hades (2011).\nMargery Allingham (1904–1966) had her first novel, Blackkerchief Dick, about smugglers in 17th century Essex, published in 1923, when she was 19.\nJorge Amado (1912–2001) had his debut novel, The Country of Carnival, published in 1931, when he was 18.\nPrateek Arora wrote his debut novel Village 1104 at the age of 16. It was published in 2010.\nDaisy Ashford (1881–1972) wrote The Young Visiters while aged nine. This novella was first published in 1919, preserving her juvenile punctuation and spelling. An earlier work, The Life of Father McSwiney, was dictated to her father when she was four. It was published almost a century later in 1983.\nAmelia Atwater-Rhodes (born 1984) had her first novel, In the Forests of the Night, published in 1999. Subsequent novels include Demon in My View (2000), Shattered Mirror (2001), Midnight Predator (2002), Hawksong (2003) and Snakecharm (2004).\nJane Austen (1775–1817) wrote Lady Susan, a short epistolary novel, between 1793 and 1795 when she was aged 18-20.\nRuskin Bond (born 1934) wrote his semi-autobiographical novel The Room on the Roof when he was 17. It was published in 1955.\nMarjorie Bowen (1885–1952) wrote the historical novel The Viper of Milan when she was 16. Published in 1906 after several rejections, it became a bestseller.\nOliver Madox Brown (1855–1874) finished his novel Gabriel Denver in early 1872, when he was 17. It was published the following year.\nPamela Brown (1924–1989) finished her children's novel about an amateur theatre company, The Swish of the Curtain (1941), when she was 16 and later wrote other books about the stage.\nCeleste and Carmel Buckingham wrote The Lost Princess when they were 11 and 9.\nFlavia Bujor (born 8 August 1988) wrote The Prophecy of the Stones (2002) when she was 13.\nLord Byron (1788–1824) published two volumes of poetry in his teens, Fugitive Pieces and Hours of Idleness.\nTaylor Caldwell's The Romance of Atlantis was written when she was 12.\n (1956–1976), Le Don de Vorace, was published in 1974.\nHilda Conkling (1910–1986) had her poems published in Poems by a Little Girl (1920), Shoes of the Wind (1922) and Silverhorn (1924).\nAbraham Cowley (1618–1667), Tragicall History of Piramus and Thisbe (1628), Poetical Blossoms (published 1633).\nMaureen Daly (1921–2006) completed Seventeenth Summer before she was 20. It was published in 1942.\nJuliette Davies (born 2000) wrote the first book in the JJ Halo series when she was eight years old. The series was published the following year.\nSamuel R. Delany (born 1 April 1942) published his The Jewels of Aptor in 1962.\nPatricia Finney's A Shadow of Gulls was published in 1977 when she was 18. Its sequel, The Crow Goddess, was published in 1978.\nBarbara Newhall Follett (1914–1939) wrote her first novel The House Without Windows at the age of eight. The manuscript was destroyed in a house fire and she later retyped her manuscript at the age of 12. The novel was published by Knopf publishing house in January 1927.\nFord Madox Ford (né Hueffer) (1873–1939) published in 1892 two children's stories, The Brown Owl and The Feather, and a novel, The Shifting of the Fire.\nAnne Frank (1929–1945) wrote her diary for two-and-a-half years starting on her 13th birthday. It was published posthumously as Het Achterhuis in 1947 and then in English translation in 1952 as Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. An unabridged translation followed in 1996.\nMiles Franklin wrote My Brilliant Career (1901) when she was a teenager.\nAlec Greven's How to Talk to Girls was published in 2008 when he was nine years old. Subsequently he has published How to Talk to Moms, How to Talk to Dads and How to Talk to Santa.\nFaïza Guène (born 1985) had Kiffe kiffe demain published in 2004, when she was 19. It has since been translated into 22 languages, including English (as Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow).\nSonya Hartnett (born 1968) was thirteen years old when she wrote her first novel, Trouble All the Way, which was published in Australia in 1984.\nAlex and Brett Harris wrote the best-selling book Do Hard Things (2008), a non-fiction book challenging teenagers to \"rebel against low expectations\", at age 19. Two years later came a follow-up book called Start Here (2010).\nGeorgette Heyer (1902–1974) wrote The Black Moth when she was 17 and received a publishing contract when she was 18. It was published just after she turned 19.\nSusan Hill (born 1942), The Enclosure, published in 1961.\nS. E. Hinton (born 1948), The Outsiders, first published in 1967.\nPalle Huld (1912–2010) wrote A Boy Scout Around the World (Jorden Rundt i 44 dage) when he was 15, following a sponsored journey around the world.\nGeorge Vernon Hudson (1867–1946) completed An Elementary Manual of New Zealand Entomology at the end of 1886, when he was 19, but not published until 1892.\nKatharine Hull (1921–1977) and Pamela Whitlock (1920–1982) wrote the children's outdoor adventure novel The Far-Distant Oxus in 1937. It was followed in 1938 by Escape to Persia and in 1939 by Oxus in Summer.\nLeigh Hunt (1784–1859) published Juvenilia; or, a Collection of Poems Written between the ages of Twelve and Sixteen by J. H. L. Hunt, Late of the Grammar School of Christ's Hospital in March 1801.\nKody Keplinger (born 1991) wrote her debut novel The DUFF when she was 17.\nGordon Korman (born 1963), This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall (1978), three sequels, and I Want to Go Home (1981).\nMatthew Gregory Lewis (1775–1818) wrote the Gothic novel The Monk, now regarded as a classic of the genre, before he was twenty. It was published in 1796.\nNina Lugovskaya (1918–1993), a painter, theater director and Gulag survivor, kept a diary in 1932–37, which shows strong social sensitivities. It was found in the Russian State Archives and published 2003. It appeared in English in the same year.\nJoyce Maynard (born 1953) completed Looking Back while she was 19. It was first published in 1973.\nMargaret Mitchell (1900–1949) wrote her novella Lost Laysen at the age of fifteen and gave the two notebooks containing the manuscript to her boyfriend, Henry Love Angel. The novel was published posthumously in 1996.\nBen Okri, the Nigerian poet and novelist, (born 1959) wrote his first book Flowers and Shadows while he was 19.\nAlice Oseman(born 1994) wrote the novel Solitaire when she was 17 and it was published in 2014.\nHelen Oyeyemi (born 1984) completed The Icarus Girl while still 18. First published in 2005.\nChristopher Paolini (born 1983) had Eragon, the first novel of the Inheritance Cycle, first published 2002.\nEmily Pepys (1833–1877), daughter of a bishop, wrote a vivid private journal over six months of 1844–45, aged ten. It was discovered much later and published in 1984.\nAnya Reiss (born 1991) wrote her play Spur of the Moment when she was 17. It was both performed and published in 2010, when she was 18.\nArthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) wrote almost all his prose and poetry while still a teenager, for example Le Soleil était encore chaud (1866), Le Bateau ivre (1871) and Une Saison en Enfer (1873).\nJohn Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882) saw his juvenile poems published in 1806, when he was 13.\nFrançoise Sagan (1935–2004) had Bonjour tristesse published in 1954, when she was 18.\nMary Shelley (1797–1851) completed Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus during May 1817, when she was 19. It was first published in the following year.\nMattie Stepanek (1990–2004), an American poet, published seven best-selling books of poetry.\nJohn Steptoe (1950–1989), author and illustrator, began his picture book Stevie at 16. It was published in 1969 in Life.\nAnna Stothard (born 1983) saw her Isabel and Rocco published when she was 19.\nDorothy Straight (born 1958) in 1962 wrote How the World Began, which was published by Pantheon Books in 1964. She holds the Guinness world record for the youngest female published author.\nJalaluddin Al-Suyuti (c. 1445–1505) wrote his first book, Sharh Al-Isti'aadha wal-Basmalah, at the age of 17.\nF. J. Thwaites (1908–1979) wrote his bestselling novel The Broken Melody when he was 19.\nJohn Kennedy Toole (1937–1969) wrote The Neon Bible in 1954 when he was 16. It was not published until 1989.\nAlec Waugh (1898–1981) wrote his novel about school life, The Loom of Youth, after leaving school. It was published in 1917.\nCatherine Webb (born 1986) had five young adult books published before she was 20: Mirror Dreams (2002), Mirror Wakes (2003), Waywalkers (2003), Timekeepers (2004) and The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle (February 2006).\nNancy Yi Fan (born 1993) published her debut Swordbird when she was 12. Other books she published as a teenager include Sword Quest (2008) and Sword Mountain (2012).\nKat Zhang (born 1991) was 20 when she sold, in a three-book deal, her entire Hybrid Chronicles trilogy. The first book, What's Left of Me, was published 2012.\n\nSee also \nLists of books\n\nReferences \n\nBooks Written By Children and Teenagers\nbooks\nChildren And Teenagers, Written By\nChi", "Alannah Yip (born October 26, 1993) is a Canadian engineer and sport climber. She was a national champion for her age when she was twelve. She won a gold medal at the American Climbing Championships 2020 in Los Angeles, which qualified her for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.\n\nLife\nYip was born and raised in North Vancouver. She began climbing when she was nine when her godparent's children became interested in climbing. She won her first National Climbing Championship when she was twelve. She trained to be an engineer, specialising in mechatronics. She tried giving up climbing to concentrate on her university studies, but she realised that sport was essential. In 2015 she was able to visit Switzerland as part of her studies and she was able to practice climbing in her spare time with the Swiss national team. When she returned to Canada she began training with the \"Climb Base 5\" in preparation for the following years World Cup climbing events.\n\nYip graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2018.\n\nHer coach was Andrew Wilson in 2018 and she has been supported by Petro-Canada. She qualified for a place in sport climbing at the 2020 Summer Olympics by winning the 2020 IFSC Pan-American Championships.\n\nResults\n\nWorld championships\n\nPan American championships\n\nReferences\n\n1993 births\nLiving people\nPeople from North Vancouver\nCanadian engineers\nCanadian rock climbers\nSport climbers at the 2020 Summer Olympics\nOlympic sport climbers of Canada" ]
[ "Michele Bachmann", "Early life, education, and early career", "When was she born?", "Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa,", "when was she born?", "Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa," ]
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did she have any siblings?
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did Michele Bachmann have any siblings?
Michele Bachmann
Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; her family moved from Iowa to Minnesota when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced, Bachmann's father, David John Amble, moved to California, and Bachmann was raised by her mother, Arlene Jean (nee Johnson), who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota. Her mother remarried when Bachmann was a teenager; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working on kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). While there, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986 Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. CANNOTANSWER
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Michele Marie Bachmann (; née Amble; born April 6, 1956) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election, but lost the Republican nomination to Mitt Romney. Born in Waterloo, Iowa, Bachmann moved to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, as a teenager. She graduated from O. W. Coburn School of Law, the law school of Oral Roberts University, and the William & Mary Law School. After graduating, she briefly worked in tax law for the Internal Revenue Service before becoming a stay-at-home mom. She became involved in local politics, specifically around education. Bachmann formally entered politics in 2000, when she was elected to the Minnesota Senate. In 2006, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. After her unsuccessful run for president, Bachmann was elected to another term in the House in 2012, before announcing her retirement before the 2014 election. Early life, education, and early career Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, to Norwegian-American parents David John Amble (1929–2003) and Arlene Jean Amble (née Johnson; born c. 1932). Two of her great-great-great-grandparents, Melchior and Martha Munson, emigrated from Sogndal, Norway, to Wisconsin in 1857. David was an engineer. Her family moved from Iowa to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced when she was 14, David moved to California and remarried. Bachmann was raised by her mother, who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota, where they moved again. Three years later her mother married widower Raymond J. LaFave; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. Bachmann graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working at kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). There she studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986, Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. Early political activism Bachmann grew up in a Democratic family and has said she became a Republican during her senior year at Winona State University. She told the Star Tribune that she was reading Gore Vidal's 1973 novel Burr and claimed that "[h]e was kind of mocking the Founding Fathers and I just thought—I just remember reading the book, putting it in my lap, looking out the window and thinking, 'You know what? I don't think I am a Democrat. I must be a Republican. While still a Democrat, she and her then-fiancé, Marcus, were motivated to join the anti-abortion movement after watching Francis Schaeffer's 1976 Christian documentary film How Should We Then Live? They prayed outside of clinics and engaged in sidewalk interference, an activity in which anti-abortion activists attempt to persuade women entering clinics not to get abortions. Bachmann has since made statements supportive of sidewalk interference. Bachmann supported Jimmy Carter for president in 1976, and she and her husband worked on his campaign. During Carter's presidency, Bachmann became disappointed with his liberal approach to public policy, support for legalized abortion and economic decisions she held responsible for increased gas prices. In the 1980 presidential election, she voted for Ronald Reagan and worked for his campaign. Bachmann's political activism gained media attention at an anti-abortion protest in 1991. She and approximately 30 other protesters went to a Ramsey County Board meeting where $3 million was to be appropriated to build a morgue for the county at St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center (now Regions Hospital). The Medical Center performed abortions and employed pro-choice activist Jane Hodgson. Bachmann voiced her opposition to tax dollars going to the hospital; to the Star Tribune, she said, "in effect, since 1973, I have been a landlord of an abortion clinic, and I don't like that distinction". In 1993, Bachmann and other parents started the K–12 New Heights Charter School in Stillwater. The publicly funded school's charter mandated that it be non-sectarian in all programs and practices, but the school soon developed a strong Christian orientation. Parents of students at the school complained and the superintendent of schools warned Bachmann that the school was in violation of state law. Six months after the school's founding, Bachmann resigned and the Christian orientation was removed from the curriculum, allowing the school to keep its charter. Bachmann began speaking against a state-mandated set of educational standards, which propelled her into politics. Bachmann became a critic and opponent of Minnesota's School-to-Work policies. In a 1999 column, she wrote, "School-to-Work alters the basic mission and purpose of K–12 academic education away from traditional broad-based academic studies geared toward maximizing intellectual achievement of the individual. Instead, School-to-Work utilizes the school day to promote children's acquisition of workplace skills, viewing children as trainees for increased economic productivity." In November 1999, Bachmann and four other Republicans were candidates, as the "Slate of Five", in an election for the school board of Stillwater. All five lost. Minnesota Senate In 2000 Bachmann defeated 18-year incumbent Gary Laidig for the Republican nomination for state senator in Minnesota District 56. In the general election she defeated Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Ted Thompson and Minnesota Independence Party Lyno Sullivan. In 2002, after redistricting due to the 2000 Census, Bachmann defeated another incumbent, DFL State Senator Jane Krentz, in the newly drawn State Senate District 52. Bachmann's agenda as a state senator focused on opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment On November 20, 2003, Bachmann and Representative Mary Liz Holberg proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar the state from legally recognizing same-sex marriage. In 2004 Bachmann and a coalition of religious leaders announced plans for a "Minnesota for Marriage" rally. Her effort to place a marriage amendment on a referendum ballot in 2004 failed. She resurrected the proposal in March 2005, but it stalled indefinitely in a senate committee that April. Assistant Minority Leader In November 2004 Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Day appointed Bachmann Assistant Minority Leader in charge of policy of the Senate Republican Caucus. In July 2005 the Republican Caucus removed her from her leadership position. Bachmann said that disagreements with Day over her anti-tax stance were the reason for her ouster. U.S. House of Representatives From 2007 to 2015 Bachmann represented , which includes the northernmost and eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities and St. Cloud. She is the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House from Minnesota. 110th Congress Foreign affairs Bachmann voted "No" on a January 2007 resolution in the House of Representatives opposing President George W. Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq, but called for a full hearing in advance of the troop surge, saying, "the American people deserve to hear and understand the merits of increasing U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Increased troop presence is justifiable if that measure would bring a swift conclusion to a difficult conflict." She hesitated to give a firm endorsement, calling the hearings "a good first step in explaining to the American people the course toward victory in Iraq." Member of Congressional delegation In July 2007 Bachmann joined a Congressional delegation visiting Ireland, Germany, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Iraq. She met briefly (due to security concerns) with U.S. personnel in the Green Zone and upon her return said she "was encouraged by reports of progress from Crocker, General David Petraeus and other personnel in Iraq linked to the surge". She said the surge "hasn't had a chance to be in place long enough to offer a critique of how it's working. [Petraeus] said al-Qaida in Iraq is off its plan and we want to keep it that way. The surge has only been fully in place for a week or so." Bachmann also spoke of the delegation's visit to Islamabad to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Aziz at the same time as the siege of Islamic fundamentalists at the Lal Masjid mosque elsewhere in the city. She reported, "The group [of U.S. Legislators] had to travel in armored vehicles and was constantly accompanied by Pakistani military ... We were all able to see extremely up close and personal what it's like to be in a region where fighting is occurring. We constantly felt like we were in need of security." Bachmann told reporters upon her return that "the dangers posed by Islamic terrorism in Iraq, Britain and Pakistan justified the continued American military presence in Iraq." She said, "We don't want to see al-Qaida get a presence in the United States. Al-Qaida doesn't seem to show any signs of letting up. We have to keep that in mind." Higher education On July 11, 2007, Bachmann voted against the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The act raised the maximum Pell grant from $4,310 to $5,200, lowered interest rates on subsidized student loans from 6.8% to 3.4%, raised loan limits from $7,500 to $30,500, disfavored married students who filed joint tax returns, provided more favorable repayment terms to students who could not use their education to prosper financially, and favored public sector over private sector workers with much more favorable loan forgiveness benefits. Supporters of the bill said it would allow more students to attend college and prosper for the rest of their lives. Bachmann said she opposed the act because "it fails students and taxpayers with gimmicks, hidden costs and poorly targeted aid. It contains no serious reform of existing programs, and it favors the costly, government-run direct lending program over nonprofit and commercial lenders." The bill passed the House and was signed by President Bush. Energy and environment During the summer of 2008, as national gasoline prices rose to over $4 a gallon, Bachmann became a leading Congressional advocate for increased domestic oil and natural gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf. She joined ten other House Republicans and members of the media on a Congressional Energy Tour to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, and to Alaska. The trip was arranged by Arctic Power, an Alaskan lobbying group that advocates for ANWR development. Its purpose was to receive a firsthand account of emerging renewable energy technologies and the prospects of increased domestic oil and natural gas production in Alaska, including ANWR. Bachmann rejects the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is real, progressing, and primarily caused by humans. She has claimed that global warming is "all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax" and has been called "one of the GOP's loudest global warming skeptics." She has claimed, baselessly, that "because life requires carbon dioxide and it is part of the planet's life cycle, it cannot be harmful." On the House floor on Earth Day 2009, Bachmann said she opposed cap and trade climate legislation, again making disproven claims that "carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas. Carbon dioxide is natural; it is not harmful ... We're being told we have to reduce this natural substance to create an arbitrary reduction in something that is naturally occurring in the earth." In March 2008 Bachmann introduced H.R. 849, the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act. The bill would have repealed two sections of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 signed into law by George W. Bush. The 2007 Energy Act mandates energy efficiency and labeling standards for incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. Bachmann's bill would have required the Government Accountability Office to show that a change to fluorescent bulbs would have "clear economic, health and environmental benefits" before enforcing lighting efficiency regulations. The bill would have allowed these standards to remain in place if the comptroller general found they would lead to consumer savings, reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and pose no health risks to consumers (such as risks posed by the presence of mercury in fluorescent bulbs). The bill languished in the House and became inactive at the end of the 110th Congress. Bachmann reintroduced the bill in March 2011. Tort reform On June 3, 2008, President Bush signed the Credit and Debit Card Receipt Clarification Act (H.R. 4008) into law. The bipartisan bill, which Bachmann cosponsored with Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.), removed statutory damages for violations of a 2003 federal law prohibiting merchants from printing consumers' credit card numbers and expiration dates on sales receipts, in order to end class-action lawsuits aimed at businesses that violated the law. Financial sector Bachmann opposed both versions of the Wall Street bailout bill for America's financial sector. She voted against the first proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions, which failed to pass, by a vote of 205–228. She also advocated breaking up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and barring executives from excessive compensation or golden parachutes, and advocated a plan that would suspend mark-to-market accounting rules and suspend the capital gains tax. Auto industry The American auto companies approached Congress to ask for roughly $15 billion in loans to keep them operational into 2009. Bachmann criticized that bill, fearing that the initial sum of money would be followed by subsequent ones without the companies making changes to revive their business. Bachmann supported an alternative plan for American auto companies and the rest of the auto industry that would have set benchmarks for reducing their debt and renegotiating labor deals and have set up the financial assistance as interim insurance instead of a taxpayer-financed bailout. Call for a media "exposé" of alleged "anti-Americanism" of Barack Obama and members of Congress On October 17, 2008, Bachmann gave an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews in support of the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain that brought the Minnesota 6th Congressional District race national attention. During the interview she criticized Barack Obama for his association with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, saying, "usually we associate with people who have similar ideas to us, and it seems that it calls into question what Barack Obama's true beliefs, and values, and thoughts are ... I am very concerned that he [Obama] may have anti-American views." She noted the bombing campaign orchestrated by Bill Ayers before discussing his association with Obama, arguing that "Bill Ayers is not someone the average American wants to see their president have an association with." Matthews followed up by asking "But he [Obama] is a Senator from the state of Illinois; he's one of the members of Congress you suspect of being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama; is he alone or are there others?" Bachmann answered, "What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look ... I wish they would ... I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America, or anti-America. I think people would love to see an exposé like that." In response, the five Democratic members of Minnesota's congressional delegation—Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar—issued a joint statement questioning Bachmann's ability to "work in a bipartisan way to put the interests of our country first in this time of crisis." Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson said her comments had influenced their decisions to endorse Obama for president. Bachmann brought up the interview before business leaders and Republicans during a campaign stop in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on October 21, 2008. She claimed she never intended to question Obama's patriotism. "I made a misstatement. I said a comment that I would take back. I did not, nor do I, question Barack Obama's patriotism ... I did not say that Barack Obama is anti-American nor do I believe that Barack Obama is anti-American ... [But] I'm very concerned about Barack Obama's views. I don't believe that socialism is a good thing for America." At a March 2010 fund-raiser for the Susan B. Anthony List, Bachmann said, "I said I had very serious concerns that Barack Obama had anti-American views—and now I look like Nostradamus". In March 2011 she was asked on Meet the Press whether she still believed that Obama held un-American views. She responded, "I believe that the actions of this government have—have been emblematic of ones that have not been based on true American values." Pressed for clarification, she said, "I've already answered that question before. I said I had very serious concerns about the president's views." 111th Congress Global currency On March 26, 2009, following comments by China proposing adoption of a global reserve currency, Bachmann introduced a resolution calling for a Constitutional amendment to bar the dollar from being replaced by a foreign currency. Current law prohibits foreign currency from being recognized in the U.S., but Bachmann expressed concerns relating to the president's power to make and interpret treaties. Earlier that month, at a Financial Services Committee hearing, Bachmann asked both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke whether they would reject calls for the U.S. to move away from the U.S. dollar and they replied that they would. 2010 Census In a June 17, 2009, interview with The Washington Times, Bachmann expressed concern that the questions on the 2010 United States Census had become "very intricate, very personal" and that ACORN, a community organizing group that had come under fire the previous year, might be part of the Census Bureau's door-to-door information collection efforts. She said, "I know, for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that." According to Politifact, her statement was incorrect, as the Constitution does require citizens to complete the census. Fellow Republican Representatives Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.) and John Mica (Fla.), members of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives, which oversees the census, subsequently asked Bachmann not to boycott the population count. Along with Congressman Ted Poe (Tex.-02), Bachmann introduced the American Community Survey Act to limit the amount of personal information the U.S. Census Bureau solicits. She reiterated her belief that the census asked too many personal questions. Cap-and-Trade legislation In March 2009 Bachmann was interviewed by the Northern Alliance Radio Network and promoted two forums she was hosting the next month in St. Cloud and Woodbury about Obama's proposed cap-and-trade tax policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions. She said she wanted Minnesotans "armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back." Bachmann's office quickly clarified that she was speaking metaphorically, meaning "armed with knowledge". According to the Star Tribune, her quote went viral across the Internet. AmeriCorps In 2009 Bachmann became a critic of what she characterized as proposals for mandatory public service. Of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an expansion to AmeriCorps (a federal community service organization), she said in April: The original bill called for an exploration of whether a mandatory public service program could be established, but the section on creating a "Congressional Commission on Civic Service" was stripped from the bill. In August 2009 Bachmann's political opponents publicized in the local media and the blogosphere what they described as the "ironic" fact that her son, Harrison, joined Teach for America, part of the AmeriCorps program. Health care Bachmann contributed to the "death panel" controversy when she read from a July 24 article by former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey on the House floor. Sarah Palin said that her "death panel" remark was inspired by what she called the "Orwellian" opinions of Ezekiel Emanuel as described by Bachmann, who accused him of advocating health care rationing by age and disability. According to PolitiFact and Time, Bachmann's euthanasia remarks distorted Emanuel's position on health care for the elderly and disabled. FactCheck.org stated, "We agree that Emanuel's meaning is being twisted." When many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it. On August 31, 2009, Bachmann spoke at an event in Colorado, saying of Democratic health care overhaul proposals that: She outlined ideas for changing the health care system, including: "Erase the boundaries around every single state when it comes to health care", enabling consumers to purchase insurance across state lines; increase the use of health savings accounts and allow everyone to "take full deductibility of all medical expenses", including insurance premiums; and tort reform. Bachmann denounced the government-run health insurance public option, calling it a "government takeover of health care" that would "squeeze out private health insurance". Criticism of President Obama's visit to Asia In a November 3, 2010, interview with Anderson Cooper, while discussing spending cuts for Medicare and Social Security suggested by Representative Paul Ryan, Bachmann was asked what spending cuts she would make to reduce the deficit. She cited President Obama's then-upcoming visit to Asia as an example, saying it "is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. He's taking two thousand people with him. He'll be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are 5-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending—it's a very small example, Anderson." Bachmann was apparently referring to information in a story from the Press Trust of India, attributed to "a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit", information that was also published in U.S.-based media such as The Drudge Report. A Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, dismissed the report's claim that 34 warships were accompanying the President as "comical". The White House said that the press report figures were "wildly inflated" and had "no basis in reality". While stating that they could not give the actual projected figures for security reasons, staffers maintained costs were in line with the official travel costs of previous presidents Bush and Clinton. 112th Congress Leadership run After the 2010 elections and Representative Mike Pence's announcement that he was stepping away from his leadership position in the House, Bachmann announced her intention to seek the position of House Republican Conference Chair. As Bachmann was the founder of the House's Tea Party Caucus, her announcement caused some to see the leadership election as "an early test of how GOP leaders will treat the antiestablishment movement's winners". Many among the House's Republican leadership, including Eric Cantor and the retiring Pence, were quick to endorse Representative Jeb Hensarling for the position; Speaker-to-be John Boehner remained neutral on the issue. Supporters of Bachmann's run included Representatives Steve King, John Kline, Louie Gohmert, Chip Cravaack, and Erik Paulsen, as well as media personality and political commentator Glenn Beck. Listing her qualifications for the position, Bachmann noted, "I've done an effective job speaking out at a national and local level, motivating people with our message, calling attention to deficits in Obama's policy. I was instrumental in bringing tens of thousands of people to the U.S. capitol to rally against Obama care and to attend our press conference." She noted her work to keep the Tea Party within the GOP rather than having it become a third party, thereby helping the party capture the House, saying, "I have been able to bring a voice and motivate people to, in effect, put that gavel in John Boehner's hands, so that Republicans can lead going forward. …It's important that leadership represents the choice of the people coming into our caucus….I think I have motivated a high number of people to get involved in this cycle who may have sat it out and that have made a difference on a number of these races. I gave a large amount of money to NRCC and individual candidates and started Michele PAC, which raised $650,000 for members since July, so I was able to financially help about 50 people out." Bachmann's bid suffered a setback when she was passed over for the GOP's transition team on which Hensarling was placed. Despite Bachmann's leading all other Representatives in fundraising, a Republican aide said some "members are getting resentful of Bachmann, who they say is making the argument that you're not really a Tea Party supporter unless you support her. That's gone through the formation of the Tea Party Caucus and the formation of this candidacy of hers. It's just not so." Sarah Palin, with whom Bachmann had campaigned earlier in the year, declined to endorse her leadership bid, while other Tea Party favorites, Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Tim Scott, were placed on the transition team. According to some senior House staff members, the party leadership was concerned about some of Bachmann's high-profile faux pas, the high rate of turnover among her staff, and how willing she would be to advance the party's messaging rather than her own. On November 10 Bachmann released a statement ending her campaign for Conference Chair and giving Hensarling her "enthusiastic" support. Committee assignment House Speaker John Boehner selected Bachmann for a position "on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, giving her a new role as overseer of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community." Bachmann, who had "not served on any committee that deals with foreign policy issues" requested the position, "a move that has fueled speculation that she may be planning to carry the Tea Party banner into the GOP presidential primaries." Repeal of Dodd–Frank reform Soon after beginning her third term, Bachmann introduced legislation to repeal the Dodd–Frank financial reform law. She said, "I'm pleased to offer a full repeal of the job-killing Dodd–Frank financial regulatory bill. Dodd–Frank grossly expanded the federal government beyond its jurisdictional boundaries. It gave Washington bureaucrats the power to interpret and enforce the legislation with little oversight. Real financial regulatory reform must deal with these lenders who were a leading cause of our economic recession. True reform must also end the bailout mind-set that was perpetuated by the last Congress." She also took issue with the law for not addressing the liabilities of the tax-payer funded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bachmann's bill was endorsed by conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity. It gained four other Republican co-sponsors, including Representative Darrell Issa, who became the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at the start of the 112th Congress. Bachmann's call for total repeal was seen as more drastic than the approach advocated by her fellow Republican Spencer Bachus, who became the House Financial Services Committee Chairman when Republicans gained the House majority. Bachus planned "to provide 'vigorous' oversight of regulators efforts to reform banking and housing ... reform Fannie and Freddie", and "dismantle pieces of [the] Dodd–Frank Act that he believes 'unnecessarily punish small businesses and community banks.'" In response to Bachmann's legislation Representative Barney Frank said, "Michele Bachmann, the Club for Growth, and others in the right-wing coalition have now made their agenda for the financial sector very clear: they yearn to return to the thrilling days of yesteryear, so the loan arrangers can ride again—untrammeled by any rules restraining irresponsibility, excess, deception, and most of all, infinite leverage." It was seen as unlikely that Bachmann's legislation would pass, with the Financial Times writing, "Like the Republican move to repeal healthcare reform, Ms. Bachmann's bill could be passed by the House of Representatives but be blocked by the Senate or White House." State of the Union response Bachmann responded to Obama's 2011 State of the Union speech on the Tea Party Express website; her speech was broadcast live by CNN. She insisted that her response was not intended to counter Paul Ryan's official Republican party response. When asked whether the speech was an indication of competition with Ryan and Boehner's leadership team, Bachmann dismissed such a view as "a fiction of the media", saying she had alerted Ryan and the leadership team that her response might go national and that no objections were raised. Health care Bachmann continually called for repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). She recalled to reporters that she called for debate to repeal the act "the morning after Obamacare passed". With Steve King she introduced "the Bachmann-King repeal of health care bill", saying that it "is our intent in our heart to make sure that Obamacare is completely repealed." In light of the Democratic-majority Senate's and Obama's opposition to repeal, Bachmann called on the Republican held House of Representatives not to provide any funds for implementation of the act. "But until we can see that [repeal] happen, we want to fully defund this bill so that, like, it would be akin to a helium balloon that gets no helium inside so that it can't take off the ground, and that's what we're planning to do. I'm very, very grateful for nothing else; having a majority in the House of Representatives so that we have the ability of the power of the purse to not fund Obamacare, and this is exactly the right way to go", she said. On March 4, 2011, Bachmann, one of the six House Republicans to vote against the continuing resolution that gave a two-week extension until a possible government shutdown, expressed her unhappiness with its passage. In an appearance on Meet the Press on March 6 and during a March 7 interview with Sean Hannity, Bachmann claimed that the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats had hidden $105 billion in spending in the overhaul of the American Health Care System. She portrayed the Democratic leadership as timing the release of the bill's text to avoid detection of the spending. "We didn't get the bill until a literally couple of hours before we were supposed to vote on it", she said. She also said the spending was split up within different portions of the bill to mask its total cost. Bachmann was told this by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which claimed to have read the tallies of the Congressional Research Service and Congressional Budget Office. According to some reports of the costs, "about $40 billion would go to the Children's Health Insurance Program, $15 billion would go to Medicare and Medicaid innovation programs, and $9.5 billion would go to the Community Health Centers Fund." As the funds are designated mandatory spending (not controlled by the annual appropriations acts), the funds would have remained even if the move to defund the reform law had succeeded. Bachmann stated that $16 billion of the money gives Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius a "slush fund ... [to do] whatever she wants with this money." She called on the bills supporters to return the money, saying, "I think this deception that the president and [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid put forward with appropriating over $105 billion needs to be given back to the people." When asked during the Meet the Press interview if she would take back her previous comments that Obama "may have anti-American views" and that his administration had "embraced something called gangster government", Bachmann stood by her statements, saying, "I do believe that actions that have been taken by this White House—I don't take back my statements on gangster government. I think that there have been actions taken by the government that are corrupt ... I said I have very serious concerns about the president's views, and I think the president's actions in the last two years speak for themselves." In response to Bachmann's charges, Chief Deputy Democratic Whip Jan Schakowsky, who served on the House health subcommittee, pointed out that the report in question was an update of a report that came out in October 2010 and that the costs were spelled out in both the bill and the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of its cost, saying, "Michele Bachmann obviously didn't read the bill, because there was absolutely nothing hidden in that legislation." Schakowsky said the costs were not kept secret, citing the $40 billion for the Children's Health Insurance Program as an example: "There was a robust debate about whether or not that should be included, etc. So this idea of somehow, now at the last minute, there was a secret addition to some kind of funding ... is absolute nonsense." In a September 2011 Republican presidential debate in Tampa, Bachmann criticized Rick Perry for his support for the humanpapilloma virus (HPV) vaccine and his support for mandating the HPV vaccine for all sixth-grade Texas girls. The American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and other medical organizations worldwide support immunizing girls and boys against HPV. HPV can cause lesions and genital warts, and has been linked to cervical cancer as well as genital and oral cancers in people of any gender. Because the vaccine is effective only if given before the onset of sexual activity and subsequent exposure to the virus, medical groups recommend the three-dose vaccine be given to 11- and 12-year-olds. During the debate and in interviews afterward, Bachmann accused Perry of "crony capitalism" (because Perry's former chief of staff was chief lobbyist for a drug company manufacturing the vaccine), and baselessly claimed that the HPV vaccine was dangerous and caused "mental retardation." She repeatedly referred to an anecdotal account from a mother of a girl who had been immunized for HPV, saying, "She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered mental retardation thereafter ... There is no second chance for these little girls if there is [sic] any dangerous consequences to their bodies." Shortly after Bachmann's statements at the debate, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement: "The American Academy of Pediatrics would like to correct false statements made in the Republican presidential campaign that the HPV vaccine is dangerous and can cause mental retardation. There is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement. Since the vaccine has been introduced, more than 35 million doses have been administered, and it has an excellent safety record." Fewer than one percent of those receiving the vaccine reported neurological side effects or, in rare cases, severe allergic reactions, none linked to changes in cognitive ability. Bachmann later acknowledged that she was not a doctor or a scientist. Muslim Brotherhood In June–July 2012, Bachmann and several other Republican legislators sent a series of letters to oversight agencies at five federal departments citing "serious security concerns" about what Bachmann has called a "deep penetration in the halls of our United States government" by the Muslim Brotherhood. They requested formal investigations into what Bachmann called "influence operations" by the Brotherhood. Bachmann also accused Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Rep. Anthony Weiner's wife, of having family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. Bachmann's comments have drawn what the Washington Post calls "fierce criticism from fellow lawmakers and religious groups." In a speech on the Senate floor, 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain denounced Bachmann's charges as "specious and degrading". He defended Abedin as a "hard-working and loyal servant of our country and our government" and stated "these attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no merit. They need to stop now." House Speaker John Boehner termed Bachmann's allegations "dangerous", and other Republicans have also criticized the remarks. Ed Rollins, Bachmann’s former campaign manager, called on her to apologize to Abedin and characterized her allegations as “extreme and dishonest.” In a letter to Bachmann, her colleague Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a Muslim, asked for evidence backing her claims and stated, "Your response simply rehashes claims that have existed for years on anti-Muslim websites and contains no reliable information that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. government". Bachmann replied that "the intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group's access to top Obama administration officials". In a July 19 interview with radio and TV show host Glenn Beck, Bachmann repeated and expanded her allegations, accusing Ellison of having "a long record of being associated with the Council on American–Islamic Relations and with the Muslim Brotherhood". Ellison replied that "I am not now, nor have I ever been, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood." 113th Congress Presidential campaign finance investigation In 2013, Bachmann was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, the Federal Election Commission, the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee, the Urbandale Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation because of alleged campaign finance violations in her 2012 campaign for president. It is alleged that members of her staff made under-the-table payments, that funds were illegally transferred from her leadership PAC to pay consultants for her presidential campaign and that hidden payments were made to Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson. Additionally, a lawsuit was filed alleging that Bachmann and several former staffers stole and misused an Iowa homeschool group's e-mail distribution list. The trial, Heki v. Bachmann, had been set for May 14, 2014, but the case was settled out of court on June 28, 2013. On July 26, 2013, the House Ethics Committee announced they were conducting a full investigation of Bachmann, saying that they had received a referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics. Retirement On May 29, 2013, Bachmann announced that she would not seek reelection to her Congressional seat in 2014. In a June 2013 Fox News interview, she said she was "not going silent" and would remain involved in politics. She did not rule out a future run for office, or even the White House. With her retirement from Congress, the ethics investigations against her were dropped. During a December 2017 New Year's weekend interview with televangelist Jim Bakker, Bachmann said that she was considering running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Al Franken but was awaiting "God's counsel" before deciding. David Lightman and Trevor Graff, writing for McClatchyDC, argued that Bachmann left a "legacy of political missteps and lots of incendiary rhetoric—often loaded with false accusations and wild exaggerations." Committee assignments Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Political positions Education Bachmann supports the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in public school science classes. During a 2003 interview on the KKMS Christian radio program Talk The Walk, Bachmann said that evolution is a theory that has never been proven one way or the other. She co-authored a bill (with no additional endorsements among her fellow legislators) that would require public schools to include alternative explanations for the origin of life as part of the state's public school science curricula. In October 2006, Bachmann told a debate audience in St. Cloud, Minnesota, "there is a controversy among scientists about whether evolution is a fact or not ... There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design." Despite this, there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that evolution is real, and that intelligent design is not. Indeed, at least one news report presenting a "sampling of Bachmann's ... ludicrous or plain old false claims", stated that Bachmann’s claims are untrue, and that "when the science isn't on [Bachmann's] side, she simply improvises." Bachmann has praised the Christian youth ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCRBYCH), hailing "the group's work of sharing the gospel in public schools". She appeared as a keynote speaker at their fundraisers in 2006 and 2009. Following a 2011 controversial invocation for the Minnesota House, YCRBYCH founder Bradlee Dean declared that criticisms of him and his ministry were also "intended to harm and destroy the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann ... [who] previously praised and prayed for the work of my ministry". Bachmann has had a history of opposing anti-bullying legislation. In 2006, she told the Minnesota Legislature that passing an anti-bullying bill would be a waste of time. "I think for all of us, our experience in public schools is there have always been bullies", she said. "Always have been, always will be. I just don't know how we're ever going to get to the point of zero tolerance ... What does it mean? ... Will we be expecting boys to be girls?" Fiscal policy In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann opposed minimum wage increases. In a June 2011 interview, she did not back away from her earlier proposal to eliminate the federal minimum wage, a change she said would "virtually wipe out unemployment." In a 2001 flyer, Bachmann and Michael J. Chapman wrote that federal policies manage a centralized, state-controlled economy in the United States. She wrote that education laws passed by Congress in 2001, including "School To Work" and "Goals 2000", created a new national school curriculum that embraced "a socialist, globalist worldview; loyalty to all government and not America." In 2003, Bachmann said that the "Tax Free Zones" economic initiatives of Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty were based on the Marxist principle of "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." She also said the administration was attempting to govern and run centrally planned economies through the Minnesota Economic Leadership Team (MELT), an advisory board on economic and workforce policy Pawlenty chaired. Before her election to the state senate, and again in 2005, Bachmann signed a "no new taxes" pledge sponsored by the Taxpayers League of Minnesota. As a state senator, she introduced two bills that would have severely limited state taxation. In 2003, she proposed amending the Minnesota Constitution to adopt the "Taxpayers' Bill of Rights" (TABOR). In 2005, Bachmann opposed Pawlenty's proposal of a state surcharge of 75 cents per pack on the wholesale cost of cigarettes. She said she opposed the surcharge "100 percent—it's a tax increase." The Taxpayers' League later criticized her for reversing her position and voting for the surcharge. Bachmann promised to bring the price of gasoline down to $2 per gallon, without specifying a plan to accomplish this. Environment Bachmann supports increased domestic drilling of oil and natural gas, as well as pursuing renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar. She is a strong proponent of nuclear power. Bachmann has strongly opposed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pledging at an August 2011 campaign rally, "I guarantee you the EPA will have doors locked and lights turned off and they will only be about conservation." In 2007 and 2010, she actively solicited funds from the EPA on behalf of constituents in her congressional district. Social Security and Medicare phase-out Bachmann has called for phasing out Social Security and Medicare: "what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system... But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off." Foreign policy Bachmann has said that in dealing with Iran, diplomacy "is our option", but that other options, including a nuclear strike, should not be ruled out. She has also said that she is "a longtime supporter of Israel". Global economy In a discussion about the G-20 summit in Toronto, during an interview with conservative radio host Scott Hennen, Bachmann stated that she did not want America to be part of the international global economy. Bachmann told The Wall Street Journal that Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams influenced her economic views. She said she was "an Art Laffer fiend" and loved Ludwig von Mises. Immigration Bachmann believes that strengthened enforcement of immigration laws is required for the growth of the American job market. She supports amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow only the immediate family of legal immigrants (not extended family members) priority consideration in the immigration process. She voted against the DREAM Act. She has also said the current law does not need modification but proper enforcement. Bachmann said, "the immigration system in the United States worked very, very well up until the mid-1960s when liberal members of Congress changed the immigration laws." She has expressed support for immigration of highly skilled professionals such as chemists and engineers. Bachmann opposed the 2013 immigration reform bill, claiming that its passage would mean the end of the Republican Party. On WorldNetDaily she said, "This is President Obama's number one political agenda because he knows we will never again have a Republican president ever if amnesty goes into effect." Social issues Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment Bachmann supports both federal and state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and any legal equivalents. In August 2006, the Star Tribune reported that in March 2006, while on a Minneapolis radio show, Bachmann advocated a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. A caller asked her to explain how he, a heterosexual, would be harmed if his gay neighbors were allowed to marry. Bachmann replied, "Public schools would have to teach that homosexuality and same-sex marriage are normal, natural and that maybe children should try them." The Star Tribune also reported that Bachmann had publicly called homosexuality "sexual dysfunction", "sexual identity disorders", and "personal enslavement" leading to "sexual anarchy". In a July 2014 radio interview, Bachmann claimed that gay rights activists want to abolish age of consent laws in the United States so that adults can "prey on little children sexually." In 2020, Bachmann claimed that "transgender Black Marxists" were "seeking the overthrow of the United States and the dissolution of the traditional family." Abortion Bachmann has identified herself as pro-life and has been endorsed in her runs for Congress by the Susan B. Anthony List and Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. At a New Hampshire debate among presidential candidates, when asked if abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest, she responded that she was "100 percent pro-life," implying that such a fetus would have to be carried to term. In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann introduced a bill proposing a constitutional amendment restricting state funds for abortion. The bill died in committee. Federal-backed home loans According to the Washington Post, in 2008 Bachmann may have taken advantage of a federal program for a home loan, then called for dismantling the program, though the Post noted that the public and other members of Congress have taken advantage of such loans despite seeing reasons to criticize them. When asked about it, she said: "This is the problem. It is almost impossible to buy a home in this country today without the federal government being involved". Opinion on President Obama's birth certificate Bachmann claimed not to be part of the birther movement, but said that Obama could resolve the dispute by producing his long-form birth certificate. In April 2011, after Obama released the certificate, George Stephanopoulos asked Bachmann about the issue on Good Morning America. She said that its release "should settle the matter", that "I take the president at his word", and that "We have bigger fish to fry". Political campaigns 2006 congressional campaign Bachmann won her Congressional seat in the 2006 election with 50% of the vote, defeating the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Patty Wetterling and the Independence Party's John Binkowski. The 6th District's representative since 2001, Mark Kennedy, announced in late 2005 that he would run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mark Dayton. Bachmann said, "God then called me to run" for the U.S. House seat, and that she and her husband fasted for three days to be more sure. According to Bloomberg.com, evangelical conservative leader James Dobson put his organization Focus on the Family's resources behind Bachmann's 2006 campaign. The group planned to distribute 250,000 voter guides in Minnesota churches to reach social conservatives, according to Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, a local affiliate of the group. In addition to Minnesota, Dobson's group also organized turnout drives in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and Montana. During a debate televised by WCCO-TV on October 28, 2006, news reporter Pat Kessler quoted a story that appeared in the Star Tribune and asked Bachmann whether it was true that the church she belonged to taught that the Pope is the Anti-Christ. Bachmann replied that her church "does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that's absolutely false ... I'm very grateful that my pastor has come out and been very clear on this matter, and I think it's patently absurd and it's a false statement." In early July 2006, Bachmann received a fundraising visit from Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. On July 21, Karl Rove visited Minnesota to raise funds for her election. In August, President Bush was the keynote speaker at her congressional fundraiser, which raised about $500,000. Bachmann also received fundraising support from Vice President Dick Cheney. The National Republican Congressional Committee put nearly $3 million into the race, for electronic and direct-mail ads against Wetterling, significantly more than the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent on Wetterling's behalf. On November 7, Bachmann won the election with 50% of the vote to Wetterling's 42% and Binkowski's 8%. 2008 congressional campaign In 2008 Bachmann was reelected, defeating DFL and Independence Party nominee Elwyn Tinklenberg with 46.4% of the vote to Tinklenberg's 43.4%. Because Tinklenberg was running as a DFL member in the Democratic primary, Bob Anderson was able to run in the Independence Party primary unopposed, despite not having that party's endorsement. Anderson received 10% of the vote. 2010 congressional campaign In 2010 Bachmann was challenged by DFL nominee Tarryl Clark and Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson. With more than $8.5 million, Bachmann spent more than any other House of Representative candidate, although Clark was able to raise $4 million, one of the largest fundraising efforts in the nation for a U.S. House challenger. On November 2, 2010, Bachmann defeated Clark, 52% to 40%. 2012 presidential campaign In early 2011, amid substantial speculation, Bachmann announced her candidacy for president. She participated in the second Republican presidential debate, in New Hampshire, on June 13, 2011, and during the debate announced that she had filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) earlier that day to become a candidate for the nomination. Bachmann formally announced her candidacy for the nomination on June 27, 2011, during an appearance in Waterloo, Iowa, her birth city. Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll hosted by the Iowa GOP on August 13, 2011, becoming the first woman ever to win the poll, but finished sixth in the January 3, 2012, caucuses, with 4.98% of the vote. On January 4 she canceled her scheduled campaign trips to South Carolina and suspended her campaign. 2012 congressional campaign On January 25, 2012, Bachmann announced that she would run for reelection for her seat in Congress. According to Politico.com, as of July 2012 Bachmann had "raised close to $15 million" for the 2012 election, a figure it called "astounding ... more than some Senate candidates will collect this year." From July to the end of September, Bachmann raised $4.5 million. This amount put her ahead of all other members of Congress (including Allen West who was in second place with $4 million) for the third quarter. Bachmann said she was "humbled by the enormous outpouring of grassroots support for my campaign focused on keeping America the most secure and prosperous nation in the world." Despite a more favorable district Bachmann won reelection only narrowly, receiving just 4,298 more votes than her DFL challenger, Jim Graves. Electoral history Local elections Congressional elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 Autobiography In November 2011 Bachmann published her autobiography, Core of Conviction, in which she outlined the events and people who have shaped her values and beliefs. The book describes her break with the Democratic Party. "It was in the perilous fires of the Carter administration that my ideology was forged," she wrote. "In the seventies, Carter taught me what I was against, and then in the eighties, Reagan taught me what I was for." Reflecting on her role as a Tea Party leader, she elaborated, "I once said that the Tea Party represents 90 percent of Americans. I now realize that I misspoke. I should have said 100 percent, because I believe that nearly all Americans retain faith in the ordered liberty that the Constitution offers." Personal life Family In 1978, as Michele Amble, she married Marcus Bachmann, now a clinical therapist with a master's degree from Regent University and a Ph.D. from Union Graduate School, whom she met while they were undergraduates. After she received an LL.M. in taxation from William & Mary School of Law in 1988, the couple moved to Stillwater, Minnesota, a town of 18,000 near Saint Paul, where they run a Christian counseling center that administered gay conversion therapy. Bachmann and her husband have five children: Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia. In a 2011 town hall meeting, she said that she suffered a miscarriage after the birth of their second child, Harrison, an event she said shaped her anti-abortion views. Bachmann and her husband have also provided foster care to 23 other children, all of whom were teenage girls. The Bachmanns were licensed from 1992 to 2000 to handle up to three foster children at a time, with the last arriving in 1998. The Bachmanns began by providing short-term care for girls with eating disorders who were patients in a University of Minnesota program. Their home was legally defined as a treatment home, with a daily reimbursement rate per child from the state. Some girls stayed a few months, others more than a year. Bachmann is a former beauty pageant queen. Citizenship In May 2012 it was reported that Marcus Bachmann had registered for Swiss citizenship, and thus, under Swiss nationality law, so would Michele and their children. Within two days of the first reports of Bachmann's dual citizenship, Michele Bachmann announced that she had written to the Swiss consulate to withdraw her Swiss citizenship. Religion Bachmann was raised "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; she was a longtime member of Salem Lutheran Church (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) in Stillwater. She and her husband withdrew their membership on June 21, 2011, just before she officially began her presidential campaign. They had not attended the church for over two years. In 2011, the Bachmanns began attending Rockpoint Church in Lake Elmo, member of Evangelical Free Church of America. Bachmann has cited theologian Francis Schaeffer as a "profound influence" on her life and her husband's, especially his film series How Should We Then Live?. She has also described Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity by Nancy Pearcey as a "wonderful" book. Journalist Ryan Lizza has argued that Bachmann's worldview is deeply influenced by the Christian movement known as Dominionism, citing the influence of Schaeffer and Pearcey as evidence. Others have criticized Lizza's article, especially its connection of Schaeffer with Dominionism. Religion writer Sarah Posner broadly concurs with Lizza, pointing to the influence of Christian Reconstructionists Herb Titus and R. J. Rushdoony on Bachmann via the curriculum at O. W. Coburn School of Law. Businesses Bachmann and her husband own a Christian counseling practice, Bachmann & Associates. The clinic is run by her husband, who has a Ph.D. with "a concentration in clinical psychology" from Union Graduate School. Marcus Bachmann is not a licensed clinical psychologist in Minnesota. The clinic received nearly $30,000 from Minnesota government agencies between 2006 and 2010 in addition to at least $137,000 in federal payments and $24,000 in government grants for counselor training. In an interview, Michele Bachmann said that she and her husband had not benefited at taxpayer expense, saying, "the money that went to the clinic was actually training money for employees". Marcus Bachmann has falsely claimed that Bachmann & Associates did not provide conversion therapy, a controversial psychological treatment that has been repudiated by the American Psychological Association as unethical and without medical basis. A former client of Bachmann's clinic and a hidden camera investigator with the activist group Truth Wins Out showed that therapists at the clinic do engage in such practices. In a subsequent interview with the Star Tribune, Marcus Bachmann did not deny that he or other counselors at his clinic used the technique, but said they did so only at a client's request. In personal financial disclosure reports for 2006 through 2009, Bachmann reported earning $32,500 to $105,000 from a farm that was owned at the time by her ailing father-in-law, Paul Bachmann. The farm received $260,000 in federal crop and disaster subsidies between 1995 and 2008. Bachmann said that in 2006–2009, her husband acted as a trustee of the farm for his dying father and so, out of "an abundance of caution", she claimed the farm as income in financial disclosures, though it was her in-laws who profited from the farm during that period. Anonymous threat against her In August 2011 a man tweeted his "desire to engage in sadomasochistic activities" with Bachmann using "a Vietnam era machete" while misspelling her given name as "Michelle" in his tweet. Federal investigators ordered Twitter to reveal his identity. Called Mr. X in the grand jury's subpoena, the man filed a motion to quash the order at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in February 2012. Then-Chief Judge Royce Lamberth denied the request, citing the seriousness of the threat that might have posed to Bachmann, but X was granted the redaction of his identity in a separate order. Donald Trump Bachmann vocally supported then-President Donald Trump, saying in 2017 that he "has had the courage and the fortitude to stand up where other Republicans wouldn't dare to stand up." In December 2020, after the presidential election, she posted a video online praying for a Trump second term. Her online prayer specifically called out the contested election results in Georgia, saying: Lord, would you deliver these races in Georgia? O Father, would you deliver various local and state races, Father, that they aren't stolen? Would you give us a true vote? And, O God, I personally ask, from myself, Michele Bachmann, Lord, would you allow Donald Trump to have a second term as president of the United States? See also United States congressional delegations from Minnesota List of United States representatives from Minnesota Women in the United States House of Representatives References External links Politifact.com File on Michele Bachmann 2008 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org 2010 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org |- |- |- 1956 births Living people 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American women writers 20th-century Lutherans 21st-century Lutherans 21st-century Protestants American autobiographers American Christian Zionists American critics of Islam American evangelicals American people of Norwegian descent American political writers American anti-abortion activists American women lawyers American women non-fiction writers Anoka High School alumni Christians from Iowa Christians from Minnesota Converts to Evangelicalism from Lutheranism Christian critics of Islam Dominion theology Female members of the United States House of Representatives Female candidates for President of the United States Intelligent design advocates Internal Revenue Service people Members of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota Minnesota lawyers Minnesota Republicans Minnesota state senators Oral Roberts University alumni People from Anoka, Minnesota People from Stillwater, Minnesota Politicians from Waterloo, Iowa Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Tea Party movement activists Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election William & Mary Law School alumni Winona State University alumni Women autobiographers Women state legislators in Minnesota
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[ "Elisabeth Augusta of Schleswig-Holstein (28 December 1623 – 9 August 1677) was the daughter of king Christian IV of Denmark and Kirsten Munk. She shared the title Countess of Schleswig-Holstein with her mother and siblings.\n\nBiography\nAs her siblings, she was raised by her grandmother Ellen Marsvin and the royal governess Karen Sehested, but spent 1628-29 at the Swedish court. She was married to Hans Lindenov (d. 1659) in 1639, and became the mother of Sophie Amalie Lindenov. She was described as a vulgar, constantly indebted gambler. She did not side with her sister Leonora Christina Ulfeldt during the conflict between Leonora and the king and was not close to her siblings. She was granted a royal pension in 1664, and was also granted many gifts by king Christian V, but continued to be haunted by debts during her life.\n\nAncestry\n\nReferences \n Dansk biografisk Lexikon / IV. Bind. Clemens - Eynden(in Danish)\n\n1623 births\n1677 deaths\n17th-century Danish nobility\n17th-century Danish women\nLindenov family\nChildren of Christian IV of Denmark", "Princess Amalia of Teck (Amalie Josephine Henriette Agnes Sussane, 12 November 1838 – 20 July 1893), known as Countess Amalie of Hohenstein until her marriage in 1863, was an Austrian noblewoman closely related to the royal houses of Württemberg and the United Kingdom.\n\nBiography \nShe was the third and last of the children of the marriage formed by Duke Alexander of Württemberg and Countess Claudine de Hohenstein (born Countess Rhédey de Kis-Rhéde). As the latter did not belong to any reigning or mediated house, the marriage was declared morganatic and her mother was granted the title of Countess of Hohenstein by Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria. This last title was the one that both Amalie and her siblings carried from their birth. Her siblings were:\n\n Countess Claudine of Hohenstein (1836-1894), later Princess of Teck, single;\n Count Francis of Hohenstein (1837-1900), later Prince of Teck and Duke of Teck, married to Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge;\n\nShe was orphaned in 1841, after her mother died as a result of a horseback riding accident. She spent her childhood and youth in Vienna with her father and siblings.\n\nOn 13 October 1863, she married Count Paul von Hügel, an Austrian officer.\n\nAfter the wedding, they moved to Reinthal Castle, near Graz, owned by her husband's family. Her sister Claudine moved into a Swiss-style chalet near the castle. She had a quiet and provincial life with her family with occasional visits from her brother Francis and his wife Mary Adelaide, as well as his children, among whom was Mary of Teck, future queen consort of the United Kingdom. On 16 December 1871, her cousin Charles I of Württemberg raised her to princess of Teck, just as his father, William I of Württemberg, had done with her siblings on 1 December 1863.\n\nShe died in 1893 as a result of cancer. She was buried in the cemetery of St. Peter in Graz.\n\nTitles and styles \n\n 28 August 1837 – 16 December 1871: Countess Amalie of Hohenstein\n 16 December 1871 – 20 July 1893: Her Serene Highness Princess Amalie of Teck<ref name=\":1\" /\n\nReferences\n\nSources\n\nExternal links \n\n \n\nTeck-Cambridge family\n1838 births\n1893 deaths\nAustrian countesses\nCounts of Hohenstein" ]
[ "Michele Bachmann", "Early life, education, and early career", "When was she born?", "Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa,", "when was she born?", "Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa,", "did she have any siblings?", "I don't know." ]
C_2e05f2abec0143e9ad890a7f98273efd_1
where did she go to school?
4
where did Michele Bachmann go to school?
Michele Bachmann
Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; her family moved from Iowa to Minnesota when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced, Bachmann's father, David John Amble, moved to California, and Bachmann was raised by her mother, Arlene Jean (nee Johnson), who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota. Her mother remarried when Bachmann was a teenager; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working on kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). While there, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986 Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. CANNOTANSWER
She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974
Michele Marie Bachmann (; née Amble; born April 6, 1956) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election, but lost the Republican nomination to Mitt Romney. Born in Waterloo, Iowa, Bachmann moved to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, as a teenager. She graduated from O. W. Coburn School of Law, the law school of Oral Roberts University, and the William & Mary Law School. After graduating, she briefly worked in tax law for the Internal Revenue Service before becoming a stay-at-home mom. She became involved in local politics, specifically around education. Bachmann formally entered politics in 2000, when she was elected to the Minnesota Senate. In 2006, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. After her unsuccessful run for president, Bachmann was elected to another term in the House in 2012, before announcing her retirement before the 2014 election. Early life, education, and early career Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, to Norwegian-American parents David John Amble (1929–2003) and Arlene Jean Amble (née Johnson; born c. 1932). Two of her great-great-great-grandparents, Melchior and Martha Munson, emigrated from Sogndal, Norway, to Wisconsin in 1857. David was an engineer. Her family moved from Iowa to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced when she was 14, David moved to California and remarried. Bachmann was raised by her mother, who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota, where they moved again. Three years later her mother married widower Raymond J. LaFave; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. Bachmann graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working at kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). There she studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986, Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. Early political activism Bachmann grew up in a Democratic family and has said she became a Republican during her senior year at Winona State University. She told the Star Tribune that she was reading Gore Vidal's 1973 novel Burr and claimed that "[h]e was kind of mocking the Founding Fathers and I just thought—I just remember reading the book, putting it in my lap, looking out the window and thinking, 'You know what? I don't think I am a Democrat. I must be a Republican. While still a Democrat, she and her then-fiancé, Marcus, were motivated to join the anti-abortion movement after watching Francis Schaeffer's 1976 Christian documentary film How Should We Then Live? They prayed outside of clinics and engaged in sidewalk interference, an activity in which anti-abortion activists attempt to persuade women entering clinics not to get abortions. Bachmann has since made statements supportive of sidewalk interference. Bachmann supported Jimmy Carter for president in 1976, and she and her husband worked on his campaign. During Carter's presidency, Bachmann became disappointed with his liberal approach to public policy, support for legalized abortion and economic decisions she held responsible for increased gas prices. In the 1980 presidential election, she voted for Ronald Reagan and worked for his campaign. Bachmann's political activism gained media attention at an anti-abortion protest in 1991. She and approximately 30 other protesters went to a Ramsey County Board meeting where $3 million was to be appropriated to build a morgue for the county at St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center (now Regions Hospital). The Medical Center performed abortions and employed pro-choice activist Jane Hodgson. Bachmann voiced her opposition to tax dollars going to the hospital; to the Star Tribune, she said, "in effect, since 1973, I have been a landlord of an abortion clinic, and I don't like that distinction". In 1993, Bachmann and other parents started the K–12 New Heights Charter School in Stillwater. The publicly funded school's charter mandated that it be non-sectarian in all programs and practices, but the school soon developed a strong Christian orientation. Parents of students at the school complained and the superintendent of schools warned Bachmann that the school was in violation of state law. Six months after the school's founding, Bachmann resigned and the Christian orientation was removed from the curriculum, allowing the school to keep its charter. Bachmann began speaking against a state-mandated set of educational standards, which propelled her into politics. Bachmann became a critic and opponent of Minnesota's School-to-Work policies. In a 1999 column, she wrote, "School-to-Work alters the basic mission and purpose of K–12 academic education away from traditional broad-based academic studies geared toward maximizing intellectual achievement of the individual. Instead, School-to-Work utilizes the school day to promote children's acquisition of workplace skills, viewing children as trainees for increased economic productivity." In November 1999, Bachmann and four other Republicans were candidates, as the "Slate of Five", in an election for the school board of Stillwater. All five lost. Minnesota Senate In 2000 Bachmann defeated 18-year incumbent Gary Laidig for the Republican nomination for state senator in Minnesota District 56. In the general election she defeated Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Ted Thompson and Minnesota Independence Party Lyno Sullivan. In 2002, after redistricting due to the 2000 Census, Bachmann defeated another incumbent, DFL State Senator Jane Krentz, in the newly drawn State Senate District 52. Bachmann's agenda as a state senator focused on opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment On November 20, 2003, Bachmann and Representative Mary Liz Holberg proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar the state from legally recognizing same-sex marriage. In 2004 Bachmann and a coalition of religious leaders announced plans for a "Minnesota for Marriage" rally. Her effort to place a marriage amendment on a referendum ballot in 2004 failed. She resurrected the proposal in March 2005, but it stalled indefinitely in a senate committee that April. Assistant Minority Leader In November 2004 Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Day appointed Bachmann Assistant Minority Leader in charge of policy of the Senate Republican Caucus. In July 2005 the Republican Caucus removed her from her leadership position. Bachmann said that disagreements with Day over her anti-tax stance were the reason for her ouster. U.S. House of Representatives From 2007 to 2015 Bachmann represented , which includes the northernmost and eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities and St. Cloud. She is the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House from Minnesota. 110th Congress Foreign affairs Bachmann voted "No" on a January 2007 resolution in the House of Representatives opposing President George W. Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq, but called for a full hearing in advance of the troop surge, saying, "the American people deserve to hear and understand the merits of increasing U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Increased troop presence is justifiable if that measure would bring a swift conclusion to a difficult conflict." She hesitated to give a firm endorsement, calling the hearings "a good first step in explaining to the American people the course toward victory in Iraq." Member of Congressional delegation In July 2007 Bachmann joined a Congressional delegation visiting Ireland, Germany, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Iraq. She met briefly (due to security concerns) with U.S. personnel in the Green Zone and upon her return said she "was encouraged by reports of progress from Crocker, General David Petraeus and other personnel in Iraq linked to the surge". She said the surge "hasn't had a chance to be in place long enough to offer a critique of how it's working. [Petraeus] said al-Qaida in Iraq is off its plan and we want to keep it that way. The surge has only been fully in place for a week or so." Bachmann also spoke of the delegation's visit to Islamabad to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Aziz at the same time as the siege of Islamic fundamentalists at the Lal Masjid mosque elsewhere in the city. She reported, "The group [of U.S. Legislators] had to travel in armored vehicles and was constantly accompanied by Pakistani military ... We were all able to see extremely up close and personal what it's like to be in a region where fighting is occurring. We constantly felt like we were in need of security." Bachmann told reporters upon her return that "the dangers posed by Islamic terrorism in Iraq, Britain and Pakistan justified the continued American military presence in Iraq." She said, "We don't want to see al-Qaida get a presence in the United States. Al-Qaida doesn't seem to show any signs of letting up. We have to keep that in mind." Higher education On July 11, 2007, Bachmann voted against the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The act raised the maximum Pell grant from $4,310 to $5,200, lowered interest rates on subsidized student loans from 6.8% to 3.4%, raised loan limits from $7,500 to $30,500, disfavored married students who filed joint tax returns, provided more favorable repayment terms to students who could not use their education to prosper financially, and favored public sector over private sector workers with much more favorable loan forgiveness benefits. Supporters of the bill said it would allow more students to attend college and prosper for the rest of their lives. Bachmann said she opposed the act because "it fails students and taxpayers with gimmicks, hidden costs and poorly targeted aid. It contains no serious reform of existing programs, and it favors the costly, government-run direct lending program over nonprofit and commercial lenders." The bill passed the House and was signed by President Bush. Energy and environment During the summer of 2008, as national gasoline prices rose to over $4 a gallon, Bachmann became a leading Congressional advocate for increased domestic oil and natural gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf. She joined ten other House Republicans and members of the media on a Congressional Energy Tour to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, and to Alaska. The trip was arranged by Arctic Power, an Alaskan lobbying group that advocates for ANWR development. Its purpose was to receive a firsthand account of emerging renewable energy technologies and the prospects of increased domestic oil and natural gas production in Alaska, including ANWR. Bachmann rejects the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is real, progressing, and primarily caused by humans. She has claimed that global warming is "all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax" and has been called "one of the GOP's loudest global warming skeptics." She has claimed, baselessly, that "because life requires carbon dioxide and it is part of the planet's life cycle, it cannot be harmful." On the House floor on Earth Day 2009, Bachmann said she opposed cap and trade climate legislation, again making disproven claims that "carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas. Carbon dioxide is natural; it is not harmful ... We're being told we have to reduce this natural substance to create an arbitrary reduction in something that is naturally occurring in the earth." In March 2008 Bachmann introduced H.R. 849, the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act. The bill would have repealed two sections of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 signed into law by George W. Bush. The 2007 Energy Act mandates energy efficiency and labeling standards for incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. Bachmann's bill would have required the Government Accountability Office to show that a change to fluorescent bulbs would have "clear economic, health and environmental benefits" before enforcing lighting efficiency regulations. The bill would have allowed these standards to remain in place if the comptroller general found they would lead to consumer savings, reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and pose no health risks to consumers (such as risks posed by the presence of mercury in fluorescent bulbs). The bill languished in the House and became inactive at the end of the 110th Congress. Bachmann reintroduced the bill in March 2011. Tort reform On June 3, 2008, President Bush signed the Credit and Debit Card Receipt Clarification Act (H.R. 4008) into law. The bipartisan bill, which Bachmann cosponsored with Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.), removed statutory damages for violations of a 2003 federal law prohibiting merchants from printing consumers' credit card numbers and expiration dates on sales receipts, in order to end class-action lawsuits aimed at businesses that violated the law. Financial sector Bachmann opposed both versions of the Wall Street bailout bill for America's financial sector. She voted against the first proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions, which failed to pass, by a vote of 205–228. She also advocated breaking up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and barring executives from excessive compensation or golden parachutes, and advocated a plan that would suspend mark-to-market accounting rules and suspend the capital gains tax. Auto industry The American auto companies approached Congress to ask for roughly $15 billion in loans to keep them operational into 2009. Bachmann criticized that bill, fearing that the initial sum of money would be followed by subsequent ones without the companies making changes to revive their business. Bachmann supported an alternative plan for American auto companies and the rest of the auto industry that would have set benchmarks for reducing their debt and renegotiating labor deals and have set up the financial assistance as interim insurance instead of a taxpayer-financed bailout. Call for a media "exposé" of alleged "anti-Americanism" of Barack Obama and members of Congress On October 17, 2008, Bachmann gave an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews in support of the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain that brought the Minnesota 6th Congressional District race national attention. During the interview she criticized Barack Obama for his association with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, saying, "usually we associate with people who have similar ideas to us, and it seems that it calls into question what Barack Obama's true beliefs, and values, and thoughts are ... I am very concerned that he [Obama] may have anti-American views." She noted the bombing campaign orchestrated by Bill Ayers before discussing his association with Obama, arguing that "Bill Ayers is not someone the average American wants to see their president have an association with." Matthews followed up by asking "But he [Obama] is a Senator from the state of Illinois; he's one of the members of Congress you suspect of being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama; is he alone or are there others?" Bachmann answered, "What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look ... I wish they would ... I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America, or anti-America. I think people would love to see an exposé like that." In response, the five Democratic members of Minnesota's congressional delegation—Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar—issued a joint statement questioning Bachmann's ability to "work in a bipartisan way to put the interests of our country first in this time of crisis." Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson said her comments had influenced their decisions to endorse Obama for president. Bachmann brought up the interview before business leaders and Republicans during a campaign stop in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on October 21, 2008. She claimed she never intended to question Obama's patriotism. "I made a misstatement. I said a comment that I would take back. I did not, nor do I, question Barack Obama's patriotism ... I did not say that Barack Obama is anti-American nor do I believe that Barack Obama is anti-American ... [But] I'm very concerned about Barack Obama's views. I don't believe that socialism is a good thing for America." At a March 2010 fund-raiser for the Susan B. Anthony List, Bachmann said, "I said I had very serious concerns that Barack Obama had anti-American views—and now I look like Nostradamus". In March 2011 she was asked on Meet the Press whether she still believed that Obama held un-American views. She responded, "I believe that the actions of this government have—have been emblematic of ones that have not been based on true American values." Pressed for clarification, she said, "I've already answered that question before. I said I had very serious concerns about the president's views." 111th Congress Global currency On March 26, 2009, following comments by China proposing adoption of a global reserve currency, Bachmann introduced a resolution calling for a Constitutional amendment to bar the dollar from being replaced by a foreign currency. Current law prohibits foreign currency from being recognized in the U.S., but Bachmann expressed concerns relating to the president's power to make and interpret treaties. Earlier that month, at a Financial Services Committee hearing, Bachmann asked both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke whether they would reject calls for the U.S. to move away from the U.S. dollar and they replied that they would. 2010 Census In a June 17, 2009, interview with The Washington Times, Bachmann expressed concern that the questions on the 2010 United States Census had become "very intricate, very personal" and that ACORN, a community organizing group that had come under fire the previous year, might be part of the Census Bureau's door-to-door information collection efforts. She said, "I know, for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that." According to Politifact, her statement was incorrect, as the Constitution does require citizens to complete the census. Fellow Republican Representatives Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.) and John Mica (Fla.), members of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives, which oversees the census, subsequently asked Bachmann not to boycott the population count. Along with Congressman Ted Poe (Tex.-02), Bachmann introduced the American Community Survey Act to limit the amount of personal information the U.S. Census Bureau solicits. She reiterated her belief that the census asked too many personal questions. Cap-and-Trade legislation In March 2009 Bachmann was interviewed by the Northern Alliance Radio Network and promoted two forums she was hosting the next month in St. Cloud and Woodbury about Obama's proposed cap-and-trade tax policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions. She said she wanted Minnesotans "armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back." Bachmann's office quickly clarified that she was speaking metaphorically, meaning "armed with knowledge". According to the Star Tribune, her quote went viral across the Internet. AmeriCorps In 2009 Bachmann became a critic of what she characterized as proposals for mandatory public service. Of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an expansion to AmeriCorps (a federal community service organization), she said in April: The original bill called for an exploration of whether a mandatory public service program could be established, but the section on creating a "Congressional Commission on Civic Service" was stripped from the bill. In August 2009 Bachmann's political opponents publicized in the local media and the blogosphere what they described as the "ironic" fact that her son, Harrison, joined Teach for America, part of the AmeriCorps program. Health care Bachmann contributed to the "death panel" controversy when she read from a July 24 article by former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey on the House floor. Sarah Palin said that her "death panel" remark was inspired by what she called the "Orwellian" opinions of Ezekiel Emanuel as described by Bachmann, who accused him of advocating health care rationing by age and disability. According to PolitiFact and Time, Bachmann's euthanasia remarks distorted Emanuel's position on health care for the elderly and disabled. FactCheck.org stated, "We agree that Emanuel's meaning is being twisted." When many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it. On August 31, 2009, Bachmann spoke at an event in Colorado, saying of Democratic health care overhaul proposals that: She outlined ideas for changing the health care system, including: "Erase the boundaries around every single state when it comes to health care", enabling consumers to purchase insurance across state lines; increase the use of health savings accounts and allow everyone to "take full deductibility of all medical expenses", including insurance premiums; and tort reform. Bachmann denounced the government-run health insurance public option, calling it a "government takeover of health care" that would "squeeze out private health insurance". Criticism of President Obama's visit to Asia In a November 3, 2010, interview with Anderson Cooper, while discussing spending cuts for Medicare and Social Security suggested by Representative Paul Ryan, Bachmann was asked what spending cuts she would make to reduce the deficit. She cited President Obama's then-upcoming visit to Asia as an example, saying it "is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. He's taking two thousand people with him. He'll be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are 5-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending—it's a very small example, Anderson." Bachmann was apparently referring to information in a story from the Press Trust of India, attributed to "a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit", information that was also published in U.S.-based media such as The Drudge Report. A Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, dismissed the report's claim that 34 warships were accompanying the President as "comical". The White House said that the press report figures were "wildly inflated" and had "no basis in reality". While stating that they could not give the actual projected figures for security reasons, staffers maintained costs were in line with the official travel costs of previous presidents Bush and Clinton. 112th Congress Leadership run After the 2010 elections and Representative Mike Pence's announcement that he was stepping away from his leadership position in the House, Bachmann announced her intention to seek the position of House Republican Conference Chair. As Bachmann was the founder of the House's Tea Party Caucus, her announcement caused some to see the leadership election as "an early test of how GOP leaders will treat the antiestablishment movement's winners". Many among the House's Republican leadership, including Eric Cantor and the retiring Pence, were quick to endorse Representative Jeb Hensarling for the position; Speaker-to-be John Boehner remained neutral on the issue. Supporters of Bachmann's run included Representatives Steve King, John Kline, Louie Gohmert, Chip Cravaack, and Erik Paulsen, as well as media personality and political commentator Glenn Beck. Listing her qualifications for the position, Bachmann noted, "I've done an effective job speaking out at a national and local level, motivating people with our message, calling attention to deficits in Obama's policy. I was instrumental in bringing tens of thousands of people to the U.S. capitol to rally against Obama care and to attend our press conference." She noted her work to keep the Tea Party within the GOP rather than having it become a third party, thereby helping the party capture the House, saying, "I have been able to bring a voice and motivate people to, in effect, put that gavel in John Boehner's hands, so that Republicans can lead going forward. …It's important that leadership represents the choice of the people coming into our caucus….I think I have motivated a high number of people to get involved in this cycle who may have sat it out and that have made a difference on a number of these races. I gave a large amount of money to NRCC and individual candidates and started Michele PAC, which raised $650,000 for members since July, so I was able to financially help about 50 people out." Bachmann's bid suffered a setback when she was passed over for the GOP's transition team on which Hensarling was placed. Despite Bachmann's leading all other Representatives in fundraising, a Republican aide said some "members are getting resentful of Bachmann, who they say is making the argument that you're not really a Tea Party supporter unless you support her. That's gone through the formation of the Tea Party Caucus and the formation of this candidacy of hers. It's just not so." Sarah Palin, with whom Bachmann had campaigned earlier in the year, declined to endorse her leadership bid, while other Tea Party favorites, Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Tim Scott, were placed on the transition team. According to some senior House staff members, the party leadership was concerned about some of Bachmann's high-profile faux pas, the high rate of turnover among her staff, and how willing she would be to advance the party's messaging rather than her own. On November 10 Bachmann released a statement ending her campaign for Conference Chair and giving Hensarling her "enthusiastic" support. Committee assignment House Speaker John Boehner selected Bachmann for a position "on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, giving her a new role as overseer of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community." Bachmann, who had "not served on any committee that deals with foreign policy issues" requested the position, "a move that has fueled speculation that she may be planning to carry the Tea Party banner into the GOP presidential primaries." Repeal of Dodd–Frank reform Soon after beginning her third term, Bachmann introduced legislation to repeal the Dodd–Frank financial reform law. She said, "I'm pleased to offer a full repeal of the job-killing Dodd–Frank financial regulatory bill. Dodd–Frank grossly expanded the federal government beyond its jurisdictional boundaries. It gave Washington bureaucrats the power to interpret and enforce the legislation with little oversight. Real financial regulatory reform must deal with these lenders who were a leading cause of our economic recession. True reform must also end the bailout mind-set that was perpetuated by the last Congress." She also took issue with the law for not addressing the liabilities of the tax-payer funded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bachmann's bill was endorsed by conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity. It gained four other Republican co-sponsors, including Representative Darrell Issa, who became the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at the start of the 112th Congress. Bachmann's call for total repeal was seen as more drastic than the approach advocated by her fellow Republican Spencer Bachus, who became the House Financial Services Committee Chairman when Republicans gained the House majority. Bachus planned "to provide 'vigorous' oversight of regulators efforts to reform banking and housing ... reform Fannie and Freddie", and "dismantle pieces of [the] Dodd–Frank Act that he believes 'unnecessarily punish small businesses and community banks.'" In response to Bachmann's legislation Representative Barney Frank said, "Michele Bachmann, the Club for Growth, and others in the right-wing coalition have now made their agenda for the financial sector very clear: they yearn to return to the thrilling days of yesteryear, so the loan arrangers can ride again—untrammeled by any rules restraining irresponsibility, excess, deception, and most of all, infinite leverage." It was seen as unlikely that Bachmann's legislation would pass, with the Financial Times writing, "Like the Republican move to repeal healthcare reform, Ms. Bachmann's bill could be passed by the House of Representatives but be blocked by the Senate or White House." State of the Union response Bachmann responded to Obama's 2011 State of the Union speech on the Tea Party Express website; her speech was broadcast live by CNN. She insisted that her response was not intended to counter Paul Ryan's official Republican party response. When asked whether the speech was an indication of competition with Ryan and Boehner's leadership team, Bachmann dismissed such a view as "a fiction of the media", saying she had alerted Ryan and the leadership team that her response might go national and that no objections were raised. Health care Bachmann continually called for repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). She recalled to reporters that she called for debate to repeal the act "the morning after Obamacare passed". With Steve King she introduced "the Bachmann-King repeal of health care bill", saying that it "is our intent in our heart to make sure that Obamacare is completely repealed." In light of the Democratic-majority Senate's and Obama's opposition to repeal, Bachmann called on the Republican held House of Representatives not to provide any funds for implementation of the act. "But until we can see that [repeal] happen, we want to fully defund this bill so that, like, it would be akin to a helium balloon that gets no helium inside so that it can't take off the ground, and that's what we're planning to do. I'm very, very grateful for nothing else; having a majority in the House of Representatives so that we have the ability of the power of the purse to not fund Obamacare, and this is exactly the right way to go", she said. On March 4, 2011, Bachmann, one of the six House Republicans to vote against the continuing resolution that gave a two-week extension until a possible government shutdown, expressed her unhappiness with its passage. In an appearance on Meet the Press on March 6 and during a March 7 interview with Sean Hannity, Bachmann claimed that the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats had hidden $105 billion in spending in the overhaul of the American Health Care System. She portrayed the Democratic leadership as timing the release of the bill's text to avoid detection of the spending. "We didn't get the bill until a literally couple of hours before we were supposed to vote on it", she said. She also said the spending was split up within different portions of the bill to mask its total cost. Bachmann was told this by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which claimed to have read the tallies of the Congressional Research Service and Congressional Budget Office. According to some reports of the costs, "about $40 billion would go to the Children's Health Insurance Program, $15 billion would go to Medicare and Medicaid innovation programs, and $9.5 billion would go to the Community Health Centers Fund." As the funds are designated mandatory spending (not controlled by the annual appropriations acts), the funds would have remained even if the move to defund the reform law had succeeded. Bachmann stated that $16 billion of the money gives Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius a "slush fund ... [to do] whatever she wants with this money." She called on the bills supporters to return the money, saying, "I think this deception that the president and [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid put forward with appropriating over $105 billion needs to be given back to the people." When asked during the Meet the Press interview if she would take back her previous comments that Obama "may have anti-American views" and that his administration had "embraced something called gangster government", Bachmann stood by her statements, saying, "I do believe that actions that have been taken by this White House—I don't take back my statements on gangster government. I think that there have been actions taken by the government that are corrupt ... I said I have very serious concerns about the president's views, and I think the president's actions in the last two years speak for themselves." In response to Bachmann's charges, Chief Deputy Democratic Whip Jan Schakowsky, who served on the House health subcommittee, pointed out that the report in question was an update of a report that came out in October 2010 and that the costs were spelled out in both the bill and the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of its cost, saying, "Michele Bachmann obviously didn't read the bill, because there was absolutely nothing hidden in that legislation." Schakowsky said the costs were not kept secret, citing the $40 billion for the Children's Health Insurance Program as an example: "There was a robust debate about whether or not that should be included, etc. So this idea of somehow, now at the last minute, there was a secret addition to some kind of funding ... is absolute nonsense." In a September 2011 Republican presidential debate in Tampa, Bachmann criticized Rick Perry for his support for the humanpapilloma virus (HPV) vaccine and his support for mandating the HPV vaccine for all sixth-grade Texas girls. The American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and other medical organizations worldwide support immunizing girls and boys against HPV. HPV can cause lesions and genital warts, and has been linked to cervical cancer as well as genital and oral cancers in people of any gender. Because the vaccine is effective only if given before the onset of sexual activity and subsequent exposure to the virus, medical groups recommend the three-dose vaccine be given to 11- and 12-year-olds. During the debate and in interviews afterward, Bachmann accused Perry of "crony capitalism" (because Perry's former chief of staff was chief lobbyist for a drug company manufacturing the vaccine), and baselessly claimed that the HPV vaccine was dangerous and caused "mental retardation." She repeatedly referred to an anecdotal account from a mother of a girl who had been immunized for HPV, saying, "She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered mental retardation thereafter ... There is no second chance for these little girls if there is [sic] any dangerous consequences to their bodies." Shortly after Bachmann's statements at the debate, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement: "The American Academy of Pediatrics would like to correct false statements made in the Republican presidential campaign that the HPV vaccine is dangerous and can cause mental retardation. There is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement. Since the vaccine has been introduced, more than 35 million doses have been administered, and it has an excellent safety record." Fewer than one percent of those receiving the vaccine reported neurological side effects or, in rare cases, severe allergic reactions, none linked to changes in cognitive ability. Bachmann later acknowledged that she was not a doctor or a scientist. Muslim Brotherhood In June–July 2012, Bachmann and several other Republican legislators sent a series of letters to oversight agencies at five federal departments citing "serious security concerns" about what Bachmann has called a "deep penetration in the halls of our United States government" by the Muslim Brotherhood. They requested formal investigations into what Bachmann called "influence operations" by the Brotherhood. Bachmann also accused Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Rep. Anthony Weiner's wife, of having family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. Bachmann's comments have drawn what the Washington Post calls "fierce criticism from fellow lawmakers and religious groups." In a speech on the Senate floor, 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain denounced Bachmann's charges as "specious and degrading". He defended Abedin as a "hard-working and loyal servant of our country and our government" and stated "these attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no merit. They need to stop now." House Speaker John Boehner termed Bachmann's allegations "dangerous", and other Republicans have also criticized the remarks. Ed Rollins, Bachmann’s former campaign manager, called on her to apologize to Abedin and characterized her allegations as “extreme and dishonest.” In a letter to Bachmann, her colleague Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a Muslim, asked for evidence backing her claims and stated, "Your response simply rehashes claims that have existed for years on anti-Muslim websites and contains no reliable information that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. government". Bachmann replied that "the intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group's access to top Obama administration officials". In a July 19 interview with radio and TV show host Glenn Beck, Bachmann repeated and expanded her allegations, accusing Ellison of having "a long record of being associated with the Council on American–Islamic Relations and with the Muslim Brotherhood". Ellison replied that "I am not now, nor have I ever been, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood." 113th Congress Presidential campaign finance investigation In 2013, Bachmann was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, the Federal Election Commission, the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee, the Urbandale Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation because of alleged campaign finance violations in her 2012 campaign for president. It is alleged that members of her staff made under-the-table payments, that funds were illegally transferred from her leadership PAC to pay consultants for her presidential campaign and that hidden payments were made to Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson. Additionally, a lawsuit was filed alleging that Bachmann and several former staffers stole and misused an Iowa homeschool group's e-mail distribution list. The trial, Heki v. Bachmann, had been set for May 14, 2014, but the case was settled out of court on June 28, 2013. On July 26, 2013, the House Ethics Committee announced they were conducting a full investigation of Bachmann, saying that they had received a referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics. Retirement On May 29, 2013, Bachmann announced that she would not seek reelection to her Congressional seat in 2014. In a June 2013 Fox News interview, she said she was "not going silent" and would remain involved in politics. She did not rule out a future run for office, or even the White House. With her retirement from Congress, the ethics investigations against her were dropped. During a December 2017 New Year's weekend interview with televangelist Jim Bakker, Bachmann said that she was considering running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Al Franken but was awaiting "God's counsel" before deciding. David Lightman and Trevor Graff, writing for McClatchyDC, argued that Bachmann left a "legacy of political missteps and lots of incendiary rhetoric—often loaded with false accusations and wild exaggerations." Committee assignments Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Political positions Education Bachmann supports the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in public school science classes. During a 2003 interview on the KKMS Christian radio program Talk The Walk, Bachmann said that evolution is a theory that has never been proven one way or the other. She co-authored a bill (with no additional endorsements among her fellow legislators) that would require public schools to include alternative explanations for the origin of life as part of the state's public school science curricula. In October 2006, Bachmann told a debate audience in St. Cloud, Minnesota, "there is a controversy among scientists about whether evolution is a fact or not ... There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design." Despite this, there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that evolution is real, and that intelligent design is not. Indeed, at least one news report presenting a "sampling of Bachmann's ... ludicrous or plain old false claims", stated that Bachmann’s claims are untrue, and that "when the science isn't on [Bachmann's] side, she simply improvises." Bachmann has praised the Christian youth ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCRBYCH), hailing "the group's work of sharing the gospel in public schools". She appeared as a keynote speaker at their fundraisers in 2006 and 2009. Following a 2011 controversial invocation for the Minnesota House, YCRBYCH founder Bradlee Dean declared that criticisms of him and his ministry were also "intended to harm and destroy the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann ... [who] previously praised and prayed for the work of my ministry". Bachmann has had a history of opposing anti-bullying legislation. In 2006, she told the Minnesota Legislature that passing an anti-bullying bill would be a waste of time. "I think for all of us, our experience in public schools is there have always been bullies", she said. "Always have been, always will be. I just don't know how we're ever going to get to the point of zero tolerance ... What does it mean? ... Will we be expecting boys to be girls?" Fiscal policy In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann opposed minimum wage increases. In a June 2011 interview, she did not back away from her earlier proposal to eliminate the federal minimum wage, a change she said would "virtually wipe out unemployment." In a 2001 flyer, Bachmann and Michael J. Chapman wrote that federal policies manage a centralized, state-controlled economy in the United States. She wrote that education laws passed by Congress in 2001, including "School To Work" and "Goals 2000", created a new national school curriculum that embraced "a socialist, globalist worldview; loyalty to all government and not America." In 2003, Bachmann said that the "Tax Free Zones" economic initiatives of Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty were based on the Marxist principle of "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." She also said the administration was attempting to govern and run centrally planned economies through the Minnesota Economic Leadership Team (MELT), an advisory board on economic and workforce policy Pawlenty chaired. Before her election to the state senate, and again in 2005, Bachmann signed a "no new taxes" pledge sponsored by the Taxpayers League of Minnesota. As a state senator, she introduced two bills that would have severely limited state taxation. In 2003, she proposed amending the Minnesota Constitution to adopt the "Taxpayers' Bill of Rights" (TABOR). In 2005, Bachmann opposed Pawlenty's proposal of a state surcharge of 75 cents per pack on the wholesale cost of cigarettes. She said she opposed the surcharge "100 percent—it's a tax increase." The Taxpayers' League later criticized her for reversing her position and voting for the surcharge. Bachmann promised to bring the price of gasoline down to $2 per gallon, without specifying a plan to accomplish this. Environment Bachmann supports increased domestic drilling of oil and natural gas, as well as pursuing renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar. She is a strong proponent of nuclear power. Bachmann has strongly opposed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pledging at an August 2011 campaign rally, "I guarantee you the EPA will have doors locked and lights turned off and they will only be about conservation." In 2007 and 2010, she actively solicited funds from the EPA on behalf of constituents in her congressional district. Social Security and Medicare phase-out Bachmann has called for phasing out Social Security and Medicare: "what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system... But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off." Foreign policy Bachmann has said that in dealing with Iran, diplomacy "is our option", but that other options, including a nuclear strike, should not be ruled out. She has also said that she is "a longtime supporter of Israel". Global economy In a discussion about the G-20 summit in Toronto, during an interview with conservative radio host Scott Hennen, Bachmann stated that she did not want America to be part of the international global economy. Bachmann told The Wall Street Journal that Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams influenced her economic views. She said she was "an Art Laffer fiend" and loved Ludwig von Mises. Immigration Bachmann believes that strengthened enforcement of immigration laws is required for the growth of the American job market. She supports amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow only the immediate family of legal immigrants (not extended family members) priority consideration in the immigration process. She voted against the DREAM Act. She has also said the current law does not need modification but proper enforcement. Bachmann said, "the immigration system in the United States worked very, very well up until the mid-1960s when liberal members of Congress changed the immigration laws." She has expressed support for immigration of highly skilled professionals such as chemists and engineers. Bachmann opposed the 2013 immigration reform bill, claiming that its passage would mean the end of the Republican Party. On WorldNetDaily she said, "This is President Obama's number one political agenda because he knows we will never again have a Republican president ever if amnesty goes into effect." Social issues Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment Bachmann supports both federal and state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and any legal equivalents. In August 2006, the Star Tribune reported that in March 2006, while on a Minneapolis radio show, Bachmann advocated a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. A caller asked her to explain how he, a heterosexual, would be harmed if his gay neighbors were allowed to marry. Bachmann replied, "Public schools would have to teach that homosexuality and same-sex marriage are normal, natural and that maybe children should try them." The Star Tribune also reported that Bachmann had publicly called homosexuality "sexual dysfunction", "sexual identity disorders", and "personal enslavement" leading to "sexual anarchy". In a July 2014 radio interview, Bachmann claimed that gay rights activists want to abolish age of consent laws in the United States so that adults can "prey on little children sexually." In 2020, Bachmann claimed that "transgender Black Marxists" were "seeking the overthrow of the United States and the dissolution of the traditional family." Abortion Bachmann has identified herself as pro-life and has been endorsed in her runs for Congress by the Susan B. Anthony List and Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. At a New Hampshire debate among presidential candidates, when asked if abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest, she responded that she was "100 percent pro-life," implying that such a fetus would have to be carried to term. In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann introduced a bill proposing a constitutional amendment restricting state funds for abortion. The bill died in committee. Federal-backed home loans According to the Washington Post, in 2008 Bachmann may have taken advantage of a federal program for a home loan, then called for dismantling the program, though the Post noted that the public and other members of Congress have taken advantage of such loans despite seeing reasons to criticize them. When asked about it, she said: "This is the problem. It is almost impossible to buy a home in this country today without the federal government being involved". Opinion on President Obama's birth certificate Bachmann claimed not to be part of the birther movement, but said that Obama could resolve the dispute by producing his long-form birth certificate. In April 2011, after Obama released the certificate, George Stephanopoulos asked Bachmann about the issue on Good Morning America. She said that its release "should settle the matter", that "I take the president at his word", and that "We have bigger fish to fry". Political campaigns 2006 congressional campaign Bachmann won her Congressional seat in the 2006 election with 50% of the vote, defeating the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Patty Wetterling and the Independence Party's John Binkowski. The 6th District's representative since 2001, Mark Kennedy, announced in late 2005 that he would run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mark Dayton. Bachmann said, "God then called me to run" for the U.S. House seat, and that she and her husband fasted for three days to be more sure. According to Bloomberg.com, evangelical conservative leader James Dobson put his organization Focus on the Family's resources behind Bachmann's 2006 campaign. The group planned to distribute 250,000 voter guides in Minnesota churches to reach social conservatives, according to Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, a local affiliate of the group. In addition to Minnesota, Dobson's group also organized turnout drives in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and Montana. During a debate televised by WCCO-TV on October 28, 2006, news reporter Pat Kessler quoted a story that appeared in the Star Tribune and asked Bachmann whether it was true that the church she belonged to taught that the Pope is the Anti-Christ. Bachmann replied that her church "does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that's absolutely false ... I'm very grateful that my pastor has come out and been very clear on this matter, and I think it's patently absurd and it's a false statement." In early July 2006, Bachmann received a fundraising visit from Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. On July 21, Karl Rove visited Minnesota to raise funds for her election. In August, President Bush was the keynote speaker at her congressional fundraiser, which raised about $500,000. Bachmann also received fundraising support from Vice President Dick Cheney. The National Republican Congressional Committee put nearly $3 million into the race, for electronic and direct-mail ads against Wetterling, significantly more than the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent on Wetterling's behalf. On November 7, Bachmann won the election with 50% of the vote to Wetterling's 42% and Binkowski's 8%. 2008 congressional campaign In 2008 Bachmann was reelected, defeating DFL and Independence Party nominee Elwyn Tinklenberg with 46.4% of the vote to Tinklenberg's 43.4%. Because Tinklenberg was running as a DFL member in the Democratic primary, Bob Anderson was able to run in the Independence Party primary unopposed, despite not having that party's endorsement. Anderson received 10% of the vote. 2010 congressional campaign In 2010 Bachmann was challenged by DFL nominee Tarryl Clark and Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson. With more than $8.5 million, Bachmann spent more than any other House of Representative candidate, although Clark was able to raise $4 million, one of the largest fundraising efforts in the nation for a U.S. House challenger. On November 2, 2010, Bachmann defeated Clark, 52% to 40%. 2012 presidential campaign In early 2011, amid substantial speculation, Bachmann announced her candidacy for president. She participated in the second Republican presidential debate, in New Hampshire, on June 13, 2011, and during the debate announced that she had filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) earlier that day to become a candidate for the nomination. Bachmann formally announced her candidacy for the nomination on June 27, 2011, during an appearance in Waterloo, Iowa, her birth city. Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll hosted by the Iowa GOP on August 13, 2011, becoming the first woman ever to win the poll, but finished sixth in the January 3, 2012, caucuses, with 4.98% of the vote. On January 4 she canceled her scheduled campaign trips to South Carolina and suspended her campaign. 2012 congressional campaign On January 25, 2012, Bachmann announced that she would run for reelection for her seat in Congress. According to Politico.com, as of July 2012 Bachmann had "raised close to $15 million" for the 2012 election, a figure it called "astounding ... more than some Senate candidates will collect this year." From July to the end of September, Bachmann raised $4.5 million. This amount put her ahead of all other members of Congress (including Allen West who was in second place with $4 million) for the third quarter. Bachmann said she was "humbled by the enormous outpouring of grassroots support for my campaign focused on keeping America the most secure and prosperous nation in the world." Despite a more favorable district Bachmann won reelection only narrowly, receiving just 4,298 more votes than her DFL challenger, Jim Graves. Electoral history Local elections Congressional elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 Autobiography In November 2011 Bachmann published her autobiography, Core of Conviction, in which she outlined the events and people who have shaped her values and beliefs. The book describes her break with the Democratic Party. "It was in the perilous fires of the Carter administration that my ideology was forged," she wrote. "In the seventies, Carter taught me what I was against, and then in the eighties, Reagan taught me what I was for." Reflecting on her role as a Tea Party leader, she elaborated, "I once said that the Tea Party represents 90 percent of Americans. I now realize that I misspoke. I should have said 100 percent, because I believe that nearly all Americans retain faith in the ordered liberty that the Constitution offers." Personal life Family In 1978, as Michele Amble, she married Marcus Bachmann, now a clinical therapist with a master's degree from Regent University and a Ph.D. from Union Graduate School, whom she met while they were undergraduates. After she received an LL.M. in taxation from William & Mary School of Law in 1988, the couple moved to Stillwater, Minnesota, a town of 18,000 near Saint Paul, where they run a Christian counseling center that administered gay conversion therapy. Bachmann and her husband have five children: Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia. In a 2011 town hall meeting, she said that she suffered a miscarriage after the birth of their second child, Harrison, an event she said shaped her anti-abortion views. Bachmann and her husband have also provided foster care to 23 other children, all of whom were teenage girls. The Bachmanns were licensed from 1992 to 2000 to handle up to three foster children at a time, with the last arriving in 1998. The Bachmanns began by providing short-term care for girls with eating disorders who were patients in a University of Minnesota program. Their home was legally defined as a treatment home, with a daily reimbursement rate per child from the state. Some girls stayed a few months, others more than a year. Bachmann is a former beauty pageant queen. Citizenship In May 2012 it was reported that Marcus Bachmann had registered for Swiss citizenship, and thus, under Swiss nationality law, so would Michele and their children. Within two days of the first reports of Bachmann's dual citizenship, Michele Bachmann announced that she had written to the Swiss consulate to withdraw her Swiss citizenship. Religion Bachmann was raised "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; she was a longtime member of Salem Lutheran Church (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) in Stillwater. She and her husband withdrew their membership on June 21, 2011, just before she officially began her presidential campaign. They had not attended the church for over two years. In 2011, the Bachmanns began attending Rockpoint Church in Lake Elmo, member of Evangelical Free Church of America. Bachmann has cited theologian Francis Schaeffer as a "profound influence" on her life and her husband's, especially his film series How Should We Then Live?. She has also described Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity by Nancy Pearcey as a "wonderful" book. Journalist Ryan Lizza has argued that Bachmann's worldview is deeply influenced by the Christian movement known as Dominionism, citing the influence of Schaeffer and Pearcey as evidence. Others have criticized Lizza's article, especially its connection of Schaeffer with Dominionism. Religion writer Sarah Posner broadly concurs with Lizza, pointing to the influence of Christian Reconstructionists Herb Titus and R. J. Rushdoony on Bachmann via the curriculum at O. W. Coburn School of Law. Businesses Bachmann and her husband own a Christian counseling practice, Bachmann & Associates. The clinic is run by her husband, who has a Ph.D. with "a concentration in clinical psychology" from Union Graduate School. Marcus Bachmann is not a licensed clinical psychologist in Minnesota. The clinic received nearly $30,000 from Minnesota government agencies between 2006 and 2010 in addition to at least $137,000 in federal payments and $24,000 in government grants for counselor training. In an interview, Michele Bachmann said that she and her husband had not benefited at taxpayer expense, saying, "the money that went to the clinic was actually training money for employees". Marcus Bachmann has falsely claimed that Bachmann & Associates did not provide conversion therapy, a controversial psychological treatment that has been repudiated by the American Psychological Association as unethical and without medical basis. A former client of Bachmann's clinic and a hidden camera investigator with the activist group Truth Wins Out showed that therapists at the clinic do engage in such practices. In a subsequent interview with the Star Tribune, Marcus Bachmann did not deny that he or other counselors at his clinic used the technique, but said they did so only at a client's request. In personal financial disclosure reports for 2006 through 2009, Bachmann reported earning $32,500 to $105,000 from a farm that was owned at the time by her ailing father-in-law, Paul Bachmann. The farm received $260,000 in federal crop and disaster subsidies between 1995 and 2008. Bachmann said that in 2006–2009, her husband acted as a trustee of the farm for his dying father and so, out of "an abundance of caution", she claimed the farm as income in financial disclosures, though it was her in-laws who profited from the farm during that period. Anonymous threat against her In August 2011 a man tweeted his "desire to engage in sadomasochistic activities" with Bachmann using "a Vietnam era machete" while misspelling her given name as "Michelle" in his tweet. Federal investigators ordered Twitter to reveal his identity. Called Mr. X in the grand jury's subpoena, the man filed a motion to quash the order at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in February 2012. Then-Chief Judge Royce Lamberth denied the request, citing the seriousness of the threat that might have posed to Bachmann, but X was granted the redaction of his identity in a separate order. Donald Trump Bachmann vocally supported then-President Donald Trump, saying in 2017 that he "has had the courage and the fortitude to stand up where other Republicans wouldn't dare to stand up." In December 2020, after the presidential election, she posted a video online praying for a Trump second term. Her online prayer specifically called out the contested election results in Georgia, saying: Lord, would you deliver these races in Georgia? O Father, would you deliver various local and state races, Father, that they aren't stolen? Would you give us a true vote? And, O God, I personally ask, from myself, Michele Bachmann, Lord, would you allow Donald Trump to have a second term as president of the United States? See also United States congressional delegations from Minnesota List of United States representatives from Minnesota Women in the United States House of Representatives References External links Politifact.com File on Michele Bachmann 2008 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org 2010 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org |- |- |- 1956 births Living people 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American women writers 20th-century Lutherans 21st-century Lutherans 21st-century Protestants American autobiographers American Christian Zionists American critics of Islam American evangelicals American people of Norwegian descent American political writers American anti-abortion activists American women lawyers American women non-fiction writers Anoka High School alumni Christians from Iowa Christians from Minnesota Converts to Evangelicalism from Lutheranism Christian critics of Islam Dominion theology Female members of the United States House of Representatives Female candidates for President of the United States Intelligent design advocates Internal Revenue Service people Members of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota Minnesota lawyers Minnesota Republicans Minnesota state senators Oral Roberts University alumni People from Anoka, Minnesota People from Stillwater, Minnesota Politicians from Waterloo, Iowa Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Tea Party movement activists Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election William & Mary Law School alumni Winona State University alumni Women autobiographers Women state legislators in Minnesota
false
[ "Annemie Anne Francine Coenen (born 14 July 1978 in Herk-de-Stad) is a Belgian singer and songwriter who was in the duo AnnaGrace (formerly known as Ian Van Dahl).\n\nLife\nCoenen sang in school musical comedies and choral in Antwerp. She joined a dance band at the age of 17. She hoped to become a fashion designer, and aimed to enter a fashion school at Antwerp. To this end, she worked a variety of odd jobs around Antwerp. One of her friends invited her to Ibiza where she found the dance scene.\n\nWhen she did return to Belgium, Coenen recorded a demo which she said was mainly \"just for fun.\" However, the demo came to the attention of Stefan Wuyts, representing the A&R label, who was looking for a mime artist for a song called \"Castles in the Sky\" which was meant to be part of a new Belgian project called Ian Van Dahl. Since her joining the group in 2001, it has sold four million CDs and singles worldwide. She was the main vocalist on the albums Ace and Lost and Found.\n\nIn June 2008, Coenen and Luts teamed together to create their own trance music project called AnnaGrace. \n\nSince March 2014, Coenen has had her own fashion line named Gracenatic.\n\nDiscography\n\nAlbums\n Ace\n Lost and Found\n (AnnaGrace) Ready to Dare\n\nSingles\n Ian Van Dahl:\n 2000 \"Castles in the Sky\"\n 2001 \"Secret Love\"\n 2001 \"Will I?\"\n 2002 \"Reason\"\n 2002 \"Try\"\n 2003 \"I Can't Let You Go\"\n 2004 \"Where Are You Now?\"\n 2004 \"Believe\"\n 2004 \"Inspiration\"\n 2005 \"Movin' On\"\n 2006 \"Just a Girl\"\n AnnaGrace:\n 2008 \"You Make Me Feel\"\n 2009 \"Let the Feelings Go\"\n 2009 \"Love Keeps Calling\"\n 2010 \"Celebration\"\n 2011 \"Don't Let Go\"\n 2012 \"Ready to Fall in Love\"\n 2012 \"Alive\"\n 2013 \"Girls Like Dancing\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official Annagrace site\n Official Gracenatic site\n\n1978 births\nLiving people\nBelgian songwriters\nEnglish-language singers from Belgium\nTrance singers\n21st-century Belgian women singers", "Feng Yun (Chinese: 丰云; Pinyin: Fēng Yún; born October 2, 1966) is a professional Go player. She is the second woman after Rui Naiwei to ever attain the level of 9-dan professional.\n\nBiography\nFeng Yun was born in Chong Qing, China. She started learning Go in Henan province when she was nine years old. She began her professional career in 1979 at the age of 12. In 1982 she was selected for the Chinese National Go Team where she trained for 18 years. In 1997, Feng Yun reached the top rank of professional Go players and ascended to 9-dan professional. She was the second woman in the world ever (after Rui Naiwei) to reach 9 dan. She has lived in New Jersey, U.S. with her family since 2000. The Feng Yun Go School, with four locations in New Jersey, has produced many strong players. Her book, The Best Play, analyzes two amateur games played on the internet.\n\nProfessional accomplishments\nFeng Yun was a finalist in the first four Bohae Cups, winning on the second occasion (1995), but lost to Rui Naiwei on the other three occasions, finishing 2nd in 1994, 1996 and 1997. \n1979 Promoted a professional Go player of the Henan Provincial Team \n1982 Promoted to 4 dan professional\n1983 Promoted to 5 dan professional, won her first title: National Women's Championship \n1987 Promoted to 6 dan professional \n1990 Finished second in National Individual Go Tournament (China)\n1991 Finished second in National Individual Go Tournament (China)\n1992 Promoted to 7 dan professional \n1995 Promoted to 8 dan professional \n1997 Advanced to 9 dan professional, one of the only three women 9p in the world \n1998 Won Kuerle Cup champion\n2002 Founded first 9-dan school in North America, was the challenger in the 2002 North American Masters Tournament\n2004 Won Ing Pro Tournament held at the 20th AGA Go Congress in Rochester, New York\n2008 Won Ing Pro Tournament held at the 24th AGA Go Congress in Portland, Oregon\n\nExternal links\nFeng Yun Go School Official Site\nGoBase.org Information on Feng Yun + her replayable games\n\n1966 births\nLiving people\nChinese Go players\nFemale Go players\nSportspeople from Liaoning\nAmerican Go players\nAmerican sportspeople of Chinese descent" ]
[ "Michele Bachmann", "Early life, education, and early career", "When was she born?", "Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa,", "when was she born?", "Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa,", "did she have any siblings?", "I don't know.", "where did she go to school?", "She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974" ]
C_2e05f2abec0143e9ad890a7f98273efd_1
did she go to college?
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did Michele Bachmann go to college?
Michele Bachmann
Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; her family moved from Iowa to Minnesota when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced, Bachmann's father, David John Amble, moved to California, and Bachmann was raised by her mother, Arlene Jean (nee Johnson), who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota. Her mother remarried when Bachmann was a teenager; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working on kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). While there, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986 Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. CANNOTANSWER
1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A.
Michele Marie Bachmann (; née Amble; born April 6, 1956) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election, but lost the Republican nomination to Mitt Romney. Born in Waterloo, Iowa, Bachmann moved to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, as a teenager. She graduated from O. W. Coburn School of Law, the law school of Oral Roberts University, and the William & Mary Law School. After graduating, she briefly worked in tax law for the Internal Revenue Service before becoming a stay-at-home mom. She became involved in local politics, specifically around education. Bachmann formally entered politics in 2000, when she was elected to the Minnesota Senate. In 2006, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. After her unsuccessful run for president, Bachmann was elected to another term in the House in 2012, before announcing her retirement before the 2014 election. Early life, education, and early career Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, to Norwegian-American parents David John Amble (1929–2003) and Arlene Jean Amble (née Johnson; born c. 1932). Two of her great-great-great-grandparents, Melchior and Martha Munson, emigrated from Sogndal, Norway, to Wisconsin in 1857. David was an engineer. Her family moved from Iowa to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced when she was 14, David moved to California and remarried. Bachmann was raised by her mother, who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota, where they moved again. Three years later her mother married widower Raymond J. LaFave; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. Bachmann graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working at kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). There she studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986, Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. Early political activism Bachmann grew up in a Democratic family and has said she became a Republican during her senior year at Winona State University. She told the Star Tribune that she was reading Gore Vidal's 1973 novel Burr and claimed that "[h]e was kind of mocking the Founding Fathers and I just thought—I just remember reading the book, putting it in my lap, looking out the window and thinking, 'You know what? I don't think I am a Democrat. I must be a Republican. While still a Democrat, she and her then-fiancé, Marcus, were motivated to join the anti-abortion movement after watching Francis Schaeffer's 1976 Christian documentary film How Should We Then Live? They prayed outside of clinics and engaged in sidewalk interference, an activity in which anti-abortion activists attempt to persuade women entering clinics not to get abortions. Bachmann has since made statements supportive of sidewalk interference. Bachmann supported Jimmy Carter for president in 1976, and she and her husband worked on his campaign. During Carter's presidency, Bachmann became disappointed with his liberal approach to public policy, support for legalized abortion and economic decisions she held responsible for increased gas prices. In the 1980 presidential election, she voted for Ronald Reagan and worked for his campaign. Bachmann's political activism gained media attention at an anti-abortion protest in 1991. She and approximately 30 other protesters went to a Ramsey County Board meeting where $3 million was to be appropriated to build a morgue for the county at St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center (now Regions Hospital). The Medical Center performed abortions and employed pro-choice activist Jane Hodgson. Bachmann voiced her opposition to tax dollars going to the hospital; to the Star Tribune, she said, "in effect, since 1973, I have been a landlord of an abortion clinic, and I don't like that distinction". In 1993, Bachmann and other parents started the K–12 New Heights Charter School in Stillwater. The publicly funded school's charter mandated that it be non-sectarian in all programs and practices, but the school soon developed a strong Christian orientation. Parents of students at the school complained and the superintendent of schools warned Bachmann that the school was in violation of state law. Six months after the school's founding, Bachmann resigned and the Christian orientation was removed from the curriculum, allowing the school to keep its charter. Bachmann began speaking against a state-mandated set of educational standards, which propelled her into politics. Bachmann became a critic and opponent of Minnesota's School-to-Work policies. In a 1999 column, she wrote, "School-to-Work alters the basic mission and purpose of K–12 academic education away from traditional broad-based academic studies geared toward maximizing intellectual achievement of the individual. Instead, School-to-Work utilizes the school day to promote children's acquisition of workplace skills, viewing children as trainees for increased economic productivity." In November 1999, Bachmann and four other Republicans were candidates, as the "Slate of Five", in an election for the school board of Stillwater. All five lost. Minnesota Senate In 2000 Bachmann defeated 18-year incumbent Gary Laidig for the Republican nomination for state senator in Minnesota District 56. In the general election she defeated Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Ted Thompson and Minnesota Independence Party Lyno Sullivan. In 2002, after redistricting due to the 2000 Census, Bachmann defeated another incumbent, DFL State Senator Jane Krentz, in the newly drawn State Senate District 52. Bachmann's agenda as a state senator focused on opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment On November 20, 2003, Bachmann and Representative Mary Liz Holberg proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar the state from legally recognizing same-sex marriage. In 2004 Bachmann and a coalition of religious leaders announced plans for a "Minnesota for Marriage" rally. Her effort to place a marriage amendment on a referendum ballot in 2004 failed. She resurrected the proposal in March 2005, but it stalled indefinitely in a senate committee that April. Assistant Minority Leader In November 2004 Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Day appointed Bachmann Assistant Minority Leader in charge of policy of the Senate Republican Caucus. In July 2005 the Republican Caucus removed her from her leadership position. Bachmann said that disagreements with Day over her anti-tax stance were the reason for her ouster. U.S. House of Representatives From 2007 to 2015 Bachmann represented , which includes the northernmost and eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities and St. Cloud. She is the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House from Minnesota. 110th Congress Foreign affairs Bachmann voted "No" on a January 2007 resolution in the House of Representatives opposing President George W. Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq, but called for a full hearing in advance of the troop surge, saying, "the American people deserve to hear and understand the merits of increasing U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Increased troop presence is justifiable if that measure would bring a swift conclusion to a difficult conflict." She hesitated to give a firm endorsement, calling the hearings "a good first step in explaining to the American people the course toward victory in Iraq." Member of Congressional delegation In July 2007 Bachmann joined a Congressional delegation visiting Ireland, Germany, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Iraq. She met briefly (due to security concerns) with U.S. personnel in the Green Zone and upon her return said she "was encouraged by reports of progress from Crocker, General David Petraeus and other personnel in Iraq linked to the surge". She said the surge "hasn't had a chance to be in place long enough to offer a critique of how it's working. [Petraeus] said al-Qaida in Iraq is off its plan and we want to keep it that way. The surge has only been fully in place for a week or so." Bachmann also spoke of the delegation's visit to Islamabad to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Aziz at the same time as the siege of Islamic fundamentalists at the Lal Masjid mosque elsewhere in the city. She reported, "The group [of U.S. Legislators] had to travel in armored vehicles and was constantly accompanied by Pakistani military ... We were all able to see extremely up close and personal what it's like to be in a region where fighting is occurring. We constantly felt like we were in need of security." Bachmann told reporters upon her return that "the dangers posed by Islamic terrorism in Iraq, Britain and Pakistan justified the continued American military presence in Iraq." She said, "We don't want to see al-Qaida get a presence in the United States. Al-Qaida doesn't seem to show any signs of letting up. We have to keep that in mind." Higher education On July 11, 2007, Bachmann voted against the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The act raised the maximum Pell grant from $4,310 to $5,200, lowered interest rates on subsidized student loans from 6.8% to 3.4%, raised loan limits from $7,500 to $30,500, disfavored married students who filed joint tax returns, provided more favorable repayment terms to students who could not use their education to prosper financially, and favored public sector over private sector workers with much more favorable loan forgiveness benefits. Supporters of the bill said it would allow more students to attend college and prosper for the rest of their lives. Bachmann said she opposed the act because "it fails students and taxpayers with gimmicks, hidden costs and poorly targeted aid. It contains no serious reform of existing programs, and it favors the costly, government-run direct lending program over nonprofit and commercial lenders." The bill passed the House and was signed by President Bush. Energy and environment During the summer of 2008, as national gasoline prices rose to over $4 a gallon, Bachmann became a leading Congressional advocate for increased domestic oil and natural gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf. She joined ten other House Republicans and members of the media on a Congressional Energy Tour to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, and to Alaska. The trip was arranged by Arctic Power, an Alaskan lobbying group that advocates for ANWR development. Its purpose was to receive a firsthand account of emerging renewable energy technologies and the prospects of increased domestic oil and natural gas production in Alaska, including ANWR. Bachmann rejects the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is real, progressing, and primarily caused by humans. She has claimed that global warming is "all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax" and has been called "one of the GOP's loudest global warming skeptics." She has claimed, baselessly, that "because life requires carbon dioxide and it is part of the planet's life cycle, it cannot be harmful." On the House floor on Earth Day 2009, Bachmann said she opposed cap and trade climate legislation, again making disproven claims that "carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas. Carbon dioxide is natural; it is not harmful ... We're being told we have to reduce this natural substance to create an arbitrary reduction in something that is naturally occurring in the earth." In March 2008 Bachmann introduced H.R. 849, the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act. The bill would have repealed two sections of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 signed into law by George W. Bush. The 2007 Energy Act mandates energy efficiency and labeling standards for incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. Bachmann's bill would have required the Government Accountability Office to show that a change to fluorescent bulbs would have "clear economic, health and environmental benefits" before enforcing lighting efficiency regulations. The bill would have allowed these standards to remain in place if the comptroller general found they would lead to consumer savings, reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and pose no health risks to consumers (such as risks posed by the presence of mercury in fluorescent bulbs). The bill languished in the House and became inactive at the end of the 110th Congress. Bachmann reintroduced the bill in March 2011. Tort reform On June 3, 2008, President Bush signed the Credit and Debit Card Receipt Clarification Act (H.R. 4008) into law. The bipartisan bill, which Bachmann cosponsored with Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.), removed statutory damages for violations of a 2003 federal law prohibiting merchants from printing consumers' credit card numbers and expiration dates on sales receipts, in order to end class-action lawsuits aimed at businesses that violated the law. Financial sector Bachmann opposed both versions of the Wall Street bailout bill for America's financial sector. She voted against the first proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions, which failed to pass, by a vote of 205–228. She also advocated breaking up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and barring executives from excessive compensation or golden parachutes, and advocated a plan that would suspend mark-to-market accounting rules and suspend the capital gains tax. Auto industry The American auto companies approached Congress to ask for roughly $15 billion in loans to keep them operational into 2009. Bachmann criticized that bill, fearing that the initial sum of money would be followed by subsequent ones without the companies making changes to revive their business. Bachmann supported an alternative plan for American auto companies and the rest of the auto industry that would have set benchmarks for reducing their debt and renegotiating labor deals and have set up the financial assistance as interim insurance instead of a taxpayer-financed bailout. Call for a media "exposé" of alleged "anti-Americanism" of Barack Obama and members of Congress On October 17, 2008, Bachmann gave an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews in support of the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain that brought the Minnesota 6th Congressional District race national attention. During the interview she criticized Barack Obama for his association with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, saying, "usually we associate with people who have similar ideas to us, and it seems that it calls into question what Barack Obama's true beliefs, and values, and thoughts are ... I am very concerned that he [Obama] may have anti-American views." She noted the bombing campaign orchestrated by Bill Ayers before discussing his association with Obama, arguing that "Bill Ayers is not someone the average American wants to see their president have an association with." Matthews followed up by asking "But he [Obama] is a Senator from the state of Illinois; he's one of the members of Congress you suspect of being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama; is he alone or are there others?" Bachmann answered, "What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look ... I wish they would ... I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America, or anti-America. I think people would love to see an exposé like that." In response, the five Democratic members of Minnesota's congressional delegation—Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar—issued a joint statement questioning Bachmann's ability to "work in a bipartisan way to put the interests of our country first in this time of crisis." Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson said her comments had influenced their decisions to endorse Obama for president. Bachmann brought up the interview before business leaders and Republicans during a campaign stop in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on October 21, 2008. She claimed she never intended to question Obama's patriotism. "I made a misstatement. I said a comment that I would take back. I did not, nor do I, question Barack Obama's patriotism ... I did not say that Barack Obama is anti-American nor do I believe that Barack Obama is anti-American ... [But] I'm very concerned about Barack Obama's views. I don't believe that socialism is a good thing for America." At a March 2010 fund-raiser for the Susan B. Anthony List, Bachmann said, "I said I had very serious concerns that Barack Obama had anti-American views—and now I look like Nostradamus". In March 2011 she was asked on Meet the Press whether she still believed that Obama held un-American views. She responded, "I believe that the actions of this government have—have been emblematic of ones that have not been based on true American values." Pressed for clarification, she said, "I've already answered that question before. I said I had very serious concerns about the president's views." 111th Congress Global currency On March 26, 2009, following comments by China proposing adoption of a global reserve currency, Bachmann introduced a resolution calling for a Constitutional amendment to bar the dollar from being replaced by a foreign currency. Current law prohibits foreign currency from being recognized in the U.S., but Bachmann expressed concerns relating to the president's power to make and interpret treaties. Earlier that month, at a Financial Services Committee hearing, Bachmann asked both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke whether they would reject calls for the U.S. to move away from the U.S. dollar and they replied that they would. 2010 Census In a June 17, 2009, interview with The Washington Times, Bachmann expressed concern that the questions on the 2010 United States Census had become "very intricate, very personal" and that ACORN, a community organizing group that had come under fire the previous year, might be part of the Census Bureau's door-to-door information collection efforts. She said, "I know, for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that." According to Politifact, her statement was incorrect, as the Constitution does require citizens to complete the census. Fellow Republican Representatives Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.) and John Mica (Fla.), members of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives, which oversees the census, subsequently asked Bachmann not to boycott the population count. Along with Congressman Ted Poe (Tex.-02), Bachmann introduced the American Community Survey Act to limit the amount of personal information the U.S. Census Bureau solicits. She reiterated her belief that the census asked too many personal questions. Cap-and-Trade legislation In March 2009 Bachmann was interviewed by the Northern Alliance Radio Network and promoted two forums she was hosting the next month in St. Cloud and Woodbury about Obama's proposed cap-and-trade tax policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions. She said she wanted Minnesotans "armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back." Bachmann's office quickly clarified that she was speaking metaphorically, meaning "armed with knowledge". According to the Star Tribune, her quote went viral across the Internet. AmeriCorps In 2009 Bachmann became a critic of what she characterized as proposals for mandatory public service. Of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an expansion to AmeriCorps (a federal community service organization), she said in April: The original bill called for an exploration of whether a mandatory public service program could be established, but the section on creating a "Congressional Commission on Civic Service" was stripped from the bill. In August 2009 Bachmann's political opponents publicized in the local media and the blogosphere what they described as the "ironic" fact that her son, Harrison, joined Teach for America, part of the AmeriCorps program. Health care Bachmann contributed to the "death panel" controversy when she read from a July 24 article by former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey on the House floor. Sarah Palin said that her "death panel" remark was inspired by what she called the "Orwellian" opinions of Ezekiel Emanuel as described by Bachmann, who accused him of advocating health care rationing by age and disability. According to PolitiFact and Time, Bachmann's euthanasia remarks distorted Emanuel's position on health care for the elderly and disabled. FactCheck.org stated, "We agree that Emanuel's meaning is being twisted." When many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it. On August 31, 2009, Bachmann spoke at an event in Colorado, saying of Democratic health care overhaul proposals that: She outlined ideas for changing the health care system, including: "Erase the boundaries around every single state when it comes to health care", enabling consumers to purchase insurance across state lines; increase the use of health savings accounts and allow everyone to "take full deductibility of all medical expenses", including insurance premiums; and tort reform. Bachmann denounced the government-run health insurance public option, calling it a "government takeover of health care" that would "squeeze out private health insurance". Criticism of President Obama's visit to Asia In a November 3, 2010, interview with Anderson Cooper, while discussing spending cuts for Medicare and Social Security suggested by Representative Paul Ryan, Bachmann was asked what spending cuts she would make to reduce the deficit. She cited President Obama's then-upcoming visit to Asia as an example, saying it "is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. He's taking two thousand people with him. He'll be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are 5-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending—it's a very small example, Anderson." Bachmann was apparently referring to information in a story from the Press Trust of India, attributed to "a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit", information that was also published in U.S.-based media such as The Drudge Report. A Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, dismissed the report's claim that 34 warships were accompanying the President as "comical". The White House said that the press report figures were "wildly inflated" and had "no basis in reality". While stating that they could not give the actual projected figures for security reasons, staffers maintained costs were in line with the official travel costs of previous presidents Bush and Clinton. 112th Congress Leadership run After the 2010 elections and Representative Mike Pence's announcement that he was stepping away from his leadership position in the House, Bachmann announced her intention to seek the position of House Republican Conference Chair. As Bachmann was the founder of the House's Tea Party Caucus, her announcement caused some to see the leadership election as "an early test of how GOP leaders will treat the antiestablishment movement's winners". Many among the House's Republican leadership, including Eric Cantor and the retiring Pence, were quick to endorse Representative Jeb Hensarling for the position; Speaker-to-be John Boehner remained neutral on the issue. Supporters of Bachmann's run included Representatives Steve King, John Kline, Louie Gohmert, Chip Cravaack, and Erik Paulsen, as well as media personality and political commentator Glenn Beck. Listing her qualifications for the position, Bachmann noted, "I've done an effective job speaking out at a national and local level, motivating people with our message, calling attention to deficits in Obama's policy. I was instrumental in bringing tens of thousands of people to the U.S. capitol to rally against Obama care and to attend our press conference." She noted her work to keep the Tea Party within the GOP rather than having it become a third party, thereby helping the party capture the House, saying, "I have been able to bring a voice and motivate people to, in effect, put that gavel in John Boehner's hands, so that Republicans can lead going forward. …It's important that leadership represents the choice of the people coming into our caucus….I think I have motivated a high number of people to get involved in this cycle who may have sat it out and that have made a difference on a number of these races. I gave a large amount of money to NRCC and individual candidates and started Michele PAC, which raised $650,000 for members since July, so I was able to financially help about 50 people out." Bachmann's bid suffered a setback when she was passed over for the GOP's transition team on which Hensarling was placed. Despite Bachmann's leading all other Representatives in fundraising, a Republican aide said some "members are getting resentful of Bachmann, who they say is making the argument that you're not really a Tea Party supporter unless you support her. That's gone through the formation of the Tea Party Caucus and the formation of this candidacy of hers. It's just not so." Sarah Palin, with whom Bachmann had campaigned earlier in the year, declined to endorse her leadership bid, while other Tea Party favorites, Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Tim Scott, were placed on the transition team. According to some senior House staff members, the party leadership was concerned about some of Bachmann's high-profile faux pas, the high rate of turnover among her staff, and how willing she would be to advance the party's messaging rather than her own. On November 10 Bachmann released a statement ending her campaign for Conference Chair and giving Hensarling her "enthusiastic" support. Committee assignment House Speaker John Boehner selected Bachmann for a position "on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, giving her a new role as overseer of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community." Bachmann, who had "not served on any committee that deals with foreign policy issues" requested the position, "a move that has fueled speculation that she may be planning to carry the Tea Party banner into the GOP presidential primaries." Repeal of Dodd–Frank reform Soon after beginning her third term, Bachmann introduced legislation to repeal the Dodd–Frank financial reform law. She said, "I'm pleased to offer a full repeal of the job-killing Dodd–Frank financial regulatory bill. Dodd–Frank grossly expanded the federal government beyond its jurisdictional boundaries. It gave Washington bureaucrats the power to interpret and enforce the legislation with little oversight. Real financial regulatory reform must deal with these lenders who were a leading cause of our economic recession. True reform must also end the bailout mind-set that was perpetuated by the last Congress." She also took issue with the law for not addressing the liabilities of the tax-payer funded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bachmann's bill was endorsed by conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity. It gained four other Republican co-sponsors, including Representative Darrell Issa, who became the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at the start of the 112th Congress. Bachmann's call for total repeal was seen as more drastic than the approach advocated by her fellow Republican Spencer Bachus, who became the House Financial Services Committee Chairman when Republicans gained the House majority. Bachus planned "to provide 'vigorous' oversight of regulators efforts to reform banking and housing ... reform Fannie and Freddie", and "dismantle pieces of [the] Dodd–Frank Act that he believes 'unnecessarily punish small businesses and community banks.'" In response to Bachmann's legislation Representative Barney Frank said, "Michele Bachmann, the Club for Growth, and others in the right-wing coalition have now made their agenda for the financial sector very clear: they yearn to return to the thrilling days of yesteryear, so the loan arrangers can ride again—untrammeled by any rules restraining irresponsibility, excess, deception, and most of all, infinite leverage." It was seen as unlikely that Bachmann's legislation would pass, with the Financial Times writing, "Like the Republican move to repeal healthcare reform, Ms. Bachmann's bill could be passed by the House of Representatives but be blocked by the Senate or White House." State of the Union response Bachmann responded to Obama's 2011 State of the Union speech on the Tea Party Express website; her speech was broadcast live by CNN. She insisted that her response was not intended to counter Paul Ryan's official Republican party response. When asked whether the speech was an indication of competition with Ryan and Boehner's leadership team, Bachmann dismissed such a view as "a fiction of the media", saying she had alerted Ryan and the leadership team that her response might go national and that no objections were raised. Health care Bachmann continually called for repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). She recalled to reporters that she called for debate to repeal the act "the morning after Obamacare passed". With Steve King she introduced "the Bachmann-King repeal of health care bill", saying that it "is our intent in our heart to make sure that Obamacare is completely repealed." In light of the Democratic-majority Senate's and Obama's opposition to repeal, Bachmann called on the Republican held House of Representatives not to provide any funds for implementation of the act. "But until we can see that [repeal] happen, we want to fully defund this bill so that, like, it would be akin to a helium balloon that gets no helium inside so that it can't take off the ground, and that's what we're planning to do. I'm very, very grateful for nothing else; having a majority in the House of Representatives so that we have the ability of the power of the purse to not fund Obamacare, and this is exactly the right way to go", she said. On March 4, 2011, Bachmann, one of the six House Republicans to vote against the continuing resolution that gave a two-week extension until a possible government shutdown, expressed her unhappiness with its passage. In an appearance on Meet the Press on March 6 and during a March 7 interview with Sean Hannity, Bachmann claimed that the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats had hidden $105 billion in spending in the overhaul of the American Health Care System. She portrayed the Democratic leadership as timing the release of the bill's text to avoid detection of the spending. "We didn't get the bill until a literally couple of hours before we were supposed to vote on it", she said. She also said the spending was split up within different portions of the bill to mask its total cost. Bachmann was told this by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which claimed to have read the tallies of the Congressional Research Service and Congressional Budget Office. According to some reports of the costs, "about $40 billion would go to the Children's Health Insurance Program, $15 billion would go to Medicare and Medicaid innovation programs, and $9.5 billion would go to the Community Health Centers Fund." As the funds are designated mandatory spending (not controlled by the annual appropriations acts), the funds would have remained even if the move to defund the reform law had succeeded. Bachmann stated that $16 billion of the money gives Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius a "slush fund ... [to do] whatever she wants with this money." She called on the bills supporters to return the money, saying, "I think this deception that the president and [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid put forward with appropriating over $105 billion needs to be given back to the people." When asked during the Meet the Press interview if she would take back her previous comments that Obama "may have anti-American views" and that his administration had "embraced something called gangster government", Bachmann stood by her statements, saying, "I do believe that actions that have been taken by this White House—I don't take back my statements on gangster government. I think that there have been actions taken by the government that are corrupt ... I said I have very serious concerns about the president's views, and I think the president's actions in the last two years speak for themselves." In response to Bachmann's charges, Chief Deputy Democratic Whip Jan Schakowsky, who served on the House health subcommittee, pointed out that the report in question was an update of a report that came out in October 2010 and that the costs were spelled out in both the bill and the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of its cost, saying, "Michele Bachmann obviously didn't read the bill, because there was absolutely nothing hidden in that legislation." Schakowsky said the costs were not kept secret, citing the $40 billion for the Children's Health Insurance Program as an example: "There was a robust debate about whether or not that should be included, etc. So this idea of somehow, now at the last minute, there was a secret addition to some kind of funding ... is absolute nonsense." In a September 2011 Republican presidential debate in Tampa, Bachmann criticized Rick Perry for his support for the humanpapilloma virus (HPV) vaccine and his support for mandating the HPV vaccine for all sixth-grade Texas girls. The American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and other medical organizations worldwide support immunizing girls and boys against HPV. HPV can cause lesions and genital warts, and has been linked to cervical cancer as well as genital and oral cancers in people of any gender. Because the vaccine is effective only if given before the onset of sexual activity and subsequent exposure to the virus, medical groups recommend the three-dose vaccine be given to 11- and 12-year-olds. During the debate and in interviews afterward, Bachmann accused Perry of "crony capitalism" (because Perry's former chief of staff was chief lobbyist for a drug company manufacturing the vaccine), and baselessly claimed that the HPV vaccine was dangerous and caused "mental retardation." She repeatedly referred to an anecdotal account from a mother of a girl who had been immunized for HPV, saying, "She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered mental retardation thereafter ... There is no second chance for these little girls if there is [sic] any dangerous consequences to their bodies." Shortly after Bachmann's statements at the debate, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement: "The American Academy of Pediatrics would like to correct false statements made in the Republican presidential campaign that the HPV vaccine is dangerous and can cause mental retardation. There is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement. Since the vaccine has been introduced, more than 35 million doses have been administered, and it has an excellent safety record." Fewer than one percent of those receiving the vaccine reported neurological side effects or, in rare cases, severe allergic reactions, none linked to changes in cognitive ability. Bachmann later acknowledged that she was not a doctor or a scientist. Muslim Brotherhood In June–July 2012, Bachmann and several other Republican legislators sent a series of letters to oversight agencies at five federal departments citing "serious security concerns" about what Bachmann has called a "deep penetration in the halls of our United States government" by the Muslim Brotherhood. They requested formal investigations into what Bachmann called "influence operations" by the Brotherhood. Bachmann also accused Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Rep. Anthony Weiner's wife, of having family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. Bachmann's comments have drawn what the Washington Post calls "fierce criticism from fellow lawmakers and religious groups." In a speech on the Senate floor, 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain denounced Bachmann's charges as "specious and degrading". He defended Abedin as a "hard-working and loyal servant of our country and our government" and stated "these attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no merit. They need to stop now." House Speaker John Boehner termed Bachmann's allegations "dangerous", and other Republicans have also criticized the remarks. Ed Rollins, Bachmann’s former campaign manager, called on her to apologize to Abedin and characterized her allegations as “extreme and dishonest.” In a letter to Bachmann, her colleague Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a Muslim, asked for evidence backing her claims and stated, "Your response simply rehashes claims that have existed for years on anti-Muslim websites and contains no reliable information that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. government". Bachmann replied that "the intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group's access to top Obama administration officials". In a July 19 interview with radio and TV show host Glenn Beck, Bachmann repeated and expanded her allegations, accusing Ellison of having "a long record of being associated with the Council on American–Islamic Relations and with the Muslim Brotherhood". Ellison replied that "I am not now, nor have I ever been, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood." 113th Congress Presidential campaign finance investigation In 2013, Bachmann was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, the Federal Election Commission, the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee, the Urbandale Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation because of alleged campaign finance violations in her 2012 campaign for president. It is alleged that members of her staff made under-the-table payments, that funds were illegally transferred from her leadership PAC to pay consultants for her presidential campaign and that hidden payments were made to Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson. Additionally, a lawsuit was filed alleging that Bachmann and several former staffers stole and misused an Iowa homeschool group's e-mail distribution list. The trial, Heki v. Bachmann, had been set for May 14, 2014, but the case was settled out of court on June 28, 2013. On July 26, 2013, the House Ethics Committee announced they were conducting a full investigation of Bachmann, saying that they had received a referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics. Retirement On May 29, 2013, Bachmann announced that she would not seek reelection to her Congressional seat in 2014. In a June 2013 Fox News interview, she said she was "not going silent" and would remain involved in politics. She did not rule out a future run for office, or even the White House. With her retirement from Congress, the ethics investigations against her were dropped. During a December 2017 New Year's weekend interview with televangelist Jim Bakker, Bachmann said that she was considering running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Al Franken but was awaiting "God's counsel" before deciding. David Lightman and Trevor Graff, writing for McClatchyDC, argued that Bachmann left a "legacy of political missteps and lots of incendiary rhetoric—often loaded with false accusations and wild exaggerations." Committee assignments Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Political positions Education Bachmann supports the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in public school science classes. During a 2003 interview on the KKMS Christian radio program Talk The Walk, Bachmann said that evolution is a theory that has never been proven one way or the other. She co-authored a bill (with no additional endorsements among her fellow legislators) that would require public schools to include alternative explanations for the origin of life as part of the state's public school science curricula. In October 2006, Bachmann told a debate audience in St. Cloud, Minnesota, "there is a controversy among scientists about whether evolution is a fact or not ... There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design." Despite this, there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that evolution is real, and that intelligent design is not. Indeed, at least one news report presenting a "sampling of Bachmann's ... ludicrous or plain old false claims", stated that Bachmann’s claims are untrue, and that "when the science isn't on [Bachmann's] side, she simply improvises." Bachmann has praised the Christian youth ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCRBYCH), hailing "the group's work of sharing the gospel in public schools". She appeared as a keynote speaker at their fundraisers in 2006 and 2009. Following a 2011 controversial invocation for the Minnesota House, YCRBYCH founder Bradlee Dean declared that criticisms of him and his ministry were also "intended to harm and destroy the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann ... [who] previously praised and prayed for the work of my ministry". Bachmann has had a history of opposing anti-bullying legislation. In 2006, she told the Minnesota Legislature that passing an anti-bullying bill would be a waste of time. "I think for all of us, our experience in public schools is there have always been bullies", she said. "Always have been, always will be. I just don't know how we're ever going to get to the point of zero tolerance ... What does it mean? ... Will we be expecting boys to be girls?" Fiscal policy In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann opposed minimum wage increases. In a June 2011 interview, she did not back away from her earlier proposal to eliminate the federal minimum wage, a change she said would "virtually wipe out unemployment." In a 2001 flyer, Bachmann and Michael J. Chapman wrote that federal policies manage a centralized, state-controlled economy in the United States. She wrote that education laws passed by Congress in 2001, including "School To Work" and "Goals 2000", created a new national school curriculum that embraced "a socialist, globalist worldview; loyalty to all government and not America." In 2003, Bachmann said that the "Tax Free Zones" economic initiatives of Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty were based on the Marxist principle of "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." She also said the administration was attempting to govern and run centrally planned economies through the Minnesota Economic Leadership Team (MELT), an advisory board on economic and workforce policy Pawlenty chaired. Before her election to the state senate, and again in 2005, Bachmann signed a "no new taxes" pledge sponsored by the Taxpayers League of Minnesota. As a state senator, she introduced two bills that would have severely limited state taxation. In 2003, she proposed amending the Minnesota Constitution to adopt the "Taxpayers' Bill of Rights" (TABOR). In 2005, Bachmann opposed Pawlenty's proposal of a state surcharge of 75 cents per pack on the wholesale cost of cigarettes. She said she opposed the surcharge "100 percent—it's a tax increase." The Taxpayers' League later criticized her for reversing her position and voting for the surcharge. Bachmann promised to bring the price of gasoline down to $2 per gallon, without specifying a plan to accomplish this. Environment Bachmann supports increased domestic drilling of oil and natural gas, as well as pursuing renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar. She is a strong proponent of nuclear power. Bachmann has strongly opposed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pledging at an August 2011 campaign rally, "I guarantee you the EPA will have doors locked and lights turned off and they will only be about conservation." In 2007 and 2010, she actively solicited funds from the EPA on behalf of constituents in her congressional district. Social Security and Medicare phase-out Bachmann has called for phasing out Social Security and Medicare: "what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system... But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off." Foreign policy Bachmann has said that in dealing with Iran, diplomacy "is our option", but that other options, including a nuclear strike, should not be ruled out. She has also said that she is "a longtime supporter of Israel". Global economy In a discussion about the G-20 summit in Toronto, during an interview with conservative radio host Scott Hennen, Bachmann stated that she did not want America to be part of the international global economy. Bachmann told The Wall Street Journal that Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams influenced her economic views. She said she was "an Art Laffer fiend" and loved Ludwig von Mises. Immigration Bachmann believes that strengthened enforcement of immigration laws is required for the growth of the American job market. She supports amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow only the immediate family of legal immigrants (not extended family members) priority consideration in the immigration process. She voted against the DREAM Act. She has also said the current law does not need modification but proper enforcement. Bachmann said, "the immigration system in the United States worked very, very well up until the mid-1960s when liberal members of Congress changed the immigration laws." She has expressed support for immigration of highly skilled professionals such as chemists and engineers. Bachmann opposed the 2013 immigration reform bill, claiming that its passage would mean the end of the Republican Party. On WorldNetDaily she said, "This is President Obama's number one political agenda because he knows we will never again have a Republican president ever if amnesty goes into effect." Social issues Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment Bachmann supports both federal and state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and any legal equivalents. In August 2006, the Star Tribune reported that in March 2006, while on a Minneapolis radio show, Bachmann advocated a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. A caller asked her to explain how he, a heterosexual, would be harmed if his gay neighbors were allowed to marry. Bachmann replied, "Public schools would have to teach that homosexuality and same-sex marriage are normal, natural and that maybe children should try them." The Star Tribune also reported that Bachmann had publicly called homosexuality "sexual dysfunction", "sexual identity disorders", and "personal enslavement" leading to "sexual anarchy". In a July 2014 radio interview, Bachmann claimed that gay rights activists want to abolish age of consent laws in the United States so that adults can "prey on little children sexually." In 2020, Bachmann claimed that "transgender Black Marxists" were "seeking the overthrow of the United States and the dissolution of the traditional family." Abortion Bachmann has identified herself as pro-life and has been endorsed in her runs for Congress by the Susan B. Anthony List and Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. At a New Hampshire debate among presidential candidates, when asked if abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest, she responded that she was "100 percent pro-life," implying that such a fetus would have to be carried to term. In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann introduced a bill proposing a constitutional amendment restricting state funds for abortion. The bill died in committee. Federal-backed home loans According to the Washington Post, in 2008 Bachmann may have taken advantage of a federal program for a home loan, then called for dismantling the program, though the Post noted that the public and other members of Congress have taken advantage of such loans despite seeing reasons to criticize them. When asked about it, she said: "This is the problem. It is almost impossible to buy a home in this country today without the federal government being involved". Opinion on President Obama's birth certificate Bachmann claimed not to be part of the birther movement, but said that Obama could resolve the dispute by producing his long-form birth certificate. In April 2011, after Obama released the certificate, George Stephanopoulos asked Bachmann about the issue on Good Morning America. She said that its release "should settle the matter", that "I take the president at his word", and that "We have bigger fish to fry". Political campaigns 2006 congressional campaign Bachmann won her Congressional seat in the 2006 election with 50% of the vote, defeating the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Patty Wetterling and the Independence Party's John Binkowski. The 6th District's representative since 2001, Mark Kennedy, announced in late 2005 that he would run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mark Dayton. Bachmann said, "God then called me to run" for the U.S. House seat, and that she and her husband fasted for three days to be more sure. According to Bloomberg.com, evangelical conservative leader James Dobson put his organization Focus on the Family's resources behind Bachmann's 2006 campaign. The group planned to distribute 250,000 voter guides in Minnesota churches to reach social conservatives, according to Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, a local affiliate of the group. In addition to Minnesota, Dobson's group also organized turnout drives in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and Montana. During a debate televised by WCCO-TV on October 28, 2006, news reporter Pat Kessler quoted a story that appeared in the Star Tribune and asked Bachmann whether it was true that the church she belonged to taught that the Pope is the Anti-Christ. Bachmann replied that her church "does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that's absolutely false ... I'm very grateful that my pastor has come out and been very clear on this matter, and I think it's patently absurd and it's a false statement." In early July 2006, Bachmann received a fundraising visit from Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. On July 21, Karl Rove visited Minnesota to raise funds for her election. In August, President Bush was the keynote speaker at her congressional fundraiser, which raised about $500,000. Bachmann also received fundraising support from Vice President Dick Cheney. The National Republican Congressional Committee put nearly $3 million into the race, for electronic and direct-mail ads against Wetterling, significantly more than the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent on Wetterling's behalf. On November 7, Bachmann won the election with 50% of the vote to Wetterling's 42% and Binkowski's 8%. 2008 congressional campaign In 2008 Bachmann was reelected, defeating DFL and Independence Party nominee Elwyn Tinklenberg with 46.4% of the vote to Tinklenberg's 43.4%. Because Tinklenberg was running as a DFL member in the Democratic primary, Bob Anderson was able to run in the Independence Party primary unopposed, despite not having that party's endorsement. Anderson received 10% of the vote. 2010 congressional campaign In 2010 Bachmann was challenged by DFL nominee Tarryl Clark and Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson. With more than $8.5 million, Bachmann spent more than any other House of Representative candidate, although Clark was able to raise $4 million, one of the largest fundraising efforts in the nation for a U.S. House challenger. On November 2, 2010, Bachmann defeated Clark, 52% to 40%. 2012 presidential campaign In early 2011, amid substantial speculation, Bachmann announced her candidacy for president. She participated in the second Republican presidential debate, in New Hampshire, on June 13, 2011, and during the debate announced that she had filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) earlier that day to become a candidate for the nomination. Bachmann formally announced her candidacy for the nomination on June 27, 2011, during an appearance in Waterloo, Iowa, her birth city. Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll hosted by the Iowa GOP on August 13, 2011, becoming the first woman ever to win the poll, but finished sixth in the January 3, 2012, caucuses, with 4.98% of the vote. On January 4 she canceled her scheduled campaign trips to South Carolina and suspended her campaign. 2012 congressional campaign On January 25, 2012, Bachmann announced that she would run for reelection for her seat in Congress. According to Politico.com, as of July 2012 Bachmann had "raised close to $15 million" for the 2012 election, a figure it called "astounding ... more than some Senate candidates will collect this year." From July to the end of September, Bachmann raised $4.5 million. This amount put her ahead of all other members of Congress (including Allen West who was in second place with $4 million) for the third quarter. Bachmann said she was "humbled by the enormous outpouring of grassroots support for my campaign focused on keeping America the most secure and prosperous nation in the world." Despite a more favorable district Bachmann won reelection only narrowly, receiving just 4,298 more votes than her DFL challenger, Jim Graves. Electoral history Local elections Congressional elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 Autobiography In November 2011 Bachmann published her autobiography, Core of Conviction, in which she outlined the events and people who have shaped her values and beliefs. The book describes her break with the Democratic Party. "It was in the perilous fires of the Carter administration that my ideology was forged," she wrote. "In the seventies, Carter taught me what I was against, and then in the eighties, Reagan taught me what I was for." Reflecting on her role as a Tea Party leader, she elaborated, "I once said that the Tea Party represents 90 percent of Americans. I now realize that I misspoke. I should have said 100 percent, because I believe that nearly all Americans retain faith in the ordered liberty that the Constitution offers." Personal life Family In 1978, as Michele Amble, she married Marcus Bachmann, now a clinical therapist with a master's degree from Regent University and a Ph.D. from Union Graduate School, whom she met while they were undergraduates. After she received an LL.M. in taxation from William & Mary School of Law in 1988, the couple moved to Stillwater, Minnesota, a town of 18,000 near Saint Paul, where they run a Christian counseling center that administered gay conversion therapy. Bachmann and her husband have five children: Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia. In a 2011 town hall meeting, she said that she suffered a miscarriage after the birth of their second child, Harrison, an event she said shaped her anti-abortion views. Bachmann and her husband have also provided foster care to 23 other children, all of whom were teenage girls. The Bachmanns were licensed from 1992 to 2000 to handle up to three foster children at a time, with the last arriving in 1998. The Bachmanns began by providing short-term care for girls with eating disorders who were patients in a University of Minnesota program. Their home was legally defined as a treatment home, with a daily reimbursement rate per child from the state. Some girls stayed a few months, others more than a year. Bachmann is a former beauty pageant queen. Citizenship In May 2012 it was reported that Marcus Bachmann had registered for Swiss citizenship, and thus, under Swiss nationality law, so would Michele and their children. Within two days of the first reports of Bachmann's dual citizenship, Michele Bachmann announced that she had written to the Swiss consulate to withdraw her Swiss citizenship. Religion Bachmann was raised "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; she was a longtime member of Salem Lutheran Church (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) in Stillwater. She and her husband withdrew their membership on June 21, 2011, just before she officially began her presidential campaign. They had not attended the church for over two years. In 2011, the Bachmanns began attending Rockpoint Church in Lake Elmo, member of Evangelical Free Church of America. Bachmann has cited theologian Francis Schaeffer as a "profound influence" on her life and her husband's, especially his film series How Should We Then Live?. She has also described Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity by Nancy Pearcey as a "wonderful" book. Journalist Ryan Lizza has argued that Bachmann's worldview is deeply influenced by the Christian movement known as Dominionism, citing the influence of Schaeffer and Pearcey as evidence. Others have criticized Lizza's article, especially its connection of Schaeffer with Dominionism. Religion writer Sarah Posner broadly concurs with Lizza, pointing to the influence of Christian Reconstructionists Herb Titus and R. J. Rushdoony on Bachmann via the curriculum at O. W. Coburn School of Law. Businesses Bachmann and her husband own a Christian counseling practice, Bachmann & Associates. The clinic is run by her husband, who has a Ph.D. with "a concentration in clinical psychology" from Union Graduate School. Marcus Bachmann is not a licensed clinical psychologist in Minnesota. The clinic received nearly $30,000 from Minnesota government agencies between 2006 and 2010 in addition to at least $137,000 in federal payments and $24,000 in government grants for counselor training. In an interview, Michele Bachmann said that she and her husband had not benefited at taxpayer expense, saying, "the money that went to the clinic was actually training money for employees". Marcus Bachmann has falsely claimed that Bachmann & Associates did not provide conversion therapy, a controversial psychological treatment that has been repudiated by the American Psychological Association as unethical and without medical basis. A former client of Bachmann's clinic and a hidden camera investigator with the activist group Truth Wins Out showed that therapists at the clinic do engage in such practices. In a subsequent interview with the Star Tribune, Marcus Bachmann did not deny that he or other counselors at his clinic used the technique, but said they did so only at a client's request. In personal financial disclosure reports for 2006 through 2009, Bachmann reported earning $32,500 to $105,000 from a farm that was owned at the time by her ailing father-in-law, Paul Bachmann. The farm received $260,000 in federal crop and disaster subsidies between 1995 and 2008. Bachmann said that in 2006–2009, her husband acted as a trustee of the farm for his dying father and so, out of "an abundance of caution", she claimed the farm as income in financial disclosures, though it was her in-laws who profited from the farm during that period. Anonymous threat against her In August 2011 a man tweeted his "desire to engage in sadomasochistic activities" with Bachmann using "a Vietnam era machete" while misspelling her given name as "Michelle" in his tweet. Federal investigators ordered Twitter to reveal his identity. Called Mr. X in the grand jury's subpoena, the man filed a motion to quash the order at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in February 2012. Then-Chief Judge Royce Lamberth denied the request, citing the seriousness of the threat that might have posed to Bachmann, but X was granted the redaction of his identity in a separate order. Donald Trump Bachmann vocally supported then-President Donald Trump, saying in 2017 that he "has had the courage and the fortitude to stand up where other Republicans wouldn't dare to stand up." In December 2020, after the presidential election, she posted a video online praying for a Trump second term. Her online prayer specifically called out the contested election results in Georgia, saying: Lord, would you deliver these races in Georgia? O Father, would you deliver various local and state races, Father, that they aren't stolen? Would you give us a true vote? And, O God, I personally ask, from myself, Michele Bachmann, Lord, would you allow Donald Trump to have a second term as president of the United States? See also United States congressional delegations from Minnesota List of United States representatives from Minnesota Women in the United States House of Representatives References External links Politifact.com File on Michele Bachmann 2008 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org 2010 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org |- |- |- 1956 births Living people 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American women writers 20th-century Lutherans 21st-century Lutherans 21st-century Protestants American autobiographers American Christian Zionists American critics of Islam American evangelicals American people of Norwegian descent American political writers American anti-abortion activists American women lawyers American women non-fiction writers Anoka High School alumni Christians from Iowa Christians from Minnesota Converts to Evangelicalism from Lutheranism Christian critics of Islam Dominion theology Female members of the United States House of Representatives Female candidates for President of the United States Intelligent design advocates Internal Revenue Service people Members of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota Minnesota lawyers Minnesota Republicans Minnesota state senators Oral Roberts University alumni People from Anoka, Minnesota People from Stillwater, Minnesota Politicians from Waterloo, Iowa Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Tea Party movement activists Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election William & Mary Law School alumni Winona State University alumni Women autobiographers Women state legislators in Minnesota
true
[ "Diána Kőszegi (born 1983 in Hungary) is the first Hungarian professional Go player. She became only the sixth European professional when she was promoted to professional by the Korean Go Association on 4 January 2008.\n\nBiography\n\n \nDiána Kőszegi was born in August 1983 in Budapest. She began playing Go at age 9. She was initially taught by her father, Sándor Kőszegi (who teaches Go to elementary schools students). At age 11 she began studying under Tibor Pocsai, the winner of the European Go Championship in 1988. During her study of Go, she also began to teach others. She teaches Go on the KGS Go Server.\n\nIn 1996, she met 9 dan professional Yasutoshi Yasuda, with whom she kept in contact thanks to Shigeno Yuki, a friend who Diána considers as close as a sister. Diána wanted to be Yasuda's pupil, but this was not to be. Yasuda was very busy at that time. Both Yasuda and Yuki were a big influence on her.\n\nWhen she was 14 she came 4th at the 1st World Women Amateur Baduk Championship, held in 1997 in Seoul. In the following autumn, she finished 2nd in the 2nd European Women Amateur Go Championship.\n\nShe came 9th at the female equivalent of the World Amateur Go Championship in 1998, and was invited to Japan and Korea to study as an insei. Considering her young age, her family did not let her go.\n\nIn March 2000, she won the European Youth Go Championship that was held in Sinaia. She came 2nd in the previous two years, and again in 2001. In the same year, even though she finished only joint 8th at the Hungarian Go Championship, winning the play-offs between the top 6, she became the Hungarian Go Champion. She was the first Hungarian invited to professional competitions in China, while still an amateur. Representing Europe, she entered three competitions in 2000 (Shanghai), 2001 (Guiyang), and 2002 (Hong Kong).\n\nSince 2001 she has continued studying Go, without a tutor. In 2001, she stayed in Japan for 1.5 months thanks to the sister and brother Kobayashi Chizu and Kobayashi Satoru. In 2003 she went to the Hungarian university, ELTE. She studied at the programming mathematician department, but she did not complete her course, because of an invitation from the KimWon Baduk Academy, thanks to Mr Eo Jong Soo (7 dan Korean). She got to know him at the World Championship held in Korea in 2003.\n\nShe went to Korea in 2004 for 3 months, but then returned because she could not extend her visa. Until she was promoted to professional, from 2005 as an insei she was competing at the league in Seoul. In 2005, she studied at the Korean Myongji University and started teaching Go on-line. She became the sixth European professional, when she was promoted to professional by the Korean Go Association on 4 January 2008.\n\nShe translated the Go book 21st Century New Openings, by Kim Sung Rae (4 Dan), into English.\n\nPromotion record\n\nSee also \n\n List of Go organizations\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Diána's page on the site of the Korean Baduk Association\n Diána's page on the Hungarian Go Wiki\n\n1983 births\nLiving people\nHungarian Go players\nFemale Go players", "True Believer is a verse novel for young adults, written by Virginia Euwer Wolff and published by Atheneum Books in 2001.\nIt has been published as an audiobook read by Heather Alicia Simms, and translated into Chinese, German, Italian, and Japanese.\nIt won the U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature and was named a Michael L. Printz Honor book.\n\nA review in Publishers Weekly observed that Wolff writes with \"delicacy and sensitivity\".\n\nPlot summary\n\nCharacters\n\nVerna LaVaughn: LaVaughn is the protagonist of the story. She is named after her two grand aunts, Verna and LaVaughn, but goes by the name LaVaughn. LaVaughn is fifteen years old, telling what her life is like through that age. She tells how she falls in love with Jody, only to find him kissing another guy. LaVaughn briefly tells how her father dies, (he was an innocent bystander of a tragic shooting.) She tells how her mom is raising her in a slightly destitute type neighborhood, and also a little about her past.\nLaVaughn's mother: In the story, LaVaughn's mother does not get a name. LaVaughn's mom is a single mother. She is taking care of her daughter and herself alone, because her husband died. In True Believer, LaVaughn doesn't talk about her as much as she does with others, but when she does, you can get a feel for how wonderful and supportive her mother is LaVaughn even tells of her mother possibly finding love.\nJody: Jody comes back to live in LaVaughn's apartment. He left because where he and LaVaughn are from, children die at a young age and he and his mother did not want that to be the result of his life. He is the same age as LaVaughn, (fifteen). In the book, not many people get the chance to go to college. Like LaVaughn, he is determined not be another statistic. He wants to get into college and move away from the neighborhood. He hopes to win a swimming scholarship for college.\nMyrtle: In the book, Myrtle is LaVaughn's best friend. She grew up with LaVaughn, her father is a drug addict, trying to turn his life around in rehabilitation. Myrtle may not be as determined to go to college as Jody and LaVaughn are but she does want to stay on the right track. Myrtle joins a church, but this also pushes back their close friendship with LaVaughn, because LaVaughn doesn't go to church.\nAnnie: Annie is another childhood friend of LaVaughn's in the book. She did not grow up with LaVaughn like Myrtle did, but she did go to school with them, and after a while became their best friend. Annie's background isn't really described in True Believer. Annie also joined a church and after a while became very attached to it. LaVaughn did not attend church with them at all, therefore their friendship of dwindled. Myrtle and Annie did not have as much to talk to LaVaughn about, because LaVaughn had different views. LaVaughn questions God a lot throughout the book, while Annie and Myrtle goes go with what is dealt to them through the church.\nPatrick: Patrick, born into a poor family, is described as LaVaughn's new biology partner in the book. When she is moved into that class, Patrick is really nice to her, As days progress, she says Patrick wears the same green shirt everyday, and Patrick's speech is terribly slow. he is really good at science, biology in particular. \nJolly: Jolly is an old friend of LaVaughn's. LaVaughn babysat Jolly's kids when she was younger. (In the book before True Believer, Make Lemonade told Jolly’s story). Jolly is a senior in true Believer, and is eighteen with two children, Jeremy, and Jilly. Jolly had a rough time growing up, the guys that impregnated her left her way before the children were born, she raises the kids on her own, in a substandard apartment. Jolly is trying to make a way for her kids, and herself so she goes back to high school so she too can graduate on time.\nLester: LaVaughn's mom's new “boyfriend.’” She describes him as: “His name is Lester. He is at her new job. He is in charge of something there. And he is coming to our house to eat supper.” (page 105). Lester comes over to dinner that night, and compliments on everything LaVaughn's mom cooks. For a while everything is going good, and her mom is even thinking about moving into a house with Lester and LaVaughn as a sort of “family”. LaVaughn's mom finds out that Lester calls her every night from a pay phone, and the worse: he took out money from LaVaughn's savings account to pay for his own mortgage. After that, LaVaughn's mom leaves him.\nb's up\n\nReception and themes\nAccording to an interview with Horn Book Magazine, Wolff never identified the race of the characters purposefully, because she wanted readers to have their own views of them.\n\nHorn Book Magazine mentioned the theme of romantic feeling that can take over everyday life. Roger Sutton, the reviewer, said that \"LaVaughn's portrayal of her life at school and home becomes shaped by her feelings for Jody.\" \nPublishers Weekly summarized the overall theme as \"one of the pivotal issues of puberty\": abstinence.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n True Believer on Google Books\n\n2001 American novels\nVerse novels\nAmerican young adult novels\nNational Book Award for Young People's Literature winning works\nGolden Kite Award-winning works\nAtheneum Books books" ]
[ "Michele Bachmann", "Early life, education, and early career", "When was she born?", "Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa,", "when was she born?", "Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa,", "did she have any siblings?", "I don't know.", "where did she go to school?", "She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974", "did she go to college?", "1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A." ]
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what did she study?
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what did Michele Bachmann study at Winona State University?
Michele Bachmann
Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; her family moved from Iowa to Minnesota when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced, Bachmann's father, David John Amble, moved to California, and Bachmann was raised by her mother, Arlene Jean (nee Johnson), who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota. Her mother remarried when Bachmann was a teenager; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working on kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). While there, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986 Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. CANNOTANSWER
O. W. Coburn School of Law,
Michele Marie Bachmann (; née Amble; born April 6, 1956) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election, but lost the Republican nomination to Mitt Romney. Born in Waterloo, Iowa, Bachmann moved to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, as a teenager. She graduated from O. W. Coburn School of Law, the law school of Oral Roberts University, and the William & Mary Law School. After graduating, she briefly worked in tax law for the Internal Revenue Service before becoming a stay-at-home mom. She became involved in local politics, specifically around education. Bachmann formally entered politics in 2000, when she was elected to the Minnesota Senate. In 2006, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. After her unsuccessful run for president, Bachmann was elected to another term in the House in 2012, before announcing her retirement before the 2014 election. Early life, education, and early career Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, to Norwegian-American parents David John Amble (1929–2003) and Arlene Jean Amble (née Johnson; born c. 1932). Two of her great-great-great-grandparents, Melchior and Martha Munson, emigrated from Sogndal, Norway, to Wisconsin in 1857. David was an engineer. Her family moved from Iowa to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced when she was 14, David moved to California and remarried. Bachmann was raised by her mother, who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota, where they moved again. Three years later her mother married widower Raymond J. LaFave; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. Bachmann graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working at kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). There she studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986, Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. Early political activism Bachmann grew up in a Democratic family and has said she became a Republican during her senior year at Winona State University. She told the Star Tribune that she was reading Gore Vidal's 1973 novel Burr and claimed that "[h]e was kind of mocking the Founding Fathers and I just thought—I just remember reading the book, putting it in my lap, looking out the window and thinking, 'You know what? I don't think I am a Democrat. I must be a Republican. While still a Democrat, she and her then-fiancé, Marcus, were motivated to join the anti-abortion movement after watching Francis Schaeffer's 1976 Christian documentary film How Should We Then Live? They prayed outside of clinics and engaged in sidewalk interference, an activity in which anti-abortion activists attempt to persuade women entering clinics not to get abortions. Bachmann has since made statements supportive of sidewalk interference. Bachmann supported Jimmy Carter for president in 1976, and she and her husband worked on his campaign. During Carter's presidency, Bachmann became disappointed with his liberal approach to public policy, support for legalized abortion and economic decisions she held responsible for increased gas prices. In the 1980 presidential election, she voted for Ronald Reagan and worked for his campaign. Bachmann's political activism gained media attention at an anti-abortion protest in 1991. She and approximately 30 other protesters went to a Ramsey County Board meeting where $3 million was to be appropriated to build a morgue for the county at St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center (now Regions Hospital). The Medical Center performed abortions and employed pro-choice activist Jane Hodgson. Bachmann voiced her opposition to tax dollars going to the hospital; to the Star Tribune, she said, "in effect, since 1973, I have been a landlord of an abortion clinic, and I don't like that distinction". In 1993, Bachmann and other parents started the K–12 New Heights Charter School in Stillwater. The publicly funded school's charter mandated that it be non-sectarian in all programs and practices, but the school soon developed a strong Christian orientation. Parents of students at the school complained and the superintendent of schools warned Bachmann that the school was in violation of state law. Six months after the school's founding, Bachmann resigned and the Christian orientation was removed from the curriculum, allowing the school to keep its charter. Bachmann began speaking against a state-mandated set of educational standards, which propelled her into politics. Bachmann became a critic and opponent of Minnesota's School-to-Work policies. In a 1999 column, she wrote, "School-to-Work alters the basic mission and purpose of K–12 academic education away from traditional broad-based academic studies geared toward maximizing intellectual achievement of the individual. Instead, School-to-Work utilizes the school day to promote children's acquisition of workplace skills, viewing children as trainees for increased economic productivity." In November 1999, Bachmann and four other Republicans were candidates, as the "Slate of Five", in an election for the school board of Stillwater. All five lost. Minnesota Senate In 2000 Bachmann defeated 18-year incumbent Gary Laidig for the Republican nomination for state senator in Minnesota District 56. In the general election she defeated Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Ted Thompson and Minnesota Independence Party Lyno Sullivan. In 2002, after redistricting due to the 2000 Census, Bachmann defeated another incumbent, DFL State Senator Jane Krentz, in the newly drawn State Senate District 52. Bachmann's agenda as a state senator focused on opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment On November 20, 2003, Bachmann and Representative Mary Liz Holberg proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar the state from legally recognizing same-sex marriage. In 2004 Bachmann and a coalition of religious leaders announced plans for a "Minnesota for Marriage" rally. Her effort to place a marriage amendment on a referendum ballot in 2004 failed. She resurrected the proposal in March 2005, but it stalled indefinitely in a senate committee that April. Assistant Minority Leader In November 2004 Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Day appointed Bachmann Assistant Minority Leader in charge of policy of the Senate Republican Caucus. In July 2005 the Republican Caucus removed her from her leadership position. Bachmann said that disagreements with Day over her anti-tax stance were the reason for her ouster. U.S. House of Representatives From 2007 to 2015 Bachmann represented , which includes the northernmost and eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities and St. Cloud. She is the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House from Minnesota. 110th Congress Foreign affairs Bachmann voted "No" on a January 2007 resolution in the House of Representatives opposing President George W. Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq, but called for a full hearing in advance of the troop surge, saying, "the American people deserve to hear and understand the merits of increasing U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Increased troop presence is justifiable if that measure would bring a swift conclusion to a difficult conflict." She hesitated to give a firm endorsement, calling the hearings "a good first step in explaining to the American people the course toward victory in Iraq." Member of Congressional delegation In July 2007 Bachmann joined a Congressional delegation visiting Ireland, Germany, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Iraq. She met briefly (due to security concerns) with U.S. personnel in the Green Zone and upon her return said she "was encouraged by reports of progress from Crocker, General David Petraeus and other personnel in Iraq linked to the surge". She said the surge "hasn't had a chance to be in place long enough to offer a critique of how it's working. [Petraeus] said al-Qaida in Iraq is off its plan and we want to keep it that way. The surge has only been fully in place for a week or so." Bachmann also spoke of the delegation's visit to Islamabad to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Aziz at the same time as the siege of Islamic fundamentalists at the Lal Masjid mosque elsewhere in the city. She reported, "The group [of U.S. Legislators] had to travel in armored vehicles and was constantly accompanied by Pakistani military ... We were all able to see extremely up close and personal what it's like to be in a region where fighting is occurring. We constantly felt like we were in need of security." Bachmann told reporters upon her return that "the dangers posed by Islamic terrorism in Iraq, Britain and Pakistan justified the continued American military presence in Iraq." She said, "We don't want to see al-Qaida get a presence in the United States. Al-Qaida doesn't seem to show any signs of letting up. We have to keep that in mind." Higher education On July 11, 2007, Bachmann voted against the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The act raised the maximum Pell grant from $4,310 to $5,200, lowered interest rates on subsidized student loans from 6.8% to 3.4%, raised loan limits from $7,500 to $30,500, disfavored married students who filed joint tax returns, provided more favorable repayment terms to students who could not use their education to prosper financially, and favored public sector over private sector workers with much more favorable loan forgiveness benefits. Supporters of the bill said it would allow more students to attend college and prosper for the rest of their lives. Bachmann said she opposed the act because "it fails students and taxpayers with gimmicks, hidden costs and poorly targeted aid. It contains no serious reform of existing programs, and it favors the costly, government-run direct lending program over nonprofit and commercial lenders." The bill passed the House and was signed by President Bush. Energy and environment During the summer of 2008, as national gasoline prices rose to over $4 a gallon, Bachmann became a leading Congressional advocate for increased domestic oil and natural gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf. She joined ten other House Republicans and members of the media on a Congressional Energy Tour to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, and to Alaska. The trip was arranged by Arctic Power, an Alaskan lobbying group that advocates for ANWR development. Its purpose was to receive a firsthand account of emerging renewable energy technologies and the prospects of increased domestic oil and natural gas production in Alaska, including ANWR. Bachmann rejects the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is real, progressing, and primarily caused by humans. She has claimed that global warming is "all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax" and has been called "one of the GOP's loudest global warming skeptics." She has claimed, baselessly, that "because life requires carbon dioxide and it is part of the planet's life cycle, it cannot be harmful." On the House floor on Earth Day 2009, Bachmann said she opposed cap and trade climate legislation, again making disproven claims that "carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas. Carbon dioxide is natural; it is not harmful ... We're being told we have to reduce this natural substance to create an arbitrary reduction in something that is naturally occurring in the earth." In March 2008 Bachmann introduced H.R. 849, the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act. The bill would have repealed two sections of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 signed into law by George W. Bush. The 2007 Energy Act mandates energy efficiency and labeling standards for incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. Bachmann's bill would have required the Government Accountability Office to show that a change to fluorescent bulbs would have "clear economic, health and environmental benefits" before enforcing lighting efficiency regulations. The bill would have allowed these standards to remain in place if the comptroller general found they would lead to consumer savings, reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and pose no health risks to consumers (such as risks posed by the presence of mercury in fluorescent bulbs). The bill languished in the House and became inactive at the end of the 110th Congress. Bachmann reintroduced the bill in March 2011. Tort reform On June 3, 2008, President Bush signed the Credit and Debit Card Receipt Clarification Act (H.R. 4008) into law. The bipartisan bill, which Bachmann cosponsored with Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.), removed statutory damages for violations of a 2003 federal law prohibiting merchants from printing consumers' credit card numbers and expiration dates on sales receipts, in order to end class-action lawsuits aimed at businesses that violated the law. Financial sector Bachmann opposed both versions of the Wall Street bailout bill for America's financial sector. She voted against the first proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions, which failed to pass, by a vote of 205–228. She also advocated breaking up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and barring executives from excessive compensation or golden parachutes, and advocated a plan that would suspend mark-to-market accounting rules and suspend the capital gains tax. Auto industry The American auto companies approached Congress to ask for roughly $15 billion in loans to keep them operational into 2009. Bachmann criticized that bill, fearing that the initial sum of money would be followed by subsequent ones without the companies making changes to revive their business. Bachmann supported an alternative plan for American auto companies and the rest of the auto industry that would have set benchmarks for reducing their debt and renegotiating labor deals and have set up the financial assistance as interim insurance instead of a taxpayer-financed bailout. Call for a media "exposé" of alleged "anti-Americanism" of Barack Obama and members of Congress On October 17, 2008, Bachmann gave an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews in support of the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain that brought the Minnesota 6th Congressional District race national attention. During the interview she criticized Barack Obama for his association with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, saying, "usually we associate with people who have similar ideas to us, and it seems that it calls into question what Barack Obama's true beliefs, and values, and thoughts are ... I am very concerned that he [Obama] may have anti-American views." She noted the bombing campaign orchestrated by Bill Ayers before discussing his association with Obama, arguing that "Bill Ayers is not someone the average American wants to see their president have an association with." Matthews followed up by asking "But he [Obama] is a Senator from the state of Illinois; he's one of the members of Congress you suspect of being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama; is he alone or are there others?" Bachmann answered, "What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look ... I wish they would ... I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America, or anti-America. I think people would love to see an exposé like that." In response, the five Democratic members of Minnesota's congressional delegation—Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar—issued a joint statement questioning Bachmann's ability to "work in a bipartisan way to put the interests of our country first in this time of crisis." Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson said her comments had influenced their decisions to endorse Obama for president. Bachmann brought up the interview before business leaders and Republicans during a campaign stop in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on October 21, 2008. She claimed she never intended to question Obama's patriotism. "I made a misstatement. I said a comment that I would take back. I did not, nor do I, question Barack Obama's patriotism ... I did not say that Barack Obama is anti-American nor do I believe that Barack Obama is anti-American ... [But] I'm very concerned about Barack Obama's views. I don't believe that socialism is a good thing for America." At a March 2010 fund-raiser for the Susan B. Anthony List, Bachmann said, "I said I had very serious concerns that Barack Obama had anti-American views—and now I look like Nostradamus". In March 2011 she was asked on Meet the Press whether she still believed that Obama held un-American views. She responded, "I believe that the actions of this government have—have been emblematic of ones that have not been based on true American values." Pressed for clarification, she said, "I've already answered that question before. I said I had very serious concerns about the president's views." 111th Congress Global currency On March 26, 2009, following comments by China proposing adoption of a global reserve currency, Bachmann introduced a resolution calling for a Constitutional amendment to bar the dollar from being replaced by a foreign currency. Current law prohibits foreign currency from being recognized in the U.S., but Bachmann expressed concerns relating to the president's power to make and interpret treaties. Earlier that month, at a Financial Services Committee hearing, Bachmann asked both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke whether they would reject calls for the U.S. to move away from the U.S. dollar and they replied that they would. 2010 Census In a June 17, 2009, interview with The Washington Times, Bachmann expressed concern that the questions on the 2010 United States Census had become "very intricate, very personal" and that ACORN, a community organizing group that had come under fire the previous year, might be part of the Census Bureau's door-to-door information collection efforts. She said, "I know, for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that." According to Politifact, her statement was incorrect, as the Constitution does require citizens to complete the census. Fellow Republican Representatives Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.) and John Mica (Fla.), members of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives, which oversees the census, subsequently asked Bachmann not to boycott the population count. Along with Congressman Ted Poe (Tex.-02), Bachmann introduced the American Community Survey Act to limit the amount of personal information the U.S. Census Bureau solicits. She reiterated her belief that the census asked too many personal questions. Cap-and-Trade legislation In March 2009 Bachmann was interviewed by the Northern Alliance Radio Network and promoted two forums she was hosting the next month in St. Cloud and Woodbury about Obama's proposed cap-and-trade tax policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions. She said she wanted Minnesotans "armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back." Bachmann's office quickly clarified that she was speaking metaphorically, meaning "armed with knowledge". According to the Star Tribune, her quote went viral across the Internet. AmeriCorps In 2009 Bachmann became a critic of what she characterized as proposals for mandatory public service. Of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an expansion to AmeriCorps (a federal community service organization), she said in April: The original bill called for an exploration of whether a mandatory public service program could be established, but the section on creating a "Congressional Commission on Civic Service" was stripped from the bill. In August 2009 Bachmann's political opponents publicized in the local media and the blogosphere what they described as the "ironic" fact that her son, Harrison, joined Teach for America, part of the AmeriCorps program. Health care Bachmann contributed to the "death panel" controversy when she read from a July 24 article by former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey on the House floor. Sarah Palin said that her "death panel" remark was inspired by what she called the "Orwellian" opinions of Ezekiel Emanuel as described by Bachmann, who accused him of advocating health care rationing by age and disability. According to PolitiFact and Time, Bachmann's euthanasia remarks distorted Emanuel's position on health care for the elderly and disabled. FactCheck.org stated, "We agree that Emanuel's meaning is being twisted." When many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it. On August 31, 2009, Bachmann spoke at an event in Colorado, saying of Democratic health care overhaul proposals that: She outlined ideas for changing the health care system, including: "Erase the boundaries around every single state when it comes to health care", enabling consumers to purchase insurance across state lines; increase the use of health savings accounts and allow everyone to "take full deductibility of all medical expenses", including insurance premiums; and tort reform. Bachmann denounced the government-run health insurance public option, calling it a "government takeover of health care" that would "squeeze out private health insurance". Criticism of President Obama's visit to Asia In a November 3, 2010, interview with Anderson Cooper, while discussing spending cuts for Medicare and Social Security suggested by Representative Paul Ryan, Bachmann was asked what spending cuts she would make to reduce the deficit. She cited President Obama's then-upcoming visit to Asia as an example, saying it "is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. He's taking two thousand people with him. He'll be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are 5-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending—it's a very small example, Anderson." Bachmann was apparently referring to information in a story from the Press Trust of India, attributed to "a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit", information that was also published in U.S.-based media such as The Drudge Report. A Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, dismissed the report's claim that 34 warships were accompanying the President as "comical". The White House said that the press report figures were "wildly inflated" and had "no basis in reality". While stating that they could not give the actual projected figures for security reasons, staffers maintained costs were in line with the official travel costs of previous presidents Bush and Clinton. 112th Congress Leadership run After the 2010 elections and Representative Mike Pence's announcement that he was stepping away from his leadership position in the House, Bachmann announced her intention to seek the position of House Republican Conference Chair. As Bachmann was the founder of the House's Tea Party Caucus, her announcement caused some to see the leadership election as "an early test of how GOP leaders will treat the antiestablishment movement's winners". Many among the House's Republican leadership, including Eric Cantor and the retiring Pence, were quick to endorse Representative Jeb Hensarling for the position; Speaker-to-be John Boehner remained neutral on the issue. Supporters of Bachmann's run included Representatives Steve King, John Kline, Louie Gohmert, Chip Cravaack, and Erik Paulsen, as well as media personality and political commentator Glenn Beck. Listing her qualifications for the position, Bachmann noted, "I've done an effective job speaking out at a national and local level, motivating people with our message, calling attention to deficits in Obama's policy. I was instrumental in bringing tens of thousands of people to the U.S. capitol to rally against Obama care and to attend our press conference." She noted her work to keep the Tea Party within the GOP rather than having it become a third party, thereby helping the party capture the House, saying, "I have been able to bring a voice and motivate people to, in effect, put that gavel in John Boehner's hands, so that Republicans can lead going forward. …It's important that leadership represents the choice of the people coming into our caucus….I think I have motivated a high number of people to get involved in this cycle who may have sat it out and that have made a difference on a number of these races. I gave a large amount of money to NRCC and individual candidates and started Michele PAC, which raised $650,000 for members since July, so I was able to financially help about 50 people out." Bachmann's bid suffered a setback when she was passed over for the GOP's transition team on which Hensarling was placed. Despite Bachmann's leading all other Representatives in fundraising, a Republican aide said some "members are getting resentful of Bachmann, who they say is making the argument that you're not really a Tea Party supporter unless you support her. That's gone through the formation of the Tea Party Caucus and the formation of this candidacy of hers. It's just not so." Sarah Palin, with whom Bachmann had campaigned earlier in the year, declined to endorse her leadership bid, while other Tea Party favorites, Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Tim Scott, were placed on the transition team. According to some senior House staff members, the party leadership was concerned about some of Bachmann's high-profile faux pas, the high rate of turnover among her staff, and how willing she would be to advance the party's messaging rather than her own. On November 10 Bachmann released a statement ending her campaign for Conference Chair and giving Hensarling her "enthusiastic" support. Committee assignment House Speaker John Boehner selected Bachmann for a position "on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, giving her a new role as overseer of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community." Bachmann, who had "not served on any committee that deals with foreign policy issues" requested the position, "a move that has fueled speculation that she may be planning to carry the Tea Party banner into the GOP presidential primaries." Repeal of Dodd–Frank reform Soon after beginning her third term, Bachmann introduced legislation to repeal the Dodd–Frank financial reform law. She said, "I'm pleased to offer a full repeal of the job-killing Dodd–Frank financial regulatory bill. Dodd–Frank grossly expanded the federal government beyond its jurisdictional boundaries. It gave Washington bureaucrats the power to interpret and enforce the legislation with little oversight. Real financial regulatory reform must deal with these lenders who were a leading cause of our economic recession. True reform must also end the bailout mind-set that was perpetuated by the last Congress." She also took issue with the law for not addressing the liabilities of the tax-payer funded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bachmann's bill was endorsed by conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity. It gained four other Republican co-sponsors, including Representative Darrell Issa, who became the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at the start of the 112th Congress. Bachmann's call for total repeal was seen as more drastic than the approach advocated by her fellow Republican Spencer Bachus, who became the House Financial Services Committee Chairman when Republicans gained the House majority. Bachus planned "to provide 'vigorous' oversight of regulators efforts to reform banking and housing ... reform Fannie and Freddie", and "dismantle pieces of [the] Dodd–Frank Act that he believes 'unnecessarily punish small businesses and community banks.'" In response to Bachmann's legislation Representative Barney Frank said, "Michele Bachmann, the Club for Growth, and others in the right-wing coalition have now made their agenda for the financial sector very clear: they yearn to return to the thrilling days of yesteryear, so the loan arrangers can ride again—untrammeled by any rules restraining irresponsibility, excess, deception, and most of all, infinite leverage." It was seen as unlikely that Bachmann's legislation would pass, with the Financial Times writing, "Like the Republican move to repeal healthcare reform, Ms. Bachmann's bill could be passed by the House of Representatives but be blocked by the Senate or White House." State of the Union response Bachmann responded to Obama's 2011 State of the Union speech on the Tea Party Express website; her speech was broadcast live by CNN. She insisted that her response was not intended to counter Paul Ryan's official Republican party response. When asked whether the speech was an indication of competition with Ryan and Boehner's leadership team, Bachmann dismissed such a view as "a fiction of the media", saying she had alerted Ryan and the leadership team that her response might go national and that no objections were raised. Health care Bachmann continually called for repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). She recalled to reporters that she called for debate to repeal the act "the morning after Obamacare passed". With Steve King she introduced "the Bachmann-King repeal of health care bill", saying that it "is our intent in our heart to make sure that Obamacare is completely repealed." In light of the Democratic-majority Senate's and Obama's opposition to repeal, Bachmann called on the Republican held House of Representatives not to provide any funds for implementation of the act. "But until we can see that [repeal] happen, we want to fully defund this bill so that, like, it would be akin to a helium balloon that gets no helium inside so that it can't take off the ground, and that's what we're planning to do. I'm very, very grateful for nothing else; having a majority in the House of Representatives so that we have the ability of the power of the purse to not fund Obamacare, and this is exactly the right way to go", she said. On March 4, 2011, Bachmann, one of the six House Republicans to vote against the continuing resolution that gave a two-week extension until a possible government shutdown, expressed her unhappiness with its passage. In an appearance on Meet the Press on March 6 and during a March 7 interview with Sean Hannity, Bachmann claimed that the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats had hidden $105 billion in spending in the overhaul of the American Health Care System. She portrayed the Democratic leadership as timing the release of the bill's text to avoid detection of the spending. "We didn't get the bill until a literally couple of hours before we were supposed to vote on it", she said. She also said the spending was split up within different portions of the bill to mask its total cost. Bachmann was told this by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which claimed to have read the tallies of the Congressional Research Service and Congressional Budget Office. According to some reports of the costs, "about $40 billion would go to the Children's Health Insurance Program, $15 billion would go to Medicare and Medicaid innovation programs, and $9.5 billion would go to the Community Health Centers Fund." As the funds are designated mandatory spending (not controlled by the annual appropriations acts), the funds would have remained even if the move to defund the reform law had succeeded. Bachmann stated that $16 billion of the money gives Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius a "slush fund ... [to do] whatever she wants with this money." She called on the bills supporters to return the money, saying, "I think this deception that the president and [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid put forward with appropriating over $105 billion needs to be given back to the people." When asked during the Meet the Press interview if she would take back her previous comments that Obama "may have anti-American views" and that his administration had "embraced something called gangster government", Bachmann stood by her statements, saying, "I do believe that actions that have been taken by this White House—I don't take back my statements on gangster government. I think that there have been actions taken by the government that are corrupt ... I said I have very serious concerns about the president's views, and I think the president's actions in the last two years speak for themselves." In response to Bachmann's charges, Chief Deputy Democratic Whip Jan Schakowsky, who served on the House health subcommittee, pointed out that the report in question was an update of a report that came out in October 2010 and that the costs were spelled out in both the bill and the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of its cost, saying, "Michele Bachmann obviously didn't read the bill, because there was absolutely nothing hidden in that legislation." Schakowsky said the costs were not kept secret, citing the $40 billion for the Children's Health Insurance Program as an example: "There was a robust debate about whether or not that should be included, etc. So this idea of somehow, now at the last minute, there was a secret addition to some kind of funding ... is absolute nonsense." In a September 2011 Republican presidential debate in Tampa, Bachmann criticized Rick Perry for his support for the humanpapilloma virus (HPV) vaccine and his support for mandating the HPV vaccine for all sixth-grade Texas girls. The American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and other medical organizations worldwide support immunizing girls and boys against HPV. HPV can cause lesions and genital warts, and has been linked to cervical cancer as well as genital and oral cancers in people of any gender. Because the vaccine is effective only if given before the onset of sexual activity and subsequent exposure to the virus, medical groups recommend the three-dose vaccine be given to 11- and 12-year-olds. During the debate and in interviews afterward, Bachmann accused Perry of "crony capitalism" (because Perry's former chief of staff was chief lobbyist for a drug company manufacturing the vaccine), and baselessly claimed that the HPV vaccine was dangerous and caused "mental retardation." She repeatedly referred to an anecdotal account from a mother of a girl who had been immunized for HPV, saying, "She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered mental retardation thereafter ... There is no second chance for these little girls if there is [sic] any dangerous consequences to their bodies." Shortly after Bachmann's statements at the debate, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement: "The American Academy of Pediatrics would like to correct false statements made in the Republican presidential campaign that the HPV vaccine is dangerous and can cause mental retardation. There is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement. Since the vaccine has been introduced, more than 35 million doses have been administered, and it has an excellent safety record." Fewer than one percent of those receiving the vaccine reported neurological side effects or, in rare cases, severe allergic reactions, none linked to changes in cognitive ability. Bachmann later acknowledged that she was not a doctor or a scientist. Muslim Brotherhood In June–July 2012, Bachmann and several other Republican legislators sent a series of letters to oversight agencies at five federal departments citing "serious security concerns" about what Bachmann has called a "deep penetration in the halls of our United States government" by the Muslim Brotherhood. They requested formal investigations into what Bachmann called "influence operations" by the Brotherhood. Bachmann also accused Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Rep. Anthony Weiner's wife, of having family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. Bachmann's comments have drawn what the Washington Post calls "fierce criticism from fellow lawmakers and religious groups." In a speech on the Senate floor, 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain denounced Bachmann's charges as "specious and degrading". He defended Abedin as a "hard-working and loyal servant of our country and our government" and stated "these attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no merit. They need to stop now." House Speaker John Boehner termed Bachmann's allegations "dangerous", and other Republicans have also criticized the remarks. Ed Rollins, Bachmann’s former campaign manager, called on her to apologize to Abedin and characterized her allegations as “extreme and dishonest.” In a letter to Bachmann, her colleague Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a Muslim, asked for evidence backing her claims and stated, "Your response simply rehashes claims that have existed for years on anti-Muslim websites and contains no reliable information that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. government". Bachmann replied that "the intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group's access to top Obama administration officials". In a July 19 interview with radio and TV show host Glenn Beck, Bachmann repeated and expanded her allegations, accusing Ellison of having "a long record of being associated with the Council on American–Islamic Relations and with the Muslim Brotherhood". Ellison replied that "I am not now, nor have I ever been, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood." 113th Congress Presidential campaign finance investigation In 2013, Bachmann was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, the Federal Election Commission, the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee, the Urbandale Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation because of alleged campaign finance violations in her 2012 campaign for president. It is alleged that members of her staff made under-the-table payments, that funds were illegally transferred from her leadership PAC to pay consultants for her presidential campaign and that hidden payments were made to Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson. Additionally, a lawsuit was filed alleging that Bachmann and several former staffers stole and misused an Iowa homeschool group's e-mail distribution list. The trial, Heki v. Bachmann, had been set for May 14, 2014, but the case was settled out of court on June 28, 2013. On July 26, 2013, the House Ethics Committee announced they were conducting a full investigation of Bachmann, saying that they had received a referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics. Retirement On May 29, 2013, Bachmann announced that she would not seek reelection to her Congressional seat in 2014. In a June 2013 Fox News interview, she said she was "not going silent" and would remain involved in politics. She did not rule out a future run for office, or even the White House. With her retirement from Congress, the ethics investigations against her were dropped. During a December 2017 New Year's weekend interview with televangelist Jim Bakker, Bachmann said that she was considering running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Al Franken but was awaiting "God's counsel" before deciding. David Lightman and Trevor Graff, writing for McClatchyDC, argued that Bachmann left a "legacy of political missteps and lots of incendiary rhetoric—often loaded with false accusations and wild exaggerations." Committee assignments Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Political positions Education Bachmann supports the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in public school science classes. During a 2003 interview on the KKMS Christian radio program Talk The Walk, Bachmann said that evolution is a theory that has never been proven one way or the other. She co-authored a bill (with no additional endorsements among her fellow legislators) that would require public schools to include alternative explanations for the origin of life as part of the state's public school science curricula. In October 2006, Bachmann told a debate audience in St. Cloud, Minnesota, "there is a controversy among scientists about whether evolution is a fact or not ... There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design." Despite this, there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that evolution is real, and that intelligent design is not. Indeed, at least one news report presenting a "sampling of Bachmann's ... ludicrous or plain old false claims", stated that Bachmann’s claims are untrue, and that "when the science isn't on [Bachmann's] side, she simply improvises." Bachmann has praised the Christian youth ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCRBYCH), hailing "the group's work of sharing the gospel in public schools". She appeared as a keynote speaker at their fundraisers in 2006 and 2009. Following a 2011 controversial invocation for the Minnesota House, YCRBYCH founder Bradlee Dean declared that criticisms of him and his ministry were also "intended to harm and destroy the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann ... [who] previously praised and prayed for the work of my ministry". Bachmann has had a history of opposing anti-bullying legislation. In 2006, she told the Minnesota Legislature that passing an anti-bullying bill would be a waste of time. "I think for all of us, our experience in public schools is there have always been bullies", she said. "Always have been, always will be. I just don't know how we're ever going to get to the point of zero tolerance ... What does it mean? ... Will we be expecting boys to be girls?" Fiscal policy In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann opposed minimum wage increases. In a June 2011 interview, she did not back away from her earlier proposal to eliminate the federal minimum wage, a change she said would "virtually wipe out unemployment." In a 2001 flyer, Bachmann and Michael J. Chapman wrote that federal policies manage a centralized, state-controlled economy in the United States. She wrote that education laws passed by Congress in 2001, including "School To Work" and "Goals 2000", created a new national school curriculum that embraced "a socialist, globalist worldview; loyalty to all government and not America." In 2003, Bachmann said that the "Tax Free Zones" economic initiatives of Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty were based on the Marxist principle of "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." She also said the administration was attempting to govern and run centrally planned economies through the Minnesota Economic Leadership Team (MELT), an advisory board on economic and workforce policy Pawlenty chaired. Before her election to the state senate, and again in 2005, Bachmann signed a "no new taxes" pledge sponsored by the Taxpayers League of Minnesota. As a state senator, she introduced two bills that would have severely limited state taxation. In 2003, she proposed amending the Minnesota Constitution to adopt the "Taxpayers' Bill of Rights" (TABOR). In 2005, Bachmann opposed Pawlenty's proposal of a state surcharge of 75 cents per pack on the wholesale cost of cigarettes. She said she opposed the surcharge "100 percent—it's a tax increase." The Taxpayers' League later criticized her for reversing her position and voting for the surcharge. Bachmann promised to bring the price of gasoline down to $2 per gallon, without specifying a plan to accomplish this. Environment Bachmann supports increased domestic drilling of oil and natural gas, as well as pursuing renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar. She is a strong proponent of nuclear power. Bachmann has strongly opposed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pledging at an August 2011 campaign rally, "I guarantee you the EPA will have doors locked and lights turned off and they will only be about conservation." In 2007 and 2010, she actively solicited funds from the EPA on behalf of constituents in her congressional district. Social Security and Medicare phase-out Bachmann has called for phasing out Social Security and Medicare: "what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system... But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off." Foreign policy Bachmann has said that in dealing with Iran, diplomacy "is our option", but that other options, including a nuclear strike, should not be ruled out. She has also said that she is "a longtime supporter of Israel". Global economy In a discussion about the G-20 summit in Toronto, during an interview with conservative radio host Scott Hennen, Bachmann stated that she did not want America to be part of the international global economy. Bachmann told The Wall Street Journal that Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams influenced her economic views. She said she was "an Art Laffer fiend" and loved Ludwig von Mises. Immigration Bachmann believes that strengthened enforcement of immigration laws is required for the growth of the American job market. She supports amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow only the immediate family of legal immigrants (not extended family members) priority consideration in the immigration process. She voted against the DREAM Act. She has also said the current law does not need modification but proper enforcement. Bachmann said, "the immigration system in the United States worked very, very well up until the mid-1960s when liberal members of Congress changed the immigration laws." She has expressed support for immigration of highly skilled professionals such as chemists and engineers. Bachmann opposed the 2013 immigration reform bill, claiming that its passage would mean the end of the Republican Party. On WorldNetDaily she said, "This is President Obama's number one political agenda because he knows we will never again have a Republican president ever if amnesty goes into effect." Social issues Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment Bachmann supports both federal and state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and any legal equivalents. In August 2006, the Star Tribune reported that in March 2006, while on a Minneapolis radio show, Bachmann advocated a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. A caller asked her to explain how he, a heterosexual, would be harmed if his gay neighbors were allowed to marry. Bachmann replied, "Public schools would have to teach that homosexuality and same-sex marriage are normal, natural and that maybe children should try them." The Star Tribune also reported that Bachmann had publicly called homosexuality "sexual dysfunction", "sexual identity disorders", and "personal enslavement" leading to "sexual anarchy". In a July 2014 radio interview, Bachmann claimed that gay rights activists want to abolish age of consent laws in the United States so that adults can "prey on little children sexually." In 2020, Bachmann claimed that "transgender Black Marxists" were "seeking the overthrow of the United States and the dissolution of the traditional family." Abortion Bachmann has identified herself as pro-life and has been endorsed in her runs for Congress by the Susan B. Anthony List and Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. At a New Hampshire debate among presidential candidates, when asked if abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest, she responded that she was "100 percent pro-life," implying that such a fetus would have to be carried to term. In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann introduced a bill proposing a constitutional amendment restricting state funds for abortion. The bill died in committee. Federal-backed home loans According to the Washington Post, in 2008 Bachmann may have taken advantage of a federal program for a home loan, then called for dismantling the program, though the Post noted that the public and other members of Congress have taken advantage of such loans despite seeing reasons to criticize them. When asked about it, she said: "This is the problem. It is almost impossible to buy a home in this country today without the federal government being involved". Opinion on President Obama's birth certificate Bachmann claimed not to be part of the birther movement, but said that Obama could resolve the dispute by producing his long-form birth certificate. In April 2011, after Obama released the certificate, George Stephanopoulos asked Bachmann about the issue on Good Morning America. She said that its release "should settle the matter", that "I take the president at his word", and that "We have bigger fish to fry". Political campaigns 2006 congressional campaign Bachmann won her Congressional seat in the 2006 election with 50% of the vote, defeating the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Patty Wetterling and the Independence Party's John Binkowski. The 6th District's representative since 2001, Mark Kennedy, announced in late 2005 that he would run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mark Dayton. Bachmann said, "God then called me to run" for the U.S. House seat, and that she and her husband fasted for three days to be more sure. According to Bloomberg.com, evangelical conservative leader James Dobson put his organization Focus on the Family's resources behind Bachmann's 2006 campaign. The group planned to distribute 250,000 voter guides in Minnesota churches to reach social conservatives, according to Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, a local affiliate of the group. In addition to Minnesota, Dobson's group also organized turnout drives in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and Montana. During a debate televised by WCCO-TV on October 28, 2006, news reporter Pat Kessler quoted a story that appeared in the Star Tribune and asked Bachmann whether it was true that the church she belonged to taught that the Pope is the Anti-Christ. Bachmann replied that her church "does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that's absolutely false ... I'm very grateful that my pastor has come out and been very clear on this matter, and I think it's patently absurd and it's a false statement." In early July 2006, Bachmann received a fundraising visit from Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. On July 21, Karl Rove visited Minnesota to raise funds for her election. In August, President Bush was the keynote speaker at her congressional fundraiser, which raised about $500,000. Bachmann also received fundraising support from Vice President Dick Cheney. The National Republican Congressional Committee put nearly $3 million into the race, for electronic and direct-mail ads against Wetterling, significantly more than the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent on Wetterling's behalf. On November 7, Bachmann won the election with 50% of the vote to Wetterling's 42% and Binkowski's 8%. 2008 congressional campaign In 2008 Bachmann was reelected, defeating DFL and Independence Party nominee Elwyn Tinklenberg with 46.4% of the vote to Tinklenberg's 43.4%. Because Tinklenberg was running as a DFL member in the Democratic primary, Bob Anderson was able to run in the Independence Party primary unopposed, despite not having that party's endorsement. Anderson received 10% of the vote. 2010 congressional campaign In 2010 Bachmann was challenged by DFL nominee Tarryl Clark and Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson. With more than $8.5 million, Bachmann spent more than any other House of Representative candidate, although Clark was able to raise $4 million, one of the largest fundraising efforts in the nation for a U.S. House challenger. On November 2, 2010, Bachmann defeated Clark, 52% to 40%. 2012 presidential campaign In early 2011, amid substantial speculation, Bachmann announced her candidacy for president. She participated in the second Republican presidential debate, in New Hampshire, on June 13, 2011, and during the debate announced that she had filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) earlier that day to become a candidate for the nomination. Bachmann formally announced her candidacy for the nomination on June 27, 2011, during an appearance in Waterloo, Iowa, her birth city. Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll hosted by the Iowa GOP on August 13, 2011, becoming the first woman ever to win the poll, but finished sixth in the January 3, 2012, caucuses, with 4.98% of the vote. On January 4 she canceled her scheduled campaign trips to South Carolina and suspended her campaign. 2012 congressional campaign On January 25, 2012, Bachmann announced that she would run for reelection for her seat in Congress. According to Politico.com, as of July 2012 Bachmann had "raised close to $15 million" for the 2012 election, a figure it called "astounding ... more than some Senate candidates will collect this year." From July to the end of September, Bachmann raised $4.5 million. This amount put her ahead of all other members of Congress (including Allen West who was in second place with $4 million) for the third quarter. Bachmann said she was "humbled by the enormous outpouring of grassroots support for my campaign focused on keeping America the most secure and prosperous nation in the world." Despite a more favorable district Bachmann won reelection only narrowly, receiving just 4,298 more votes than her DFL challenger, Jim Graves. Electoral history Local elections Congressional elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 Autobiography In November 2011 Bachmann published her autobiography, Core of Conviction, in which she outlined the events and people who have shaped her values and beliefs. The book describes her break with the Democratic Party. "It was in the perilous fires of the Carter administration that my ideology was forged," she wrote. "In the seventies, Carter taught me what I was against, and then in the eighties, Reagan taught me what I was for." Reflecting on her role as a Tea Party leader, she elaborated, "I once said that the Tea Party represents 90 percent of Americans. I now realize that I misspoke. I should have said 100 percent, because I believe that nearly all Americans retain faith in the ordered liberty that the Constitution offers." Personal life Family In 1978, as Michele Amble, she married Marcus Bachmann, now a clinical therapist with a master's degree from Regent University and a Ph.D. from Union Graduate School, whom she met while they were undergraduates. After she received an LL.M. in taxation from William & Mary School of Law in 1988, the couple moved to Stillwater, Minnesota, a town of 18,000 near Saint Paul, where they run a Christian counseling center that administered gay conversion therapy. Bachmann and her husband have five children: Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia. In a 2011 town hall meeting, she said that she suffered a miscarriage after the birth of their second child, Harrison, an event she said shaped her anti-abortion views. Bachmann and her husband have also provided foster care to 23 other children, all of whom were teenage girls. The Bachmanns were licensed from 1992 to 2000 to handle up to three foster children at a time, with the last arriving in 1998. The Bachmanns began by providing short-term care for girls with eating disorders who were patients in a University of Minnesota program. Their home was legally defined as a treatment home, with a daily reimbursement rate per child from the state. Some girls stayed a few months, others more than a year. Bachmann is a former beauty pageant queen. Citizenship In May 2012 it was reported that Marcus Bachmann had registered for Swiss citizenship, and thus, under Swiss nationality law, so would Michele and their children. Within two days of the first reports of Bachmann's dual citizenship, Michele Bachmann announced that she had written to the Swiss consulate to withdraw her Swiss citizenship. Religion Bachmann was raised "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; she was a longtime member of Salem Lutheran Church (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) in Stillwater. She and her husband withdrew their membership on June 21, 2011, just before she officially began her presidential campaign. They had not attended the church for over two years. In 2011, the Bachmanns began attending Rockpoint Church in Lake Elmo, member of Evangelical Free Church of America. Bachmann has cited theologian Francis Schaeffer as a "profound influence" on her life and her husband's, especially his film series How Should We Then Live?. She has also described Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity by Nancy Pearcey as a "wonderful" book. Journalist Ryan Lizza has argued that Bachmann's worldview is deeply influenced by the Christian movement known as Dominionism, citing the influence of Schaeffer and Pearcey as evidence. Others have criticized Lizza's article, especially its connection of Schaeffer with Dominionism. Religion writer Sarah Posner broadly concurs with Lizza, pointing to the influence of Christian Reconstructionists Herb Titus and R. J. Rushdoony on Bachmann via the curriculum at O. W. Coburn School of Law. Businesses Bachmann and her husband own a Christian counseling practice, Bachmann & Associates. The clinic is run by her husband, who has a Ph.D. with "a concentration in clinical psychology" from Union Graduate School. Marcus Bachmann is not a licensed clinical psychologist in Minnesota. The clinic received nearly $30,000 from Minnesota government agencies between 2006 and 2010 in addition to at least $137,000 in federal payments and $24,000 in government grants for counselor training. In an interview, Michele Bachmann said that she and her husband had not benefited at taxpayer expense, saying, "the money that went to the clinic was actually training money for employees". Marcus Bachmann has falsely claimed that Bachmann & Associates did not provide conversion therapy, a controversial psychological treatment that has been repudiated by the American Psychological Association as unethical and without medical basis. A former client of Bachmann's clinic and a hidden camera investigator with the activist group Truth Wins Out showed that therapists at the clinic do engage in such practices. In a subsequent interview with the Star Tribune, Marcus Bachmann did not deny that he or other counselors at his clinic used the technique, but said they did so only at a client's request. In personal financial disclosure reports for 2006 through 2009, Bachmann reported earning $32,500 to $105,000 from a farm that was owned at the time by her ailing father-in-law, Paul Bachmann. The farm received $260,000 in federal crop and disaster subsidies between 1995 and 2008. Bachmann said that in 2006–2009, her husband acted as a trustee of the farm for his dying father and so, out of "an abundance of caution", she claimed the farm as income in financial disclosures, though it was her in-laws who profited from the farm during that period. Anonymous threat against her In August 2011 a man tweeted his "desire to engage in sadomasochistic activities" with Bachmann using "a Vietnam era machete" while misspelling her given name as "Michelle" in his tweet. Federal investigators ordered Twitter to reveal his identity. Called Mr. X in the grand jury's subpoena, the man filed a motion to quash the order at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in February 2012. Then-Chief Judge Royce Lamberth denied the request, citing the seriousness of the threat that might have posed to Bachmann, but X was granted the redaction of his identity in a separate order. Donald Trump Bachmann vocally supported then-President Donald Trump, saying in 2017 that he "has had the courage and the fortitude to stand up where other Republicans wouldn't dare to stand up." In December 2020, after the presidential election, she posted a video online praying for a Trump second term. Her online prayer specifically called out the contested election results in Georgia, saying: Lord, would you deliver these races in Georgia? O Father, would you deliver various local and state races, Father, that they aren't stolen? Would you give us a true vote? And, O God, I personally ask, from myself, Michele Bachmann, Lord, would you allow Donald Trump to have a second term as president of the United States? See also United States congressional delegations from Minnesota List of United States representatives from Minnesota Women in the United States House of Representatives References External links Politifact.com File on Michele Bachmann 2008 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org 2010 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org |- |- |- 1956 births Living people 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American women writers 20th-century Lutherans 21st-century Lutherans 21st-century Protestants American autobiographers American Christian Zionists American critics of Islam American evangelicals American people of Norwegian descent American political writers American anti-abortion activists American women lawyers American women non-fiction writers Anoka High School alumni Christians from Iowa Christians from Minnesota Converts to Evangelicalism from Lutheranism Christian critics of Islam Dominion theology Female members of the United States House of Representatives Female candidates for President of the United States Intelligent design advocates Internal Revenue Service people Members of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota Minnesota lawyers Minnesota Republicans Minnesota state senators Oral Roberts University alumni People from Anoka, Minnesota People from Stillwater, Minnesota Politicians from Waterloo, Iowa Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Tea Party movement activists Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election William & Mary Law School alumni Winona State University alumni Women autobiographers Women state legislators in Minnesota
true
[ "Payal Kapadia is an Indian filmmaker. She is best known for having won the Golden Eye award for best documentary film at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival for her film A Night of Knowing Nothing. In 2017, her film Afternoon Clouds was the only Indian film that was selected for the 70th Cannes Film Festival.\n\nBiography \nBorn in Mumbai, Kapadia went to Rishi Valley School in Andhra Pradesh. She got a Bachelor's degree in economics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. She did a one-year Master's degree from Sophia college. She then went on to study film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India, where she was selected on her second attempt.\n\nFilmography \nWatermelon, Fish and Half Ghost\nThe Last Mango Before the Monsoon (2015)\nAfternoon Clouds (2017)\nAnd What is the Summer Saying (2018)\nA Night of Knowing Nothing (2021)\n\nReferences \n\nIndian women film directors\nIndian women documentary filmmakers\nLiving people\nYear of birth missing (living people)", "Mary Carroll Ellsberg (born 1958) is an American epidemiologist whose research focuses on global health and violence against women. She is the director of the Global Women's Institute at George Washington University in Washington D.C.. Ellsberg is the daughter of Carol Cummings and the American military analyst and whistleblower, Daniel Ellsberg, and sister to Robert Ellsberg, the editor-in-chief and publisher of Orbis Books, and author Michael Ellsberg.\n\nEducation\nEllsberg received her bachelor's degree in Latin American studies from Yale University. In 2000, she obtained her Ph.D. in epidemiology and public health from Umeå University in Sweden, where she wrote a thesis on domestic violence against women in Nicaragua.\n\nNicaragua\nIn 1979 Ellsberg moved to Nicaragua to work for peace and social justice, and she lived there for almost 20 years. During this time she participated in the Nicaraguan Literacy Campaign and worked with vaccination and health consultation programs on the Caribbean coast for the Nicaragua Department of Health. Subsequently, in 1995 she did a prevalence study on domestic violence in Nicaragua, finding that 50% of women had been beaten or raped by her partner. This study was used to pass the country's first domestic violence law in 1996. In 2000, she defended her Ph.D. thesis at Umeå University on domestic violence in Nicaragua. After moving back to the United States, she has continued to conduct domestic violence research in Nicaragua.\n\nUnited States\nAfter returning to the United States, Ellsberg served as the vice president for research and programs at the International Center for Research on Women in Washington D.C.. In 2012 she joined the faculty of George Washington University where she is the director of the Global Womens Institute.\n\nScientific research\nEllsberg has studied domestic violence against women around the world, including Nicaragua, Melanesia, and South Sudan. She was a member of the core research team of the World Health Organization's Multi-Country Study on Domestic Violence and Women's Health, which has compared ten different countries in terms of prevalence, risk factors and consequences of intimate partner violence.\n\nSelected publications \n Ellsberg M, Caldera T, Herrera A, Winkvist A, Kullgren G. Domestic violence and emotional distress among Nicaraguan women: Results from a population-based study. American Psychologist. 1999 Jan;54(1):30.\n Ellsberg MC, Pena R, Herrera A, Liljestrand J, Winkvist A. Wife abuse among women of childbearing age in Nicaragua. American journal of public health. 1999 Feb;89(2):241-4.\n Ellsberg M, Peña R, Herrera A, Liljestrand J, Winkvist A. Candies in hell: women's experiences of violence in Nicaragua. Social science & medicine. 2000 Dec 1;51(11):1595-610.\n Ellsberg M, Heise L, Pena R, Agurto S, Winkvist A. Researching domestic violence against women: methodological and ethical considerations. Studies in family planning. 2001 Mar;32(1):1-6.\n Garcia-Moreno C, Jansen HA, Ellsberg M, Heise L, Watts CH. Prevalence of intimate partner violence: findings from the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence. The Lancet. 2006 Oct 7;368(9543):1260-9.\n Ellsberg M, Jansen HA, Heise L, Watts CH, Garcia-Moreno C. Intimate partner violence and women's physical and mental health in the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence: an observational study. The Lancet. 2008 Apr 5;371(9619):1165-72.\n Abramsky T, Watts CH, Garcia-Moreno C, Devries K, Kiss L, Ellsberg M, Jansen HA, Heise L. What factors are associated with recent intimate partner violence? Findings from the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence. BMC public health. 2011 Dec;11(1):109.\n Ellsberg M, Arango DJ, Morton M, Gennari F, Kiplesund S, Contreras M, Watts C. Prevention of violence against women and girls: what does the evidence say?. The Lancet. 2015 Apr 18;385(9977):1555-66.\n Ellsberg M, Contreras M, No safe place: A lifetime of violence for conflict-affected women and girls in South Sudan, Global Women's Institute, 2017\n Ellsberg M, Ugarte W, Ovince J, et al. Long-term change in the prevalence of intimate partner violence: a 20-year follow-up study in León, Nicaragua, 1995-2016. BMJ Global Health 2020;5:e002339. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002339\n\nExternal links \n Google Scholar, Mary Ellsberg\n TEDxFoggyBottom, Mary Ellsberg, Ending violence against women with numbers and stories\n George Washington University Global Women's Institute\n\nReferences\n\nLiving people\nAmerican people of Jewish descent\nDomestic violence academics\nGeorge Washington University faculty\nYale University alumni\nUmeå University alumni\n1958 births" ]
[ "Michele Bachmann", "Early life, education, and early career", "When was she born?", "Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa,", "when was she born?", "Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa,", "did she have any siblings?", "I don't know.", "where did she go to school?", "She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974", "did she go to college?", "1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A.", "what did she study?", "O. W. Coburn School of Law," ]
C_2e05f2abec0143e9ad890a7f98273efd_1
What was her first job?
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What was Michele Bachmann's first job?
Michele Bachmann
Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; her family moved from Iowa to Minnesota when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced, Bachmann's father, David John Amble, moved to California, and Bachmann was raised by her mother, Arlene Jean (nee Johnson), who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota. Her mother remarried when Bachmann was a teenager; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working on kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). While there, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986 Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. CANNOTANSWER
Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution,
Michele Marie Bachmann (; née Amble; born April 6, 1956) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election, but lost the Republican nomination to Mitt Romney. Born in Waterloo, Iowa, Bachmann moved to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, as a teenager. She graduated from O. W. Coburn School of Law, the law school of Oral Roberts University, and the William & Mary Law School. After graduating, she briefly worked in tax law for the Internal Revenue Service before becoming a stay-at-home mom. She became involved in local politics, specifically around education. Bachmann formally entered politics in 2000, when she was elected to the Minnesota Senate. In 2006, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. After her unsuccessful run for president, Bachmann was elected to another term in the House in 2012, before announcing her retirement before the 2014 election. Early life, education, and early career Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, to Norwegian-American parents David John Amble (1929–2003) and Arlene Jean Amble (née Johnson; born c. 1932). Two of her great-great-great-grandparents, Melchior and Martha Munson, emigrated from Sogndal, Norway, to Wisconsin in 1857. David was an engineer. Her family moved from Iowa to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced when she was 14, David moved to California and remarried. Bachmann was raised by her mother, who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota, where they moved again. Three years later her mother married widower Raymond J. LaFave; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. Bachmann graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working at kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). There she studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986, Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. Early political activism Bachmann grew up in a Democratic family and has said she became a Republican during her senior year at Winona State University. She told the Star Tribune that she was reading Gore Vidal's 1973 novel Burr and claimed that "[h]e was kind of mocking the Founding Fathers and I just thought—I just remember reading the book, putting it in my lap, looking out the window and thinking, 'You know what? I don't think I am a Democrat. I must be a Republican. While still a Democrat, she and her then-fiancé, Marcus, were motivated to join the anti-abortion movement after watching Francis Schaeffer's 1976 Christian documentary film How Should We Then Live? They prayed outside of clinics and engaged in sidewalk interference, an activity in which anti-abortion activists attempt to persuade women entering clinics not to get abortions. Bachmann has since made statements supportive of sidewalk interference. Bachmann supported Jimmy Carter for president in 1976, and she and her husband worked on his campaign. During Carter's presidency, Bachmann became disappointed with his liberal approach to public policy, support for legalized abortion and economic decisions she held responsible for increased gas prices. In the 1980 presidential election, she voted for Ronald Reagan and worked for his campaign. Bachmann's political activism gained media attention at an anti-abortion protest in 1991. She and approximately 30 other protesters went to a Ramsey County Board meeting where $3 million was to be appropriated to build a morgue for the county at St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center (now Regions Hospital). The Medical Center performed abortions and employed pro-choice activist Jane Hodgson. Bachmann voiced her opposition to tax dollars going to the hospital; to the Star Tribune, she said, "in effect, since 1973, I have been a landlord of an abortion clinic, and I don't like that distinction". In 1993, Bachmann and other parents started the K–12 New Heights Charter School in Stillwater. The publicly funded school's charter mandated that it be non-sectarian in all programs and practices, but the school soon developed a strong Christian orientation. Parents of students at the school complained and the superintendent of schools warned Bachmann that the school was in violation of state law. Six months after the school's founding, Bachmann resigned and the Christian orientation was removed from the curriculum, allowing the school to keep its charter. Bachmann began speaking against a state-mandated set of educational standards, which propelled her into politics. Bachmann became a critic and opponent of Minnesota's School-to-Work policies. In a 1999 column, she wrote, "School-to-Work alters the basic mission and purpose of K–12 academic education away from traditional broad-based academic studies geared toward maximizing intellectual achievement of the individual. Instead, School-to-Work utilizes the school day to promote children's acquisition of workplace skills, viewing children as trainees for increased economic productivity." In November 1999, Bachmann and four other Republicans were candidates, as the "Slate of Five", in an election for the school board of Stillwater. All five lost. Minnesota Senate In 2000 Bachmann defeated 18-year incumbent Gary Laidig for the Republican nomination for state senator in Minnesota District 56. In the general election she defeated Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Ted Thompson and Minnesota Independence Party Lyno Sullivan. In 2002, after redistricting due to the 2000 Census, Bachmann defeated another incumbent, DFL State Senator Jane Krentz, in the newly drawn State Senate District 52. Bachmann's agenda as a state senator focused on opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment On November 20, 2003, Bachmann and Representative Mary Liz Holberg proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar the state from legally recognizing same-sex marriage. In 2004 Bachmann and a coalition of religious leaders announced plans for a "Minnesota for Marriage" rally. Her effort to place a marriage amendment on a referendum ballot in 2004 failed. She resurrected the proposal in March 2005, but it stalled indefinitely in a senate committee that April. Assistant Minority Leader In November 2004 Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Day appointed Bachmann Assistant Minority Leader in charge of policy of the Senate Republican Caucus. In July 2005 the Republican Caucus removed her from her leadership position. Bachmann said that disagreements with Day over her anti-tax stance were the reason for her ouster. U.S. House of Representatives From 2007 to 2015 Bachmann represented , which includes the northernmost and eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities and St. Cloud. She is the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House from Minnesota. 110th Congress Foreign affairs Bachmann voted "No" on a January 2007 resolution in the House of Representatives opposing President George W. Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq, but called for a full hearing in advance of the troop surge, saying, "the American people deserve to hear and understand the merits of increasing U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Increased troop presence is justifiable if that measure would bring a swift conclusion to a difficult conflict." She hesitated to give a firm endorsement, calling the hearings "a good first step in explaining to the American people the course toward victory in Iraq." Member of Congressional delegation In July 2007 Bachmann joined a Congressional delegation visiting Ireland, Germany, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Iraq. She met briefly (due to security concerns) with U.S. personnel in the Green Zone and upon her return said she "was encouraged by reports of progress from Crocker, General David Petraeus and other personnel in Iraq linked to the surge". She said the surge "hasn't had a chance to be in place long enough to offer a critique of how it's working. [Petraeus] said al-Qaida in Iraq is off its plan and we want to keep it that way. The surge has only been fully in place for a week or so." Bachmann also spoke of the delegation's visit to Islamabad to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Aziz at the same time as the siege of Islamic fundamentalists at the Lal Masjid mosque elsewhere in the city. She reported, "The group [of U.S. Legislators] had to travel in armored vehicles and was constantly accompanied by Pakistani military ... We were all able to see extremely up close and personal what it's like to be in a region where fighting is occurring. We constantly felt like we were in need of security." Bachmann told reporters upon her return that "the dangers posed by Islamic terrorism in Iraq, Britain and Pakistan justified the continued American military presence in Iraq." She said, "We don't want to see al-Qaida get a presence in the United States. Al-Qaida doesn't seem to show any signs of letting up. We have to keep that in mind." Higher education On July 11, 2007, Bachmann voted against the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The act raised the maximum Pell grant from $4,310 to $5,200, lowered interest rates on subsidized student loans from 6.8% to 3.4%, raised loan limits from $7,500 to $30,500, disfavored married students who filed joint tax returns, provided more favorable repayment terms to students who could not use their education to prosper financially, and favored public sector over private sector workers with much more favorable loan forgiveness benefits. Supporters of the bill said it would allow more students to attend college and prosper for the rest of their lives. Bachmann said she opposed the act because "it fails students and taxpayers with gimmicks, hidden costs and poorly targeted aid. It contains no serious reform of existing programs, and it favors the costly, government-run direct lending program over nonprofit and commercial lenders." The bill passed the House and was signed by President Bush. Energy and environment During the summer of 2008, as national gasoline prices rose to over $4 a gallon, Bachmann became a leading Congressional advocate for increased domestic oil and natural gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf. She joined ten other House Republicans and members of the media on a Congressional Energy Tour to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, and to Alaska. The trip was arranged by Arctic Power, an Alaskan lobbying group that advocates for ANWR development. Its purpose was to receive a firsthand account of emerging renewable energy technologies and the prospects of increased domestic oil and natural gas production in Alaska, including ANWR. Bachmann rejects the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is real, progressing, and primarily caused by humans. She has claimed that global warming is "all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax" and has been called "one of the GOP's loudest global warming skeptics." She has claimed, baselessly, that "because life requires carbon dioxide and it is part of the planet's life cycle, it cannot be harmful." On the House floor on Earth Day 2009, Bachmann said she opposed cap and trade climate legislation, again making disproven claims that "carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas. Carbon dioxide is natural; it is not harmful ... We're being told we have to reduce this natural substance to create an arbitrary reduction in something that is naturally occurring in the earth." In March 2008 Bachmann introduced H.R. 849, the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act. The bill would have repealed two sections of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 signed into law by George W. Bush. The 2007 Energy Act mandates energy efficiency and labeling standards for incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. Bachmann's bill would have required the Government Accountability Office to show that a change to fluorescent bulbs would have "clear economic, health and environmental benefits" before enforcing lighting efficiency regulations. The bill would have allowed these standards to remain in place if the comptroller general found they would lead to consumer savings, reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and pose no health risks to consumers (such as risks posed by the presence of mercury in fluorescent bulbs). The bill languished in the House and became inactive at the end of the 110th Congress. Bachmann reintroduced the bill in March 2011. Tort reform On June 3, 2008, President Bush signed the Credit and Debit Card Receipt Clarification Act (H.R. 4008) into law. The bipartisan bill, which Bachmann cosponsored with Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.), removed statutory damages for violations of a 2003 federal law prohibiting merchants from printing consumers' credit card numbers and expiration dates on sales receipts, in order to end class-action lawsuits aimed at businesses that violated the law. Financial sector Bachmann opposed both versions of the Wall Street bailout bill for America's financial sector. She voted against the first proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions, which failed to pass, by a vote of 205–228. She also advocated breaking up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and barring executives from excessive compensation or golden parachutes, and advocated a plan that would suspend mark-to-market accounting rules and suspend the capital gains tax. Auto industry The American auto companies approached Congress to ask for roughly $15 billion in loans to keep them operational into 2009. Bachmann criticized that bill, fearing that the initial sum of money would be followed by subsequent ones without the companies making changes to revive their business. Bachmann supported an alternative plan for American auto companies and the rest of the auto industry that would have set benchmarks for reducing their debt and renegotiating labor deals and have set up the financial assistance as interim insurance instead of a taxpayer-financed bailout. Call for a media "exposé" of alleged "anti-Americanism" of Barack Obama and members of Congress On October 17, 2008, Bachmann gave an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews in support of the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain that brought the Minnesota 6th Congressional District race national attention. During the interview she criticized Barack Obama for his association with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, saying, "usually we associate with people who have similar ideas to us, and it seems that it calls into question what Barack Obama's true beliefs, and values, and thoughts are ... I am very concerned that he [Obama] may have anti-American views." She noted the bombing campaign orchestrated by Bill Ayers before discussing his association with Obama, arguing that "Bill Ayers is not someone the average American wants to see their president have an association with." Matthews followed up by asking "But he [Obama] is a Senator from the state of Illinois; he's one of the members of Congress you suspect of being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama; is he alone or are there others?" Bachmann answered, "What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look ... I wish they would ... I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America, or anti-America. I think people would love to see an exposé like that." In response, the five Democratic members of Minnesota's congressional delegation—Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar—issued a joint statement questioning Bachmann's ability to "work in a bipartisan way to put the interests of our country first in this time of crisis." Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson said her comments had influenced their decisions to endorse Obama for president. Bachmann brought up the interview before business leaders and Republicans during a campaign stop in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on October 21, 2008. She claimed she never intended to question Obama's patriotism. "I made a misstatement. I said a comment that I would take back. I did not, nor do I, question Barack Obama's patriotism ... I did not say that Barack Obama is anti-American nor do I believe that Barack Obama is anti-American ... [But] I'm very concerned about Barack Obama's views. I don't believe that socialism is a good thing for America." At a March 2010 fund-raiser for the Susan B. Anthony List, Bachmann said, "I said I had very serious concerns that Barack Obama had anti-American views—and now I look like Nostradamus". In March 2011 she was asked on Meet the Press whether she still believed that Obama held un-American views. She responded, "I believe that the actions of this government have—have been emblematic of ones that have not been based on true American values." Pressed for clarification, she said, "I've already answered that question before. I said I had very serious concerns about the president's views." 111th Congress Global currency On March 26, 2009, following comments by China proposing adoption of a global reserve currency, Bachmann introduced a resolution calling for a Constitutional amendment to bar the dollar from being replaced by a foreign currency. Current law prohibits foreign currency from being recognized in the U.S., but Bachmann expressed concerns relating to the president's power to make and interpret treaties. Earlier that month, at a Financial Services Committee hearing, Bachmann asked both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke whether they would reject calls for the U.S. to move away from the U.S. dollar and they replied that they would. 2010 Census In a June 17, 2009, interview with The Washington Times, Bachmann expressed concern that the questions on the 2010 United States Census had become "very intricate, very personal" and that ACORN, a community organizing group that had come under fire the previous year, might be part of the Census Bureau's door-to-door information collection efforts. She said, "I know, for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that." According to Politifact, her statement was incorrect, as the Constitution does require citizens to complete the census. Fellow Republican Representatives Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.) and John Mica (Fla.), members of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives, which oversees the census, subsequently asked Bachmann not to boycott the population count. Along with Congressman Ted Poe (Tex.-02), Bachmann introduced the American Community Survey Act to limit the amount of personal information the U.S. Census Bureau solicits. She reiterated her belief that the census asked too many personal questions. Cap-and-Trade legislation In March 2009 Bachmann was interviewed by the Northern Alliance Radio Network and promoted two forums she was hosting the next month in St. Cloud and Woodbury about Obama's proposed cap-and-trade tax policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions. She said she wanted Minnesotans "armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back." Bachmann's office quickly clarified that she was speaking metaphorically, meaning "armed with knowledge". According to the Star Tribune, her quote went viral across the Internet. AmeriCorps In 2009 Bachmann became a critic of what she characterized as proposals for mandatory public service. Of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an expansion to AmeriCorps (a federal community service organization), she said in April: The original bill called for an exploration of whether a mandatory public service program could be established, but the section on creating a "Congressional Commission on Civic Service" was stripped from the bill. In August 2009 Bachmann's political opponents publicized in the local media and the blogosphere what they described as the "ironic" fact that her son, Harrison, joined Teach for America, part of the AmeriCorps program. Health care Bachmann contributed to the "death panel" controversy when she read from a July 24 article by former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey on the House floor. Sarah Palin said that her "death panel" remark was inspired by what she called the "Orwellian" opinions of Ezekiel Emanuel as described by Bachmann, who accused him of advocating health care rationing by age and disability. According to PolitiFact and Time, Bachmann's euthanasia remarks distorted Emanuel's position on health care for the elderly and disabled. FactCheck.org stated, "We agree that Emanuel's meaning is being twisted." When many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it. On August 31, 2009, Bachmann spoke at an event in Colorado, saying of Democratic health care overhaul proposals that: She outlined ideas for changing the health care system, including: "Erase the boundaries around every single state when it comes to health care", enabling consumers to purchase insurance across state lines; increase the use of health savings accounts and allow everyone to "take full deductibility of all medical expenses", including insurance premiums; and tort reform. Bachmann denounced the government-run health insurance public option, calling it a "government takeover of health care" that would "squeeze out private health insurance". Criticism of President Obama's visit to Asia In a November 3, 2010, interview with Anderson Cooper, while discussing spending cuts for Medicare and Social Security suggested by Representative Paul Ryan, Bachmann was asked what spending cuts she would make to reduce the deficit. She cited President Obama's then-upcoming visit to Asia as an example, saying it "is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. He's taking two thousand people with him. He'll be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are 5-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending—it's a very small example, Anderson." Bachmann was apparently referring to information in a story from the Press Trust of India, attributed to "a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit", information that was also published in U.S.-based media such as The Drudge Report. A Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, dismissed the report's claim that 34 warships were accompanying the President as "comical". The White House said that the press report figures were "wildly inflated" and had "no basis in reality". While stating that they could not give the actual projected figures for security reasons, staffers maintained costs were in line with the official travel costs of previous presidents Bush and Clinton. 112th Congress Leadership run After the 2010 elections and Representative Mike Pence's announcement that he was stepping away from his leadership position in the House, Bachmann announced her intention to seek the position of House Republican Conference Chair. As Bachmann was the founder of the House's Tea Party Caucus, her announcement caused some to see the leadership election as "an early test of how GOP leaders will treat the antiestablishment movement's winners". Many among the House's Republican leadership, including Eric Cantor and the retiring Pence, were quick to endorse Representative Jeb Hensarling for the position; Speaker-to-be John Boehner remained neutral on the issue. Supporters of Bachmann's run included Representatives Steve King, John Kline, Louie Gohmert, Chip Cravaack, and Erik Paulsen, as well as media personality and political commentator Glenn Beck. Listing her qualifications for the position, Bachmann noted, "I've done an effective job speaking out at a national and local level, motivating people with our message, calling attention to deficits in Obama's policy. I was instrumental in bringing tens of thousands of people to the U.S. capitol to rally against Obama care and to attend our press conference." She noted her work to keep the Tea Party within the GOP rather than having it become a third party, thereby helping the party capture the House, saying, "I have been able to bring a voice and motivate people to, in effect, put that gavel in John Boehner's hands, so that Republicans can lead going forward. …It's important that leadership represents the choice of the people coming into our caucus….I think I have motivated a high number of people to get involved in this cycle who may have sat it out and that have made a difference on a number of these races. I gave a large amount of money to NRCC and individual candidates and started Michele PAC, which raised $650,000 for members since July, so I was able to financially help about 50 people out." Bachmann's bid suffered a setback when she was passed over for the GOP's transition team on which Hensarling was placed. Despite Bachmann's leading all other Representatives in fundraising, a Republican aide said some "members are getting resentful of Bachmann, who they say is making the argument that you're not really a Tea Party supporter unless you support her. That's gone through the formation of the Tea Party Caucus and the formation of this candidacy of hers. It's just not so." Sarah Palin, with whom Bachmann had campaigned earlier in the year, declined to endorse her leadership bid, while other Tea Party favorites, Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Tim Scott, were placed on the transition team. According to some senior House staff members, the party leadership was concerned about some of Bachmann's high-profile faux pas, the high rate of turnover among her staff, and how willing she would be to advance the party's messaging rather than her own. On November 10 Bachmann released a statement ending her campaign for Conference Chair and giving Hensarling her "enthusiastic" support. Committee assignment House Speaker John Boehner selected Bachmann for a position "on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, giving her a new role as overseer of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community." Bachmann, who had "not served on any committee that deals with foreign policy issues" requested the position, "a move that has fueled speculation that she may be planning to carry the Tea Party banner into the GOP presidential primaries." Repeal of Dodd–Frank reform Soon after beginning her third term, Bachmann introduced legislation to repeal the Dodd–Frank financial reform law. She said, "I'm pleased to offer a full repeal of the job-killing Dodd–Frank financial regulatory bill. Dodd–Frank grossly expanded the federal government beyond its jurisdictional boundaries. It gave Washington bureaucrats the power to interpret and enforce the legislation with little oversight. Real financial regulatory reform must deal with these lenders who were a leading cause of our economic recession. True reform must also end the bailout mind-set that was perpetuated by the last Congress." She also took issue with the law for not addressing the liabilities of the tax-payer funded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bachmann's bill was endorsed by conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity. It gained four other Republican co-sponsors, including Representative Darrell Issa, who became the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at the start of the 112th Congress. Bachmann's call for total repeal was seen as more drastic than the approach advocated by her fellow Republican Spencer Bachus, who became the House Financial Services Committee Chairman when Republicans gained the House majority. Bachus planned "to provide 'vigorous' oversight of regulators efforts to reform banking and housing ... reform Fannie and Freddie", and "dismantle pieces of [the] Dodd–Frank Act that he believes 'unnecessarily punish small businesses and community banks.'" In response to Bachmann's legislation Representative Barney Frank said, "Michele Bachmann, the Club for Growth, and others in the right-wing coalition have now made their agenda for the financial sector very clear: they yearn to return to the thrilling days of yesteryear, so the loan arrangers can ride again—untrammeled by any rules restraining irresponsibility, excess, deception, and most of all, infinite leverage." It was seen as unlikely that Bachmann's legislation would pass, with the Financial Times writing, "Like the Republican move to repeal healthcare reform, Ms. Bachmann's bill could be passed by the House of Representatives but be blocked by the Senate or White House." State of the Union response Bachmann responded to Obama's 2011 State of the Union speech on the Tea Party Express website; her speech was broadcast live by CNN. She insisted that her response was not intended to counter Paul Ryan's official Republican party response. When asked whether the speech was an indication of competition with Ryan and Boehner's leadership team, Bachmann dismissed such a view as "a fiction of the media", saying she had alerted Ryan and the leadership team that her response might go national and that no objections were raised. Health care Bachmann continually called for repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). She recalled to reporters that she called for debate to repeal the act "the morning after Obamacare passed". With Steve King she introduced "the Bachmann-King repeal of health care bill", saying that it "is our intent in our heart to make sure that Obamacare is completely repealed." In light of the Democratic-majority Senate's and Obama's opposition to repeal, Bachmann called on the Republican held House of Representatives not to provide any funds for implementation of the act. "But until we can see that [repeal] happen, we want to fully defund this bill so that, like, it would be akin to a helium balloon that gets no helium inside so that it can't take off the ground, and that's what we're planning to do. I'm very, very grateful for nothing else; having a majority in the House of Representatives so that we have the ability of the power of the purse to not fund Obamacare, and this is exactly the right way to go", she said. On March 4, 2011, Bachmann, one of the six House Republicans to vote against the continuing resolution that gave a two-week extension until a possible government shutdown, expressed her unhappiness with its passage. In an appearance on Meet the Press on March 6 and during a March 7 interview with Sean Hannity, Bachmann claimed that the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats had hidden $105 billion in spending in the overhaul of the American Health Care System. She portrayed the Democratic leadership as timing the release of the bill's text to avoid detection of the spending. "We didn't get the bill until a literally couple of hours before we were supposed to vote on it", she said. She also said the spending was split up within different portions of the bill to mask its total cost. Bachmann was told this by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which claimed to have read the tallies of the Congressional Research Service and Congressional Budget Office. According to some reports of the costs, "about $40 billion would go to the Children's Health Insurance Program, $15 billion would go to Medicare and Medicaid innovation programs, and $9.5 billion would go to the Community Health Centers Fund." As the funds are designated mandatory spending (not controlled by the annual appropriations acts), the funds would have remained even if the move to defund the reform law had succeeded. Bachmann stated that $16 billion of the money gives Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius a "slush fund ... [to do] whatever she wants with this money." She called on the bills supporters to return the money, saying, "I think this deception that the president and [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid put forward with appropriating over $105 billion needs to be given back to the people." When asked during the Meet the Press interview if she would take back her previous comments that Obama "may have anti-American views" and that his administration had "embraced something called gangster government", Bachmann stood by her statements, saying, "I do believe that actions that have been taken by this White House—I don't take back my statements on gangster government. I think that there have been actions taken by the government that are corrupt ... I said I have very serious concerns about the president's views, and I think the president's actions in the last two years speak for themselves." In response to Bachmann's charges, Chief Deputy Democratic Whip Jan Schakowsky, who served on the House health subcommittee, pointed out that the report in question was an update of a report that came out in October 2010 and that the costs were spelled out in both the bill and the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of its cost, saying, "Michele Bachmann obviously didn't read the bill, because there was absolutely nothing hidden in that legislation." Schakowsky said the costs were not kept secret, citing the $40 billion for the Children's Health Insurance Program as an example: "There was a robust debate about whether or not that should be included, etc. So this idea of somehow, now at the last minute, there was a secret addition to some kind of funding ... is absolute nonsense." In a September 2011 Republican presidential debate in Tampa, Bachmann criticized Rick Perry for his support for the humanpapilloma virus (HPV) vaccine and his support for mandating the HPV vaccine for all sixth-grade Texas girls. The American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and other medical organizations worldwide support immunizing girls and boys against HPV. HPV can cause lesions and genital warts, and has been linked to cervical cancer as well as genital and oral cancers in people of any gender. Because the vaccine is effective only if given before the onset of sexual activity and subsequent exposure to the virus, medical groups recommend the three-dose vaccine be given to 11- and 12-year-olds. During the debate and in interviews afterward, Bachmann accused Perry of "crony capitalism" (because Perry's former chief of staff was chief lobbyist for a drug company manufacturing the vaccine), and baselessly claimed that the HPV vaccine was dangerous and caused "mental retardation." She repeatedly referred to an anecdotal account from a mother of a girl who had been immunized for HPV, saying, "She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered mental retardation thereafter ... There is no second chance for these little girls if there is [sic] any dangerous consequences to their bodies." Shortly after Bachmann's statements at the debate, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement: "The American Academy of Pediatrics would like to correct false statements made in the Republican presidential campaign that the HPV vaccine is dangerous and can cause mental retardation. There is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement. Since the vaccine has been introduced, more than 35 million doses have been administered, and it has an excellent safety record." Fewer than one percent of those receiving the vaccine reported neurological side effects or, in rare cases, severe allergic reactions, none linked to changes in cognitive ability. Bachmann later acknowledged that she was not a doctor or a scientist. Muslim Brotherhood In June–July 2012, Bachmann and several other Republican legislators sent a series of letters to oversight agencies at five federal departments citing "serious security concerns" about what Bachmann has called a "deep penetration in the halls of our United States government" by the Muslim Brotherhood. They requested formal investigations into what Bachmann called "influence operations" by the Brotherhood. Bachmann also accused Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Rep. Anthony Weiner's wife, of having family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. Bachmann's comments have drawn what the Washington Post calls "fierce criticism from fellow lawmakers and religious groups." In a speech on the Senate floor, 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain denounced Bachmann's charges as "specious and degrading". He defended Abedin as a "hard-working and loyal servant of our country and our government" and stated "these attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no merit. They need to stop now." House Speaker John Boehner termed Bachmann's allegations "dangerous", and other Republicans have also criticized the remarks. Ed Rollins, Bachmann’s former campaign manager, called on her to apologize to Abedin and characterized her allegations as “extreme and dishonest.” In a letter to Bachmann, her colleague Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a Muslim, asked for evidence backing her claims and stated, "Your response simply rehashes claims that have existed for years on anti-Muslim websites and contains no reliable information that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. government". Bachmann replied that "the intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group's access to top Obama administration officials". In a July 19 interview with radio and TV show host Glenn Beck, Bachmann repeated and expanded her allegations, accusing Ellison of having "a long record of being associated with the Council on American–Islamic Relations and with the Muslim Brotherhood". Ellison replied that "I am not now, nor have I ever been, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood." 113th Congress Presidential campaign finance investigation In 2013, Bachmann was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, the Federal Election Commission, the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee, the Urbandale Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation because of alleged campaign finance violations in her 2012 campaign for president. It is alleged that members of her staff made under-the-table payments, that funds were illegally transferred from her leadership PAC to pay consultants for her presidential campaign and that hidden payments were made to Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson. Additionally, a lawsuit was filed alleging that Bachmann and several former staffers stole and misused an Iowa homeschool group's e-mail distribution list. The trial, Heki v. Bachmann, had been set for May 14, 2014, but the case was settled out of court on June 28, 2013. On July 26, 2013, the House Ethics Committee announced they were conducting a full investigation of Bachmann, saying that they had received a referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics. Retirement On May 29, 2013, Bachmann announced that she would not seek reelection to her Congressional seat in 2014. In a June 2013 Fox News interview, she said she was "not going silent" and would remain involved in politics. She did not rule out a future run for office, or even the White House. With her retirement from Congress, the ethics investigations against her were dropped. During a December 2017 New Year's weekend interview with televangelist Jim Bakker, Bachmann said that she was considering running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Al Franken but was awaiting "God's counsel" before deciding. David Lightman and Trevor Graff, writing for McClatchyDC, argued that Bachmann left a "legacy of political missteps and lots of incendiary rhetoric—often loaded with false accusations and wild exaggerations." Committee assignments Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Political positions Education Bachmann supports the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in public school science classes. During a 2003 interview on the KKMS Christian radio program Talk The Walk, Bachmann said that evolution is a theory that has never been proven one way or the other. She co-authored a bill (with no additional endorsements among her fellow legislators) that would require public schools to include alternative explanations for the origin of life as part of the state's public school science curricula. In October 2006, Bachmann told a debate audience in St. Cloud, Minnesota, "there is a controversy among scientists about whether evolution is a fact or not ... There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design." Despite this, there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that evolution is real, and that intelligent design is not. Indeed, at least one news report presenting a "sampling of Bachmann's ... ludicrous or plain old false claims", stated that Bachmann’s claims are untrue, and that "when the science isn't on [Bachmann's] side, she simply improvises." Bachmann has praised the Christian youth ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCRBYCH), hailing "the group's work of sharing the gospel in public schools". She appeared as a keynote speaker at their fundraisers in 2006 and 2009. Following a 2011 controversial invocation for the Minnesota House, YCRBYCH founder Bradlee Dean declared that criticisms of him and his ministry were also "intended to harm and destroy the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann ... [who] previously praised and prayed for the work of my ministry". Bachmann has had a history of opposing anti-bullying legislation. In 2006, she told the Minnesota Legislature that passing an anti-bullying bill would be a waste of time. "I think for all of us, our experience in public schools is there have always been bullies", she said. "Always have been, always will be. I just don't know how we're ever going to get to the point of zero tolerance ... What does it mean? ... Will we be expecting boys to be girls?" Fiscal policy In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann opposed minimum wage increases. In a June 2011 interview, she did not back away from her earlier proposal to eliminate the federal minimum wage, a change she said would "virtually wipe out unemployment." In a 2001 flyer, Bachmann and Michael J. Chapman wrote that federal policies manage a centralized, state-controlled economy in the United States. She wrote that education laws passed by Congress in 2001, including "School To Work" and "Goals 2000", created a new national school curriculum that embraced "a socialist, globalist worldview; loyalty to all government and not America." In 2003, Bachmann said that the "Tax Free Zones" economic initiatives of Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty were based on the Marxist principle of "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." She also said the administration was attempting to govern and run centrally planned economies through the Minnesota Economic Leadership Team (MELT), an advisory board on economic and workforce policy Pawlenty chaired. Before her election to the state senate, and again in 2005, Bachmann signed a "no new taxes" pledge sponsored by the Taxpayers League of Minnesota. As a state senator, she introduced two bills that would have severely limited state taxation. In 2003, she proposed amending the Minnesota Constitution to adopt the "Taxpayers' Bill of Rights" (TABOR). In 2005, Bachmann opposed Pawlenty's proposal of a state surcharge of 75 cents per pack on the wholesale cost of cigarettes. She said she opposed the surcharge "100 percent—it's a tax increase." The Taxpayers' League later criticized her for reversing her position and voting for the surcharge. Bachmann promised to bring the price of gasoline down to $2 per gallon, without specifying a plan to accomplish this. Environment Bachmann supports increased domestic drilling of oil and natural gas, as well as pursuing renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar. She is a strong proponent of nuclear power. Bachmann has strongly opposed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pledging at an August 2011 campaign rally, "I guarantee you the EPA will have doors locked and lights turned off and they will only be about conservation." In 2007 and 2010, she actively solicited funds from the EPA on behalf of constituents in her congressional district. Social Security and Medicare phase-out Bachmann has called for phasing out Social Security and Medicare: "what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system... But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off." Foreign policy Bachmann has said that in dealing with Iran, diplomacy "is our option", but that other options, including a nuclear strike, should not be ruled out. She has also said that she is "a longtime supporter of Israel". Global economy In a discussion about the G-20 summit in Toronto, during an interview with conservative radio host Scott Hennen, Bachmann stated that she did not want America to be part of the international global economy. Bachmann told The Wall Street Journal that Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams influenced her economic views. She said she was "an Art Laffer fiend" and loved Ludwig von Mises. Immigration Bachmann believes that strengthened enforcement of immigration laws is required for the growth of the American job market. She supports amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow only the immediate family of legal immigrants (not extended family members) priority consideration in the immigration process. She voted against the DREAM Act. She has also said the current law does not need modification but proper enforcement. Bachmann said, "the immigration system in the United States worked very, very well up until the mid-1960s when liberal members of Congress changed the immigration laws." She has expressed support for immigration of highly skilled professionals such as chemists and engineers. Bachmann opposed the 2013 immigration reform bill, claiming that its passage would mean the end of the Republican Party. On WorldNetDaily she said, "This is President Obama's number one political agenda because he knows we will never again have a Republican president ever if amnesty goes into effect." Social issues Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment Bachmann supports both federal and state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and any legal equivalents. In August 2006, the Star Tribune reported that in March 2006, while on a Minneapolis radio show, Bachmann advocated a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. A caller asked her to explain how he, a heterosexual, would be harmed if his gay neighbors were allowed to marry. Bachmann replied, "Public schools would have to teach that homosexuality and same-sex marriage are normal, natural and that maybe children should try them." The Star Tribune also reported that Bachmann had publicly called homosexuality "sexual dysfunction", "sexual identity disorders", and "personal enslavement" leading to "sexual anarchy". In a July 2014 radio interview, Bachmann claimed that gay rights activists want to abolish age of consent laws in the United States so that adults can "prey on little children sexually." In 2020, Bachmann claimed that "transgender Black Marxists" were "seeking the overthrow of the United States and the dissolution of the traditional family." Abortion Bachmann has identified herself as pro-life and has been endorsed in her runs for Congress by the Susan B. Anthony List and Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. At a New Hampshire debate among presidential candidates, when asked if abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest, she responded that she was "100 percent pro-life," implying that such a fetus would have to be carried to term. In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann introduced a bill proposing a constitutional amendment restricting state funds for abortion. The bill died in committee. Federal-backed home loans According to the Washington Post, in 2008 Bachmann may have taken advantage of a federal program for a home loan, then called for dismantling the program, though the Post noted that the public and other members of Congress have taken advantage of such loans despite seeing reasons to criticize them. When asked about it, she said: "This is the problem. It is almost impossible to buy a home in this country today without the federal government being involved". Opinion on President Obama's birth certificate Bachmann claimed not to be part of the birther movement, but said that Obama could resolve the dispute by producing his long-form birth certificate. In April 2011, after Obama released the certificate, George Stephanopoulos asked Bachmann about the issue on Good Morning America. She said that its release "should settle the matter", that "I take the president at his word", and that "We have bigger fish to fry". Political campaigns 2006 congressional campaign Bachmann won her Congressional seat in the 2006 election with 50% of the vote, defeating the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Patty Wetterling and the Independence Party's John Binkowski. The 6th District's representative since 2001, Mark Kennedy, announced in late 2005 that he would run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mark Dayton. Bachmann said, "God then called me to run" for the U.S. House seat, and that she and her husband fasted for three days to be more sure. According to Bloomberg.com, evangelical conservative leader James Dobson put his organization Focus on the Family's resources behind Bachmann's 2006 campaign. The group planned to distribute 250,000 voter guides in Minnesota churches to reach social conservatives, according to Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, a local affiliate of the group. In addition to Minnesota, Dobson's group also organized turnout drives in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and Montana. During a debate televised by WCCO-TV on October 28, 2006, news reporter Pat Kessler quoted a story that appeared in the Star Tribune and asked Bachmann whether it was true that the church she belonged to taught that the Pope is the Anti-Christ. Bachmann replied that her church "does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that's absolutely false ... I'm very grateful that my pastor has come out and been very clear on this matter, and I think it's patently absurd and it's a false statement." In early July 2006, Bachmann received a fundraising visit from Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. On July 21, Karl Rove visited Minnesota to raise funds for her election. In August, President Bush was the keynote speaker at her congressional fundraiser, which raised about $500,000. Bachmann also received fundraising support from Vice President Dick Cheney. The National Republican Congressional Committee put nearly $3 million into the race, for electronic and direct-mail ads against Wetterling, significantly more than the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent on Wetterling's behalf. On November 7, Bachmann won the election with 50% of the vote to Wetterling's 42% and Binkowski's 8%. 2008 congressional campaign In 2008 Bachmann was reelected, defeating DFL and Independence Party nominee Elwyn Tinklenberg with 46.4% of the vote to Tinklenberg's 43.4%. Because Tinklenberg was running as a DFL member in the Democratic primary, Bob Anderson was able to run in the Independence Party primary unopposed, despite not having that party's endorsement. Anderson received 10% of the vote. 2010 congressional campaign In 2010 Bachmann was challenged by DFL nominee Tarryl Clark and Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson. With more than $8.5 million, Bachmann spent more than any other House of Representative candidate, although Clark was able to raise $4 million, one of the largest fundraising efforts in the nation for a U.S. House challenger. On November 2, 2010, Bachmann defeated Clark, 52% to 40%. 2012 presidential campaign In early 2011, amid substantial speculation, Bachmann announced her candidacy for president. She participated in the second Republican presidential debate, in New Hampshire, on June 13, 2011, and during the debate announced that she had filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) earlier that day to become a candidate for the nomination. Bachmann formally announced her candidacy for the nomination on June 27, 2011, during an appearance in Waterloo, Iowa, her birth city. Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll hosted by the Iowa GOP on August 13, 2011, becoming the first woman ever to win the poll, but finished sixth in the January 3, 2012, caucuses, with 4.98% of the vote. On January 4 she canceled her scheduled campaign trips to South Carolina and suspended her campaign. 2012 congressional campaign On January 25, 2012, Bachmann announced that she would run for reelection for her seat in Congress. According to Politico.com, as of July 2012 Bachmann had "raised close to $15 million" for the 2012 election, a figure it called "astounding ... more than some Senate candidates will collect this year." From July to the end of September, Bachmann raised $4.5 million. This amount put her ahead of all other members of Congress (including Allen West who was in second place with $4 million) for the third quarter. Bachmann said she was "humbled by the enormous outpouring of grassroots support for my campaign focused on keeping America the most secure and prosperous nation in the world." Despite a more favorable district Bachmann won reelection only narrowly, receiving just 4,298 more votes than her DFL challenger, Jim Graves. Electoral history Local elections Congressional elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 Autobiography In November 2011 Bachmann published her autobiography, Core of Conviction, in which she outlined the events and people who have shaped her values and beliefs. The book describes her break with the Democratic Party. "It was in the perilous fires of the Carter administration that my ideology was forged," she wrote. "In the seventies, Carter taught me what I was against, and then in the eighties, Reagan taught me what I was for." Reflecting on her role as a Tea Party leader, she elaborated, "I once said that the Tea Party represents 90 percent of Americans. I now realize that I misspoke. I should have said 100 percent, because I believe that nearly all Americans retain faith in the ordered liberty that the Constitution offers." Personal life Family In 1978, as Michele Amble, she married Marcus Bachmann, now a clinical therapist with a master's degree from Regent University and a Ph.D. from Union Graduate School, whom she met while they were undergraduates. After she received an LL.M. in taxation from William & Mary School of Law in 1988, the couple moved to Stillwater, Minnesota, a town of 18,000 near Saint Paul, where they run a Christian counseling center that administered gay conversion therapy. Bachmann and her husband have five children: Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia. In a 2011 town hall meeting, she said that she suffered a miscarriage after the birth of their second child, Harrison, an event she said shaped her anti-abortion views. Bachmann and her husband have also provided foster care to 23 other children, all of whom were teenage girls. The Bachmanns were licensed from 1992 to 2000 to handle up to three foster children at a time, with the last arriving in 1998. The Bachmanns began by providing short-term care for girls with eating disorders who were patients in a University of Minnesota program. Their home was legally defined as a treatment home, with a daily reimbursement rate per child from the state. Some girls stayed a few months, others more than a year. Bachmann is a former beauty pageant queen. Citizenship In May 2012 it was reported that Marcus Bachmann had registered for Swiss citizenship, and thus, under Swiss nationality law, so would Michele and their children. Within two days of the first reports of Bachmann's dual citizenship, Michele Bachmann announced that she had written to the Swiss consulate to withdraw her Swiss citizenship. Religion Bachmann was raised "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; she was a longtime member of Salem Lutheran Church (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) in Stillwater. She and her husband withdrew their membership on June 21, 2011, just before she officially began her presidential campaign. They had not attended the church for over two years. In 2011, the Bachmanns began attending Rockpoint Church in Lake Elmo, member of Evangelical Free Church of America. Bachmann has cited theologian Francis Schaeffer as a "profound influence" on her life and her husband's, especially his film series How Should We Then Live?. She has also described Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity by Nancy Pearcey as a "wonderful" book. Journalist Ryan Lizza has argued that Bachmann's worldview is deeply influenced by the Christian movement known as Dominionism, citing the influence of Schaeffer and Pearcey as evidence. Others have criticized Lizza's article, especially its connection of Schaeffer with Dominionism. Religion writer Sarah Posner broadly concurs with Lizza, pointing to the influence of Christian Reconstructionists Herb Titus and R. J. Rushdoony on Bachmann via the curriculum at O. W. Coburn School of Law. Businesses Bachmann and her husband own a Christian counseling practice, Bachmann & Associates. The clinic is run by her husband, who has a Ph.D. with "a concentration in clinical psychology" from Union Graduate School. Marcus Bachmann is not a licensed clinical psychologist in Minnesota. The clinic received nearly $30,000 from Minnesota government agencies between 2006 and 2010 in addition to at least $137,000 in federal payments and $24,000 in government grants for counselor training. In an interview, Michele Bachmann said that she and her husband had not benefited at taxpayer expense, saying, "the money that went to the clinic was actually training money for employees". Marcus Bachmann has falsely claimed that Bachmann & Associates did not provide conversion therapy, a controversial psychological treatment that has been repudiated by the American Psychological Association as unethical and without medical basis. A former client of Bachmann's clinic and a hidden camera investigator with the activist group Truth Wins Out showed that therapists at the clinic do engage in such practices. In a subsequent interview with the Star Tribune, Marcus Bachmann did not deny that he or other counselors at his clinic used the technique, but said they did so only at a client's request. In personal financial disclosure reports for 2006 through 2009, Bachmann reported earning $32,500 to $105,000 from a farm that was owned at the time by her ailing father-in-law, Paul Bachmann. The farm received $260,000 in federal crop and disaster subsidies between 1995 and 2008. Bachmann said that in 2006–2009, her husband acted as a trustee of the farm for his dying father and so, out of "an abundance of caution", she claimed the farm as income in financial disclosures, though it was her in-laws who profited from the farm during that period. Anonymous threat against her In August 2011 a man tweeted his "desire to engage in sadomasochistic activities" with Bachmann using "a Vietnam era machete" while misspelling her given name as "Michelle" in his tweet. Federal investigators ordered Twitter to reveal his identity. Called Mr. X in the grand jury's subpoena, the man filed a motion to quash the order at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in February 2012. Then-Chief Judge Royce Lamberth denied the request, citing the seriousness of the threat that might have posed to Bachmann, but X was granted the redaction of his identity in a separate order. Donald Trump Bachmann vocally supported then-President Donald Trump, saying in 2017 that he "has had the courage and the fortitude to stand up where other Republicans wouldn't dare to stand up." In December 2020, after the presidential election, she posted a video online praying for a Trump second term. Her online prayer specifically called out the contested election results in Georgia, saying: Lord, would you deliver these races in Georgia? O Father, would you deliver various local and state races, Father, that they aren't stolen? Would you give us a true vote? And, O God, I personally ask, from myself, Michele Bachmann, Lord, would you allow Donald Trump to have a second term as president of the United States? See also United States congressional delegations from Minnesota List of United States representatives from Minnesota Women in the United States House of Representatives References External links Politifact.com File on Michele Bachmann 2008 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org 2010 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org |- |- |- 1956 births Living people 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American women writers 20th-century Lutherans 21st-century Lutherans 21st-century Protestants American autobiographers American Christian Zionists American critics of Islam American evangelicals American people of Norwegian descent American political writers American anti-abortion activists American women lawyers American women non-fiction writers Anoka High School alumni Christians from Iowa Christians from Minnesota Converts to Evangelicalism from Lutheranism Christian critics of Islam Dominion theology Female members of the United States House of Representatives Female candidates for President of the United States Intelligent design advocates Internal Revenue Service people Members of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota Minnesota lawyers Minnesota Republicans Minnesota state senators Oral Roberts University alumni People from Anoka, Minnesota People from Stillwater, Minnesota Politicians from Waterloo, Iowa Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Tea Party movement activists Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election William & Mary Law School alumni Winona State University alumni Women autobiographers Women state legislators in Minnesota
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[ "New York Goes to Work was an American reality television series, premiering on VH1 on May 4, 2009. The show was a follow-up of New York Goes to Hollywood starring Tiffany \"New York\" Pollard as she tries to find a regular job. The jobs were selected by fans (by text messaging) from a list of three possible jobs for each individual episode. She would receive a $10,000 bonus each week if she were able to impress her employer. However, if she quit, failed or was fired, she would not receive a bonus for the week.\n\nNew York's salary\n\nEpisode 1: $10,000\nEpisode 2: $10,000\nEpisode 3: $0\nEpisode 4: $0\nEpisode 5: $10,000\nEpisode 6: $10,000\nEpisode 7: $0\nEpisode 8: $0\nEpisode 9 (Finale): $5,000 (Mr. Boston, New York's opponent won the other half)\n\nTotal: $45,000\n\nEpisode progress\n\n New York passed her job and was rewarded $10,000.\n New York was tied with her opponent and won $5,000.\n New York failed her job and got nothing.\n\n *Pumkin was voted to fight New York but was unable to show up, leaving the second place vote for Mr. Boston to fight New York.\n\nEpisodes\n\nEpisode 1\nFirst aired May 4, 2009\n\nJob choices: Ranch Hand, Baker, Exterminator\nNew York wanted: Baker\nAmerica voted: Exterminator\nResult: Passed\n\nIn the first episode, viewers sent New York to work as an exterminator for the Abolish Pest Control Company. First, she tackles an enormous bee hive with major hesitation, but makes a successful start. Then, she chases a snake with a very rough start but she passes this challenge on thin ice. Then, being very apprehensive she tackles getting a dead rat under a house, she leaves Jason under the house to get the dead rotting rat corpse, and is deemed unsuccessful. In the end, she is awarded a check for $10,000.\n\nEpisode 2\nFirst aired May 11, 2009\n\nJob choices: Pig Farmer, Construction Worker, Pet Groomer\nNew York wanted: Pet Groomer\nAmerica voted: Pig Farmer\nResult: Passed\n\nViewers sent New York to work as a Pig Farmer. Her first task was to clean the pig pen which she failed to do. Her second task was to move the pig, which she also failed to accomplish. The third task was to feed the pigs, which she accomplished. The fourth task, to carve the pig, was also completed. The fifth task was to trim the goat nails, also was unaccomplished and her sixth and final task was to artificially inseminate a pig, which she completed. In the end, she was awarded her check for $10,000.\n\nEpisode 3\nFirst Aired May 18, 2009\n\nJob choices: Casting Director, Cafeteria Worker, Nudist Resort Employee\nNew York wanted: Casting Director/Cafeteria Worker\nAmerica voted: Nudist Resort Employee\nResult: Failed\n\nIn week 3, New York was chosen to work at a nudist resort. While she could succeed at serving breakfast, she had a tough time dealing with all the nudity. During the resort party, New York had too much to drink, officially putting her in the failed category.\n\nEpisode 4\nFirst aired May 25, 2009\nJob choices: Cake Maker, Ghost Hunter, General contractor\nNew York wanted: Cake Maker\nAmerica voted: Ghost Hunter\nResult: Failed\n\nIn week 4, New York was sent to be a Ghost Hunter on the RMS Queen Mary, a now-retired ocean liner that was used during World War II for troop transport. As an \"employee\" of Beyond Investigation Magazine, New York was supposed to collect EVP, electronic voice phenomenon, and make contact with a young ghost girl named Jackie who had supposedly drowned in the first class pool. New York failed to collect an EVP. New York then advanced to the next task, which was to make contact with spirits in the darkest hall on the ship, known as the Vortex. She failed this challenge, mostly due to her incessant screaming and eventual pulling her boss back out into the lighted hall. Her third task was to speak with a ghost named Henry in the ship's boiler room. Henry was supposed to be very angry, having been a worker accidentally boiled during his job. Nervous, she feels something touch her arm and runs out of the room. In the final challenge, they conduct a seance, where New York is initially scared; within a few minutes she feels something touch her arm again and runs screaming to a higher, lighted deck, refusing to finish. New York does not win the $10,000 and refuses to come back again.\n\nEpisode 5\nFirst Aired June 1, 2009\nJob choices: Gardener, Dairy Farmer, Exotic Animal Trainer\nAmerica voted: Exotic Animal Trainer\nResult: Passed\n\nEpisode 6\nFirst Aired June 8, 2009\nJob choices: Doggie Day Care Worker, Auto Mechanic, Super Market Employee\nNew York wanted: Super Market Employee\nAmerica voted: Doggie Day Care Worker\nResult: Passed\n\nEpisode 7 \n\nFirst Aired June 15, 2009\nJob choices: Junk Removal Worker, Clown, Matchmaker\nNew york wanted: Matchmaker\nAmerica voted: Clown\nResult: Failed\n\nEpisode 8 \n\nFirst Aired June 22, 2009\nJob Choices: Bounty Hunter, Landscaper, Fast Food Worker\nNew York wanted: Fast Food Worker\nAmerica Voted: Fast Food Worker\nResult: Failed\n\nIn week 8, is sent to be a fast food worker. Her first task is with the potatoes, and she failed because she was trying to make a guy hug her. The second task was to make burgers. She tries then burns her hands screaming \"why dont y'all care!\" There is a long line. She fails. The last task was with customer service, and she starts screaming into the microphone saying what! Sorry. One customer said she did not like the way New York was talking to her. So New York gets mad and calls the customer a bitch. Overall she fails.\n\nEpisode 9 (Season Finale) \n\nFirst Aired June 29, 2009\nJob: Professional Boxer\nChoices: Mr. Boston, Bryan the Pig Farmer, Pumkin\nNew York wanted: Pumkin\nAmerica Voted: Pumkin (succeeded by Mr. Boston)\nResult: Draw\nNotes: Pumkin did not show up. Mr. Boston had the second most votes.\n\nWhat Should New York Do Next?\nChoices: I Love New York 3, Find A Real Job, Take A Vacation\nNew York Wanted: Take a Vacation\nAmerica Voted: I Love New York 3\n\nReferences\n\n2000s American reality television series\n2009 American television series debuts\n2009 American television series endings\nAmerican television spin-offs\nVH1 original programming\nTelevision series by Endemol\nEnglish-language television shows\nFlavor of Love spinoffs\nTelevision shows set in New York City", "Bildad ( Bildaḏ), the Shuhite, was one of Job's three friends who visited the patriarch in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Job. He was a descendant of Shuah, son of Abraham and Keturah (Genesis 25:1 - 25:2), whose family lived in the deserts of Arabia, or a resident of the district. In speaking with Job, his intent was consolation, but he became an accuser, asking Job what he has done to deserve God's wrath.\n\nSpeeches\nThe three speeches of Bildad are contained in Job 8, Job 18 and Job 25. In substance, they were largely an echo of what had been maintained by Eliphaz the Temanite, the first of Job's friends to speak, but charged with somewhat increased vehemence because he deemed Job's words so impious and wrathful. Bildad was the first to attribute Job's calamity to actual wickedness, albeit indirectly, by accusing his children (who were destroyed, Job 1:19) of sin to warrant their punishment (Job 8:4). His brief third speech, just five verses in length, marked the silencing of the friends.\n\nSee also \nEliphaz\nZophar\n Elihu\n Bildad is also the name of one of the owners of the Pequod in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nHebrew Bible people\nBook of Job" ]
[ "Michele Bachmann", "Early life, education, and early career", "When was she born?", "Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa,", "when was she born?", "Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa,", "did she have any siblings?", "I don't know.", "where did she go to school?", "She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974", "did she go to college?", "1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A.", "what did she study?", "O. W. Coburn School of Law,", "What was her first job?", "Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution," ]
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what did she research?
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what did Michele Bachmann research for Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution?
Michele Bachmann
Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; her family moved from Iowa to Minnesota when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced, Bachmann's father, David John Amble, moved to California, and Bachmann was raised by her mother, Arlene Jean (nee Johnson), who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota. Her mother remarried when Bachmann was a teenager; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working on kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). While there, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986 Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. CANNOTANSWER
Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again.
Michele Marie Bachmann (; née Amble; born April 6, 1956) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 until 2015. A member of the Republican Party, she was a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election, but lost the Republican nomination to Mitt Romney. Born in Waterloo, Iowa, Bachmann moved to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, as a teenager. She graduated from O. W. Coburn School of Law, the law school of Oral Roberts University, and the William & Mary Law School. After graduating, she briefly worked in tax law for the Internal Revenue Service before becoming a stay-at-home mom. She became involved in local politics, specifically around education. Bachmann formally entered politics in 2000, when she was elected to the Minnesota Senate. In 2006, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. After her unsuccessful run for president, Bachmann was elected to another term in the House in 2012, before announcing her retirement before the 2014 election. Early life, education, and early career Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, to Norwegian-American parents David John Amble (1929–2003) and Arlene Jean Amble (née Johnson; born c. 1932). Two of her great-great-great-grandparents, Melchior and Martha Munson, emigrated from Sogndal, Norway, to Wisconsin in 1857. David was an engineer. Her family moved from Iowa to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, when she was 13 years old. After her parents divorced when she was 14, David moved to California and remarried. Bachmann was raised by her mother, who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota, where they moved again. Three years later her mother married widower Raymond J. LaFave; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children. Bachmann graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working at kibbutz Be'eri in Israel. In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A. In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU). There she studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me". Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy and should become one again. In 1986, Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the ORU law school's final graduating class, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University. In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from William & Mary Law School. From 1988 to 1993 she worked as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She left the IRS to become a full-time mother when her fourth child was born. Early political activism Bachmann grew up in a Democratic family and has said she became a Republican during her senior year at Winona State University. She told the Star Tribune that she was reading Gore Vidal's 1973 novel Burr and claimed that "[h]e was kind of mocking the Founding Fathers and I just thought—I just remember reading the book, putting it in my lap, looking out the window and thinking, 'You know what? I don't think I am a Democrat. I must be a Republican. While still a Democrat, she and her then-fiancé, Marcus, were motivated to join the anti-abortion movement after watching Francis Schaeffer's 1976 Christian documentary film How Should We Then Live? They prayed outside of clinics and engaged in sidewalk interference, an activity in which anti-abortion activists attempt to persuade women entering clinics not to get abortions. Bachmann has since made statements supportive of sidewalk interference. Bachmann supported Jimmy Carter for president in 1976, and she and her husband worked on his campaign. During Carter's presidency, Bachmann became disappointed with his liberal approach to public policy, support for legalized abortion and economic decisions she held responsible for increased gas prices. In the 1980 presidential election, she voted for Ronald Reagan and worked for his campaign. Bachmann's political activism gained media attention at an anti-abortion protest in 1991. She and approximately 30 other protesters went to a Ramsey County Board meeting where $3 million was to be appropriated to build a morgue for the county at St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center (now Regions Hospital). The Medical Center performed abortions and employed pro-choice activist Jane Hodgson. Bachmann voiced her opposition to tax dollars going to the hospital; to the Star Tribune, she said, "in effect, since 1973, I have been a landlord of an abortion clinic, and I don't like that distinction". In 1993, Bachmann and other parents started the K–12 New Heights Charter School in Stillwater. The publicly funded school's charter mandated that it be non-sectarian in all programs and practices, but the school soon developed a strong Christian orientation. Parents of students at the school complained and the superintendent of schools warned Bachmann that the school was in violation of state law. Six months after the school's founding, Bachmann resigned and the Christian orientation was removed from the curriculum, allowing the school to keep its charter. Bachmann began speaking against a state-mandated set of educational standards, which propelled her into politics. Bachmann became a critic and opponent of Minnesota's School-to-Work policies. In a 1999 column, she wrote, "School-to-Work alters the basic mission and purpose of K–12 academic education away from traditional broad-based academic studies geared toward maximizing intellectual achievement of the individual. Instead, School-to-Work utilizes the school day to promote children's acquisition of workplace skills, viewing children as trainees for increased economic productivity." In November 1999, Bachmann and four other Republicans were candidates, as the "Slate of Five", in an election for the school board of Stillwater. All five lost. Minnesota Senate In 2000 Bachmann defeated 18-year incumbent Gary Laidig for the Republican nomination for state senator in Minnesota District 56. In the general election she defeated Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Ted Thompson and Minnesota Independence Party Lyno Sullivan. In 2002, after redistricting due to the 2000 Census, Bachmann defeated another incumbent, DFL State Senator Jane Krentz, in the newly drawn State Senate District 52. Bachmann's agenda as a state senator focused on opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment On November 20, 2003, Bachmann and Representative Mary Liz Holberg proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar the state from legally recognizing same-sex marriage. In 2004 Bachmann and a coalition of religious leaders announced plans for a "Minnesota for Marriage" rally. Her effort to place a marriage amendment on a referendum ballot in 2004 failed. She resurrected the proposal in March 2005, but it stalled indefinitely in a senate committee that April. Assistant Minority Leader In November 2004 Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Day appointed Bachmann Assistant Minority Leader in charge of policy of the Senate Republican Caucus. In July 2005 the Republican Caucus removed her from her leadership position. Bachmann said that disagreements with Day over her anti-tax stance were the reason for her ouster. U.S. House of Representatives From 2007 to 2015 Bachmann represented , which includes the northernmost and eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities and St. Cloud. She is the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House from Minnesota. 110th Congress Foreign affairs Bachmann voted "No" on a January 2007 resolution in the House of Representatives opposing President George W. Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq, but called for a full hearing in advance of the troop surge, saying, "the American people deserve to hear and understand the merits of increasing U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Increased troop presence is justifiable if that measure would bring a swift conclusion to a difficult conflict." She hesitated to give a firm endorsement, calling the hearings "a good first step in explaining to the American people the course toward victory in Iraq." Member of Congressional delegation In July 2007 Bachmann joined a Congressional delegation visiting Ireland, Germany, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Iraq. She met briefly (due to security concerns) with U.S. personnel in the Green Zone and upon her return said she "was encouraged by reports of progress from Crocker, General David Petraeus and other personnel in Iraq linked to the surge". She said the surge "hasn't had a chance to be in place long enough to offer a critique of how it's working. [Petraeus] said al-Qaida in Iraq is off its plan and we want to keep it that way. The surge has only been fully in place for a week or so." Bachmann also spoke of the delegation's visit to Islamabad to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Aziz at the same time as the siege of Islamic fundamentalists at the Lal Masjid mosque elsewhere in the city. She reported, "The group [of U.S. Legislators] had to travel in armored vehicles and was constantly accompanied by Pakistani military ... We were all able to see extremely up close and personal what it's like to be in a region where fighting is occurring. We constantly felt like we were in need of security." Bachmann told reporters upon her return that "the dangers posed by Islamic terrorism in Iraq, Britain and Pakistan justified the continued American military presence in Iraq." She said, "We don't want to see al-Qaida get a presence in the United States. Al-Qaida doesn't seem to show any signs of letting up. We have to keep that in mind." Higher education On July 11, 2007, Bachmann voted against the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The act raised the maximum Pell grant from $4,310 to $5,200, lowered interest rates on subsidized student loans from 6.8% to 3.4%, raised loan limits from $7,500 to $30,500, disfavored married students who filed joint tax returns, provided more favorable repayment terms to students who could not use their education to prosper financially, and favored public sector over private sector workers with much more favorable loan forgiveness benefits. Supporters of the bill said it would allow more students to attend college and prosper for the rest of their lives. Bachmann said she opposed the act because "it fails students and taxpayers with gimmicks, hidden costs and poorly targeted aid. It contains no serious reform of existing programs, and it favors the costly, government-run direct lending program over nonprofit and commercial lenders." The bill passed the House and was signed by President Bush. Energy and environment During the summer of 2008, as national gasoline prices rose to over $4 a gallon, Bachmann became a leading Congressional advocate for increased domestic oil and natural gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf. She joined ten other House Republicans and members of the media on a Congressional Energy Tour to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, and to Alaska. The trip was arranged by Arctic Power, an Alaskan lobbying group that advocates for ANWR development. Its purpose was to receive a firsthand account of emerging renewable energy technologies and the prospects of increased domestic oil and natural gas production in Alaska, including ANWR. Bachmann rejects the overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is real, progressing, and primarily caused by humans. She has claimed that global warming is "all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax" and has been called "one of the GOP's loudest global warming skeptics." She has claimed, baselessly, that "because life requires carbon dioxide and it is part of the planet's life cycle, it cannot be harmful." On the House floor on Earth Day 2009, Bachmann said she opposed cap and trade climate legislation, again making disproven claims that "carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas. Carbon dioxide is natural; it is not harmful ... We're being told we have to reduce this natural substance to create an arbitrary reduction in something that is naturally occurring in the earth." In March 2008 Bachmann introduced H.R. 849, the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act. The bill would have repealed two sections of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 signed into law by George W. Bush. The 2007 Energy Act mandates energy efficiency and labeling standards for incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. Bachmann's bill would have required the Government Accountability Office to show that a change to fluorescent bulbs would have "clear economic, health and environmental benefits" before enforcing lighting efficiency regulations. The bill would have allowed these standards to remain in place if the comptroller general found they would lead to consumer savings, reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and pose no health risks to consumers (such as risks posed by the presence of mercury in fluorescent bulbs). The bill languished in the House and became inactive at the end of the 110th Congress. Bachmann reintroduced the bill in March 2011. Tort reform On June 3, 2008, President Bush signed the Credit and Debit Card Receipt Clarification Act (H.R. 4008) into law. The bipartisan bill, which Bachmann cosponsored with Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.), removed statutory damages for violations of a 2003 federal law prohibiting merchants from printing consumers' credit card numbers and expiration dates on sales receipts, in order to end class-action lawsuits aimed at businesses that violated the law. Financial sector Bachmann opposed both versions of the Wall Street bailout bill for America's financial sector. She voted against the first proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions, which failed to pass, by a vote of 205–228. She also advocated breaking up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and barring executives from excessive compensation or golden parachutes, and advocated a plan that would suspend mark-to-market accounting rules and suspend the capital gains tax. Auto industry The American auto companies approached Congress to ask for roughly $15 billion in loans to keep them operational into 2009. Bachmann criticized that bill, fearing that the initial sum of money would be followed by subsequent ones without the companies making changes to revive their business. Bachmann supported an alternative plan for American auto companies and the rest of the auto industry that would have set benchmarks for reducing their debt and renegotiating labor deals and have set up the financial assistance as interim insurance instead of a taxpayer-financed bailout. Call for a media "exposé" of alleged "anti-Americanism" of Barack Obama and members of Congress On October 17, 2008, Bachmann gave an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews in support of the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain that brought the Minnesota 6th Congressional District race national attention. During the interview she criticized Barack Obama for his association with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, saying, "usually we associate with people who have similar ideas to us, and it seems that it calls into question what Barack Obama's true beliefs, and values, and thoughts are ... I am very concerned that he [Obama] may have anti-American views." She noted the bombing campaign orchestrated by Bill Ayers before discussing his association with Obama, arguing that "Bill Ayers is not someone the average American wants to see their president have an association with." Matthews followed up by asking "But he [Obama] is a Senator from the state of Illinois; he's one of the members of Congress you suspect of being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama; is he alone or are there others?" Bachmann answered, "What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating exposé and take a look ... I wish they would ... I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America, or anti-America. I think people would love to see an exposé like that." In response, the five Democratic members of Minnesota's congressional delegation—Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar—issued a joint statement questioning Bachmann's ability to "work in a bipartisan way to put the interests of our country first in this time of crisis." Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson said her comments had influenced their decisions to endorse Obama for president. Bachmann brought up the interview before business leaders and Republicans during a campaign stop in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on October 21, 2008. She claimed she never intended to question Obama's patriotism. "I made a misstatement. I said a comment that I would take back. I did not, nor do I, question Barack Obama's patriotism ... I did not say that Barack Obama is anti-American nor do I believe that Barack Obama is anti-American ... [But] I'm very concerned about Barack Obama's views. I don't believe that socialism is a good thing for America." At a March 2010 fund-raiser for the Susan B. Anthony List, Bachmann said, "I said I had very serious concerns that Barack Obama had anti-American views—and now I look like Nostradamus". In March 2011 she was asked on Meet the Press whether she still believed that Obama held un-American views. She responded, "I believe that the actions of this government have—have been emblematic of ones that have not been based on true American values." Pressed for clarification, she said, "I've already answered that question before. I said I had very serious concerns about the president's views." 111th Congress Global currency On March 26, 2009, following comments by China proposing adoption of a global reserve currency, Bachmann introduced a resolution calling for a Constitutional amendment to bar the dollar from being replaced by a foreign currency. Current law prohibits foreign currency from being recognized in the U.S., but Bachmann expressed concerns relating to the president's power to make and interpret treaties. Earlier that month, at a Financial Services Committee hearing, Bachmann asked both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke whether they would reject calls for the U.S. to move away from the U.S. dollar and they replied that they would. 2010 Census In a June 17, 2009, interview with The Washington Times, Bachmann expressed concern that the questions on the 2010 United States Census had become "very intricate, very personal" and that ACORN, a community organizing group that had come under fire the previous year, might be part of the Census Bureau's door-to-door information collection efforts. She said, "I know, for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won't be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that." According to Politifact, her statement was incorrect, as the Constitution does require citizens to complete the census. Fellow Republican Representatives Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.) and John Mica (Fla.), members of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives, which oversees the census, subsequently asked Bachmann not to boycott the population count. Along with Congressman Ted Poe (Tex.-02), Bachmann introduced the American Community Survey Act to limit the amount of personal information the U.S. Census Bureau solicits. She reiterated her belief that the census asked too many personal questions. Cap-and-Trade legislation In March 2009 Bachmann was interviewed by the Northern Alliance Radio Network and promoted two forums she was hosting the next month in St. Cloud and Woodbury about Obama's proposed cap-and-trade tax policy to limit greenhouse gas emissions. She said she wanted Minnesotans "armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back." Bachmann's office quickly clarified that she was speaking metaphorically, meaning "armed with knowledge". According to the Star Tribune, her quote went viral across the Internet. AmeriCorps In 2009 Bachmann became a critic of what she characterized as proposals for mandatory public service. Of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an expansion to AmeriCorps (a federal community service organization), she said in April: The original bill called for an exploration of whether a mandatory public service program could be established, but the section on creating a "Congressional Commission on Civic Service" was stripped from the bill. In August 2009 Bachmann's political opponents publicized in the local media and the blogosphere what they described as the "ironic" fact that her son, Harrison, joined Teach for America, part of the AmeriCorps program. Health care Bachmann contributed to the "death panel" controversy when she read from a July 24 article by former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey on the House floor. Sarah Palin said that her "death panel" remark was inspired by what she called the "Orwellian" opinions of Ezekiel Emanuel as described by Bachmann, who accused him of advocating health care rationing by age and disability. According to PolitiFact and Time, Bachmann's euthanasia remarks distorted Emanuel's position on health care for the elderly and disabled. FactCheck.org stated, "We agree that Emanuel's meaning is being twisted." When many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it. On August 31, 2009, Bachmann spoke at an event in Colorado, saying of Democratic health care overhaul proposals that: She outlined ideas for changing the health care system, including: "Erase the boundaries around every single state when it comes to health care", enabling consumers to purchase insurance across state lines; increase the use of health savings accounts and allow everyone to "take full deductibility of all medical expenses", including insurance premiums; and tort reform. Bachmann denounced the government-run health insurance public option, calling it a "government takeover of health care" that would "squeeze out private health insurance". Criticism of President Obama's visit to Asia In a November 3, 2010, interview with Anderson Cooper, while discussing spending cuts for Medicare and Social Security suggested by Representative Paul Ryan, Bachmann was asked what spending cuts she would make to reduce the deficit. She cited President Obama's then-upcoming visit to Asia as an example, saying it "is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. He's taking two thousand people with him. He'll be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are 5-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending—it's a very small example, Anderson." Bachmann was apparently referring to information in a story from the Press Trust of India, attributed to "a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit", information that was also published in U.S.-based media such as The Drudge Report. A Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, dismissed the report's claim that 34 warships were accompanying the President as "comical". The White House said that the press report figures were "wildly inflated" and had "no basis in reality". While stating that they could not give the actual projected figures for security reasons, staffers maintained costs were in line with the official travel costs of previous presidents Bush and Clinton. 112th Congress Leadership run After the 2010 elections and Representative Mike Pence's announcement that he was stepping away from his leadership position in the House, Bachmann announced her intention to seek the position of House Republican Conference Chair. As Bachmann was the founder of the House's Tea Party Caucus, her announcement caused some to see the leadership election as "an early test of how GOP leaders will treat the antiestablishment movement's winners". Many among the House's Republican leadership, including Eric Cantor and the retiring Pence, were quick to endorse Representative Jeb Hensarling for the position; Speaker-to-be John Boehner remained neutral on the issue. Supporters of Bachmann's run included Representatives Steve King, John Kline, Louie Gohmert, Chip Cravaack, and Erik Paulsen, as well as media personality and political commentator Glenn Beck. Listing her qualifications for the position, Bachmann noted, "I've done an effective job speaking out at a national and local level, motivating people with our message, calling attention to deficits in Obama's policy. I was instrumental in bringing tens of thousands of people to the U.S. capitol to rally against Obama care and to attend our press conference." She noted her work to keep the Tea Party within the GOP rather than having it become a third party, thereby helping the party capture the House, saying, "I have been able to bring a voice and motivate people to, in effect, put that gavel in John Boehner's hands, so that Republicans can lead going forward. …It's important that leadership represents the choice of the people coming into our caucus….I think I have motivated a high number of people to get involved in this cycle who may have sat it out and that have made a difference on a number of these races. I gave a large amount of money to NRCC and individual candidates and started Michele PAC, which raised $650,000 for members since July, so I was able to financially help about 50 people out." Bachmann's bid suffered a setback when she was passed over for the GOP's transition team on which Hensarling was placed. Despite Bachmann's leading all other Representatives in fundraising, a Republican aide said some "members are getting resentful of Bachmann, who they say is making the argument that you're not really a Tea Party supporter unless you support her. That's gone through the formation of the Tea Party Caucus and the formation of this candidacy of hers. It's just not so." Sarah Palin, with whom Bachmann had campaigned earlier in the year, declined to endorse her leadership bid, while other Tea Party favorites, Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Tim Scott, were placed on the transition team. According to some senior House staff members, the party leadership was concerned about some of Bachmann's high-profile faux pas, the high rate of turnover among her staff, and how willing she would be to advance the party's messaging rather than her own. On November 10 Bachmann released a statement ending her campaign for Conference Chair and giving Hensarling her "enthusiastic" support. Committee assignment House Speaker John Boehner selected Bachmann for a position "on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, giving her a new role as overseer of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community." Bachmann, who had "not served on any committee that deals with foreign policy issues" requested the position, "a move that has fueled speculation that she may be planning to carry the Tea Party banner into the GOP presidential primaries." Repeal of Dodd–Frank reform Soon after beginning her third term, Bachmann introduced legislation to repeal the Dodd–Frank financial reform law. She said, "I'm pleased to offer a full repeal of the job-killing Dodd–Frank financial regulatory bill. Dodd–Frank grossly expanded the federal government beyond its jurisdictional boundaries. It gave Washington bureaucrats the power to interpret and enforce the legislation with little oversight. Real financial regulatory reform must deal with these lenders who were a leading cause of our economic recession. True reform must also end the bailout mind-set that was perpetuated by the last Congress." She also took issue with the law for not addressing the liabilities of the tax-payer funded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bachmann's bill was endorsed by conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity. It gained four other Republican co-sponsors, including Representative Darrell Issa, who became the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at the start of the 112th Congress. Bachmann's call for total repeal was seen as more drastic than the approach advocated by her fellow Republican Spencer Bachus, who became the House Financial Services Committee Chairman when Republicans gained the House majority. Bachus planned "to provide 'vigorous' oversight of regulators efforts to reform banking and housing ... reform Fannie and Freddie", and "dismantle pieces of [the] Dodd–Frank Act that he believes 'unnecessarily punish small businesses and community banks.'" In response to Bachmann's legislation Representative Barney Frank said, "Michele Bachmann, the Club for Growth, and others in the right-wing coalition have now made their agenda for the financial sector very clear: they yearn to return to the thrilling days of yesteryear, so the loan arrangers can ride again—untrammeled by any rules restraining irresponsibility, excess, deception, and most of all, infinite leverage." It was seen as unlikely that Bachmann's legislation would pass, with the Financial Times writing, "Like the Republican move to repeal healthcare reform, Ms. Bachmann's bill could be passed by the House of Representatives but be blocked by the Senate or White House." State of the Union response Bachmann responded to Obama's 2011 State of the Union speech on the Tea Party Express website; her speech was broadcast live by CNN. She insisted that her response was not intended to counter Paul Ryan's official Republican party response. When asked whether the speech was an indication of competition with Ryan and Boehner's leadership team, Bachmann dismissed such a view as "a fiction of the media", saying she had alerted Ryan and the leadership team that her response might go national and that no objections were raised. Health care Bachmann continually called for repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). She recalled to reporters that she called for debate to repeal the act "the morning after Obamacare passed". With Steve King she introduced "the Bachmann-King repeal of health care bill", saying that it "is our intent in our heart to make sure that Obamacare is completely repealed." In light of the Democratic-majority Senate's and Obama's opposition to repeal, Bachmann called on the Republican held House of Representatives not to provide any funds for implementation of the act. "But until we can see that [repeal] happen, we want to fully defund this bill so that, like, it would be akin to a helium balloon that gets no helium inside so that it can't take off the ground, and that's what we're planning to do. I'm very, very grateful for nothing else; having a majority in the House of Representatives so that we have the ability of the power of the purse to not fund Obamacare, and this is exactly the right way to go", she said. On March 4, 2011, Bachmann, one of the six House Republicans to vote against the continuing resolution that gave a two-week extension until a possible government shutdown, expressed her unhappiness with its passage. In an appearance on Meet the Press on March 6 and during a March 7 interview with Sean Hannity, Bachmann claimed that the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats had hidden $105 billion in spending in the overhaul of the American Health Care System. She portrayed the Democratic leadership as timing the release of the bill's text to avoid detection of the spending. "We didn't get the bill until a literally couple of hours before we were supposed to vote on it", she said. She also said the spending was split up within different portions of the bill to mask its total cost. Bachmann was told this by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which claimed to have read the tallies of the Congressional Research Service and Congressional Budget Office. According to some reports of the costs, "about $40 billion would go to the Children's Health Insurance Program, $15 billion would go to Medicare and Medicaid innovation programs, and $9.5 billion would go to the Community Health Centers Fund." As the funds are designated mandatory spending (not controlled by the annual appropriations acts), the funds would have remained even if the move to defund the reform law had succeeded. Bachmann stated that $16 billion of the money gives Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius a "slush fund ... [to do] whatever she wants with this money." She called on the bills supporters to return the money, saying, "I think this deception that the president and [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid put forward with appropriating over $105 billion needs to be given back to the people." When asked during the Meet the Press interview if she would take back her previous comments that Obama "may have anti-American views" and that his administration had "embraced something called gangster government", Bachmann stood by her statements, saying, "I do believe that actions that have been taken by this White House—I don't take back my statements on gangster government. I think that there have been actions taken by the government that are corrupt ... I said I have very serious concerns about the president's views, and I think the president's actions in the last two years speak for themselves." In response to Bachmann's charges, Chief Deputy Democratic Whip Jan Schakowsky, who served on the House health subcommittee, pointed out that the report in question was an update of a report that came out in October 2010 and that the costs were spelled out in both the bill and the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of its cost, saying, "Michele Bachmann obviously didn't read the bill, because there was absolutely nothing hidden in that legislation." Schakowsky said the costs were not kept secret, citing the $40 billion for the Children's Health Insurance Program as an example: "There was a robust debate about whether or not that should be included, etc. So this idea of somehow, now at the last minute, there was a secret addition to some kind of funding ... is absolute nonsense." In a September 2011 Republican presidential debate in Tampa, Bachmann criticized Rick Perry for his support for the humanpapilloma virus (HPV) vaccine and his support for mandating the HPV vaccine for all sixth-grade Texas girls. The American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and other medical organizations worldwide support immunizing girls and boys against HPV. HPV can cause lesions and genital warts, and has been linked to cervical cancer as well as genital and oral cancers in people of any gender. Because the vaccine is effective only if given before the onset of sexual activity and subsequent exposure to the virus, medical groups recommend the three-dose vaccine be given to 11- and 12-year-olds. During the debate and in interviews afterward, Bachmann accused Perry of "crony capitalism" (because Perry's former chief of staff was chief lobbyist for a drug company manufacturing the vaccine), and baselessly claimed that the HPV vaccine was dangerous and caused "mental retardation." She repeatedly referred to an anecdotal account from a mother of a girl who had been immunized for HPV, saying, "She told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered mental retardation thereafter ... There is no second chance for these little girls if there is [sic] any dangerous consequences to their bodies." Shortly after Bachmann's statements at the debate, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement: "The American Academy of Pediatrics would like to correct false statements made in the Republican presidential campaign that the HPV vaccine is dangerous and can cause mental retardation. There is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement. Since the vaccine has been introduced, more than 35 million doses have been administered, and it has an excellent safety record." Fewer than one percent of those receiving the vaccine reported neurological side effects or, in rare cases, severe allergic reactions, none linked to changes in cognitive ability. Bachmann later acknowledged that she was not a doctor or a scientist. Muslim Brotherhood In June–July 2012, Bachmann and several other Republican legislators sent a series of letters to oversight agencies at five federal departments citing "serious security concerns" about what Bachmann has called a "deep penetration in the halls of our United States government" by the Muslim Brotherhood. They requested formal investigations into what Bachmann called "influence operations" by the Brotherhood. Bachmann also accused Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Rep. Anthony Weiner's wife, of having family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. Bachmann's comments have drawn what the Washington Post calls "fierce criticism from fellow lawmakers and religious groups." In a speech on the Senate floor, 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain denounced Bachmann's charges as "specious and degrading". He defended Abedin as a "hard-working and loyal servant of our country and our government" and stated "these attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no merit. They need to stop now." House Speaker John Boehner termed Bachmann's allegations "dangerous", and other Republicans have also criticized the remarks. Ed Rollins, Bachmann’s former campaign manager, called on her to apologize to Abedin and characterized her allegations as “extreme and dishonest.” In a letter to Bachmann, her colleague Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a Muslim, asked for evidence backing her claims and stated, "Your response simply rehashes claims that have existed for years on anti-Muslim websites and contains no reliable information that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. government". Bachmann replied that "the intention of the letters was to outline the serious national security concerns I had and ask for answers to questions regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical group's access to top Obama administration officials". In a July 19 interview with radio and TV show host Glenn Beck, Bachmann repeated and expanded her allegations, accusing Ellison of having "a long record of being associated with the Council on American–Islamic Relations and with the Muslim Brotherhood". Ellison replied that "I am not now, nor have I ever been, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood." 113th Congress Presidential campaign finance investigation In 2013, Bachmann was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, the Federal Election Commission, the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee, the Urbandale Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation because of alleged campaign finance violations in her 2012 campaign for president. It is alleged that members of her staff made under-the-table payments, that funds were illegally transferred from her leadership PAC to pay consultants for her presidential campaign and that hidden payments were made to Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson. Additionally, a lawsuit was filed alleging that Bachmann and several former staffers stole and misused an Iowa homeschool group's e-mail distribution list. The trial, Heki v. Bachmann, had been set for May 14, 2014, but the case was settled out of court on June 28, 2013. On July 26, 2013, the House Ethics Committee announced they were conducting a full investigation of Bachmann, saying that they had received a referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics. Retirement On May 29, 2013, Bachmann announced that she would not seek reelection to her Congressional seat in 2014. In a June 2013 Fox News interview, she said she was "not going silent" and would remain involved in politics. She did not rule out a future run for office, or even the White House. With her retirement from Congress, the ethics investigations against her were dropped. During a December 2017 New Year's weekend interview with televangelist Jim Bakker, Bachmann said that she was considering running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Al Franken but was awaiting "God's counsel" before deciding. David Lightman and Trevor Graff, writing for McClatchyDC, argued that Bachmann left a "legacy of political missteps and lots of incendiary rhetoric—often loaded with false accusations and wild exaggerations." Committee assignments Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Political positions Education Bachmann supports the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in public school science classes. During a 2003 interview on the KKMS Christian radio program Talk The Walk, Bachmann said that evolution is a theory that has never been proven one way or the other. She co-authored a bill (with no additional endorsements among her fellow legislators) that would require public schools to include alternative explanations for the origin of life as part of the state's public school science curricula. In October 2006, Bachmann told a debate audience in St. Cloud, Minnesota, "there is a controversy among scientists about whether evolution is a fact or not ... There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design." Despite this, there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that evolution is real, and that intelligent design is not. Indeed, at least one news report presenting a "sampling of Bachmann's ... ludicrous or plain old false claims", stated that Bachmann’s claims are untrue, and that "when the science isn't on [Bachmann's] side, she simply improvises." Bachmann has praised the Christian youth ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCRBYCH), hailing "the group's work of sharing the gospel in public schools". She appeared as a keynote speaker at their fundraisers in 2006 and 2009. Following a 2011 controversial invocation for the Minnesota House, YCRBYCH founder Bradlee Dean declared that criticisms of him and his ministry were also "intended to harm and destroy the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann ... [who] previously praised and prayed for the work of my ministry". Bachmann has had a history of opposing anti-bullying legislation. In 2006, she told the Minnesota Legislature that passing an anti-bullying bill would be a waste of time. "I think for all of us, our experience in public schools is there have always been bullies", she said. "Always have been, always will be. I just don't know how we're ever going to get to the point of zero tolerance ... What does it mean? ... Will we be expecting boys to be girls?" Fiscal policy In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann opposed minimum wage increases. In a June 2011 interview, she did not back away from her earlier proposal to eliminate the federal minimum wage, a change she said would "virtually wipe out unemployment." In a 2001 flyer, Bachmann and Michael J. Chapman wrote that federal policies manage a centralized, state-controlled economy in the United States. She wrote that education laws passed by Congress in 2001, including "School To Work" and "Goals 2000", created a new national school curriculum that embraced "a socialist, globalist worldview; loyalty to all government and not America." In 2003, Bachmann said that the "Tax Free Zones" economic initiatives of Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty were based on the Marxist principle of "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." She also said the administration was attempting to govern and run centrally planned economies through the Minnesota Economic Leadership Team (MELT), an advisory board on economic and workforce policy Pawlenty chaired. Before her election to the state senate, and again in 2005, Bachmann signed a "no new taxes" pledge sponsored by the Taxpayers League of Minnesota. As a state senator, she introduced two bills that would have severely limited state taxation. In 2003, she proposed amending the Minnesota Constitution to adopt the "Taxpayers' Bill of Rights" (TABOR). In 2005, Bachmann opposed Pawlenty's proposal of a state surcharge of 75 cents per pack on the wholesale cost of cigarettes. She said she opposed the surcharge "100 percent—it's a tax increase." The Taxpayers' League later criticized her for reversing her position and voting for the surcharge. Bachmann promised to bring the price of gasoline down to $2 per gallon, without specifying a plan to accomplish this. Environment Bachmann supports increased domestic drilling of oil and natural gas, as well as pursuing renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar. She is a strong proponent of nuclear power. Bachmann has strongly opposed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pledging at an August 2011 campaign rally, "I guarantee you the EPA will have doors locked and lights turned off and they will only be about conservation." In 2007 and 2010, she actively solicited funds from the EPA on behalf of constituents in her congressional district. Social Security and Medicare phase-out Bachmann has called for phasing out Social Security and Medicare: "what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system... But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off." Foreign policy Bachmann has said that in dealing with Iran, diplomacy "is our option", but that other options, including a nuclear strike, should not be ruled out. She has also said that she is "a longtime supporter of Israel". Global economy In a discussion about the G-20 summit in Toronto, during an interview with conservative radio host Scott Hennen, Bachmann stated that she did not want America to be part of the international global economy. Bachmann told The Wall Street Journal that Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams influenced her economic views. She said she was "an Art Laffer fiend" and loved Ludwig von Mises. Immigration Bachmann believes that strengthened enforcement of immigration laws is required for the growth of the American job market. She supports amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow only the immediate family of legal immigrants (not extended family members) priority consideration in the immigration process. She voted against the DREAM Act. She has also said the current law does not need modification but proper enforcement. Bachmann said, "the immigration system in the United States worked very, very well up until the mid-1960s when liberal members of Congress changed the immigration laws." She has expressed support for immigration of highly skilled professionals such as chemists and engineers. Bachmann opposed the 2013 immigration reform bill, claiming that its passage would mean the end of the Republican Party. On WorldNetDaily she said, "This is President Obama's number one political agenda because he knows we will never again have a Republican president ever if amnesty goes into effect." Social issues Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment Bachmann supports both federal and state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and any legal equivalents. In August 2006, the Star Tribune reported that in March 2006, while on a Minneapolis radio show, Bachmann advocated a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. A caller asked her to explain how he, a heterosexual, would be harmed if his gay neighbors were allowed to marry. Bachmann replied, "Public schools would have to teach that homosexuality and same-sex marriage are normal, natural and that maybe children should try them." The Star Tribune also reported that Bachmann had publicly called homosexuality "sexual dysfunction", "sexual identity disorders", and "personal enslavement" leading to "sexual anarchy". In a July 2014 radio interview, Bachmann claimed that gay rights activists want to abolish age of consent laws in the United States so that adults can "prey on little children sexually." In 2020, Bachmann claimed that "transgender Black Marxists" were "seeking the overthrow of the United States and the dissolution of the traditional family." Abortion Bachmann has identified herself as pro-life and has been endorsed in her runs for Congress by the Susan B. Anthony List and Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. At a New Hampshire debate among presidential candidates, when asked if abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest, she responded that she was "100 percent pro-life," implying that such a fetus would have to be carried to term. In the Minnesota Senate, Bachmann introduced a bill proposing a constitutional amendment restricting state funds for abortion. The bill died in committee. Federal-backed home loans According to the Washington Post, in 2008 Bachmann may have taken advantage of a federal program for a home loan, then called for dismantling the program, though the Post noted that the public and other members of Congress have taken advantage of such loans despite seeing reasons to criticize them. When asked about it, she said: "This is the problem. It is almost impossible to buy a home in this country today without the federal government being involved". Opinion on President Obama's birth certificate Bachmann claimed not to be part of the birther movement, but said that Obama could resolve the dispute by producing his long-form birth certificate. In April 2011, after Obama released the certificate, George Stephanopoulos asked Bachmann about the issue on Good Morning America. She said that its release "should settle the matter", that "I take the president at his word", and that "We have bigger fish to fry". Political campaigns 2006 congressional campaign Bachmann won her Congressional seat in the 2006 election with 50% of the vote, defeating the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) nominee Patty Wetterling and the Independence Party's John Binkowski. The 6th District's representative since 2001, Mark Kennedy, announced in late 2005 that he would run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mark Dayton. Bachmann said, "God then called me to run" for the U.S. House seat, and that she and her husband fasted for three days to be more sure. According to Bloomberg.com, evangelical conservative leader James Dobson put his organization Focus on the Family's resources behind Bachmann's 2006 campaign. The group planned to distribute 250,000 voter guides in Minnesota churches to reach social conservatives, according to Tom Prichard, president of the Minnesota Family Council, a local affiliate of the group. In addition to Minnesota, Dobson's group also organized turnout drives in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and Montana. During a debate televised by WCCO-TV on October 28, 2006, news reporter Pat Kessler quoted a story that appeared in the Star Tribune and asked Bachmann whether it was true that the church she belonged to taught that the Pope is the Anti-Christ. Bachmann replied that her church "does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that's absolutely false ... I'm very grateful that my pastor has come out and been very clear on this matter, and I think it's patently absurd and it's a false statement." In early July 2006, Bachmann received a fundraising visit from Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. On July 21, Karl Rove visited Minnesota to raise funds for her election. In August, President Bush was the keynote speaker at her congressional fundraiser, which raised about $500,000. Bachmann also received fundraising support from Vice President Dick Cheney. The National Republican Congressional Committee put nearly $3 million into the race, for electronic and direct-mail ads against Wetterling, significantly more than the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent on Wetterling's behalf. On November 7, Bachmann won the election with 50% of the vote to Wetterling's 42% and Binkowski's 8%. 2008 congressional campaign In 2008 Bachmann was reelected, defeating DFL and Independence Party nominee Elwyn Tinklenberg with 46.4% of the vote to Tinklenberg's 43.4%. Because Tinklenberg was running as a DFL member in the Democratic primary, Bob Anderson was able to run in the Independence Party primary unopposed, despite not having that party's endorsement. Anderson received 10% of the vote. 2010 congressional campaign In 2010 Bachmann was challenged by DFL nominee Tarryl Clark and Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson. With more than $8.5 million, Bachmann spent more than any other House of Representative candidate, although Clark was able to raise $4 million, one of the largest fundraising efforts in the nation for a U.S. House challenger. On November 2, 2010, Bachmann defeated Clark, 52% to 40%. 2012 presidential campaign In early 2011, amid substantial speculation, Bachmann announced her candidacy for president. She participated in the second Republican presidential debate, in New Hampshire, on June 13, 2011, and during the debate announced that she had filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) earlier that day to become a candidate for the nomination. Bachmann formally announced her candidacy for the nomination on June 27, 2011, during an appearance in Waterloo, Iowa, her birth city. Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll hosted by the Iowa GOP on August 13, 2011, becoming the first woman ever to win the poll, but finished sixth in the January 3, 2012, caucuses, with 4.98% of the vote. On January 4 she canceled her scheduled campaign trips to South Carolina and suspended her campaign. 2012 congressional campaign On January 25, 2012, Bachmann announced that she would run for reelection for her seat in Congress. According to Politico.com, as of July 2012 Bachmann had "raised close to $15 million" for the 2012 election, a figure it called "astounding ... more than some Senate candidates will collect this year." From July to the end of September, Bachmann raised $4.5 million. This amount put her ahead of all other members of Congress (including Allen West who was in second place with $4 million) for the third quarter. Bachmann said she was "humbled by the enormous outpouring of grassroots support for my campaign focused on keeping America the most secure and prosperous nation in the world." Despite a more favorable district Bachmann won reelection only narrowly, receiving just 4,298 more votes than her DFL challenger, Jim Graves. Electoral history Local elections Congressional elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 Autobiography In November 2011 Bachmann published her autobiography, Core of Conviction, in which she outlined the events and people who have shaped her values and beliefs. The book describes her break with the Democratic Party. "It was in the perilous fires of the Carter administration that my ideology was forged," she wrote. "In the seventies, Carter taught me what I was against, and then in the eighties, Reagan taught me what I was for." Reflecting on her role as a Tea Party leader, she elaborated, "I once said that the Tea Party represents 90 percent of Americans. I now realize that I misspoke. I should have said 100 percent, because I believe that nearly all Americans retain faith in the ordered liberty that the Constitution offers." Personal life Family In 1978, as Michele Amble, she married Marcus Bachmann, now a clinical therapist with a master's degree from Regent University and a Ph.D. from Union Graduate School, whom she met while they were undergraduates. After she received an LL.M. in taxation from William & Mary School of Law in 1988, the couple moved to Stillwater, Minnesota, a town of 18,000 near Saint Paul, where they run a Christian counseling center that administered gay conversion therapy. Bachmann and her husband have five children: Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia. In a 2011 town hall meeting, she said that she suffered a miscarriage after the birth of their second child, Harrison, an event she said shaped her anti-abortion views. Bachmann and her husband have also provided foster care to 23 other children, all of whom were teenage girls. The Bachmanns were licensed from 1992 to 2000 to handle up to three foster children at a time, with the last arriving in 1998. The Bachmanns began by providing short-term care for girls with eating disorders who were patients in a University of Minnesota program. Their home was legally defined as a treatment home, with a daily reimbursement rate per child from the state. Some girls stayed a few months, others more than a year. Bachmann is a former beauty pageant queen. Citizenship In May 2012 it was reported that Marcus Bachmann had registered for Swiss citizenship, and thus, under Swiss nationality law, so would Michele and their children. Within two days of the first reports of Bachmann's dual citizenship, Michele Bachmann announced that she had written to the Swiss consulate to withdraw her Swiss citizenship. Religion Bachmann was raised "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats"; she was a longtime member of Salem Lutheran Church (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) in Stillwater. She and her husband withdrew their membership on June 21, 2011, just before she officially began her presidential campaign. They had not attended the church for over two years. In 2011, the Bachmanns began attending Rockpoint Church in Lake Elmo, member of Evangelical Free Church of America. Bachmann has cited theologian Francis Schaeffer as a "profound influence" on her life and her husband's, especially his film series How Should We Then Live?. She has also described Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity by Nancy Pearcey as a "wonderful" book. Journalist Ryan Lizza has argued that Bachmann's worldview is deeply influenced by the Christian movement known as Dominionism, citing the influence of Schaeffer and Pearcey as evidence. Others have criticized Lizza's article, especially its connection of Schaeffer with Dominionism. Religion writer Sarah Posner broadly concurs with Lizza, pointing to the influence of Christian Reconstructionists Herb Titus and R. J. Rushdoony on Bachmann via the curriculum at O. W. Coburn School of Law. Businesses Bachmann and her husband own a Christian counseling practice, Bachmann & Associates. The clinic is run by her husband, who has a Ph.D. with "a concentration in clinical psychology" from Union Graduate School. Marcus Bachmann is not a licensed clinical psychologist in Minnesota. The clinic received nearly $30,000 from Minnesota government agencies between 2006 and 2010 in addition to at least $137,000 in federal payments and $24,000 in government grants for counselor training. In an interview, Michele Bachmann said that she and her husband had not benefited at taxpayer expense, saying, "the money that went to the clinic was actually training money for employees". Marcus Bachmann has falsely claimed that Bachmann & Associates did not provide conversion therapy, a controversial psychological treatment that has been repudiated by the American Psychological Association as unethical and without medical basis. A former client of Bachmann's clinic and a hidden camera investigator with the activist group Truth Wins Out showed that therapists at the clinic do engage in such practices. In a subsequent interview with the Star Tribune, Marcus Bachmann did not deny that he or other counselors at his clinic used the technique, but said they did so only at a client's request. In personal financial disclosure reports for 2006 through 2009, Bachmann reported earning $32,500 to $105,000 from a farm that was owned at the time by her ailing father-in-law, Paul Bachmann. The farm received $260,000 in federal crop and disaster subsidies between 1995 and 2008. Bachmann said that in 2006–2009, her husband acted as a trustee of the farm for his dying father and so, out of "an abundance of caution", she claimed the farm as income in financial disclosures, though it was her in-laws who profited from the farm during that period. Anonymous threat against her In August 2011 a man tweeted his "desire to engage in sadomasochistic activities" with Bachmann using "a Vietnam era machete" while misspelling her given name as "Michelle" in his tweet. Federal investigators ordered Twitter to reveal his identity. Called Mr. X in the grand jury's subpoena, the man filed a motion to quash the order at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in February 2012. Then-Chief Judge Royce Lamberth denied the request, citing the seriousness of the threat that might have posed to Bachmann, but X was granted the redaction of his identity in a separate order. Donald Trump Bachmann vocally supported then-President Donald Trump, saying in 2017 that he "has had the courage and the fortitude to stand up where other Republicans wouldn't dare to stand up." In December 2020, after the presidential election, she posted a video online praying for a Trump second term. Her online prayer specifically called out the contested election results in Georgia, saying: Lord, would you deliver these races in Georgia? O Father, would you deliver various local and state races, Father, that they aren't stolen? Would you give us a true vote? And, O God, I personally ask, from myself, Michele Bachmann, Lord, would you allow Donald Trump to have a second term as president of the United States? See also United States congressional delegations from Minnesota List of United States representatives from Minnesota Women in the United States House of Representatives References External links Politifact.com File on Michele Bachmann 2008 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org 2010 campaign finance data from OpenSecrets.org |- |- |- 1956 births Living people 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American women writers 20th-century Lutherans 21st-century Lutherans 21st-century Protestants American autobiographers American Christian Zionists American critics of Islam American evangelicals American people of Norwegian descent American political writers American anti-abortion activists American women lawyers American women non-fiction writers Anoka High School alumni Christians from Iowa Christians from Minnesota Converts to Evangelicalism from Lutheranism Christian critics of Islam Dominion theology Female members of the United States House of Representatives Female candidates for President of the United States Intelligent design advocates Internal Revenue Service people Members of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota Minnesota lawyers Minnesota Republicans Minnesota state senators Oral Roberts University alumni People from Anoka, Minnesota People from Stillwater, Minnesota Politicians from Waterloo, Iowa Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Tea Party movement activists Candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election William & Mary Law School alumni Winona State University alumni Women autobiographers Women state legislators in Minnesota
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[ "SOARA (Situation, Objective, Action, Results, Aftermath) is a job interview technique developed by Hagymas Laszlo, Professor of Language at the University of Munich, and Alexander Botos, Chief Curator at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. It is similar to the Situation, Task, Action, Result technique. In many interviews, SOARA is used as a structure for clarifying information relating to a recent challenge.\n\nDetails\n\n Situation: The interviewer wants you to present a recent challenge and situation you found yourself in.\n Objective: What did you have to achieve? The interviewer will be looking to see what you were trying to achieve from the situation.\n Action: What did you do? The interviewer will be looking for information on what you did, why you did it and what were the alternatives.\n Results: What was the outcome of your actions? What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your objectives.\n Aftermath: What did you learn from this experience and have you used this learning since?\n\nJob interview", "Jane Maroney El-Dahr is a clinical professor of pediatrics and the head of the division of pediatric allergy and immunology at Tulane University School of Medicine, where she has worked since 1990. She is also the president of the Louisiana Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. She has expertise in allergy, immunology, and rheumatology.\n\nEducation\nEl-Dahr attended Jefferson Medical College, completed both her residency and her fellowship at the University of Virginia Health Science Center, and completed an internship at Yale New Haven Hospital in 1986.\n\nResearch\nEl-Dahr's primary research focus centers on allergies to certain substances in children, such as corn and mold, and is also noted for her research pertaining to post-Hurricane Katrina asthma. However, she is best known for her autism-related research, and has written both chapters 7 and 8 of the book \"Understanding Autism for Dummies\". She gave a presentation before the Institute of Medicine regarding what she described as the biological plausibility of a thimerosal-autism link in 2001. She has argued that thimerosal causes autism through two separate mechanisms: direct neurotoxicity, and, more indirectly, by causing immune problems. Her research, conducted with James B. Adams and Jeff Bradstreet as coauthors, has concluded that chelation therapy is a safe and effective treatment for autism.\n\nPersonal life\nEl-Dahr has an autistic son, who was 15 years old in 2010. Her father was a general pediatrician, and often made house calls after picking her up from school while she sat in the car and did homework.\n\nReferences\n\nAmerican immunologists\nAmerican pediatricians\nWomen pediatricians\nAmerican women biologists\nAmerican biologists\nAutism researchers\nThomas Jefferson University alumni\nTulane University faculty\nWomen medical researchers\nAmerican women physicians\nLiving people\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nAmerican women academics\n21st-century American women" ]
[ "Caligula (film)", "Legal problems" ]
C_ec630b18dfde49fb8e39646409595e70_0
What were the legal problems?
1
What were the legal problems with Caligula?
Caligula (film)
In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, Massachusetts, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta, prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form as of 2014. In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award because the punitive damages were determined to be unrecoverable. CANNOTANSWER
When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials.
Caligula () is a 1979 erotic historical drama film focusing on the rise and fall of the eponymous Roman Emperor Caligula. The film stars Malcolm McDowell in the title role, alongside Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Steiner and John Gielgud. Producer Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse magazine, intended to produce an erotic feature film narrative with high production values and name actors. Gore Vidal originated the idea for a film about the controversial Roman emperor and produced a draft screenplay under the working title Gore Vidal's Caligula. The director, Tinto Brass, extensively altered Vidal's original screenplay, however, leading Vidal to disavow the film. The final screenplay focuses on the idea that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". However, both Brass and Vidal disagreed with Guccione's use of unsimulated sexual content, which Brass refused to film. Because the producers did not allow Brass to edit the film, they changed its tone and style significantly and added hardcore sex scenes not filmed by Brass, thus turning Caligula into an erotic drama featuring Penthouse Pets as extras in unsimulated sex scenes filmed during post-production by Guccione and Giancarlo Lui. This version, released to Italian cinemas in 1979 and American cinemas the following year, disregarded the director's intentions to present the film as a political satire. As a result, Brass also disavowed the film. Caligulas release was met with legal issues and controversies over its violent and sexual content; multiple cut versions were released worldwide, while its uncut form remains banned in several countries. However, the film is considered to be a cult classic with significant merit for its political content and historical portrayal. The script was later adapted into a novelisation written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. In 2018, Penthouse announced that a new Director's Cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski, with the approval of Brass's family. No release date for that cut has been confirmed. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. Plot Caligula is the young heir to the throne of his great uncle, the Emperor Tiberius. One morning, a blackbird flies into his room; Caligula considers this a bad omen. Shortly afterward, one of the heads of the Praetorian Guard, Naevius Sutorius Macro, tells Caligula that Tiberius demands his immediate presence at Capri, where the Emperor lives with his close friend Nerva, dim-witted relative Claudius, and Caligula's adopted son (Tiberius's grandson) Gemellus. Fearing assassination, Caligula is afraid to leave but his sister and lover Drusilla persuades him to go. At Capri, Caligula finds that Tiberius has become depraved, showing signs of advanced venereal diseases, and embittered with Rome and politics. Tiberius enjoys swimming with naked youths and watching degrading sex shows that include deformed people and animals. Caligula observes with fascination and horror. Tensions rise when Tiberius tries to poison Caligula in front of Gemellus. Nerva commits suicide and Caligula tries to kill Tiberius but loses his nerve. Proving his loyalty to Caligula, Macro kills Tiberius instead with Gemellus as a witness. After Tiberius' death and burial, Caligula is proclaimed the new Emperor, then proclaims Drusilla as his equal, to the apparent disgust of the Roman Senate. Drusilla, fearful of Macro's influence, persuades Caligula to get rid of him. Caligula sets up a mock trial in which Gemellus is intimidated into testifying that Macro murdered Tiberius, then has Macro's wife Ennia banished from Rome. After Macro is executed in a gruesome public game, Caligula appoints Tiberius' former adviser Longinus as his personal assistant while pronouncing the docile Senator Chaerea as the new head of the Praetorian Guard. Drusilla tries to find Caligula a wife among the priestesses of the goddess Isis, the cult they secretly practise. Caligula wants to marry Drusilla, but she insists they cannot marry because she is his sister. Instead, Caligula marries Caesonia, a priestess and notorious courtesan, after she bears him an heir. Drusilla reluctantly supports their marriage. Meanwhile, despite Caligula's popularity with the masses, the Senate expresses disapproval for what initially seem to be light eccentricities. Darker aspects of Caligula's personality emerge when he rapes a bride and groom on their wedding day in a minor fit of jealousy and orders Gemellus's execution to provoke a reaction from Drusilla. After discovering that Caesonia is pregnant, Caligula suffers severe fever. Drusilla nurses him back to health. Just as he fully recovers, Caesonia bears him a daughter, Julia Drusilla. During the celebration, Drusilla collapses with the same fever he suffered. Soon afterward, Caligula receives another ill omen in the form of a blackbird. Despite his praying to Isis out of desperation, Drusilla dies from her fever. Initially unable to accept her death, Caligula suffers a nervous breakdown and rampages through the palace, destroying a statue of Isis while clutching Drusilla's body. Now in a deep depression, Caligula walks the Roman streets disguised as a beggar; he causes a disturbance after watching an amateur performance mocking his relationship with Drusilla. After a brief stay in a city gaol, Caligula proclaims himself a god and becomes determined to destroy the senatorial class, which he has come to loathe. The new reign he leads becomes a series of humiliations against the foundations of Romesenators' wives are forced to work in the service of the state as prostitutes, estates are confiscated, the old religion is desecrated and the army is made to embark on a mock invasion of Britain. Unable to further tolerate his actions, Longinus conspires with Chaerea to assassinate Caligula. Caligula enters his bedroom where a nervous Caesonia awaits him. Another blackbird appears but only Caesonia is frightened of it. The next morning, after rehearsing an Egyptian play, Caligula and his family are attacked in a coup headed by Chaerea. Caesonia and Julia are murdered, and Chaerea stabs Caligula in the stomach. With his final breath, the Emperor defiantly whimpers "I live!" as Caligula and his family's bodies are thrown down the stadium's steps and their blood is washed off the marble floor. Claudius witnesses the entire ordeal and is horrified even after being proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard. Cast Production Development The men's magazine Penthouse had long been involved in film funding, helping invest in films made by other studios, including Chinatown, The Longest Yard and The Day of the Locust, but it had never produced a film on its own. The magazine's founder Bob Guccione wanted to produce an explicit adult film within a feature film narrative that had high production values; he decided to produce a film about the rise and fall of the Roman emperor Caligula. Development began under producer Franco Rossellini, the nephew of filmmaker Roberto Rossellini. A screenplay was written by Lina Wertmüller, but Guccione rejected Wertmüller's script and paid Gore Vidal to write a new screenplay. Vidal's screenplay had a strong focus on homosexuality, leading Guccione to demand rewrites which toned down the homosexual content for wider audience appeal. Guccione was concerned that Vidal's script contained several homosexual sex scenes and only one scene of heterosexual sex, which was between Caligula and his sister Drusilla. Vidal was paid for his screenplay, which was titled Gore Vidal's Caligula. Elaborate sets were built by production designer Danilo Donati, who also designed the film's costumes, jewelry, hair styles, wigs and makeup. Several mainstream actors were cast, Guccione intending to make a film which he felt, like Citizen Kane, would be a landmark in cinematic history. Guccione offered directing duties to John Huston and Lina Wertmüller, both of whom rejected the film. After viewing scenes from the film Salon Kitty, Guccione agreed to have lunch with that film's director Tinto Brass, believing Brass would be the ideal person to direct Caligula. Brass had a reputation for being difficult to deal with on film sets but Guccione thought the film's epic scope would "keep [Brass] in line" and that Brass understood the concept of the film enough to direct it. Brass described Vidal's screenplay as "the work of an aging arteriosclerotic" and agreed to direct only if he was allowed to rewrite Vidal's screenplay. Brass's screenplay expanded the sexual content to include orgies, decorative phalluses, and much female nudity. Guccione said Brass's rewrites were done out of necessity to the film's visual narrative and did not alter the dialogue or content. In an interview for Time magazine, Vidal said that in film production, directors were "parasites" and a film's author was its screenwriter; in response, Brass demanded Vidal's removal from the set and Guccione agreed. Guccione considered film to be a "collective effort, involving the input of a great number of artists and craftsmen", and the director to be the leader of a "team effort". Vidal filed a contractual dispute over the film because of Brass's rewrites; Guccione said Vidal had demanded 10% of the film's profits, which Vidal said was not the case. Vidal distanced himself from the production, calling Brass a "megalomaniac". Brass publicly stated, "If I ever really get mad at Gore Vidal, I'll publish his script". Vidal's name was removed from the film's title; the credits were changed to state that the film was "adapted from a screenplay by Gore Vidal", crediting no official screenwriter. Guccione said, "Gore's work was basically done and Tinto's work was about to begin". Themes and significance The film's primary theme is "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Vidal's script presented Caligula as a good man driven to madness by absolute power; Brass's screenplay envisioned Caligula as a "born monster". In The Encyclopedia of Epic Films, author Djoymi Baker describes Brass's screenplay as "an antiepic with an antihero, on a path of self-inflicted, antisocial descent". Guccione said this final draft was more violent than sexual, stating, "I maintain the film is actually anti-erotic ... in every one of its scenes you'll find a mixture of gore or violence or some other rather ugly things". Casting Orson Welles was initially offered $1 million dollars to star as Tiberius, a figure which would have been his highest ever salary, but he refused on moral grounds when he read the script. Gore Vidal expressed disbelief that this could have ever been the case as he felt that Welles could not have portrayed Tiberius, but then recalled Kenneth Tynan remarking to him at the time that Welles was "upset" by the script. Renowned actors who did accept roles in the film included Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud, with Maria Schneider cast as Caligula's doomed sister Drusilla. Schneider became uncomfortable with appearing nude and in sexual scenes, and left the production, to be replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy, whom Brass had previously worked with on Salon Kitty. Schneider had also apparently angered Brass by sewing up the open tunics she was supposed to wear on camera. Gielgud was also offered the role of Tiberius, which he declined, as he felt Vidal's script was "pornographic"; however, he later accepted the role of Nerva. Director Tinto Brass cast his own acquaintances as senators and noblemen, including ex-convicts, thieves and anarchists. Guccione cast Penthouse Pets as female extras in sexual scenes. Filming Principal photography began in 1976 in Rome. McDowell got along well with Tinto Brass, while Peter O'Toole immediately disliked the director. John Gielgud and Helen Mirren were indifferent to Brass; they ultimately trusted his direction and focused on their own performances. O'Toole had stopped drinking alcohol before filming, but Guccione described O'Toole as being "strung out on something" and said the actor was not sober during the entire filming schedule. During the film's production, McDowell took members of the production to dinner at an expensive restaurant to celebrate England's win in a football match against the Italian team. He left the choreographer to pay for the meal, saying he had forgotten to bring enough money. At the end of the production, McDowell gave his dresser a pendant bearing her name, but it was misspelled and she gave it back to him. McDowell offered her a signet ring, a prop from the film. She refused because it belonged to the production company. Brass decided not to focus much on Danilo Donati's elaborate sets, and intentionally kept the Penthouse Pets in the background during sex scenes. He focused instead on women whom Guccione considered to be unattractive. Brass and Guccione disagreed about the film's approach to sexual content; Guccione preferred unsimulated sexual content that Brass did not want to film. Post-production Filming concluded on 24 December 1976. Guccione said Brass shot enough film to "make the original version of Ben-Hur about 50 times over". Brass started editing the film but was not allowed to continue after he had edited approximately the first hour of it. His rough-cut was disassembled, and the film was edited by several editors, changing its tone and structure significantly by removing and re-arranging many scenes, using different takes, a slower editing style and music other than Brass intended. A few weeks after filming had concluded, Guccione and Giancarlo Lui returned to Rome with several Penthouse Pets. Guccione and Lui "hired a skeleton crew, snuck back into the studios at night, raided the prop room" and shot hardcore sex scenes to edit into the film. Brass ultimately disowned the film. Although there were a number of editors on the film, their names were not credited. Instead, the credit "Editing by the Production" is given during the opening credits. The film was intended for release in English, but with many of the supporting actors/actresses only speaking Italian, their lines needed to be dubbed. Peter O'Toole was reluctant to re-record his English dialogue, he stayed away from the film's producers, then finally agreed to re-record his dialogue. Soundtrack The film was scored by Bruno Nicolai under the name Paul Clemente. According to Kristopher Spencer, the score "is gloriously dramatic, capturing both the decadent atmosphere of ancient Rome and the twisted tragedy of its true story". The score also featured music by Aram Khachaturian (from Spartacus) and Sergei Prokofiev (from Romeo and Juliet). In November 1980, Guccione formed Penthouse Records to release a double album soundtrack to Caligula. The album featured Nicolai's score and two versions—one in a disco style—of a love theme titled "We Are One", which did not appear in the film. Track listing Release An edited version of the film had a limited run in a small town near Forli, Italy before opening in Rome on Sunday, November 11, 1979. In Rome, it was the highest-grossing film of the weekend, with a gross of $59,950 from 6 theaters. The film was confiscated by Italian police on November 15 with the pubblico ministero calling many scenes in the film "flagrantly obscene". In the United States, Guccione refused to submit Caligula to the MPAA because he did not want the film to receive a ratingeven Xwhich he considered to be "demeaning". Instead, Guccione applied his own "Mature Audiences" rating to the film, instructing theater owners not to admit anyone under the age of 18. The film premiered in the United States on 1 February 1980, at the Trans Lux East Theatre, which Guccione had rented exclusively to screen the film; he changed the theater's name to Penthouse East. Rather than leasing prints to exhibitors, the distributor rented theaters that specialized in foreign and art films for the purpose of screening Caligula exclusively in order to keep the film out of theaters that showed pornographic films. In 1981, the Brazilian Board of Censors approved the establishment of special theaters to screen In the Realm of the Senses and Caligula because they were international box office hits. Caligula grossed at the box office. The film was a financial success in France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan. A 105-minute R-rated version without the explicit sexual material was released in 1981. The script was adapted into a novelization written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. Legal problems In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form . In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award, ruling that punitive damages were not allowed by the law governing the case. Reception Contemporary reviews Caligula received generally negative reviews. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, calling it "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash". Ebert wrote, "In the two hours of this film that I saw, there were no scenes of joy, natural pleasure, or good sensual cheer. There was, instead, a nauseating excursion into base and sad fantasies." It is also notable for being one of the few films Ebert ever walked out of—he walked out 2 hours into its 170-minute length after feeling "disgusted and unspeakably depressed". He and Gene Siskel selected the film as one of their "dogs of the year" in a 1980 episode of Sneak Previews. Hank Werba of Variety described the film as a "moral holocaust" in his review. Rex Reed called Caligula "a trough of rotten swill". Jay Scott, reviewing Caligula for The Globe and Mail, said, "Caligula doesn't really work on any level". Scott unfavourably compared Caligula with In the Realm of the Senses, describing the latter film as a better treatment of extreme sexuality. Scott's review went on to say "Rome would seem to be at least as fecund a territory for the cinematic exploration of sex, death and money, as pre-war Japan ... but what's missing from Caligula, which is rife with all three, is any connective tissue (also any point of view, any thought, any meaning)". Scott concluded his review by claiming the whole film's production was "a boondoggle of landmark proportions". New York critic David Denby described the film as "an infinitely degraded version of Fellini Satyricon." Tom Milne (Monthly Film Bulletin) stated that the film was "by no means so awesomely bad as most critics have been pleased to report—but pretty bad all the same" and found the film to be "notable chiefly for the accuracy with which it reflects this anonymity." Caligula continued to garner negative reception long after its release. It has been reappraised by some critics; review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a negative score of 23% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 3.06/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Endlessly perverse and indulgent, Caligula throws in hardcore sex every time the plot threatens to get interesting." Leslie Halliwell said Caligula was "a vile curiosity of interest chiefly to sado-masochists". Time Out London called it "a dreary shambles". Positive criticism of the film came from Moviehole reviewer Clint Morris, who awarded it 3 stars out of 5, calling it "[a] classic in the coolest sense of the word". New Times critic Gregory Weinkauf gave the film 3 out of 5, calling it "Kinda dumb and tacky, but at least it's a real movie". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reviewer Philip Martin also gave the film 3 out of 5. Writers for The Hamilton Spectator and St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Caligula was one of the worst films they'd seen. Writing for The A.V. Club, Keith Phipps said, "As a one-of-a-kind marriage of the historical epic and the porn film ... Caligula deserves a look. But it might be better to let Guccione's savagely unpleasant folly fade into the century that spawned it". Retrospective recognition Caligula has been described as a "cult classic" by William Hawes in a book about the film. Helen Mirren has defended her involvement with the final product of the film and even described Caligula as "an irresistible mix of art and genitals". In 2005, artist Francesco Vezzoli produced a fake trailer for an alleged remake called Gore Vidal's Caligula as a promotion for Versace's new line of accessories; the remake was to star Helen Mirren as "the Empress Tiberius", Gerard Butler as Chaerea, Milla Jovovich as Drusilla, Courtney Love as Caligula, and Karen Black as Agrippina the Elder and featuring an introduction by Gore Vidal. The fake trailer was screened worldwide, including New York City's Whitney Museum of American Art's 2006 Whitney Biennial. Leonardo DiCaprio has cited the film as an influence on his performance as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. Reconstruction attempts In 2007, Caligula was released on DVD and Blu-ray in an "Imperial Edition", which featured the unrated theatrical release version and a new version featuring alternative sequencing from the original theatrical release and without the explicit sexual content shot by Guccione, marking the first attempt to reconstruct the film into a version closer to Brass's intentions. This edition also includes audio commentaries featuring Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren, and interviews with the cast and crew. In February 2018, Penthouse announced that a new cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski. Tuschinski will use 85 minutes of Brass's original workprint and edit the remainder of the film himself. Brass's family supports Tuschinski's effort, but it remains unconfirmed if Brass will be directly involved with the edit. However, the edit is an attempt to realize Brass's original vision for the film. In July 2018, Alexander Tuschinski released his documentary Mission: Caligula on Vimeo. The film explores his relationship to Caligula, the process of reconstructing Brass's vision and Penthouse CEO Kelly Holland's backing of the project. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. See also Unsimulated sex References External links Alexander Tuschinski. Reconstruction of the Director's Cut Alexander Tuschinski. Caligula: Director's Cut (Tinto Brass interview) (YouTube) Caligula on-set photographs by Mario Tursi, (unit photographer) Caligula and Italian censorship (in italian) 1979 films 1979 drama films 1970s biographical drama films 1970s erotic drama films 1970s multilingual films 1970s exploitation films American films American political drama films American biographical drama films Films directed by Tinto Brass Biographical films about Roman emperors Depictions of Caligula on film Cultural depictions of Claudius Cultural depictions of Messalina Cultural depictions of Tiberius Cultural depictions of Agrippina the Younger Drama films based on actual events Epic films based on actual events 1970s English-language films English-language Italian films American epic films American multilingual films American erotic drama films American drama films American historical drama films American independent films American LGBT-related films American exploitation films Films set in ancient Rome Films set in the Roman Empire Films set in the 1st century Films shot in Rome Incest in film Italian films Italian drama films Italian erotic drama films Italian independent films Italian biographical films Italian epic films Italian historical drama films Italian multilingual films Italian LGBT-related films LGBT-related controversies in film Obscenity controversies in film Rating controversies in film Penthouse (magazine) Films based on works by Gore Vidal Historical epic films Films scored by Bruno Nicolai Peplum films 1979 independent films Cultural depictions of Julia Drusilla
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[ "The Legal Services Commission (LSC) was an executive non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Justice which was responsible for the operational administration of legal aid in England and Wales between 2000 and 2013.\n\nOverview\nThe LSC was responsible for a budget of around £2 billion annually, and helping over 2 million people with their legal problems across England and Wales each year. It was established under the Access to Justice Act 1999 and in 2000 replaced the Legal Aid Board (founded 30 June 1949). Sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, the LSC helped to protect the fundamental rights of the individual and addressed problems that contribute to social exclusion. The Chair of the LSC was Sir Bill Callaghan and its work was overseen by an independent board of commissioners. The Chief Executive of the LSC was Matthew Coats.\n\nReplacement by Legal Aid Agency\nThe Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 made provision for the abolition of the LSC. The LSC was replaced by the Legal Aid Agency, an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice, on 1 April 2013. The agency carries out a similar function to the LSC, although executive agency status differs from the LSC's non-departmental public body status. Independence of decision-making within the Legal Aid Agency is through the post of a Director of Legal Aid Casework, who has independence from the Lord Chancellor in applying directions and guidance to any individual funding decision.\n\nServices \nThe LSC was responsible for the development and administration of two service programmes:\n\n The Civil Legal Service (CLS), which provides services under the Civil Legal Advice (CLA) banner\n The Criminal Defence Service (CDS)\n\nThe CLA aimed to improve access to quality information and help for civil legal problems, in fields such as family, debt and housing law. CLA provides direct legal advice services to the public via its Community Legal Advice website and helpline, and also provides advice centre offices for low-income individuals and families, who are referred to participating solicitors and advice agencies that are certified through the CLA's Quality Mark scheme.\n\nThe CDS provides free legal advice and representation for people facing criminal charges who are unable to pay for legal help. This is supplied through criminal solicitors’ offices and the Public Defender Service.\n\nLegal case: All About Rights Law Practice\nIn or around 2009 the LSC decided to replace the provision of legal aid through the civil Unified Contract of 2007 by granting contracts to law firms selected through a series of tendering exercises. There were separate exercises in different fields of law, with some 10,000 bids in total across the civil law tender round. The LSC's tendering exercise for the procurement of mental health services in England and Wales took place in 2010. In error, solicitor Mr. Ranjan Nadarajah, in business as \"All About Rights Law Practice\", submitted a blank document in place of what should have been his completed tender documentation for the provision of publicly funded mental health legal aid work. Mr. Nadarajah argued that his exclusion from the procurement process was \"disproportionate and unjustified\". In a ruling handed down after the LSC had closed, Mrs Justice Carr found that \"AAR was not unlawfully deprived by the LSC of a contract\" and that \"the LSC's rejection of AAR's bid was not disproportionate, nor did it amount to unequal treatment\".\n\nCriticism\nIn the House of Commons on 20 July 2010 Robert Buckland MP made what the Parliamentary Under-secretary of State for Justice, Jonathan Djanogly, described as \"serious accusations of mismanagement\".\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nLegal aid on gov.uk website\nLSC at Ministry of Justice website\nLegal aid website for legal aid practitioners\nLaw Society of England & Wales\nAccess to Justice Act 1999\n\nEnglish law\nLegal aid\nSolicitors\nDefunct non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government", "António Castanheira Neves (born 8 November 1929 in Tábua) is a Portuguese legal philosopher and a professor emeritus at the law faculty of the University of Coimbra.\n\nAccording to Castanheira Neves, law can only be understood through legal problems (roughly, legal cases), which have to be solved within the legal system (including a necessary connection to morality). Law, he claims, is not something given or previous, but the solution to legal problems. Legal problems are the decisive starting point. His opposition to positivism, to natural law and to the several theories of legal syllogism would make him one of the first and most accomplished advocates of interpretivism.\n\nCastanheira Neves, however, has always claimed that law — the task of lawyers — is not essentially interpretive or hermeneutical, but practical, i.e., action guiding. He maintains that legal interpretation is not a necessary feature of legal reasoning. On the contrary, law always arises from legal problems, which are concrete, historically situated, normative, and practical. Every legal decision aims to settle what someone (legally) ought to do in a particular case in a particular historical (and social) situation, and that is its defining feature. A legal decision is also itself an action. Interpretation is not always needed and, when it is, it is auxiliary.\n\nThe central tenets of Castanheira Neves' philosophy of law were made clear in his 1967 massive book on the philosophical and methodological distinction between matter of fact and matter of law. Castanheira Neves addresses the similarities and significant differences between his and Dworkin's theses in the last part of his 2003 book.\n\nCastanheira Neves also claims that there is no law in general norms (rules, principles, etc.) as laid down by legislators, but only in solving particular cases. To this thesis, he calls \"jurisprudentialism\".\n\nLaw is not an element, but a synthesis, not a premise for validity, but fulfilled validity, not a prius, but a posterius, not a given, but a solution, it is not in the beginning, but in the end. (Castanheira Neves, 1967, p. 586)\n\nIn this, he was preceded by authors like Viehweg and schools of thought like critical legal studies, but he differed from these authors as he claimed it to be essential to law as a normative matter, and not only descriptively. His position is therefore equivalent, in this subject, to J. Dancy's later moral particularism. Castanheira Neves would come to agree with Gadamer's dictum that all interpretation is application (as Dworkin did).\n\nMajor works\n(1967) Questão-de-facto — questão-de-direito ou o problema metodológico da juridicidade, Coimbra: Almedina. Matter of fact / matter of law, or the methodological problem of legality.\n(1983) O instituto dos \"assentos\" e a função jurídica dos supremos tribunais, Coimbra: offprint of RLJ. The institute of \"assentos\" and the legal function of supreme courts, first published between 1973 and 1982.\n(1993) Metodologia jurídica. Problemas fundamentais, Coimbra: Coimbra Editora, 1993. Legal methodology / Fundamental problems.\n(1995) Digesta: escritos acerca do direito, do pensamento jurídico, da sua metodologia e outros, 2 vols., Coimbra: Coimbra Editora. Digesta is a collection of works first published between 1968 and 1994, including:\n(1976) A revolução e o direito (Revolution and law),\n(1979) A unidade do sistema jurídico (The unity of the legal system), and\n(1982) Fontes do direito (Sources of the law).\n(2003) O actual problema metodológico da interpretação jurídica, Coimbra: Coimbra Editora. The present day methodological problem of legal interpretation.\n\nReferences\nJ. Figueiredo Dias, J. J. Gomes Canotilho, J. Faria Costa (eds.) (2008) Studia Iuridica 90 - Ars Ivdicandi - Estudos em Homenagem ao Prof. Doutor António Castanheira Neves. Coimbra: Coimbra Editora (1324 pp., including a short biography and a complete list of his works).\n \n\n1929 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Tábua\nPhilosophers of law" ]
[ "Caligula (film)", "Legal problems", "What were the legal problems?", "When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials." ]
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What happened during the lawsuit?
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What happened during the lawsuit against Caligula?
Caligula (film)
In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, Massachusetts, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta, prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form as of 2014. In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award because the punitive damages were determined to be unrecoverable. CANNOTANSWER
authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy".
Caligula () is a 1979 erotic historical drama film focusing on the rise and fall of the eponymous Roman Emperor Caligula. The film stars Malcolm McDowell in the title role, alongside Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Steiner and John Gielgud. Producer Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse magazine, intended to produce an erotic feature film narrative with high production values and name actors. Gore Vidal originated the idea for a film about the controversial Roman emperor and produced a draft screenplay under the working title Gore Vidal's Caligula. The director, Tinto Brass, extensively altered Vidal's original screenplay, however, leading Vidal to disavow the film. The final screenplay focuses on the idea that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". However, both Brass and Vidal disagreed with Guccione's use of unsimulated sexual content, which Brass refused to film. Because the producers did not allow Brass to edit the film, they changed its tone and style significantly and added hardcore sex scenes not filmed by Brass, thus turning Caligula into an erotic drama featuring Penthouse Pets as extras in unsimulated sex scenes filmed during post-production by Guccione and Giancarlo Lui. This version, released to Italian cinemas in 1979 and American cinemas the following year, disregarded the director's intentions to present the film as a political satire. As a result, Brass also disavowed the film. Caligulas release was met with legal issues and controversies over its violent and sexual content; multiple cut versions were released worldwide, while its uncut form remains banned in several countries. However, the film is considered to be a cult classic with significant merit for its political content and historical portrayal. The script was later adapted into a novelisation written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. In 2018, Penthouse announced that a new Director's Cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski, with the approval of Brass's family. No release date for that cut has been confirmed. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. Plot Caligula is the young heir to the throne of his great uncle, the Emperor Tiberius. One morning, a blackbird flies into his room; Caligula considers this a bad omen. Shortly afterward, one of the heads of the Praetorian Guard, Naevius Sutorius Macro, tells Caligula that Tiberius demands his immediate presence at Capri, where the Emperor lives with his close friend Nerva, dim-witted relative Claudius, and Caligula's adopted son (Tiberius's grandson) Gemellus. Fearing assassination, Caligula is afraid to leave but his sister and lover Drusilla persuades him to go. At Capri, Caligula finds that Tiberius has become depraved, showing signs of advanced venereal diseases, and embittered with Rome and politics. Tiberius enjoys swimming with naked youths and watching degrading sex shows that include deformed people and animals. Caligula observes with fascination and horror. Tensions rise when Tiberius tries to poison Caligula in front of Gemellus. Nerva commits suicide and Caligula tries to kill Tiberius but loses his nerve. Proving his loyalty to Caligula, Macro kills Tiberius instead with Gemellus as a witness. After Tiberius' death and burial, Caligula is proclaimed the new Emperor, then proclaims Drusilla as his equal, to the apparent disgust of the Roman Senate. Drusilla, fearful of Macro's influence, persuades Caligula to get rid of him. Caligula sets up a mock trial in which Gemellus is intimidated into testifying that Macro murdered Tiberius, then has Macro's wife Ennia banished from Rome. After Macro is executed in a gruesome public game, Caligula appoints Tiberius' former adviser Longinus as his personal assistant while pronouncing the docile Senator Chaerea as the new head of the Praetorian Guard. Drusilla tries to find Caligula a wife among the priestesses of the goddess Isis, the cult they secretly practise. Caligula wants to marry Drusilla, but she insists they cannot marry because she is his sister. Instead, Caligula marries Caesonia, a priestess and notorious courtesan, after she bears him an heir. Drusilla reluctantly supports their marriage. Meanwhile, despite Caligula's popularity with the masses, the Senate expresses disapproval for what initially seem to be light eccentricities. Darker aspects of Caligula's personality emerge when he rapes a bride and groom on their wedding day in a minor fit of jealousy and orders Gemellus's execution to provoke a reaction from Drusilla. After discovering that Caesonia is pregnant, Caligula suffers severe fever. Drusilla nurses him back to health. Just as he fully recovers, Caesonia bears him a daughter, Julia Drusilla. During the celebration, Drusilla collapses with the same fever he suffered. Soon afterward, Caligula receives another ill omen in the form of a blackbird. Despite his praying to Isis out of desperation, Drusilla dies from her fever. Initially unable to accept her death, Caligula suffers a nervous breakdown and rampages through the palace, destroying a statue of Isis while clutching Drusilla's body. Now in a deep depression, Caligula walks the Roman streets disguised as a beggar; he causes a disturbance after watching an amateur performance mocking his relationship with Drusilla. After a brief stay in a city gaol, Caligula proclaims himself a god and becomes determined to destroy the senatorial class, which he has come to loathe. The new reign he leads becomes a series of humiliations against the foundations of Romesenators' wives are forced to work in the service of the state as prostitutes, estates are confiscated, the old religion is desecrated and the army is made to embark on a mock invasion of Britain. Unable to further tolerate his actions, Longinus conspires with Chaerea to assassinate Caligula. Caligula enters his bedroom where a nervous Caesonia awaits him. Another blackbird appears but only Caesonia is frightened of it. The next morning, after rehearsing an Egyptian play, Caligula and his family are attacked in a coup headed by Chaerea. Caesonia and Julia are murdered, and Chaerea stabs Caligula in the stomach. With his final breath, the Emperor defiantly whimpers "I live!" as Caligula and his family's bodies are thrown down the stadium's steps and their blood is washed off the marble floor. Claudius witnesses the entire ordeal and is horrified even after being proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard. Cast Production Development The men's magazine Penthouse had long been involved in film funding, helping invest in films made by other studios, including Chinatown, The Longest Yard and The Day of the Locust, but it had never produced a film on its own. The magazine's founder Bob Guccione wanted to produce an explicit adult film within a feature film narrative that had high production values; he decided to produce a film about the rise and fall of the Roman emperor Caligula. Development began under producer Franco Rossellini, the nephew of filmmaker Roberto Rossellini. A screenplay was written by Lina Wertmüller, but Guccione rejected Wertmüller's script and paid Gore Vidal to write a new screenplay. Vidal's screenplay had a strong focus on homosexuality, leading Guccione to demand rewrites which toned down the homosexual content for wider audience appeal. Guccione was concerned that Vidal's script contained several homosexual sex scenes and only one scene of heterosexual sex, which was between Caligula and his sister Drusilla. Vidal was paid for his screenplay, which was titled Gore Vidal's Caligula. Elaborate sets were built by production designer Danilo Donati, who also designed the film's costumes, jewelry, hair styles, wigs and makeup. Several mainstream actors were cast, Guccione intending to make a film which he felt, like Citizen Kane, would be a landmark in cinematic history. Guccione offered directing duties to John Huston and Lina Wertmüller, both of whom rejected the film. After viewing scenes from the film Salon Kitty, Guccione agreed to have lunch with that film's director Tinto Brass, believing Brass would be the ideal person to direct Caligula. Brass had a reputation for being difficult to deal with on film sets but Guccione thought the film's epic scope would "keep [Brass] in line" and that Brass understood the concept of the film enough to direct it. Brass described Vidal's screenplay as "the work of an aging arteriosclerotic" and agreed to direct only if he was allowed to rewrite Vidal's screenplay. Brass's screenplay expanded the sexual content to include orgies, decorative phalluses, and much female nudity. Guccione said Brass's rewrites were done out of necessity to the film's visual narrative and did not alter the dialogue or content. In an interview for Time magazine, Vidal said that in film production, directors were "parasites" and a film's author was its screenwriter; in response, Brass demanded Vidal's removal from the set and Guccione agreed. Guccione considered film to be a "collective effort, involving the input of a great number of artists and craftsmen", and the director to be the leader of a "team effort". Vidal filed a contractual dispute over the film because of Brass's rewrites; Guccione said Vidal had demanded 10% of the film's profits, which Vidal said was not the case. Vidal distanced himself from the production, calling Brass a "megalomaniac". Brass publicly stated, "If I ever really get mad at Gore Vidal, I'll publish his script". Vidal's name was removed from the film's title; the credits were changed to state that the film was "adapted from a screenplay by Gore Vidal", crediting no official screenwriter. Guccione said, "Gore's work was basically done and Tinto's work was about to begin". Themes and significance The film's primary theme is "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Vidal's script presented Caligula as a good man driven to madness by absolute power; Brass's screenplay envisioned Caligula as a "born monster". In The Encyclopedia of Epic Films, author Djoymi Baker describes Brass's screenplay as "an antiepic with an antihero, on a path of self-inflicted, antisocial descent". Guccione said this final draft was more violent than sexual, stating, "I maintain the film is actually anti-erotic ... in every one of its scenes you'll find a mixture of gore or violence or some other rather ugly things". Casting Orson Welles was initially offered $1 million dollars to star as Tiberius, a figure which would have been his highest ever salary, but he refused on moral grounds when he read the script. Gore Vidal expressed disbelief that this could have ever been the case as he felt that Welles could not have portrayed Tiberius, but then recalled Kenneth Tynan remarking to him at the time that Welles was "upset" by the script. Renowned actors who did accept roles in the film included Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud, with Maria Schneider cast as Caligula's doomed sister Drusilla. Schneider became uncomfortable with appearing nude and in sexual scenes, and left the production, to be replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy, whom Brass had previously worked with on Salon Kitty. Schneider had also apparently angered Brass by sewing up the open tunics she was supposed to wear on camera. Gielgud was also offered the role of Tiberius, which he declined, as he felt Vidal's script was "pornographic"; however, he later accepted the role of Nerva. Director Tinto Brass cast his own acquaintances as senators and noblemen, including ex-convicts, thieves and anarchists. Guccione cast Penthouse Pets as female extras in sexual scenes. Filming Principal photography began in 1976 in Rome. McDowell got along well with Tinto Brass, while Peter O'Toole immediately disliked the director. John Gielgud and Helen Mirren were indifferent to Brass; they ultimately trusted his direction and focused on their own performances. O'Toole had stopped drinking alcohol before filming, but Guccione described O'Toole as being "strung out on something" and said the actor was not sober during the entire filming schedule. During the film's production, McDowell took members of the production to dinner at an expensive restaurant to celebrate England's win in a football match against the Italian team. He left the choreographer to pay for the meal, saying he had forgotten to bring enough money. At the end of the production, McDowell gave his dresser a pendant bearing her name, but it was misspelled and she gave it back to him. McDowell offered her a signet ring, a prop from the film. She refused because it belonged to the production company. Brass decided not to focus much on Danilo Donati's elaborate sets, and intentionally kept the Penthouse Pets in the background during sex scenes. He focused instead on women whom Guccione considered to be unattractive. Brass and Guccione disagreed about the film's approach to sexual content; Guccione preferred unsimulated sexual content that Brass did not want to film. Post-production Filming concluded on 24 December 1976. Guccione said Brass shot enough film to "make the original version of Ben-Hur about 50 times over". Brass started editing the film but was not allowed to continue after he had edited approximately the first hour of it. His rough-cut was disassembled, and the film was edited by several editors, changing its tone and structure significantly by removing and re-arranging many scenes, using different takes, a slower editing style and music other than Brass intended. A few weeks after filming had concluded, Guccione and Giancarlo Lui returned to Rome with several Penthouse Pets. Guccione and Lui "hired a skeleton crew, snuck back into the studios at night, raided the prop room" and shot hardcore sex scenes to edit into the film. Brass ultimately disowned the film. Although there were a number of editors on the film, their names were not credited. Instead, the credit "Editing by the Production" is given during the opening credits. The film was intended for release in English, but with many of the supporting actors/actresses only speaking Italian, their lines needed to be dubbed. Peter O'Toole was reluctant to re-record his English dialogue, he stayed away from the film's producers, then finally agreed to re-record his dialogue. Soundtrack The film was scored by Bruno Nicolai under the name Paul Clemente. According to Kristopher Spencer, the score "is gloriously dramatic, capturing both the decadent atmosphere of ancient Rome and the twisted tragedy of its true story". The score also featured music by Aram Khachaturian (from Spartacus) and Sergei Prokofiev (from Romeo and Juliet). In November 1980, Guccione formed Penthouse Records to release a double album soundtrack to Caligula. The album featured Nicolai's score and two versions—one in a disco style—of a love theme titled "We Are One", which did not appear in the film. Track listing Release An edited version of the film had a limited run in a small town near Forli, Italy before opening in Rome on Sunday, November 11, 1979. In Rome, it was the highest-grossing film of the weekend, with a gross of $59,950 from 6 theaters. The film was confiscated by Italian police on November 15 with the pubblico ministero calling many scenes in the film "flagrantly obscene". In the United States, Guccione refused to submit Caligula to the MPAA because he did not want the film to receive a ratingeven Xwhich he considered to be "demeaning". Instead, Guccione applied his own "Mature Audiences" rating to the film, instructing theater owners not to admit anyone under the age of 18. The film premiered in the United States on 1 February 1980, at the Trans Lux East Theatre, which Guccione had rented exclusively to screen the film; he changed the theater's name to Penthouse East. Rather than leasing prints to exhibitors, the distributor rented theaters that specialized in foreign and art films for the purpose of screening Caligula exclusively in order to keep the film out of theaters that showed pornographic films. In 1981, the Brazilian Board of Censors approved the establishment of special theaters to screen In the Realm of the Senses and Caligula because they were international box office hits. Caligula grossed at the box office. The film was a financial success in France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan. A 105-minute R-rated version without the explicit sexual material was released in 1981. The script was adapted into a novelization written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. Legal problems In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form . In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award, ruling that punitive damages were not allowed by the law governing the case. Reception Contemporary reviews Caligula received generally negative reviews. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, calling it "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash". Ebert wrote, "In the two hours of this film that I saw, there were no scenes of joy, natural pleasure, or good sensual cheer. There was, instead, a nauseating excursion into base and sad fantasies." It is also notable for being one of the few films Ebert ever walked out of—he walked out 2 hours into its 170-minute length after feeling "disgusted and unspeakably depressed". He and Gene Siskel selected the film as one of their "dogs of the year" in a 1980 episode of Sneak Previews. Hank Werba of Variety described the film as a "moral holocaust" in his review. Rex Reed called Caligula "a trough of rotten swill". Jay Scott, reviewing Caligula for The Globe and Mail, said, "Caligula doesn't really work on any level". Scott unfavourably compared Caligula with In the Realm of the Senses, describing the latter film as a better treatment of extreme sexuality. Scott's review went on to say "Rome would seem to be at least as fecund a territory for the cinematic exploration of sex, death and money, as pre-war Japan ... but what's missing from Caligula, which is rife with all three, is any connective tissue (also any point of view, any thought, any meaning)". Scott concluded his review by claiming the whole film's production was "a boondoggle of landmark proportions". New York critic David Denby described the film as "an infinitely degraded version of Fellini Satyricon." Tom Milne (Monthly Film Bulletin) stated that the film was "by no means so awesomely bad as most critics have been pleased to report—but pretty bad all the same" and found the film to be "notable chiefly for the accuracy with which it reflects this anonymity." Caligula continued to garner negative reception long after its release. It has been reappraised by some critics; review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a negative score of 23% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 3.06/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Endlessly perverse and indulgent, Caligula throws in hardcore sex every time the plot threatens to get interesting." Leslie Halliwell said Caligula was "a vile curiosity of interest chiefly to sado-masochists". Time Out London called it "a dreary shambles". Positive criticism of the film came from Moviehole reviewer Clint Morris, who awarded it 3 stars out of 5, calling it "[a] classic in the coolest sense of the word". New Times critic Gregory Weinkauf gave the film 3 out of 5, calling it "Kinda dumb and tacky, but at least it's a real movie". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reviewer Philip Martin also gave the film 3 out of 5. Writers for The Hamilton Spectator and St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Caligula was one of the worst films they'd seen. Writing for The A.V. Club, Keith Phipps said, "As a one-of-a-kind marriage of the historical epic and the porn film ... Caligula deserves a look. But it might be better to let Guccione's savagely unpleasant folly fade into the century that spawned it". Retrospective recognition Caligula has been described as a "cult classic" by William Hawes in a book about the film. Helen Mirren has defended her involvement with the final product of the film and even described Caligula as "an irresistible mix of art and genitals". In 2005, artist Francesco Vezzoli produced a fake trailer for an alleged remake called Gore Vidal's Caligula as a promotion for Versace's new line of accessories; the remake was to star Helen Mirren as "the Empress Tiberius", Gerard Butler as Chaerea, Milla Jovovich as Drusilla, Courtney Love as Caligula, and Karen Black as Agrippina the Elder and featuring an introduction by Gore Vidal. The fake trailer was screened worldwide, including New York City's Whitney Museum of American Art's 2006 Whitney Biennial. Leonardo DiCaprio has cited the film as an influence on his performance as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. Reconstruction attempts In 2007, Caligula was released on DVD and Blu-ray in an "Imperial Edition", which featured the unrated theatrical release version and a new version featuring alternative sequencing from the original theatrical release and without the explicit sexual content shot by Guccione, marking the first attempt to reconstruct the film into a version closer to Brass's intentions. This edition also includes audio commentaries featuring Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren, and interviews with the cast and crew. In February 2018, Penthouse announced that a new cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski. Tuschinski will use 85 minutes of Brass's original workprint and edit the remainder of the film himself. Brass's family supports Tuschinski's effort, but it remains unconfirmed if Brass will be directly involved with the edit. However, the edit is an attempt to realize Brass's original vision for the film. In July 2018, Alexander Tuschinski released his documentary Mission: Caligula on Vimeo. The film explores his relationship to Caligula, the process of reconstructing Brass's vision and Penthouse CEO Kelly Holland's backing of the project. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. See also Unsimulated sex References External links Alexander Tuschinski. Reconstruction of the Director's Cut Alexander Tuschinski. Caligula: Director's Cut (Tinto Brass interview) (YouTube) Caligula on-set photographs by Mario Tursi, (unit photographer) Caligula and Italian censorship (in italian) 1979 films 1979 drama films 1970s biographical drama films 1970s erotic drama films 1970s multilingual films 1970s exploitation films American films American political drama films American biographical drama films Films directed by Tinto Brass Biographical films about Roman emperors Depictions of Caligula on film Cultural depictions of Claudius Cultural depictions of Messalina Cultural depictions of Tiberius Cultural depictions of Agrippina the Younger Drama films based on actual events Epic films based on actual events 1970s English-language films English-language Italian films American epic films American multilingual films American erotic drama films American drama films American historical drama films American independent films American LGBT-related films American exploitation films Films set in ancient Rome Films set in the Roman Empire Films set in the 1st century Films shot in Rome Incest in film Italian films Italian drama films Italian erotic drama films Italian independent films Italian biographical films Italian epic films Italian historical drama films Italian multilingual films Italian LGBT-related films LGBT-related controversies in film Obscenity controversies in film Rating controversies in film Penthouse (magazine) Films based on works by Gore Vidal Historical epic films Films scored by Bruno Nicolai Peplum films 1979 independent films Cultural depictions of Julia Drusilla
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[ "Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio, or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first written in 1335.\n\nThe book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales.\n\nTales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.\n\nPurpose and structure\n\nA didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem (\"Some man has made me a proposition...\" or \"I fear that such and such person intends to...\") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are \"examples\" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.\n\nEach chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: \"And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses.\" A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.\n\nOrigin of stories and influence on later literature\nMany of the stories written in the book are the first examples written in a modern European language of various stories, which many other writers would use in the proceeding centuries. Many of the stories he included were themselves derived from other stories, coming from western and Arab sources.\n\nShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew has the basic elements of Tale 35, \"What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\".\n\nTale 32, \"What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth\" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.\n\nStory 7, \"What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana\", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.\n\nTale 2, \"What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market,\" is the familiar fable The miller, his son and the donkey.\n\nIn 2016, Baroque Decay released a game under the name \"The Count Lucanor\". As well as some protagonists' names, certain events from the books inspired past events in the game.\n\nThe stories\n\nThe book opens with a prologue which introduces the characters of the Count and Patronio. The titles in the following list are those given in Keller and Keating's 1977 translation into English. James York's 1868 translation into English gives a significantly different ordering of the stories and omits the fifty-first.\n\n What Happened to a King and His Favorite \n What Happened to a Good Man and His Son \n How King Richard of England Leapt into the Sea against the Moors\n What a Genoese Said to His Soul When He Was about to Die \n What Happened to a Fox and a Crow Who Had a Piece of Cheese in His Beak\n How the Swallow Warned the Other Birds When She Saw Flax Being Sown \n What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana \n What Happened to a Man Whose Liver Had to Be Washed \n What Happened to Two Horses Which Were Thrown to the Lion \n What Happened to a Man Who on Account of Poverty and Lack of Other Food Was Eating Bitter Lentils \n What Happened to a Dean of Santiago de Compostela and Don Yllán, the Grand Master of Toledo\n What Happened to the Fox and the Rooster \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Hunting Partridges \n The Miracle of Saint Dominick When He Preached against the Usurer \n What Happened to Lorenzo Suárez at the Siege of Seville \n The Reply that count Fernán González Gave to His Relative Núño Laynes \n What Happened to a Very Hungry Man Who Was Half-heartedly Invited to Dinner \n What Happened to Pero Meléndez de Valdés When He Broke His Leg \n What Happened to the Crows and the Owls \n What Happened to a King for Whom a Man Promised to Perform Alchemy \n What Happened to a Young King and a Philosopher to Whom his Father Commended Him \n What Happened to the Lion and the Bull \n How the Ants Provide for Themselves \n What Happened to the King Who Wanted to Test His Three Sons \n What Happened to the Count of Provence and How He Was Freed from Prison by the Advice of Saladin\n What Happened to the Tree of Lies \n What Happened to an Emperor and to Don Alvarfáñez Minaya and Their Wives \n What Happened in Granada to Don Lorenzo Suárez Gallinato When He Beheaded the Renegade Chaplain \n What Happened to a Fox Who Lay down in the Street to Play Dead \n What Happened to King Abenabet of Seville and Ramayquía His Wife \n How a Cardinal Judged between the Canons of Paris and the Friars Minor \n What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth \n What Happened to Don Juan Manuel's Saker Falcon and an Eagle and a Heron \n What Happened to a Blind Man Who Was Leading Another \n What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\n What Happened to a Merchant When He Found His Son and His Wife Sleeping Together \n What Happened to Count Fernán González with His Men after He Had Won the Battle of Hacinas \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Loaded down with Precious Stones and Drowned in the River \n What Happened to a Man and a Swallow and a Sparrow \n Why the Seneschal of Carcassonne Lost His Soul \n What Happened to a King of Córdova Named Al-Haquem \n What Happened to a Woman of Sham Piety \n What Happened to Good and Evil and the Wise Man and the Madman \n What Happened to Don Pero Núñez the Loyal, to Don Ruy González de Zavallos, and to Don Gutier Roiz de Blaguiello with Don Rodrigo the Generous \n What Happened to a Man Who Became the Devil's Friend and Vassal \n What Happened to a Philosopher who by Accident Went down a Street Where Prostitutes Lived \n What Befell a Moor and His Sister Who Pretended That She Was Timid \n What Happened to a Man Who Tested His Friends \n What Happened to the Man Whom They Cast out Naked on an Island When They Took away from Him the Kingdom He Ruled \n What Happened to Saladin and a Lady, the Wife of a Knight Who Was His Vassal \n What Happened to a Christian King Who Was Very Powerful and Haughty\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Sturm, Harlan\n\n Wacks, David\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Internet Archive provides free access to the 1868 translation by James York.\nJSTOR has the to the 1977 translation by Keller and Keating.\nSelections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)\n\n14th-century books\nSpanish literature\n1335 books", "\"What Happened to Us\" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring English recording artist Jay Sean. It was written by Sean, Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim and Israel Cruz. \"What Happened to Us\" was leaked online in October 2010, and was released on 10 March 2011, as the third single from Mauboy's second studio album, Get 'Em Girls (2010). The song received positive reviews from critics.\n\nA remix of \"What Happened to Us\" made by production team OFM, was released on 11 April 2011. A different version of the song which features Stan Walker, was released on 29 May 2011. \"What Happened to Us\" charted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 14 and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). An accompanying music video was directed by Mark Alston, and reminisces on a former relationship between Mauboy and Sean.\n\nProduction and release\n\n\"What Happened to Us\" was written by Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz and Jay Sean. It was produced by Skaller, Cruz, Rohaim and Bobby Bass. The song uses C, D, and B minor chords in the chorus. \"What Happened to Us\" was sent to contemporary hit radio in Australia on 14 February 2011. The cover art for the song was revealed on 22 February on Mauboy's official Facebook page. A CD release was available for purchase via her official website on 10 March, for one week only. It was released digitally the following day.\n\nReception\nMajhid Heath from ABC Online Indigenous called the song a \"Jordin Sparks-esque duet\", and wrote that it \"has a nice innocence to it that rings true to the experience of losing a first love.\" Chris Urankar from Nine to Five wrote that it as a \"mid-tempo duet ballad\" which signifies Mauboy's strength as a global player. On 21 March 2011, \"What Happened to Us\" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number 14 the following week. The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for selling 70,000 copies. \"What Happened to Us\" spent a total of ten weeks in the ARIA top fifty.\n\nMusic video\n\nBackground\nThe music video for the song was shot in the Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney on 26 November 2010. The video was shot during Sean's visit to Australia for the Summerbeatz tour. During an interview with The Daily Telegraph while on the set of the video, Sean said \"the song is sick! ... Jessica's voice is amazing and we're shooting [the video] in this ridiculously beautiful mansion overlooking the harbour.\" The video was directed by Mark Alston, who had previously directed the video for Mauboy's single \"Let Me Be Me\" (2009). It premiered on YouTube on 10 February 2011.\n\nSynopsis and reception\nThe video begins showing Mauboy who appears to be sitting on a yellow antique couch in a mansion, wearing a purple dress. As the video progresses, scenes of memories are displayed of Mauboy and her love interest, played by Sean, spending time there previously. It then cuts to the scenes where Sean appears in the main entrance room of the mansion. The final scene shows Mauboy outdoors in a gold dress, surrounded by green grass and trees. She is later joined by Sean who appears in a black suit and a white shirt, and together they sing the chorus of the song to each other. David Lim of Feed Limmy wrote that the video is \"easily the best thing our R&B princess has committed to film – ever\" and praised the \"mansion and wondrous interior décor\". He also commended Mauboy for choosing Australian talent to direct the video instead of American directors, which she had used for her previous two music videos. Since its release, the video has received over two million views on Vevo.\n\nLive performances\nMauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" live for the first time during her YouTube Live Sessions program on 4 December 2010. She also appeared on Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight on 23 February 2011 for an interview and later performed the song. On 15 March 2011, Mauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Sunrise. She also performed the song with Stan Walker during the Australian leg of Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. Tour in April 2011. Mauboy and Walker later performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Dancing with the Stars Australia on 29 May 2011. From November 2013 to February 2014, \"What Happened to Us\" was part of the set list of the To the End of the Earth Tour, Mauboy's second headlining tour of Australia, with Nathaniel Willemse singing Sean's part.\n\nTrack listing\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Just Witness Remix) – 3:45\n\nCD single\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Album Version) – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:39\n\nDigital download – Remix\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:38\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Stan Walker – 3:20\n\nPersonnel\nSongwriting – Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz, Jay Sean\nProduction – Jeremy Skaller, Bobby Bass\nAdditional production – Israel Cruz, Khaled Rohaim\nLead vocals – Jessica Mauboy, Jay Sean\nMixing – Phil Tan\nAdditional mixing – Damien Lewis\nMastering – Tom Coyne \nSource:\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly chart\n\nYear-end chart\n\nCertification\n\nRadio dates and release history\n\nReferences\n\n2010 songs\n2011 singles\nJessica Mauboy songs\nJay Sean songs\nSongs written by Billy Steinberg\nSongs written by Jay Sean\nSongs written by Josh Alexander\nSongs written by Israel Cruz\nVocal duets\nSony Music Australia singles\nSongs written by Khaled Rohaim" ]
[ "Caligula (film)", "Legal problems", "What were the legal problems?", "When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials.", "What happened during the lawsuit?", "authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide \"the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy\"." ]
C_ec630b18dfde49fb8e39646409595e70_0
What happened from there?
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What happened from the seizure of Caligula?
Caligula (film)
In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, Massachusetts, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta, prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form as of 2014. In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award because the punitive damages were determined to be unrecoverable. CANNOTANSWER
Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene.
Caligula () is a 1979 erotic historical drama film focusing on the rise and fall of the eponymous Roman Emperor Caligula. The film stars Malcolm McDowell in the title role, alongside Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Steiner and John Gielgud. Producer Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse magazine, intended to produce an erotic feature film narrative with high production values and name actors. Gore Vidal originated the idea for a film about the controversial Roman emperor and produced a draft screenplay under the working title Gore Vidal's Caligula. The director, Tinto Brass, extensively altered Vidal's original screenplay, however, leading Vidal to disavow the film. The final screenplay focuses on the idea that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". However, both Brass and Vidal disagreed with Guccione's use of unsimulated sexual content, which Brass refused to film. Because the producers did not allow Brass to edit the film, they changed its tone and style significantly and added hardcore sex scenes not filmed by Brass, thus turning Caligula into an erotic drama featuring Penthouse Pets as extras in unsimulated sex scenes filmed during post-production by Guccione and Giancarlo Lui. This version, released to Italian cinemas in 1979 and American cinemas the following year, disregarded the director's intentions to present the film as a political satire. As a result, Brass also disavowed the film. Caligulas release was met with legal issues and controversies over its violent and sexual content; multiple cut versions were released worldwide, while its uncut form remains banned in several countries. However, the film is considered to be a cult classic with significant merit for its political content and historical portrayal. The script was later adapted into a novelisation written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. In 2018, Penthouse announced that a new Director's Cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski, with the approval of Brass's family. No release date for that cut has been confirmed. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. Plot Caligula is the young heir to the throne of his great uncle, the Emperor Tiberius. One morning, a blackbird flies into his room; Caligula considers this a bad omen. Shortly afterward, one of the heads of the Praetorian Guard, Naevius Sutorius Macro, tells Caligula that Tiberius demands his immediate presence at Capri, where the Emperor lives with his close friend Nerva, dim-witted relative Claudius, and Caligula's adopted son (Tiberius's grandson) Gemellus. Fearing assassination, Caligula is afraid to leave but his sister and lover Drusilla persuades him to go. At Capri, Caligula finds that Tiberius has become depraved, showing signs of advanced venereal diseases, and embittered with Rome and politics. Tiberius enjoys swimming with naked youths and watching degrading sex shows that include deformed people and animals. Caligula observes with fascination and horror. Tensions rise when Tiberius tries to poison Caligula in front of Gemellus. Nerva commits suicide and Caligula tries to kill Tiberius but loses his nerve. Proving his loyalty to Caligula, Macro kills Tiberius instead with Gemellus as a witness. After Tiberius' death and burial, Caligula is proclaimed the new Emperor, then proclaims Drusilla as his equal, to the apparent disgust of the Roman Senate. Drusilla, fearful of Macro's influence, persuades Caligula to get rid of him. Caligula sets up a mock trial in which Gemellus is intimidated into testifying that Macro murdered Tiberius, then has Macro's wife Ennia banished from Rome. After Macro is executed in a gruesome public game, Caligula appoints Tiberius' former adviser Longinus as his personal assistant while pronouncing the docile Senator Chaerea as the new head of the Praetorian Guard. Drusilla tries to find Caligula a wife among the priestesses of the goddess Isis, the cult they secretly practise. Caligula wants to marry Drusilla, but she insists they cannot marry because she is his sister. Instead, Caligula marries Caesonia, a priestess and notorious courtesan, after she bears him an heir. Drusilla reluctantly supports their marriage. Meanwhile, despite Caligula's popularity with the masses, the Senate expresses disapproval for what initially seem to be light eccentricities. Darker aspects of Caligula's personality emerge when he rapes a bride and groom on their wedding day in a minor fit of jealousy and orders Gemellus's execution to provoke a reaction from Drusilla. After discovering that Caesonia is pregnant, Caligula suffers severe fever. Drusilla nurses him back to health. Just as he fully recovers, Caesonia bears him a daughter, Julia Drusilla. During the celebration, Drusilla collapses with the same fever he suffered. Soon afterward, Caligula receives another ill omen in the form of a blackbird. Despite his praying to Isis out of desperation, Drusilla dies from her fever. Initially unable to accept her death, Caligula suffers a nervous breakdown and rampages through the palace, destroying a statue of Isis while clutching Drusilla's body. Now in a deep depression, Caligula walks the Roman streets disguised as a beggar; he causes a disturbance after watching an amateur performance mocking his relationship with Drusilla. After a brief stay in a city gaol, Caligula proclaims himself a god and becomes determined to destroy the senatorial class, which he has come to loathe. The new reign he leads becomes a series of humiliations against the foundations of Romesenators' wives are forced to work in the service of the state as prostitutes, estates are confiscated, the old religion is desecrated and the army is made to embark on a mock invasion of Britain. Unable to further tolerate his actions, Longinus conspires with Chaerea to assassinate Caligula. Caligula enters his bedroom where a nervous Caesonia awaits him. Another blackbird appears but only Caesonia is frightened of it. The next morning, after rehearsing an Egyptian play, Caligula and his family are attacked in a coup headed by Chaerea. Caesonia and Julia are murdered, and Chaerea stabs Caligula in the stomach. With his final breath, the Emperor defiantly whimpers "I live!" as Caligula and his family's bodies are thrown down the stadium's steps and their blood is washed off the marble floor. Claudius witnesses the entire ordeal and is horrified even after being proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard. Cast Production Development The men's magazine Penthouse had long been involved in film funding, helping invest in films made by other studios, including Chinatown, The Longest Yard and The Day of the Locust, but it had never produced a film on its own. The magazine's founder Bob Guccione wanted to produce an explicit adult film within a feature film narrative that had high production values; he decided to produce a film about the rise and fall of the Roman emperor Caligula. Development began under producer Franco Rossellini, the nephew of filmmaker Roberto Rossellini. A screenplay was written by Lina Wertmüller, but Guccione rejected Wertmüller's script and paid Gore Vidal to write a new screenplay. Vidal's screenplay had a strong focus on homosexuality, leading Guccione to demand rewrites which toned down the homosexual content for wider audience appeal. Guccione was concerned that Vidal's script contained several homosexual sex scenes and only one scene of heterosexual sex, which was between Caligula and his sister Drusilla. Vidal was paid for his screenplay, which was titled Gore Vidal's Caligula. Elaborate sets were built by production designer Danilo Donati, who also designed the film's costumes, jewelry, hair styles, wigs and makeup. Several mainstream actors were cast, Guccione intending to make a film which he felt, like Citizen Kane, would be a landmark in cinematic history. Guccione offered directing duties to John Huston and Lina Wertmüller, both of whom rejected the film. After viewing scenes from the film Salon Kitty, Guccione agreed to have lunch with that film's director Tinto Brass, believing Brass would be the ideal person to direct Caligula. Brass had a reputation for being difficult to deal with on film sets but Guccione thought the film's epic scope would "keep [Brass] in line" and that Brass understood the concept of the film enough to direct it. Brass described Vidal's screenplay as "the work of an aging arteriosclerotic" and agreed to direct only if he was allowed to rewrite Vidal's screenplay. Brass's screenplay expanded the sexual content to include orgies, decorative phalluses, and much female nudity. Guccione said Brass's rewrites were done out of necessity to the film's visual narrative and did not alter the dialogue or content. In an interview for Time magazine, Vidal said that in film production, directors were "parasites" and a film's author was its screenwriter; in response, Brass demanded Vidal's removal from the set and Guccione agreed. Guccione considered film to be a "collective effort, involving the input of a great number of artists and craftsmen", and the director to be the leader of a "team effort". Vidal filed a contractual dispute over the film because of Brass's rewrites; Guccione said Vidal had demanded 10% of the film's profits, which Vidal said was not the case. Vidal distanced himself from the production, calling Brass a "megalomaniac". Brass publicly stated, "If I ever really get mad at Gore Vidal, I'll publish his script". Vidal's name was removed from the film's title; the credits were changed to state that the film was "adapted from a screenplay by Gore Vidal", crediting no official screenwriter. Guccione said, "Gore's work was basically done and Tinto's work was about to begin". Themes and significance The film's primary theme is "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Vidal's script presented Caligula as a good man driven to madness by absolute power; Brass's screenplay envisioned Caligula as a "born monster". In The Encyclopedia of Epic Films, author Djoymi Baker describes Brass's screenplay as "an antiepic with an antihero, on a path of self-inflicted, antisocial descent". Guccione said this final draft was more violent than sexual, stating, "I maintain the film is actually anti-erotic ... in every one of its scenes you'll find a mixture of gore or violence or some other rather ugly things". Casting Orson Welles was initially offered $1 million dollars to star as Tiberius, a figure which would have been his highest ever salary, but he refused on moral grounds when he read the script. Gore Vidal expressed disbelief that this could have ever been the case as he felt that Welles could not have portrayed Tiberius, but then recalled Kenneth Tynan remarking to him at the time that Welles was "upset" by the script. Renowned actors who did accept roles in the film included Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud, with Maria Schneider cast as Caligula's doomed sister Drusilla. Schneider became uncomfortable with appearing nude and in sexual scenes, and left the production, to be replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy, whom Brass had previously worked with on Salon Kitty. Schneider had also apparently angered Brass by sewing up the open tunics she was supposed to wear on camera. Gielgud was also offered the role of Tiberius, which he declined, as he felt Vidal's script was "pornographic"; however, he later accepted the role of Nerva. Director Tinto Brass cast his own acquaintances as senators and noblemen, including ex-convicts, thieves and anarchists. Guccione cast Penthouse Pets as female extras in sexual scenes. Filming Principal photography began in 1976 in Rome. McDowell got along well with Tinto Brass, while Peter O'Toole immediately disliked the director. John Gielgud and Helen Mirren were indifferent to Brass; they ultimately trusted his direction and focused on their own performances. O'Toole had stopped drinking alcohol before filming, but Guccione described O'Toole as being "strung out on something" and said the actor was not sober during the entire filming schedule. During the film's production, McDowell took members of the production to dinner at an expensive restaurant to celebrate England's win in a football match against the Italian team. He left the choreographer to pay for the meal, saying he had forgotten to bring enough money. At the end of the production, McDowell gave his dresser a pendant bearing her name, but it was misspelled and she gave it back to him. McDowell offered her a signet ring, a prop from the film. She refused because it belonged to the production company. Brass decided not to focus much on Danilo Donati's elaborate sets, and intentionally kept the Penthouse Pets in the background during sex scenes. He focused instead on women whom Guccione considered to be unattractive. Brass and Guccione disagreed about the film's approach to sexual content; Guccione preferred unsimulated sexual content that Brass did not want to film. Post-production Filming concluded on 24 December 1976. Guccione said Brass shot enough film to "make the original version of Ben-Hur about 50 times over". Brass started editing the film but was not allowed to continue after he had edited approximately the first hour of it. His rough-cut was disassembled, and the film was edited by several editors, changing its tone and structure significantly by removing and re-arranging many scenes, using different takes, a slower editing style and music other than Brass intended. A few weeks after filming had concluded, Guccione and Giancarlo Lui returned to Rome with several Penthouse Pets. Guccione and Lui "hired a skeleton crew, snuck back into the studios at night, raided the prop room" and shot hardcore sex scenes to edit into the film. Brass ultimately disowned the film. Although there were a number of editors on the film, their names were not credited. Instead, the credit "Editing by the Production" is given during the opening credits. The film was intended for release in English, but with many of the supporting actors/actresses only speaking Italian, their lines needed to be dubbed. Peter O'Toole was reluctant to re-record his English dialogue, he stayed away from the film's producers, then finally agreed to re-record his dialogue. Soundtrack The film was scored by Bruno Nicolai under the name Paul Clemente. According to Kristopher Spencer, the score "is gloriously dramatic, capturing both the decadent atmosphere of ancient Rome and the twisted tragedy of its true story". The score also featured music by Aram Khachaturian (from Spartacus) and Sergei Prokofiev (from Romeo and Juliet). In November 1980, Guccione formed Penthouse Records to release a double album soundtrack to Caligula. The album featured Nicolai's score and two versions—one in a disco style—of a love theme titled "We Are One", which did not appear in the film. Track listing Release An edited version of the film had a limited run in a small town near Forli, Italy before opening in Rome on Sunday, November 11, 1979. In Rome, it was the highest-grossing film of the weekend, with a gross of $59,950 from 6 theaters. The film was confiscated by Italian police on November 15 with the pubblico ministero calling many scenes in the film "flagrantly obscene". In the United States, Guccione refused to submit Caligula to the MPAA because he did not want the film to receive a ratingeven Xwhich he considered to be "demeaning". Instead, Guccione applied his own "Mature Audiences" rating to the film, instructing theater owners not to admit anyone under the age of 18. The film premiered in the United States on 1 February 1980, at the Trans Lux East Theatre, which Guccione had rented exclusively to screen the film; he changed the theater's name to Penthouse East. Rather than leasing prints to exhibitors, the distributor rented theaters that specialized in foreign and art films for the purpose of screening Caligula exclusively in order to keep the film out of theaters that showed pornographic films. In 1981, the Brazilian Board of Censors approved the establishment of special theaters to screen In the Realm of the Senses and Caligula because they were international box office hits. Caligula grossed at the box office. The film was a financial success in France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan. A 105-minute R-rated version without the explicit sexual material was released in 1981. The script was adapted into a novelization written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. Legal problems In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form . In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award, ruling that punitive damages were not allowed by the law governing the case. Reception Contemporary reviews Caligula received generally negative reviews. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, calling it "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash". Ebert wrote, "In the two hours of this film that I saw, there were no scenes of joy, natural pleasure, or good sensual cheer. There was, instead, a nauseating excursion into base and sad fantasies." It is also notable for being one of the few films Ebert ever walked out of—he walked out 2 hours into its 170-minute length after feeling "disgusted and unspeakably depressed". He and Gene Siskel selected the film as one of their "dogs of the year" in a 1980 episode of Sneak Previews. Hank Werba of Variety described the film as a "moral holocaust" in his review. Rex Reed called Caligula "a trough of rotten swill". Jay Scott, reviewing Caligula for The Globe and Mail, said, "Caligula doesn't really work on any level". Scott unfavourably compared Caligula with In the Realm of the Senses, describing the latter film as a better treatment of extreme sexuality. Scott's review went on to say "Rome would seem to be at least as fecund a territory for the cinematic exploration of sex, death and money, as pre-war Japan ... but what's missing from Caligula, which is rife with all three, is any connective tissue (also any point of view, any thought, any meaning)". Scott concluded his review by claiming the whole film's production was "a boondoggle of landmark proportions". New York critic David Denby described the film as "an infinitely degraded version of Fellini Satyricon." Tom Milne (Monthly Film Bulletin) stated that the film was "by no means so awesomely bad as most critics have been pleased to report—but pretty bad all the same" and found the film to be "notable chiefly for the accuracy with which it reflects this anonymity." Caligula continued to garner negative reception long after its release. It has been reappraised by some critics; review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a negative score of 23% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 3.06/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Endlessly perverse and indulgent, Caligula throws in hardcore sex every time the plot threatens to get interesting." Leslie Halliwell said Caligula was "a vile curiosity of interest chiefly to sado-masochists". Time Out London called it "a dreary shambles". Positive criticism of the film came from Moviehole reviewer Clint Morris, who awarded it 3 stars out of 5, calling it "[a] classic in the coolest sense of the word". New Times critic Gregory Weinkauf gave the film 3 out of 5, calling it "Kinda dumb and tacky, but at least it's a real movie". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reviewer Philip Martin also gave the film 3 out of 5. Writers for The Hamilton Spectator and St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Caligula was one of the worst films they'd seen. Writing for The A.V. Club, Keith Phipps said, "As a one-of-a-kind marriage of the historical epic and the porn film ... Caligula deserves a look. But it might be better to let Guccione's savagely unpleasant folly fade into the century that spawned it". Retrospective recognition Caligula has been described as a "cult classic" by William Hawes in a book about the film. Helen Mirren has defended her involvement with the final product of the film and even described Caligula as "an irresistible mix of art and genitals". In 2005, artist Francesco Vezzoli produced a fake trailer for an alleged remake called Gore Vidal's Caligula as a promotion for Versace's new line of accessories; the remake was to star Helen Mirren as "the Empress Tiberius", Gerard Butler as Chaerea, Milla Jovovich as Drusilla, Courtney Love as Caligula, and Karen Black as Agrippina the Elder and featuring an introduction by Gore Vidal. The fake trailer was screened worldwide, including New York City's Whitney Museum of American Art's 2006 Whitney Biennial. Leonardo DiCaprio has cited the film as an influence on his performance as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. Reconstruction attempts In 2007, Caligula was released on DVD and Blu-ray in an "Imperial Edition", which featured the unrated theatrical release version and a new version featuring alternative sequencing from the original theatrical release and without the explicit sexual content shot by Guccione, marking the first attempt to reconstruct the film into a version closer to Brass's intentions. This edition also includes audio commentaries featuring Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren, and interviews with the cast and crew. In February 2018, Penthouse announced that a new cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski. Tuschinski will use 85 minutes of Brass's original workprint and edit the remainder of the film himself. Brass's family supports Tuschinski's effort, but it remains unconfirmed if Brass will be directly involved with the edit. However, the edit is an attempt to realize Brass's original vision for the film. In July 2018, Alexander Tuschinski released his documentary Mission: Caligula on Vimeo. The film explores his relationship to Caligula, the process of reconstructing Brass's vision and Penthouse CEO Kelly Holland's backing of the project. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. See also Unsimulated sex References External links Alexander Tuschinski. Reconstruction of the Director's Cut Alexander Tuschinski. Caligula: Director's Cut (Tinto Brass interview) (YouTube) Caligula on-set photographs by Mario Tursi, (unit photographer) Caligula and Italian censorship (in italian) 1979 films 1979 drama films 1970s biographical drama films 1970s erotic drama films 1970s multilingual films 1970s exploitation films American films American political drama films American biographical drama films Films directed by Tinto Brass Biographical films about Roman emperors Depictions of Caligula on film Cultural depictions of Claudius Cultural depictions of Messalina Cultural depictions of Tiberius Cultural depictions of Agrippina the Younger Drama films based on actual events Epic films based on actual events 1970s English-language films English-language Italian films American epic films American multilingual films American erotic drama films American drama films American historical drama films American independent films American LGBT-related films American exploitation films Films set in ancient Rome Films set in the Roman Empire Films set in the 1st century Films shot in Rome Incest in film Italian films Italian drama films Italian erotic drama films Italian independent films Italian biographical films Italian epic films Italian historical drama films Italian multilingual films Italian LGBT-related films LGBT-related controversies in film Obscenity controversies in film Rating controversies in film Penthouse (magazine) Films based on works by Gore Vidal Historical epic films Films scored by Bruno Nicolai Peplum films 1979 independent films Cultural depictions of Julia Drusilla
true
[ "What Happened may refer to:\n\n What Happened (Clinton book), 2017 book by Hillary Clinton\n What Happened (McClellan book), 2008 autobiography by Scott McClellan\n \"What Happened\", a song by Sublime from the album 40oz. to Freedom\n \"What Happened\", an episode of One Day at a Time (2017 TV series)\n\nSee also\nWhat's Happening (disambiguation)", "What's Happening or What's Happenin may refer to:\n\n What's Happening (album), by Katalyst, 2007\n What's Happening? (EP), by B1A4, 2013\n What's Happening!!, an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from 1976–1979\n What's Happening Now!!, a sequel that first aired on ABC from 1985–1988\n\"What's Happenin\", a song by Method Man from Tical 0: The Prequel, 2004\n\"What's Happenin\", a song by Juvenile from Reality Check, 2006\n\"What's Happening?!?!\", a song by the Byrds from Fifth Dimension, 1966\n\"What's Happnin!\", a song by Ying Yang Twins from Me & My Brother, 2003\n\nSee also\nWhat Happened (disambiguation)\n\"What Is Happening\", a song by Alphabeat from their self-titled album (2007)" ]
[ "Caligula (film)", "Legal problems", "What were the legal problems?", "When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials.", "What happened during the lawsuit?", "authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide \"the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy\".", "What happened from there?", "Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene." ]
C_ec630b18dfde49fb8e39646409595e70_0
Did they get delayed in production?
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Did Caligula get delayed in production?
Caligula (film)
In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, Massachusetts, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta, prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form as of 2014. In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award because the punitive damages were determined to be unrecoverable. CANNOTANSWER
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Caligula () is a 1979 erotic historical drama film focusing on the rise and fall of the eponymous Roman Emperor Caligula. The film stars Malcolm McDowell in the title role, alongside Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Steiner and John Gielgud. Producer Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse magazine, intended to produce an erotic feature film narrative with high production values and name actors. Gore Vidal originated the idea for a film about the controversial Roman emperor and produced a draft screenplay under the working title Gore Vidal's Caligula. The director, Tinto Brass, extensively altered Vidal's original screenplay, however, leading Vidal to disavow the film. The final screenplay focuses on the idea that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". However, both Brass and Vidal disagreed with Guccione's use of unsimulated sexual content, which Brass refused to film. Because the producers did not allow Brass to edit the film, they changed its tone and style significantly and added hardcore sex scenes not filmed by Brass, thus turning Caligula into an erotic drama featuring Penthouse Pets as extras in unsimulated sex scenes filmed during post-production by Guccione and Giancarlo Lui. This version, released to Italian cinemas in 1979 and American cinemas the following year, disregarded the director's intentions to present the film as a political satire. As a result, Brass also disavowed the film. Caligulas release was met with legal issues and controversies over its violent and sexual content; multiple cut versions were released worldwide, while its uncut form remains banned in several countries. However, the film is considered to be a cult classic with significant merit for its political content and historical portrayal. The script was later adapted into a novelisation written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. In 2018, Penthouse announced that a new Director's Cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski, with the approval of Brass's family. No release date for that cut has been confirmed. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. Plot Caligula is the young heir to the throne of his great uncle, the Emperor Tiberius. One morning, a blackbird flies into his room; Caligula considers this a bad omen. Shortly afterward, one of the heads of the Praetorian Guard, Naevius Sutorius Macro, tells Caligula that Tiberius demands his immediate presence at Capri, where the Emperor lives with his close friend Nerva, dim-witted relative Claudius, and Caligula's adopted son (Tiberius's grandson) Gemellus. Fearing assassination, Caligula is afraid to leave but his sister and lover Drusilla persuades him to go. At Capri, Caligula finds that Tiberius has become depraved, showing signs of advanced venereal diseases, and embittered with Rome and politics. Tiberius enjoys swimming with naked youths and watching degrading sex shows that include deformed people and animals. Caligula observes with fascination and horror. Tensions rise when Tiberius tries to poison Caligula in front of Gemellus. Nerva commits suicide and Caligula tries to kill Tiberius but loses his nerve. Proving his loyalty to Caligula, Macro kills Tiberius instead with Gemellus as a witness. After Tiberius' death and burial, Caligula is proclaimed the new Emperor, then proclaims Drusilla as his equal, to the apparent disgust of the Roman Senate. Drusilla, fearful of Macro's influence, persuades Caligula to get rid of him. Caligula sets up a mock trial in which Gemellus is intimidated into testifying that Macro murdered Tiberius, then has Macro's wife Ennia banished from Rome. After Macro is executed in a gruesome public game, Caligula appoints Tiberius' former adviser Longinus as his personal assistant while pronouncing the docile Senator Chaerea as the new head of the Praetorian Guard. Drusilla tries to find Caligula a wife among the priestesses of the goddess Isis, the cult they secretly practise. Caligula wants to marry Drusilla, but she insists they cannot marry because she is his sister. Instead, Caligula marries Caesonia, a priestess and notorious courtesan, after she bears him an heir. Drusilla reluctantly supports their marriage. Meanwhile, despite Caligula's popularity with the masses, the Senate expresses disapproval for what initially seem to be light eccentricities. Darker aspects of Caligula's personality emerge when he rapes a bride and groom on their wedding day in a minor fit of jealousy and orders Gemellus's execution to provoke a reaction from Drusilla. After discovering that Caesonia is pregnant, Caligula suffers severe fever. Drusilla nurses him back to health. Just as he fully recovers, Caesonia bears him a daughter, Julia Drusilla. During the celebration, Drusilla collapses with the same fever he suffered. Soon afterward, Caligula receives another ill omen in the form of a blackbird. Despite his praying to Isis out of desperation, Drusilla dies from her fever. Initially unable to accept her death, Caligula suffers a nervous breakdown and rampages through the palace, destroying a statue of Isis while clutching Drusilla's body. Now in a deep depression, Caligula walks the Roman streets disguised as a beggar; he causes a disturbance after watching an amateur performance mocking his relationship with Drusilla. After a brief stay in a city gaol, Caligula proclaims himself a god and becomes determined to destroy the senatorial class, which he has come to loathe. The new reign he leads becomes a series of humiliations against the foundations of Romesenators' wives are forced to work in the service of the state as prostitutes, estates are confiscated, the old religion is desecrated and the army is made to embark on a mock invasion of Britain. Unable to further tolerate his actions, Longinus conspires with Chaerea to assassinate Caligula. Caligula enters his bedroom where a nervous Caesonia awaits him. Another blackbird appears but only Caesonia is frightened of it. The next morning, after rehearsing an Egyptian play, Caligula and his family are attacked in a coup headed by Chaerea. Caesonia and Julia are murdered, and Chaerea stabs Caligula in the stomach. With his final breath, the Emperor defiantly whimpers "I live!" as Caligula and his family's bodies are thrown down the stadium's steps and their blood is washed off the marble floor. Claudius witnesses the entire ordeal and is horrified even after being proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard. Cast Production Development The men's magazine Penthouse had long been involved in film funding, helping invest in films made by other studios, including Chinatown, The Longest Yard and The Day of the Locust, but it had never produced a film on its own. The magazine's founder Bob Guccione wanted to produce an explicit adult film within a feature film narrative that had high production values; he decided to produce a film about the rise and fall of the Roman emperor Caligula. Development began under producer Franco Rossellini, the nephew of filmmaker Roberto Rossellini. A screenplay was written by Lina Wertmüller, but Guccione rejected Wertmüller's script and paid Gore Vidal to write a new screenplay. Vidal's screenplay had a strong focus on homosexuality, leading Guccione to demand rewrites which toned down the homosexual content for wider audience appeal. Guccione was concerned that Vidal's script contained several homosexual sex scenes and only one scene of heterosexual sex, which was between Caligula and his sister Drusilla. Vidal was paid for his screenplay, which was titled Gore Vidal's Caligula. Elaborate sets were built by production designer Danilo Donati, who also designed the film's costumes, jewelry, hair styles, wigs and makeup. Several mainstream actors were cast, Guccione intending to make a film which he felt, like Citizen Kane, would be a landmark in cinematic history. Guccione offered directing duties to John Huston and Lina Wertmüller, both of whom rejected the film. After viewing scenes from the film Salon Kitty, Guccione agreed to have lunch with that film's director Tinto Brass, believing Brass would be the ideal person to direct Caligula. Brass had a reputation for being difficult to deal with on film sets but Guccione thought the film's epic scope would "keep [Brass] in line" and that Brass understood the concept of the film enough to direct it. Brass described Vidal's screenplay as "the work of an aging arteriosclerotic" and agreed to direct only if he was allowed to rewrite Vidal's screenplay. Brass's screenplay expanded the sexual content to include orgies, decorative phalluses, and much female nudity. Guccione said Brass's rewrites were done out of necessity to the film's visual narrative and did not alter the dialogue or content. In an interview for Time magazine, Vidal said that in film production, directors were "parasites" and a film's author was its screenwriter; in response, Brass demanded Vidal's removal from the set and Guccione agreed. Guccione considered film to be a "collective effort, involving the input of a great number of artists and craftsmen", and the director to be the leader of a "team effort". Vidal filed a contractual dispute over the film because of Brass's rewrites; Guccione said Vidal had demanded 10% of the film's profits, which Vidal said was not the case. Vidal distanced himself from the production, calling Brass a "megalomaniac". Brass publicly stated, "If I ever really get mad at Gore Vidal, I'll publish his script". Vidal's name was removed from the film's title; the credits were changed to state that the film was "adapted from a screenplay by Gore Vidal", crediting no official screenwriter. Guccione said, "Gore's work was basically done and Tinto's work was about to begin". Themes and significance The film's primary theme is "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Vidal's script presented Caligula as a good man driven to madness by absolute power; Brass's screenplay envisioned Caligula as a "born monster". In The Encyclopedia of Epic Films, author Djoymi Baker describes Brass's screenplay as "an antiepic with an antihero, on a path of self-inflicted, antisocial descent". Guccione said this final draft was more violent than sexual, stating, "I maintain the film is actually anti-erotic ... in every one of its scenes you'll find a mixture of gore or violence or some other rather ugly things". Casting Orson Welles was initially offered $1 million dollars to star as Tiberius, a figure which would have been his highest ever salary, but he refused on moral grounds when he read the script. Gore Vidal expressed disbelief that this could have ever been the case as he felt that Welles could not have portrayed Tiberius, but then recalled Kenneth Tynan remarking to him at the time that Welles was "upset" by the script. Renowned actors who did accept roles in the film included Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud, with Maria Schneider cast as Caligula's doomed sister Drusilla. Schneider became uncomfortable with appearing nude and in sexual scenes, and left the production, to be replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy, whom Brass had previously worked with on Salon Kitty. Schneider had also apparently angered Brass by sewing up the open tunics she was supposed to wear on camera. Gielgud was also offered the role of Tiberius, which he declined, as he felt Vidal's script was "pornographic"; however, he later accepted the role of Nerva. Director Tinto Brass cast his own acquaintances as senators and noblemen, including ex-convicts, thieves and anarchists. Guccione cast Penthouse Pets as female extras in sexual scenes. Filming Principal photography began in 1976 in Rome. McDowell got along well with Tinto Brass, while Peter O'Toole immediately disliked the director. John Gielgud and Helen Mirren were indifferent to Brass; they ultimately trusted his direction and focused on their own performances. O'Toole had stopped drinking alcohol before filming, but Guccione described O'Toole as being "strung out on something" and said the actor was not sober during the entire filming schedule. During the film's production, McDowell took members of the production to dinner at an expensive restaurant to celebrate England's win in a football match against the Italian team. He left the choreographer to pay for the meal, saying he had forgotten to bring enough money. At the end of the production, McDowell gave his dresser a pendant bearing her name, but it was misspelled and she gave it back to him. McDowell offered her a signet ring, a prop from the film. She refused because it belonged to the production company. Brass decided not to focus much on Danilo Donati's elaborate sets, and intentionally kept the Penthouse Pets in the background during sex scenes. He focused instead on women whom Guccione considered to be unattractive. Brass and Guccione disagreed about the film's approach to sexual content; Guccione preferred unsimulated sexual content that Brass did not want to film. Post-production Filming concluded on 24 December 1976. Guccione said Brass shot enough film to "make the original version of Ben-Hur about 50 times over". Brass started editing the film but was not allowed to continue after he had edited approximately the first hour of it. His rough-cut was disassembled, and the film was edited by several editors, changing its tone and structure significantly by removing and re-arranging many scenes, using different takes, a slower editing style and music other than Brass intended. A few weeks after filming had concluded, Guccione and Giancarlo Lui returned to Rome with several Penthouse Pets. Guccione and Lui "hired a skeleton crew, snuck back into the studios at night, raided the prop room" and shot hardcore sex scenes to edit into the film. Brass ultimately disowned the film. Although there were a number of editors on the film, their names were not credited. Instead, the credit "Editing by the Production" is given during the opening credits. The film was intended for release in English, but with many of the supporting actors/actresses only speaking Italian, their lines needed to be dubbed. Peter O'Toole was reluctant to re-record his English dialogue, he stayed away from the film's producers, then finally agreed to re-record his dialogue. Soundtrack The film was scored by Bruno Nicolai under the name Paul Clemente. According to Kristopher Spencer, the score "is gloriously dramatic, capturing both the decadent atmosphere of ancient Rome and the twisted tragedy of its true story". The score also featured music by Aram Khachaturian (from Spartacus) and Sergei Prokofiev (from Romeo and Juliet). In November 1980, Guccione formed Penthouse Records to release a double album soundtrack to Caligula. The album featured Nicolai's score and two versions—one in a disco style—of a love theme titled "We Are One", which did not appear in the film. Track listing Release An edited version of the film had a limited run in a small town near Forli, Italy before opening in Rome on Sunday, November 11, 1979. In Rome, it was the highest-grossing film of the weekend, with a gross of $59,950 from 6 theaters. The film was confiscated by Italian police on November 15 with the pubblico ministero calling many scenes in the film "flagrantly obscene". In the United States, Guccione refused to submit Caligula to the MPAA because he did not want the film to receive a ratingeven Xwhich he considered to be "demeaning". Instead, Guccione applied his own "Mature Audiences" rating to the film, instructing theater owners not to admit anyone under the age of 18. The film premiered in the United States on 1 February 1980, at the Trans Lux East Theatre, which Guccione had rented exclusively to screen the film; he changed the theater's name to Penthouse East. Rather than leasing prints to exhibitors, the distributor rented theaters that specialized in foreign and art films for the purpose of screening Caligula exclusively in order to keep the film out of theaters that showed pornographic films. In 1981, the Brazilian Board of Censors approved the establishment of special theaters to screen In the Realm of the Senses and Caligula because they were international box office hits. Caligula grossed at the box office. The film was a financial success in France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan. A 105-minute R-rated version without the explicit sexual material was released in 1981. The script was adapted into a novelization written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. Legal problems In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form . In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award, ruling that punitive damages were not allowed by the law governing the case. Reception Contemporary reviews Caligula received generally negative reviews. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, calling it "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash". Ebert wrote, "In the two hours of this film that I saw, there were no scenes of joy, natural pleasure, or good sensual cheer. There was, instead, a nauseating excursion into base and sad fantasies." It is also notable for being one of the few films Ebert ever walked out of—he walked out 2 hours into its 170-minute length after feeling "disgusted and unspeakably depressed". He and Gene Siskel selected the film as one of their "dogs of the year" in a 1980 episode of Sneak Previews. Hank Werba of Variety described the film as a "moral holocaust" in his review. Rex Reed called Caligula "a trough of rotten swill". Jay Scott, reviewing Caligula for The Globe and Mail, said, "Caligula doesn't really work on any level". Scott unfavourably compared Caligula with In the Realm of the Senses, describing the latter film as a better treatment of extreme sexuality. Scott's review went on to say "Rome would seem to be at least as fecund a territory for the cinematic exploration of sex, death and money, as pre-war Japan ... but what's missing from Caligula, which is rife with all three, is any connective tissue (also any point of view, any thought, any meaning)". Scott concluded his review by claiming the whole film's production was "a boondoggle of landmark proportions". New York critic David Denby described the film as "an infinitely degraded version of Fellini Satyricon." Tom Milne (Monthly Film Bulletin) stated that the film was "by no means so awesomely bad as most critics have been pleased to report—but pretty bad all the same" and found the film to be "notable chiefly for the accuracy with which it reflects this anonymity." Caligula continued to garner negative reception long after its release. It has been reappraised by some critics; review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a negative score of 23% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 3.06/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Endlessly perverse and indulgent, Caligula throws in hardcore sex every time the plot threatens to get interesting." Leslie Halliwell said Caligula was "a vile curiosity of interest chiefly to sado-masochists". Time Out London called it "a dreary shambles". Positive criticism of the film came from Moviehole reviewer Clint Morris, who awarded it 3 stars out of 5, calling it "[a] classic in the coolest sense of the word". New Times critic Gregory Weinkauf gave the film 3 out of 5, calling it "Kinda dumb and tacky, but at least it's a real movie". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reviewer Philip Martin also gave the film 3 out of 5. Writers for The Hamilton Spectator and St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Caligula was one of the worst films they'd seen. Writing for The A.V. Club, Keith Phipps said, "As a one-of-a-kind marriage of the historical epic and the porn film ... Caligula deserves a look. But it might be better to let Guccione's savagely unpleasant folly fade into the century that spawned it". Retrospective recognition Caligula has been described as a "cult classic" by William Hawes in a book about the film. Helen Mirren has defended her involvement with the final product of the film and even described Caligula as "an irresistible mix of art and genitals". In 2005, artist Francesco Vezzoli produced a fake trailer for an alleged remake called Gore Vidal's Caligula as a promotion for Versace's new line of accessories; the remake was to star Helen Mirren as "the Empress Tiberius", Gerard Butler as Chaerea, Milla Jovovich as Drusilla, Courtney Love as Caligula, and Karen Black as Agrippina the Elder and featuring an introduction by Gore Vidal. The fake trailer was screened worldwide, including New York City's Whitney Museum of American Art's 2006 Whitney Biennial. Leonardo DiCaprio has cited the film as an influence on his performance as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. Reconstruction attempts In 2007, Caligula was released on DVD and Blu-ray in an "Imperial Edition", which featured the unrated theatrical release version and a new version featuring alternative sequencing from the original theatrical release and without the explicit sexual content shot by Guccione, marking the first attempt to reconstruct the film into a version closer to Brass's intentions. This edition also includes audio commentaries featuring Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren, and interviews with the cast and crew. In February 2018, Penthouse announced that a new cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski. Tuschinski will use 85 minutes of Brass's original workprint and edit the remainder of the film himself. Brass's family supports Tuschinski's effort, but it remains unconfirmed if Brass will be directly involved with the edit. However, the edit is an attempt to realize Brass's original vision for the film. In July 2018, Alexander Tuschinski released his documentary Mission: Caligula on Vimeo. The film explores his relationship to Caligula, the process of reconstructing Brass's vision and Penthouse CEO Kelly Holland's backing of the project. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. See also Unsimulated sex References External links Alexander Tuschinski. Reconstruction of the Director's Cut Alexander Tuschinski. Caligula: Director's Cut (Tinto Brass interview) (YouTube) Caligula on-set photographs by Mario Tursi, (unit photographer) Caligula and Italian censorship (in italian) 1979 films 1979 drama films 1970s biographical drama films 1970s erotic drama films 1970s multilingual films 1970s exploitation films American films American political drama films American biographical drama films Films directed by Tinto Brass Biographical films about Roman emperors Depictions of Caligula on film Cultural depictions of Claudius Cultural depictions of Messalina Cultural depictions of Tiberius Cultural depictions of Agrippina the Younger Drama films based on actual events Epic films based on actual events 1970s English-language films English-language Italian films American epic films American multilingual films American erotic drama films American drama films American historical drama films American independent films American LGBT-related films American exploitation films Films set in ancient Rome Films set in the Roman Empire Films set in the 1st century Films shot in Rome Incest in film Italian films Italian drama films Italian erotic drama films Italian independent films Italian biographical films Italian epic films Italian historical drama films Italian multilingual films Italian LGBT-related films LGBT-related controversies in film Obscenity controversies in film Rating controversies in film Penthouse (magazine) Films based on works by Gore Vidal Historical epic films Films scored by Bruno Nicolai Peplum films 1979 independent films Cultural depictions of Julia Drusilla
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[ "Kambakht ( meaning \"cursed\") is an upcoming Pakistani action comedy film directed by Hamza Ali Abbasi, and produced by Eyad Ibrahim and Sharmeen Khan. The film stars Humayun Saeed, Shafqat Cheema, Agha Haris, Sheheryar Munawar Siddiqui, Saba Qamar and Sohai Ali Abro.\n\nPlot \nKambakht is about a middle-aged man from the backward areas of the Pakhtunkhwa, played by Hamza Ali Abbasi, and a young urban city-slicker, played by Shehreyar Munawar, who strike an unlikely and accidental friendship.\n\nCast \n Humayun Saeed\n Shafqat Cheema\n Agha Haris \n Sheheryar Munawar Siddiqui\n Saba Qamar\n Sohai Ali Abro\n Fizza Zehra\n Hamza Ali Abbasi\n Gohar Rasheed\n Salmaan Shaukat\n Humaira Ali\n Meezam Ali\n Rabi Mansoor\n Ahmed Cheema\n Atif Siddiqui\n Jalal Haider Khan\n Latif Sheikh\n Yousuf Bashir Qureshi\n Amal Saleh\n Faryal Mehmood\n\nProduction \nThe film was produced under the banner Kahani Films. Film shooting began in May 2013 and was completed in June 2014. Post-production began in same month but it was delayed as director was busy attending Imran Khan's protest. In an interview with Dawn he said, \"I admit, the shooting did get delayed because I was busy in However, it is in post production now and we will hopefully be done with it by March and then hand it over to ARY to release it whenever they deem fit. I truly believe in this project. Entertainment without a message or moral is useless. Kambakht will make people laugh but also make people think.\"\n\nRelease\nFirst look teaser released on 7 February 2014 at 8:00 PM on ARY Digital Network.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n \n \n\nPakistani films\nUnreleased Pakistani films\nPakistani action comedy films\nUrdu-language films", "The Lordstown Endurance is a full-size electric pickup truck concept by Lordstown Motors that, , is planned to be produced no earlier than April 2022. The company had no firm orders for the truck. It is planned to be the company's first production automobile.\n\nThe Endurance was originally planned by the company to enter production in 2020, which was delayed to 2021, and in October 2021, was delayed to April 2022, following the September news that the Lordstown auto plant was to be sold to Foxconn.\n\nHistory\nDevelopment began as the Workhorse W-15 in 2016. The W-15 was transferred to Lordstown, and Lordstown licensed its technology. The W-15 forms the basis of the Endurance.\n\nIn the second half of December 2019, the automotive startup Lordstown Motors, established in autumn 2019, presented the first preliminary information about its vehicle. The electric pickup truck was named Lordstown Endurance, adopting an avant-garde design that combines the classic proportions of a semi-truck with lighting that forms a single line with embossing.\n\nIn mid-June 2020, Lordstown presented the first official sketches showing the appearance of the Endurance passenger compartment, while the world premiere of the pickup took place on June 25 of the same year.\n\nIn June 2021, company officials said they planned begin production in the fall 2021, even though the company had no firm orders for the truck, but that they had sufficient capital to produce into 2022. The company warned however that is had experienced difficulty securing sufficient funding to begin full production, and stated that the it reported in its latest quarterly SEC filing would not be enough to get to \"full commercial production.\"\n\nBy October 2021, the announced production date for the Endurance had been delayed until April 2022, following the September news that the Lordstown auto plant would be sold to Foxconn for $280 million.\n\nProduction plans\nProduction of the Endurance is planned to take place at Lordstown Motors' manufacturing facilities in the village of the same name in the U.S. state of Ohio, where the General Motors factory was once located. Originally, production was to start in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to be postponed to 2021, and in June 2021, this was pushed back to fall 2021 following revelations about a lack of confirmed orders.\n\nSee also \n GMC Hummer EV\n Ford F-150 Lightning\n Rivian R1T\n Tesla Cybertruck\n Chevrolet Silverado EV\n\nReferences\n\nElectric concept cars\nElectric trucks\nPickup trucks\nCars introduced in 2020\nFirst car made by manufacturer" ]
[ "Caligula (film)", "Legal problems", "What were the legal problems?", "When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials.", "What happened during the lawsuit?", "authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide \"the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy\".", "What happened from there?", "Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene.", "Did they get delayed in production?", "I don't know." ]
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Caligula (film)
In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, Massachusetts, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta, prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form as of 2014. In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award because the punitive damages were determined to be unrecoverable. CANNOTANSWER
"lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values
Caligula () is a 1979 erotic historical drama film focusing on the rise and fall of the eponymous Roman Emperor Caligula. The film stars Malcolm McDowell in the title role, alongside Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Steiner and John Gielgud. Producer Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse magazine, intended to produce an erotic feature film narrative with high production values and name actors. Gore Vidal originated the idea for a film about the controversial Roman emperor and produced a draft screenplay under the working title Gore Vidal's Caligula. The director, Tinto Brass, extensively altered Vidal's original screenplay, however, leading Vidal to disavow the film. The final screenplay focuses on the idea that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". However, both Brass and Vidal disagreed with Guccione's use of unsimulated sexual content, which Brass refused to film. Because the producers did not allow Brass to edit the film, they changed its tone and style significantly and added hardcore sex scenes not filmed by Brass, thus turning Caligula into an erotic drama featuring Penthouse Pets as extras in unsimulated sex scenes filmed during post-production by Guccione and Giancarlo Lui. This version, released to Italian cinemas in 1979 and American cinemas the following year, disregarded the director's intentions to present the film as a political satire. As a result, Brass also disavowed the film. Caligulas release was met with legal issues and controversies over its violent and sexual content; multiple cut versions were released worldwide, while its uncut form remains banned in several countries. However, the film is considered to be a cult classic with significant merit for its political content and historical portrayal. The script was later adapted into a novelisation written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. In 2018, Penthouse announced that a new Director's Cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski, with the approval of Brass's family. No release date for that cut has been confirmed. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. Plot Caligula is the young heir to the throne of his great uncle, the Emperor Tiberius. One morning, a blackbird flies into his room; Caligula considers this a bad omen. Shortly afterward, one of the heads of the Praetorian Guard, Naevius Sutorius Macro, tells Caligula that Tiberius demands his immediate presence at Capri, where the Emperor lives with his close friend Nerva, dim-witted relative Claudius, and Caligula's adopted son (Tiberius's grandson) Gemellus. Fearing assassination, Caligula is afraid to leave but his sister and lover Drusilla persuades him to go. At Capri, Caligula finds that Tiberius has become depraved, showing signs of advanced venereal diseases, and embittered with Rome and politics. Tiberius enjoys swimming with naked youths and watching degrading sex shows that include deformed people and animals. Caligula observes with fascination and horror. Tensions rise when Tiberius tries to poison Caligula in front of Gemellus. Nerva commits suicide and Caligula tries to kill Tiberius but loses his nerve. Proving his loyalty to Caligula, Macro kills Tiberius instead with Gemellus as a witness. After Tiberius' death and burial, Caligula is proclaimed the new Emperor, then proclaims Drusilla as his equal, to the apparent disgust of the Roman Senate. Drusilla, fearful of Macro's influence, persuades Caligula to get rid of him. Caligula sets up a mock trial in which Gemellus is intimidated into testifying that Macro murdered Tiberius, then has Macro's wife Ennia banished from Rome. After Macro is executed in a gruesome public game, Caligula appoints Tiberius' former adviser Longinus as his personal assistant while pronouncing the docile Senator Chaerea as the new head of the Praetorian Guard. Drusilla tries to find Caligula a wife among the priestesses of the goddess Isis, the cult they secretly practise. Caligula wants to marry Drusilla, but she insists they cannot marry because she is his sister. Instead, Caligula marries Caesonia, a priestess and notorious courtesan, after she bears him an heir. Drusilla reluctantly supports their marriage. Meanwhile, despite Caligula's popularity with the masses, the Senate expresses disapproval for what initially seem to be light eccentricities. Darker aspects of Caligula's personality emerge when he rapes a bride and groom on their wedding day in a minor fit of jealousy and orders Gemellus's execution to provoke a reaction from Drusilla. After discovering that Caesonia is pregnant, Caligula suffers severe fever. Drusilla nurses him back to health. Just as he fully recovers, Caesonia bears him a daughter, Julia Drusilla. During the celebration, Drusilla collapses with the same fever he suffered. Soon afterward, Caligula receives another ill omen in the form of a blackbird. Despite his praying to Isis out of desperation, Drusilla dies from her fever. Initially unable to accept her death, Caligula suffers a nervous breakdown and rampages through the palace, destroying a statue of Isis while clutching Drusilla's body. Now in a deep depression, Caligula walks the Roman streets disguised as a beggar; he causes a disturbance after watching an amateur performance mocking his relationship with Drusilla. After a brief stay in a city gaol, Caligula proclaims himself a god and becomes determined to destroy the senatorial class, which he has come to loathe. The new reign he leads becomes a series of humiliations against the foundations of Romesenators' wives are forced to work in the service of the state as prostitutes, estates are confiscated, the old religion is desecrated and the army is made to embark on a mock invasion of Britain. Unable to further tolerate his actions, Longinus conspires with Chaerea to assassinate Caligula. Caligula enters his bedroom where a nervous Caesonia awaits him. Another blackbird appears but only Caesonia is frightened of it. The next morning, after rehearsing an Egyptian play, Caligula and his family are attacked in a coup headed by Chaerea. Caesonia and Julia are murdered, and Chaerea stabs Caligula in the stomach. With his final breath, the Emperor defiantly whimpers "I live!" as Caligula and his family's bodies are thrown down the stadium's steps and their blood is washed off the marble floor. Claudius witnesses the entire ordeal and is horrified even after being proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard. Cast Production Development The men's magazine Penthouse had long been involved in film funding, helping invest in films made by other studios, including Chinatown, The Longest Yard and The Day of the Locust, but it had never produced a film on its own. The magazine's founder Bob Guccione wanted to produce an explicit adult film within a feature film narrative that had high production values; he decided to produce a film about the rise and fall of the Roman emperor Caligula. Development began under producer Franco Rossellini, the nephew of filmmaker Roberto Rossellini. A screenplay was written by Lina Wertmüller, but Guccione rejected Wertmüller's script and paid Gore Vidal to write a new screenplay. Vidal's screenplay had a strong focus on homosexuality, leading Guccione to demand rewrites which toned down the homosexual content for wider audience appeal. Guccione was concerned that Vidal's script contained several homosexual sex scenes and only one scene of heterosexual sex, which was between Caligula and his sister Drusilla. Vidal was paid for his screenplay, which was titled Gore Vidal's Caligula. Elaborate sets were built by production designer Danilo Donati, who also designed the film's costumes, jewelry, hair styles, wigs and makeup. Several mainstream actors were cast, Guccione intending to make a film which he felt, like Citizen Kane, would be a landmark in cinematic history. Guccione offered directing duties to John Huston and Lina Wertmüller, both of whom rejected the film. After viewing scenes from the film Salon Kitty, Guccione agreed to have lunch with that film's director Tinto Brass, believing Brass would be the ideal person to direct Caligula. Brass had a reputation for being difficult to deal with on film sets but Guccione thought the film's epic scope would "keep [Brass] in line" and that Brass understood the concept of the film enough to direct it. Brass described Vidal's screenplay as "the work of an aging arteriosclerotic" and agreed to direct only if he was allowed to rewrite Vidal's screenplay. Brass's screenplay expanded the sexual content to include orgies, decorative phalluses, and much female nudity. Guccione said Brass's rewrites were done out of necessity to the film's visual narrative and did not alter the dialogue or content. In an interview for Time magazine, Vidal said that in film production, directors were "parasites" and a film's author was its screenwriter; in response, Brass demanded Vidal's removal from the set and Guccione agreed. Guccione considered film to be a "collective effort, involving the input of a great number of artists and craftsmen", and the director to be the leader of a "team effort". Vidal filed a contractual dispute over the film because of Brass's rewrites; Guccione said Vidal had demanded 10% of the film's profits, which Vidal said was not the case. Vidal distanced himself from the production, calling Brass a "megalomaniac". Brass publicly stated, "If I ever really get mad at Gore Vidal, I'll publish his script". Vidal's name was removed from the film's title; the credits were changed to state that the film was "adapted from a screenplay by Gore Vidal", crediting no official screenwriter. Guccione said, "Gore's work was basically done and Tinto's work was about to begin". Themes and significance The film's primary theme is "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Vidal's script presented Caligula as a good man driven to madness by absolute power; Brass's screenplay envisioned Caligula as a "born monster". In The Encyclopedia of Epic Films, author Djoymi Baker describes Brass's screenplay as "an antiepic with an antihero, on a path of self-inflicted, antisocial descent". Guccione said this final draft was more violent than sexual, stating, "I maintain the film is actually anti-erotic ... in every one of its scenes you'll find a mixture of gore or violence or some other rather ugly things". Casting Orson Welles was initially offered $1 million dollars to star as Tiberius, a figure which would have been his highest ever salary, but he refused on moral grounds when he read the script. Gore Vidal expressed disbelief that this could have ever been the case as he felt that Welles could not have portrayed Tiberius, but then recalled Kenneth Tynan remarking to him at the time that Welles was "upset" by the script. Renowned actors who did accept roles in the film included Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud, with Maria Schneider cast as Caligula's doomed sister Drusilla. Schneider became uncomfortable with appearing nude and in sexual scenes, and left the production, to be replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy, whom Brass had previously worked with on Salon Kitty. Schneider had also apparently angered Brass by sewing up the open tunics she was supposed to wear on camera. Gielgud was also offered the role of Tiberius, which he declined, as he felt Vidal's script was "pornographic"; however, he later accepted the role of Nerva. Director Tinto Brass cast his own acquaintances as senators and noblemen, including ex-convicts, thieves and anarchists. Guccione cast Penthouse Pets as female extras in sexual scenes. Filming Principal photography began in 1976 in Rome. McDowell got along well with Tinto Brass, while Peter O'Toole immediately disliked the director. John Gielgud and Helen Mirren were indifferent to Brass; they ultimately trusted his direction and focused on their own performances. O'Toole had stopped drinking alcohol before filming, but Guccione described O'Toole as being "strung out on something" and said the actor was not sober during the entire filming schedule. During the film's production, McDowell took members of the production to dinner at an expensive restaurant to celebrate England's win in a football match against the Italian team. He left the choreographer to pay for the meal, saying he had forgotten to bring enough money. At the end of the production, McDowell gave his dresser a pendant bearing her name, but it was misspelled and she gave it back to him. McDowell offered her a signet ring, a prop from the film. She refused because it belonged to the production company. Brass decided not to focus much on Danilo Donati's elaborate sets, and intentionally kept the Penthouse Pets in the background during sex scenes. He focused instead on women whom Guccione considered to be unattractive. Brass and Guccione disagreed about the film's approach to sexual content; Guccione preferred unsimulated sexual content that Brass did not want to film. Post-production Filming concluded on 24 December 1976. Guccione said Brass shot enough film to "make the original version of Ben-Hur about 50 times over". Brass started editing the film but was not allowed to continue after he had edited approximately the first hour of it. His rough-cut was disassembled, and the film was edited by several editors, changing its tone and structure significantly by removing and re-arranging many scenes, using different takes, a slower editing style and music other than Brass intended. A few weeks after filming had concluded, Guccione and Giancarlo Lui returned to Rome with several Penthouse Pets. Guccione and Lui "hired a skeleton crew, snuck back into the studios at night, raided the prop room" and shot hardcore sex scenes to edit into the film. Brass ultimately disowned the film. Although there were a number of editors on the film, their names were not credited. Instead, the credit "Editing by the Production" is given during the opening credits. The film was intended for release in English, but with many of the supporting actors/actresses only speaking Italian, their lines needed to be dubbed. Peter O'Toole was reluctant to re-record his English dialogue, he stayed away from the film's producers, then finally agreed to re-record his dialogue. Soundtrack The film was scored by Bruno Nicolai under the name Paul Clemente. According to Kristopher Spencer, the score "is gloriously dramatic, capturing both the decadent atmosphere of ancient Rome and the twisted tragedy of its true story". The score also featured music by Aram Khachaturian (from Spartacus) and Sergei Prokofiev (from Romeo and Juliet). In November 1980, Guccione formed Penthouse Records to release a double album soundtrack to Caligula. The album featured Nicolai's score and two versions—one in a disco style—of a love theme titled "We Are One", which did not appear in the film. Track listing Release An edited version of the film had a limited run in a small town near Forli, Italy before opening in Rome on Sunday, November 11, 1979. In Rome, it was the highest-grossing film of the weekend, with a gross of $59,950 from 6 theaters. The film was confiscated by Italian police on November 15 with the pubblico ministero calling many scenes in the film "flagrantly obscene". In the United States, Guccione refused to submit Caligula to the MPAA because he did not want the film to receive a ratingeven Xwhich he considered to be "demeaning". Instead, Guccione applied his own "Mature Audiences" rating to the film, instructing theater owners not to admit anyone under the age of 18. The film premiered in the United States on 1 February 1980, at the Trans Lux East Theatre, which Guccione had rented exclusively to screen the film; he changed the theater's name to Penthouse East. Rather than leasing prints to exhibitors, the distributor rented theaters that specialized in foreign and art films for the purpose of screening Caligula exclusively in order to keep the film out of theaters that showed pornographic films. In 1981, the Brazilian Board of Censors approved the establishment of special theaters to screen In the Realm of the Senses and Caligula because they were international box office hits. Caligula grossed at the box office. The film was a financial success in France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan. A 105-minute R-rated version without the explicit sexual material was released in 1981. The script was adapted into a novelization written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. Legal problems In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form . In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award, ruling that punitive damages were not allowed by the law governing the case. Reception Contemporary reviews Caligula received generally negative reviews. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, calling it "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash". Ebert wrote, "In the two hours of this film that I saw, there were no scenes of joy, natural pleasure, or good sensual cheer. There was, instead, a nauseating excursion into base and sad fantasies." It is also notable for being one of the few films Ebert ever walked out of—he walked out 2 hours into its 170-minute length after feeling "disgusted and unspeakably depressed". He and Gene Siskel selected the film as one of their "dogs of the year" in a 1980 episode of Sneak Previews. Hank Werba of Variety described the film as a "moral holocaust" in his review. Rex Reed called Caligula "a trough of rotten swill". Jay Scott, reviewing Caligula for The Globe and Mail, said, "Caligula doesn't really work on any level". Scott unfavourably compared Caligula with In the Realm of the Senses, describing the latter film as a better treatment of extreme sexuality. Scott's review went on to say "Rome would seem to be at least as fecund a territory for the cinematic exploration of sex, death and money, as pre-war Japan ... but what's missing from Caligula, which is rife with all three, is any connective tissue (also any point of view, any thought, any meaning)". Scott concluded his review by claiming the whole film's production was "a boondoggle of landmark proportions". New York critic David Denby described the film as "an infinitely degraded version of Fellini Satyricon." Tom Milne (Monthly Film Bulletin) stated that the film was "by no means so awesomely bad as most critics have been pleased to report—but pretty bad all the same" and found the film to be "notable chiefly for the accuracy with which it reflects this anonymity." Caligula continued to garner negative reception long after its release. It has been reappraised by some critics; review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a negative score of 23% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 3.06/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Endlessly perverse and indulgent, Caligula throws in hardcore sex every time the plot threatens to get interesting." Leslie Halliwell said Caligula was "a vile curiosity of interest chiefly to sado-masochists". Time Out London called it "a dreary shambles". Positive criticism of the film came from Moviehole reviewer Clint Morris, who awarded it 3 stars out of 5, calling it "[a] classic in the coolest sense of the word". New Times critic Gregory Weinkauf gave the film 3 out of 5, calling it "Kinda dumb and tacky, but at least it's a real movie". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reviewer Philip Martin also gave the film 3 out of 5. Writers for The Hamilton Spectator and St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Caligula was one of the worst films they'd seen. Writing for The A.V. Club, Keith Phipps said, "As a one-of-a-kind marriage of the historical epic and the porn film ... Caligula deserves a look. But it might be better to let Guccione's savagely unpleasant folly fade into the century that spawned it". Retrospective recognition Caligula has been described as a "cult classic" by William Hawes in a book about the film. Helen Mirren has defended her involvement with the final product of the film and even described Caligula as "an irresistible mix of art and genitals". In 2005, artist Francesco Vezzoli produced a fake trailer for an alleged remake called Gore Vidal's Caligula as a promotion for Versace's new line of accessories; the remake was to star Helen Mirren as "the Empress Tiberius", Gerard Butler as Chaerea, Milla Jovovich as Drusilla, Courtney Love as Caligula, and Karen Black as Agrippina the Elder and featuring an introduction by Gore Vidal. The fake trailer was screened worldwide, including New York City's Whitney Museum of American Art's 2006 Whitney Biennial. Leonardo DiCaprio has cited the film as an influence on his performance as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. Reconstruction attempts In 2007, Caligula was released on DVD and Blu-ray in an "Imperial Edition", which featured the unrated theatrical release version and a new version featuring alternative sequencing from the original theatrical release and without the explicit sexual content shot by Guccione, marking the first attempt to reconstruct the film into a version closer to Brass's intentions. This edition also includes audio commentaries featuring Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren, and interviews with the cast and crew. In February 2018, Penthouse announced that a new cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski. Tuschinski will use 85 minutes of Brass's original workprint and edit the remainder of the film himself. Brass's family supports Tuschinski's effort, but it remains unconfirmed if Brass will be directly involved with the edit. However, the edit is an attempt to realize Brass's original vision for the film. In July 2018, Alexander Tuschinski released his documentary Mission: Caligula on Vimeo. The film explores his relationship to Caligula, the process of reconstructing Brass's vision and Penthouse CEO Kelly Holland's backing of the project. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. See also Unsimulated sex References External links Alexander Tuschinski. Reconstruction of the Director's Cut Alexander Tuschinski. Caligula: Director's Cut (Tinto Brass interview) (YouTube) Caligula on-set photographs by Mario Tursi, (unit photographer) Caligula and Italian censorship (in italian) 1979 films 1979 drama films 1970s biographical drama films 1970s erotic drama films 1970s multilingual films 1970s exploitation films American films American political drama films American biographical drama films Films directed by Tinto Brass Biographical films about Roman emperors Depictions of Caligula on film Cultural depictions of Claudius Cultural depictions of Messalina Cultural depictions of Tiberius Cultural depictions of Agrippina the Younger Drama films based on actual events Epic films based on actual events 1970s English-language films English-language Italian films American epic films American multilingual films American erotic drama films American drama films American historical drama films American independent films American LGBT-related films American exploitation films Films set in ancient Rome Films set in the Roman Empire Films set in the 1st century Films shot in Rome Incest in film Italian films Italian drama films Italian erotic drama films Italian independent films Italian biographical films Italian epic films Italian historical drama films Italian multilingual films Italian LGBT-related films LGBT-related controversies in film Obscenity controversies in film Rating controversies in film Penthouse (magazine) Films based on works by Gore Vidal Historical epic films Films scored by Bruno Nicolai Peplum films 1979 independent films Cultural depictions of Julia Drusilla
true
[ "a TEN Talk (originally 10Talk) is a short presentation on a topic of the speaker's choosing given at a BarCamp type conference. It derives from a TED Talk and originated at the 2012 RefreshCache v4 developer conference (now defunct) in Gilbert, Arizona during the open floor demo time with a description of \"Fast paced 10 minute presentations by the you and the other leaders among us.\" Since the term was still somewhat new at the time, a \"What is a Ten-Talk?\" page was created on the RefreshCache site with the following abbreviated description so potential Ten-Talk presenters would know exactly what was expected of them:\n \n A Ten-Talk is a fast-paced, ten minute POLISHED presentation on an interesting topic that you think will appeal to the Church IT / Web Developer audiences.\n \n Here are some examples of Ten-Talk topics:\n (1) Have you implemented something at your church that has been a radical success or epic failure? We can learn from either of these!\n (2) Do you have an inspirational message that can lead others to action? Even better if you can share how this message inspired you to action and then show us what you did.\n (3) Have you spent time researching and understanding something in the world of ministry software or Church IT? Maybe you are an expert in [redacted]. Present this to the Church IT Network /RefreshCache community and share what you know. Your research may help another church find the solution to a problem they are facing, or save them the trouble of doing all the research you just did by realizing it won't work for them.\n\nIt was later adopted at the national Church IT Round Table conference held in February 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona when the two events began to intermingle and used again in 2014 at the Peoria, Illinois event where it was re-described as \"10Talks (or TEN-Talks) are 10 minute, fast paced talks on a topic. These are perfect sessions for raising awareness about a topic, tool, or idea that you think your peers should know.\"\n\nIts use outside of CITRT conferences is thought to begin with the WLAN professionals summit in February 2014.\n\nReferences\n\nPresentation", "Modron is an adventure for fantasy role-playing games published by Judges Guild in 1978.\n\nPlot summary\nModron is a scenario describing the village of Modron and a nearby underwater adventure, each with a large map. It includes both village and underwater encounters.\n\nModron is a water goddess whose city was somehow preserved in a battle between her worshippers and the worshippers of her rival god, Proteus. Proteus' people's homes were destroyed, but a new city was built on top of the ruins. Explorers in the city can find a myriad of wealth and adventures. Several characters are sketchily described for the players, if they choose to use them.\n\nPublication history\nModron was written by Bob Bledsaw and Gary Adams, and was published by Judges Guild in 1978 as a 16-page digest-sized book with a blue cover and two large maps. Judges Guild published a second edition in 1980.\n\nA listing of cumulative sales from 1981 shows that Modron sold over 15,000 units.\n\nReception\nElisabeth Barrington reviewed Modron in The Space Gamer No. 30. Barrington commented that \"The graphics on the maps are excellent. The ideas presented in the background are interesting and novel, to some extent. Clarity is the key word in this module. Whatever is described is organized and easy to read.\" However, she added \"BUT there is not much described. In each room or place the characters go, the DM must quickly invent a few things to flesh out the descriptions given in the booklet. There are people in the places, and a couple of items, and that is all that is given. No room descriptions, no special traps or interesting things that happen unless you make them up as you go along; just a person or monster and some items. There are some bad typos in the booklet, making things a little hard to figure out at times, but the great organization of the book makes up for that one little problem.\" Barrington concludes her review by saying, \"If you are the type of DM who wants the bare minimum provided for your campaign, this is for you. But you might find that [the price] is a little high to pay for descriptions of people. It is fun to play, and there are some new things to find, but I do not think it is worth the price.\"\n\nWilliam Fawcett reviewed Modron in The Dragon #44. Fawcett commented that \"This set is inexpensive and has some good expansions of ideas mentioned, but not detailed, in earlier Guild products. Modron could be easily included in a campaign that included nothing else from the Guild.\"\n\nReviews\n Different Worlds #8 (Jun 1980)\n\nReferences\n\nJudges Guild fantasy role-playing game adventures" ]
[ "Caligula (film)", "Legal problems", "What were the legal problems?", "When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials.", "What happened during the lawsuit?", "authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide \"the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy\".", "What happened from there?", "Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene.", "Did they get delayed in production?", "I don't know.", "What else did you find interesting in this section?", "\"lacked artistic and scientific value\" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to \"[appeal] to prurient interests\", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values" ]
C_ec630b18dfde49fb8e39646409595e70_0
What type of political values?
6
What type of political values depicted Caligula?
Caligula (film)
In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, Massachusetts, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta, prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form as of 2014. In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award because the punitive damages were determined to be unrecoverable. CANNOTANSWER
corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely".
Caligula () is a 1979 erotic historical drama film focusing on the rise and fall of the eponymous Roman Emperor Caligula. The film stars Malcolm McDowell in the title role, alongside Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Steiner and John Gielgud. Producer Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse magazine, intended to produce an erotic feature film narrative with high production values and name actors. Gore Vidal originated the idea for a film about the controversial Roman emperor and produced a draft screenplay under the working title Gore Vidal's Caligula. The director, Tinto Brass, extensively altered Vidal's original screenplay, however, leading Vidal to disavow the film. The final screenplay focuses on the idea that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". However, both Brass and Vidal disagreed with Guccione's use of unsimulated sexual content, which Brass refused to film. Because the producers did not allow Brass to edit the film, they changed its tone and style significantly and added hardcore sex scenes not filmed by Brass, thus turning Caligula into an erotic drama featuring Penthouse Pets as extras in unsimulated sex scenes filmed during post-production by Guccione and Giancarlo Lui. This version, released to Italian cinemas in 1979 and American cinemas the following year, disregarded the director's intentions to present the film as a political satire. As a result, Brass also disavowed the film. Caligulas release was met with legal issues and controversies over its violent and sexual content; multiple cut versions were released worldwide, while its uncut form remains banned in several countries. However, the film is considered to be a cult classic with significant merit for its political content and historical portrayal. The script was later adapted into a novelisation written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. In 2018, Penthouse announced that a new Director's Cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski, with the approval of Brass's family. No release date for that cut has been confirmed. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. Plot Caligula is the young heir to the throne of his great uncle, the Emperor Tiberius. One morning, a blackbird flies into his room; Caligula considers this a bad omen. Shortly afterward, one of the heads of the Praetorian Guard, Naevius Sutorius Macro, tells Caligula that Tiberius demands his immediate presence at Capri, where the Emperor lives with his close friend Nerva, dim-witted relative Claudius, and Caligula's adopted son (Tiberius's grandson) Gemellus. Fearing assassination, Caligula is afraid to leave but his sister and lover Drusilla persuades him to go. At Capri, Caligula finds that Tiberius has become depraved, showing signs of advanced venereal diseases, and embittered with Rome and politics. Tiberius enjoys swimming with naked youths and watching degrading sex shows that include deformed people and animals. Caligula observes with fascination and horror. Tensions rise when Tiberius tries to poison Caligula in front of Gemellus. Nerva commits suicide and Caligula tries to kill Tiberius but loses his nerve. Proving his loyalty to Caligula, Macro kills Tiberius instead with Gemellus as a witness. After Tiberius' death and burial, Caligula is proclaimed the new Emperor, then proclaims Drusilla as his equal, to the apparent disgust of the Roman Senate. Drusilla, fearful of Macro's influence, persuades Caligula to get rid of him. Caligula sets up a mock trial in which Gemellus is intimidated into testifying that Macro murdered Tiberius, then has Macro's wife Ennia banished from Rome. After Macro is executed in a gruesome public game, Caligula appoints Tiberius' former adviser Longinus as his personal assistant while pronouncing the docile Senator Chaerea as the new head of the Praetorian Guard. Drusilla tries to find Caligula a wife among the priestesses of the goddess Isis, the cult they secretly practise. Caligula wants to marry Drusilla, but she insists they cannot marry because she is his sister. Instead, Caligula marries Caesonia, a priestess and notorious courtesan, after she bears him an heir. Drusilla reluctantly supports their marriage. Meanwhile, despite Caligula's popularity with the masses, the Senate expresses disapproval for what initially seem to be light eccentricities. Darker aspects of Caligula's personality emerge when he rapes a bride and groom on their wedding day in a minor fit of jealousy and orders Gemellus's execution to provoke a reaction from Drusilla. After discovering that Caesonia is pregnant, Caligula suffers severe fever. Drusilla nurses him back to health. Just as he fully recovers, Caesonia bears him a daughter, Julia Drusilla. During the celebration, Drusilla collapses with the same fever he suffered. Soon afterward, Caligula receives another ill omen in the form of a blackbird. Despite his praying to Isis out of desperation, Drusilla dies from her fever. Initially unable to accept her death, Caligula suffers a nervous breakdown and rampages through the palace, destroying a statue of Isis while clutching Drusilla's body. Now in a deep depression, Caligula walks the Roman streets disguised as a beggar; he causes a disturbance after watching an amateur performance mocking his relationship with Drusilla. After a brief stay in a city gaol, Caligula proclaims himself a god and becomes determined to destroy the senatorial class, which he has come to loathe. The new reign he leads becomes a series of humiliations against the foundations of Romesenators' wives are forced to work in the service of the state as prostitutes, estates are confiscated, the old religion is desecrated and the army is made to embark on a mock invasion of Britain. Unable to further tolerate his actions, Longinus conspires with Chaerea to assassinate Caligula. Caligula enters his bedroom where a nervous Caesonia awaits him. Another blackbird appears but only Caesonia is frightened of it. The next morning, after rehearsing an Egyptian play, Caligula and his family are attacked in a coup headed by Chaerea. Caesonia and Julia are murdered, and Chaerea stabs Caligula in the stomach. With his final breath, the Emperor defiantly whimpers "I live!" as Caligula and his family's bodies are thrown down the stadium's steps and their blood is washed off the marble floor. Claudius witnesses the entire ordeal and is horrified even after being proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard. Cast Production Development The men's magazine Penthouse had long been involved in film funding, helping invest in films made by other studios, including Chinatown, The Longest Yard and The Day of the Locust, but it had never produced a film on its own. The magazine's founder Bob Guccione wanted to produce an explicit adult film within a feature film narrative that had high production values; he decided to produce a film about the rise and fall of the Roman emperor Caligula. Development began under producer Franco Rossellini, the nephew of filmmaker Roberto Rossellini. A screenplay was written by Lina Wertmüller, but Guccione rejected Wertmüller's script and paid Gore Vidal to write a new screenplay. Vidal's screenplay had a strong focus on homosexuality, leading Guccione to demand rewrites which toned down the homosexual content for wider audience appeal. Guccione was concerned that Vidal's script contained several homosexual sex scenes and only one scene of heterosexual sex, which was between Caligula and his sister Drusilla. Vidal was paid for his screenplay, which was titled Gore Vidal's Caligula. Elaborate sets were built by production designer Danilo Donati, who also designed the film's costumes, jewelry, hair styles, wigs and makeup. Several mainstream actors were cast, Guccione intending to make a film which he felt, like Citizen Kane, would be a landmark in cinematic history. Guccione offered directing duties to John Huston and Lina Wertmüller, both of whom rejected the film. After viewing scenes from the film Salon Kitty, Guccione agreed to have lunch with that film's director Tinto Brass, believing Brass would be the ideal person to direct Caligula. Brass had a reputation for being difficult to deal with on film sets but Guccione thought the film's epic scope would "keep [Brass] in line" and that Brass understood the concept of the film enough to direct it. Brass described Vidal's screenplay as "the work of an aging arteriosclerotic" and agreed to direct only if he was allowed to rewrite Vidal's screenplay. Brass's screenplay expanded the sexual content to include orgies, decorative phalluses, and much female nudity. Guccione said Brass's rewrites were done out of necessity to the film's visual narrative and did not alter the dialogue or content. In an interview for Time magazine, Vidal said that in film production, directors were "parasites" and a film's author was its screenwriter; in response, Brass demanded Vidal's removal from the set and Guccione agreed. Guccione considered film to be a "collective effort, involving the input of a great number of artists and craftsmen", and the director to be the leader of a "team effort". Vidal filed a contractual dispute over the film because of Brass's rewrites; Guccione said Vidal had demanded 10% of the film's profits, which Vidal said was not the case. Vidal distanced himself from the production, calling Brass a "megalomaniac". Brass publicly stated, "If I ever really get mad at Gore Vidal, I'll publish his script". Vidal's name was removed from the film's title; the credits were changed to state that the film was "adapted from a screenplay by Gore Vidal", crediting no official screenwriter. Guccione said, "Gore's work was basically done and Tinto's work was about to begin". Themes and significance The film's primary theme is "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Vidal's script presented Caligula as a good man driven to madness by absolute power; Brass's screenplay envisioned Caligula as a "born monster". In The Encyclopedia of Epic Films, author Djoymi Baker describes Brass's screenplay as "an antiepic with an antihero, on a path of self-inflicted, antisocial descent". Guccione said this final draft was more violent than sexual, stating, "I maintain the film is actually anti-erotic ... in every one of its scenes you'll find a mixture of gore or violence or some other rather ugly things". Casting Orson Welles was initially offered $1 million dollars to star as Tiberius, a figure which would have been his highest ever salary, but he refused on moral grounds when he read the script. Gore Vidal expressed disbelief that this could have ever been the case as he felt that Welles could not have portrayed Tiberius, but then recalled Kenneth Tynan remarking to him at the time that Welles was "upset" by the script. Renowned actors who did accept roles in the film included Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud, with Maria Schneider cast as Caligula's doomed sister Drusilla. Schneider became uncomfortable with appearing nude and in sexual scenes, and left the production, to be replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy, whom Brass had previously worked with on Salon Kitty. Schneider had also apparently angered Brass by sewing up the open tunics she was supposed to wear on camera. Gielgud was also offered the role of Tiberius, which he declined, as he felt Vidal's script was "pornographic"; however, he later accepted the role of Nerva. Director Tinto Brass cast his own acquaintances as senators and noblemen, including ex-convicts, thieves and anarchists. Guccione cast Penthouse Pets as female extras in sexual scenes. Filming Principal photography began in 1976 in Rome. McDowell got along well with Tinto Brass, while Peter O'Toole immediately disliked the director. John Gielgud and Helen Mirren were indifferent to Brass; they ultimately trusted his direction and focused on their own performances. O'Toole had stopped drinking alcohol before filming, but Guccione described O'Toole as being "strung out on something" and said the actor was not sober during the entire filming schedule. During the film's production, McDowell took members of the production to dinner at an expensive restaurant to celebrate England's win in a football match against the Italian team. He left the choreographer to pay for the meal, saying he had forgotten to bring enough money. At the end of the production, McDowell gave his dresser a pendant bearing her name, but it was misspelled and she gave it back to him. McDowell offered her a signet ring, a prop from the film. She refused because it belonged to the production company. Brass decided not to focus much on Danilo Donati's elaborate sets, and intentionally kept the Penthouse Pets in the background during sex scenes. He focused instead on women whom Guccione considered to be unattractive. Brass and Guccione disagreed about the film's approach to sexual content; Guccione preferred unsimulated sexual content that Brass did not want to film. Post-production Filming concluded on 24 December 1976. Guccione said Brass shot enough film to "make the original version of Ben-Hur about 50 times over". Brass started editing the film but was not allowed to continue after he had edited approximately the first hour of it. His rough-cut was disassembled, and the film was edited by several editors, changing its tone and structure significantly by removing and re-arranging many scenes, using different takes, a slower editing style and music other than Brass intended. A few weeks after filming had concluded, Guccione and Giancarlo Lui returned to Rome with several Penthouse Pets. Guccione and Lui "hired a skeleton crew, snuck back into the studios at night, raided the prop room" and shot hardcore sex scenes to edit into the film. Brass ultimately disowned the film. Although there were a number of editors on the film, their names were not credited. Instead, the credit "Editing by the Production" is given during the opening credits. The film was intended for release in English, but with many of the supporting actors/actresses only speaking Italian, their lines needed to be dubbed. Peter O'Toole was reluctant to re-record his English dialogue, he stayed away from the film's producers, then finally agreed to re-record his dialogue. Soundtrack The film was scored by Bruno Nicolai under the name Paul Clemente. According to Kristopher Spencer, the score "is gloriously dramatic, capturing both the decadent atmosphere of ancient Rome and the twisted tragedy of its true story". The score also featured music by Aram Khachaturian (from Spartacus) and Sergei Prokofiev (from Romeo and Juliet). In November 1980, Guccione formed Penthouse Records to release a double album soundtrack to Caligula. The album featured Nicolai's score and two versions—one in a disco style—of a love theme titled "We Are One", which did not appear in the film. Track listing Release An edited version of the film had a limited run in a small town near Forli, Italy before opening in Rome on Sunday, November 11, 1979. In Rome, it was the highest-grossing film of the weekend, with a gross of $59,950 from 6 theaters. The film was confiscated by Italian police on November 15 with the pubblico ministero calling many scenes in the film "flagrantly obscene". In the United States, Guccione refused to submit Caligula to the MPAA because he did not want the film to receive a ratingeven Xwhich he considered to be "demeaning". Instead, Guccione applied his own "Mature Audiences" rating to the film, instructing theater owners not to admit anyone under the age of 18. The film premiered in the United States on 1 February 1980, at the Trans Lux East Theatre, which Guccione had rented exclusively to screen the film; he changed the theater's name to Penthouse East. Rather than leasing prints to exhibitors, the distributor rented theaters that specialized in foreign and art films for the purpose of screening Caligula exclusively in order to keep the film out of theaters that showed pornographic films. In 1981, the Brazilian Board of Censors approved the establishment of special theaters to screen In the Realm of the Senses and Caligula because they were international box office hits. Caligula grossed at the box office. The film was a financial success in France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan. A 105-minute R-rated version without the explicit sexual material was released in 1981. The script was adapted into a novelization written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. Legal problems In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form . In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award, ruling that punitive damages were not allowed by the law governing the case. Reception Contemporary reviews Caligula received generally negative reviews. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, calling it "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash". Ebert wrote, "In the two hours of this film that I saw, there were no scenes of joy, natural pleasure, or good sensual cheer. There was, instead, a nauseating excursion into base and sad fantasies." It is also notable for being one of the few films Ebert ever walked out of—he walked out 2 hours into its 170-minute length after feeling "disgusted and unspeakably depressed". He and Gene Siskel selected the film as one of their "dogs of the year" in a 1980 episode of Sneak Previews. Hank Werba of Variety described the film as a "moral holocaust" in his review. Rex Reed called Caligula "a trough of rotten swill". Jay Scott, reviewing Caligula for The Globe and Mail, said, "Caligula doesn't really work on any level". Scott unfavourably compared Caligula with In the Realm of the Senses, describing the latter film as a better treatment of extreme sexuality. Scott's review went on to say "Rome would seem to be at least as fecund a territory for the cinematic exploration of sex, death and money, as pre-war Japan ... but what's missing from Caligula, which is rife with all three, is any connective tissue (also any point of view, any thought, any meaning)". Scott concluded his review by claiming the whole film's production was "a boondoggle of landmark proportions". New York critic David Denby described the film as "an infinitely degraded version of Fellini Satyricon." Tom Milne (Monthly Film Bulletin) stated that the film was "by no means so awesomely bad as most critics have been pleased to report—but pretty bad all the same" and found the film to be "notable chiefly for the accuracy with which it reflects this anonymity." Caligula continued to garner negative reception long after its release. It has been reappraised by some critics; review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a negative score of 23% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 3.06/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Endlessly perverse and indulgent, Caligula throws in hardcore sex every time the plot threatens to get interesting." Leslie Halliwell said Caligula was "a vile curiosity of interest chiefly to sado-masochists". Time Out London called it "a dreary shambles". Positive criticism of the film came from Moviehole reviewer Clint Morris, who awarded it 3 stars out of 5, calling it "[a] classic in the coolest sense of the word". New Times critic Gregory Weinkauf gave the film 3 out of 5, calling it "Kinda dumb and tacky, but at least it's a real movie". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reviewer Philip Martin also gave the film 3 out of 5. Writers for The Hamilton Spectator and St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Caligula was one of the worst films they'd seen. Writing for The A.V. Club, Keith Phipps said, "As a one-of-a-kind marriage of the historical epic and the porn film ... Caligula deserves a look. But it might be better to let Guccione's savagely unpleasant folly fade into the century that spawned it". Retrospective recognition Caligula has been described as a "cult classic" by William Hawes in a book about the film. Helen Mirren has defended her involvement with the final product of the film and even described Caligula as "an irresistible mix of art and genitals". In 2005, artist Francesco Vezzoli produced a fake trailer for an alleged remake called Gore Vidal's Caligula as a promotion for Versace's new line of accessories; the remake was to star Helen Mirren as "the Empress Tiberius", Gerard Butler as Chaerea, Milla Jovovich as Drusilla, Courtney Love as Caligula, and Karen Black as Agrippina the Elder and featuring an introduction by Gore Vidal. The fake trailer was screened worldwide, including New York City's Whitney Museum of American Art's 2006 Whitney Biennial. Leonardo DiCaprio has cited the film as an influence on his performance as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. Reconstruction attempts In 2007, Caligula was released on DVD and Blu-ray in an "Imperial Edition", which featured the unrated theatrical release version and a new version featuring alternative sequencing from the original theatrical release and without the explicit sexual content shot by Guccione, marking the first attempt to reconstruct the film into a version closer to Brass's intentions. This edition also includes audio commentaries featuring Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren, and interviews with the cast and crew. In February 2018, Penthouse announced that a new cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski. Tuschinski will use 85 minutes of Brass's original workprint and edit the remainder of the film himself. Brass's family supports Tuschinski's effort, but it remains unconfirmed if Brass will be directly involved with the edit. However, the edit is an attempt to realize Brass's original vision for the film. In July 2018, Alexander Tuschinski released his documentary Mission: Caligula on Vimeo. The film explores his relationship to Caligula, the process of reconstructing Brass's vision and Penthouse CEO Kelly Holland's backing of the project. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. See also Unsimulated sex References External links Alexander Tuschinski. Reconstruction of the Director's Cut Alexander Tuschinski. Caligula: Director's Cut (Tinto Brass interview) (YouTube) Caligula on-set photographs by Mario Tursi, (unit photographer) Caligula and Italian censorship (in italian) 1979 films 1979 drama films 1970s biographical drama films 1970s erotic drama films 1970s multilingual films 1970s exploitation films American films American political drama films American biographical drama films Films directed by Tinto Brass Biographical films about Roman emperors Depictions of Caligula on film Cultural depictions of Claudius Cultural depictions of Messalina Cultural depictions of Tiberius Cultural depictions of Agrippina the Younger Drama films based on actual events Epic films based on actual events 1970s English-language films English-language Italian films American epic films American multilingual films American erotic drama films American drama films American historical drama films American independent films American LGBT-related films American exploitation films Films set in ancient Rome Films set in the Roman Empire Films set in the 1st century Films shot in Rome Incest in film Italian films Italian drama films Italian erotic drama films Italian independent films Italian biographical films Italian epic films Italian historical drama films Italian multilingual films Italian LGBT-related films LGBT-related controversies in film Obscenity controversies in film Rating controversies in film Penthouse (magazine) Films based on works by Gore Vidal Historical epic films Films scored by Bruno Nicolai Peplum films 1979 independent films Cultural depictions of Julia Drusilla
true
[ "Inductive data type may refer to:\n\n Algebraic data type, a datatype each of whose values is data from other datatypes wrapped in one of the constructors of the datatype\n Inductive family, a family of inductive data types indexed by another type or value\n Recursive data type, a data type for values that may contain other values of the same type\n\nSee also \n Inductive type\n Induction (disambiguation)\n\nType theory\nDependently typed programming", "In mathematical logic, System U and System U− are pure type systems, i.e. special forms of a typed lambda calculus with an arbitrary number of sorts, axioms and rules (or dependencies between the sorts). They were both proved inconsistent by Jean-Yves Girard in 1972. This result led to the realization that Martin-Löf's original 1971 type theory was inconsistent as it allowed the same \"Type in Type\" behaviour that Girard's paradox exploits.\n\nFormal definition \nSystem U is defined as a pure type system with\n three sorts ;\n two axioms ; and\n five rules .\n\nSystem U− is defined the same with the exception of the rule.\n\nThe sorts and are conventionally called “Type” and “Kind”, respectively; the sort doesn't have a specific name. The two axioms describe the containment of types in kinds () and kinds in (). Intuitively, the sorts describe a hierarchy in the nature of the terms.\n All values have a type, such as a base type (e.g. is read as “ is a boolean”) or a (dependent) function type (e.g. is read as “ is a function from natural numbers to booleans”).\n is the sort of all such types ( is read as “ is a type”). From we can build more terms, such as which is the kind of unary type-level operators (e.g. is read as “ is a function from types to types”, that is, a polymorphic type). The rules restrict how we can form new kinds.\n is the sort of all such kinds ( is read as “ is a kind”). Similarly we can build related terms, according to what the rules allow.\n is the sort of all such terms.\n\nThe rules govern the dependencies between the sorts: says that values may depend on values (functions), allows values to depend on types (polymorphism), allows types to depend on types (type operators), and so on.\n\nGirard's paradox \nThe definitions of System U and U− allow the assignment of polymorphic kinds to generic constructors in analogy to polymorphic types of terms in classical polymorphic lambda calculi, such as System F. An example of such a generic constructor might be (where k denotes a kind variable)\n\n.\n\nThis mechanism is sufficient to construct a term with the type , which implies that every type is inhabited. By the Curry–Howard correspondence, this is equivalent to all logical propositions being provable, which makes the system inconsistent.\n\nGirard's paradox is the type-theoretic analogue of Russell's paradox in set theory.\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n \n \n\nLambda calculus\nProof theory\nType theory" ]
[ "Caligula (film)", "Legal problems", "What were the legal problems?", "When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials.", "What happened during the lawsuit?", "authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide \"the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy\".", "What happened from there?", "Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene.", "Did they get delayed in production?", "I don't know.", "What else did you find interesting in this section?", "\"lacked artistic and scientific value\" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to \"[appeal] to prurient interests\", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values", "What type of political values?", "corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that \"absolute power corrupts absolutely\"." ]
C_ec630b18dfde49fb8e39646409595e70_0
Did many agree with those points?
7
Did many agree with the political points in Caligula?
Caligula (film)
In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, Massachusetts, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta, prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form as of 2014. In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award because the punitive damages were determined to be unrecoverable. CANNOTANSWER
A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula
Caligula () is a 1979 erotic historical drama film focusing on the rise and fall of the eponymous Roman Emperor Caligula. The film stars Malcolm McDowell in the title role, alongside Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Steiner and John Gielgud. Producer Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse magazine, intended to produce an erotic feature film narrative with high production values and name actors. Gore Vidal originated the idea for a film about the controversial Roman emperor and produced a draft screenplay under the working title Gore Vidal's Caligula. The director, Tinto Brass, extensively altered Vidal's original screenplay, however, leading Vidal to disavow the film. The final screenplay focuses on the idea that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". However, both Brass and Vidal disagreed with Guccione's use of unsimulated sexual content, which Brass refused to film. Because the producers did not allow Brass to edit the film, they changed its tone and style significantly and added hardcore sex scenes not filmed by Brass, thus turning Caligula into an erotic drama featuring Penthouse Pets as extras in unsimulated sex scenes filmed during post-production by Guccione and Giancarlo Lui. This version, released to Italian cinemas in 1979 and American cinemas the following year, disregarded the director's intentions to present the film as a political satire. As a result, Brass also disavowed the film. Caligulas release was met with legal issues and controversies over its violent and sexual content; multiple cut versions were released worldwide, while its uncut form remains banned in several countries. However, the film is considered to be a cult classic with significant merit for its political content and historical portrayal. The script was later adapted into a novelisation written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. In 2018, Penthouse announced that a new Director's Cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski, with the approval of Brass's family. No release date for that cut has been confirmed. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. Plot Caligula is the young heir to the throne of his great uncle, the Emperor Tiberius. One morning, a blackbird flies into his room; Caligula considers this a bad omen. Shortly afterward, one of the heads of the Praetorian Guard, Naevius Sutorius Macro, tells Caligula that Tiberius demands his immediate presence at Capri, where the Emperor lives with his close friend Nerva, dim-witted relative Claudius, and Caligula's adopted son (Tiberius's grandson) Gemellus. Fearing assassination, Caligula is afraid to leave but his sister and lover Drusilla persuades him to go. At Capri, Caligula finds that Tiberius has become depraved, showing signs of advanced venereal diseases, and embittered with Rome and politics. Tiberius enjoys swimming with naked youths and watching degrading sex shows that include deformed people and animals. Caligula observes with fascination and horror. Tensions rise when Tiberius tries to poison Caligula in front of Gemellus. Nerva commits suicide and Caligula tries to kill Tiberius but loses his nerve. Proving his loyalty to Caligula, Macro kills Tiberius instead with Gemellus as a witness. After Tiberius' death and burial, Caligula is proclaimed the new Emperor, then proclaims Drusilla as his equal, to the apparent disgust of the Roman Senate. Drusilla, fearful of Macro's influence, persuades Caligula to get rid of him. Caligula sets up a mock trial in which Gemellus is intimidated into testifying that Macro murdered Tiberius, then has Macro's wife Ennia banished from Rome. After Macro is executed in a gruesome public game, Caligula appoints Tiberius' former adviser Longinus as his personal assistant while pronouncing the docile Senator Chaerea as the new head of the Praetorian Guard. Drusilla tries to find Caligula a wife among the priestesses of the goddess Isis, the cult they secretly practise. Caligula wants to marry Drusilla, but she insists they cannot marry because she is his sister. Instead, Caligula marries Caesonia, a priestess and notorious courtesan, after she bears him an heir. Drusilla reluctantly supports their marriage. Meanwhile, despite Caligula's popularity with the masses, the Senate expresses disapproval for what initially seem to be light eccentricities. Darker aspects of Caligula's personality emerge when he rapes a bride and groom on their wedding day in a minor fit of jealousy and orders Gemellus's execution to provoke a reaction from Drusilla. After discovering that Caesonia is pregnant, Caligula suffers severe fever. Drusilla nurses him back to health. Just as he fully recovers, Caesonia bears him a daughter, Julia Drusilla. During the celebration, Drusilla collapses with the same fever he suffered. Soon afterward, Caligula receives another ill omen in the form of a blackbird. Despite his praying to Isis out of desperation, Drusilla dies from her fever. Initially unable to accept her death, Caligula suffers a nervous breakdown and rampages through the palace, destroying a statue of Isis while clutching Drusilla's body. Now in a deep depression, Caligula walks the Roman streets disguised as a beggar; he causes a disturbance after watching an amateur performance mocking his relationship with Drusilla. After a brief stay in a city gaol, Caligula proclaims himself a god and becomes determined to destroy the senatorial class, which he has come to loathe. The new reign he leads becomes a series of humiliations against the foundations of Romesenators' wives are forced to work in the service of the state as prostitutes, estates are confiscated, the old religion is desecrated and the army is made to embark on a mock invasion of Britain. Unable to further tolerate his actions, Longinus conspires with Chaerea to assassinate Caligula. Caligula enters his bedroom where a nervous Caesonia awaits him. Another blackbird appears but only Caesonia is frightened of it. The next morning, after rehearsing an Egyptian play, Caligula and his family are attacked in a coup headed by Chaerea. Caesonia and Julia are murdered, and Chaerea stabs Caligula in the stomach. With his final breath, the Emperor defiantly whimpers "I live!" as Caligula and his family's bodies are thrown down the stadium's steps and their blood is washed off the marble floor. Claudius witnesses the entire ordeal and is horrified even after being proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard. Cast Production Development The men's magazine Penthouse had long been involved in film funding, helping invest in films made by other studios, including Chinatown, The Longest Yard and The Day of the Locust, but it had never produced a film on its own. The magazine's founder Bob Guccione wanted to produce an explicit adult film within a feature film narrative that had high production values; he decided to produce a film about the rise and fall of the Roman emperor Caligula. Development began under producer Franco Rossellini, the nephew of filmmaker Roberto Rossellini. A screenplay was written by Lina Wertmüller, but Guccione rejected Wertmüller's script and paid Gore Vidal to write a new screenplay. Vidal's screenplay had a strong focus on homosexuality, leading Guccione to demand rewrites which toned down the homosexual content for wider audience appeal. Guccione was concerned that Vidal's script contained several homosexual sex scenes and only one scene of heterosexual sex, which was between Caligula and his sister Drusilla. Vidal was paid for his screenplay, which was titled Gore Vidal's Caligula. Elaborate sets were built by production designer Danilo Donati, who also designed the film's costumes, jewelry, hair styles, wigs and makeup. Several mainstream actors were cast, Guccione intending to make a film which he felt, like Citizen Kane, would be a landmark in cinematic history. Guccione offered directing duties to John Huston and Lina Wertmüller, both of whom rejected the film. After viewing scenes from the film Salon Kitty, Guccione agreed to have lunch with that film's director Tinto Brass, believing Brass would be the ideal person to direct Caligula. Brass had a reputation for being difficult to deal with on film sets but Guccione thought the film's epic scope would "keep [Brass] in line" and that Brass understood the concept of the film enough to direct it. Brass described Vidal's screenplay as "the work of an aging arteriosclerotic" and agreed to direct only if he was allowed to rewrite Vidal's screenplay. Brass's screenplay expanded the sexual content to include orgies, decorative phalluses, and much female nudity. Guccione said Brass's rewrites were done out of necessity to the film's visual narrative and did not alter the dialogue or content. In an interview for Time magazine, Vidal said that in film production, directors were "parasites" and a film's author was its screenwriter; in response, Brass demanded Vidal's removal from the set and Guccione agreed. Guccione considered film to be a "collective effort, involving the input of a great number of artists and craftsmen", and the director to be the leader of a "team effort". Vidal filed a contractual dispute over the film because of Brass's rewrites; Guccione said Vidal had demanded 10% of the film's profits, which Vidal said was not the case. Vidal distanced himself from the production, calling Brass a "megalomaniac". Brass publicly stated, "If I ever really get mad at Gore Vidal, I'll publish his script". Vidal's name was removed from the film's title; the credits were changed to state that the film was "adapted from a screenplay by Gore Vidal", crediting no official screenwriter. Guccione said, "Gore's work was basically done and Tinto's work was about to begin". Themes and significance The film's primary theme is "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Vidal's script presented Caligula as a good man driven to madness by absolute power; Brass's screenplay envisioned Caligula as a "born monster". In The Encyclopedia of Epic Films, author Djoymi Baker describes Brass's screenplay as "an antiepic with an antihero, on a path of self-inflicted, antisocial descent". Guccione said this final draft was more violent than sexual, stating, "I maintain the film is actually anti-erotic ... in every one of its scenes you'll find a mixture of gore or violence or some other rather ugly things". Casting Orson Welles was initially offered $1 million dollars to star as Tiberius, a figure which would have been his highest ever salary, but he refused on moral grounds when he read the script. Gore Vidal expressed disbelief that this could have ever been the case as he felt that Welles could not have portrayed Tiberius, but then recalled Kenneth Tynan remarking to him at the time that Welles was "upset" by the script. Renowned actors who did accept roles in the film included Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud, with Maria Schneider cast as Caligula's doomed sister Drusilla. Schneider became uncomfortable with appearing nude and in sexual scenes, and left the production, to be replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy, whom Brass had previously worked with on Salon Kitty. Schneider had also apparently angered Brass by sewing up the open tunics she was supposed to wear on camera. Gielgud was also offered the role of Tiberius, which he declined, as he felt Vidal's script was "pornographic"; however, he later accepted the role of Nerva. Director Tinto Brass cast his own acquaintances as senators and noblemen, including ex-convicts, thieves and anarchists. Guccione cast Penthouse Pets as female extras in sexual scenes. Filming Principal photography began in 1976 in Rome. McDowell got along well with Tinto Brass, while Peter O'Toole immediately disliked the director. John Gielgud and Helen Mirren were indifferent to Brass; they ultimately trusted his direction and focused on their own performances. O'Toole had stopped drinking alcohol before filming, but Guccione described O'Toole as being "strung out on something" and said the actor was not sober during the entire filming schedule. During the film's production, McDowell took members of the production to dinner at an expensive restaurant to celebrate England's win in a football match against the Italian team. He left the choreographer to pay for the meal, saying he had forgotten to bring enough money. At the end of the production, McDowell gave his dresser a pendant bearing her name, but it was misspelled and she gave it back to him. McDowell offered her a signet ring, a prop from the film. She refused because it belonged to the production company. Brass decided not to focus much on Danilo Donati's elaborate sets, and intentionally kept the Penthouse Pets in the background during sex scenes. He focused instead on women whom Guccione considered to be unattractive. Brass and Guccione disagreed about the film's approach to sexual content; Guccione preferred unsimulated sexual content that Brass did not want to film. Post-production Filming concluded on 24 December 1976. Guccione said Brass shot enough film to "make the original version of Ben-Hur about 50 times over". Brass started editing the film but was not allowed to continue after he had edited approximately the first hour of it. His rough-cut was disassembled, and the film was edited by several editors, changing its tone and structure significantly by removing and re-arranging many scenes, using different takes, a slower editing style and music other than Brass intended. A few weeks after filming had concluded, Guccione and Giancarlo Lui returned to Rome with several Penthouse Pets. Guccione and Lui "hired a skeleton crew, snuck back into the studios at night, raided the prop room" and shot hardcore sex scenes to edit into the film. Brass ultimately disowned the film. Although there were a number of editors on the film, their names were not credited. Instead, the credit "Editing by the Production" is given during the opening credits. The film was intended for release in English, but with many of the supporting actors/actresses only speaking Italian, their lines needed to be dubbed. Peter O'Toole was reluctant to re-record his English dialogue, he stayed away from the film's producers, then finally agreed to re-record his dialogue. Soundtrack The film was scored by Bruno Nicolai under the name Paul Clemente. According to Kristopher Spencer, the score "is gloriously dramatic, capturing both the decadent atmosphere of ancient Rome and the twisted tragedy of its true story". The score also featured music by Aram Khachaturian (from Spartacus) and Sergei Prokofiev (from Romeo and Juliet). In November 1980, Guccione formed Penthouse Records to release a double album soundtrack to Caligula. The album featured Nicolai's score and two versions—one in a disco style—of a love theme titled "We Are One", which did not appear in the film. Track listing Release An edited version of the film had a limited run in a small town near Forli, Italy before opening in Rome on Sunday, November 11, 1979. In Rome, it was the highest-grossing film of the weekend, with a gross of $59,950 from 6 theaters. The film was confiscated by Italian police on November 15 with the pubblico ministero calling many scenes in the film "flagrantly obscene". In the United States, Guccione refused to submit Caligula to the MPAA because he did not want the film to receive a ratingeven Xwhich he considered to be "demeaning". Instead, Guccione applied his own "Mature Audiences" rating to the film, instructing theater owners not to admit anyone under the age of 18. The film premiered in the United States on 1 February 1980, at the Trans Lux East Theatre, which Guccione had rented exclusively to screen the film; he changed the theater's name to Penthouse East. Rather than leasing prints to exhibitors, the distributor rented theaters that specialized in foreign and art films for the purpose of screening Caligula exclusively in order to keep the film out of theaters that showed pornographic films. In 1981, the Brazilian Board of Censors approved the establishment of special theaters to screen In the Realm of the Senses and Caligula because they were international box office hits. Caligula grossed at the box office. The film was a financial success in France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan. A 105-minute R-rated version without the explicit sexual material was released in 1981. The script was adapted into a novelization written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. Legal problems In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form . In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award, ruling that punitive damages were not allowed by the law governing the case. Reception Contemporary reviews Caligula received generally negative reviews. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, calling it "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash". Ebert wrote, "In the two hours of this film that I saw, there were no scenes of joy, natural pleasure, or good sensual cheer. There was, instead, a nauseating excursion into base and sad fantasies." It is also notable for being one of the few films Ebert ever walked out of—he walked out 2 hours into its 170-minute length after feeling "disgusted and unspeakably depressed". He and Gene Siskel selected the film as one of their "dogs of the year" in a 1980 episode of Sneak Previews. Hank Werba of Variety described the film as a "moral holocaust" in his review. Rex Reed called Caligula "a trough of rotten swill". Jay Scott, reviewing Caligula for The Globe and Mail, said, "Caligula doesn't really work on any level". Scott unfavourably compared Caligula with In the Realm of the Senses, describing the latter film as a better treatment of extreme sexuality. Scott's review went on to say "Rome would seem to be at least as fecund a territory for the cinematic exploration of sex, death and money, as pre-war Japan ... but what's missing from Caligula, which is rife with all three, is any connective tissue (also any point of view, any thought, any meaning)". Scott concluded his review by claiming the whole film's production was "a boondoggle of landmark proportions". New York critic David Denby described the film as "an infinitely degraded version of Fellini Satyricon." Tom Milne (Monthly Film Bulletin) stated that the film was "by no means so awesomely bad as most critics have been pleased to report—but pretty bad all the same" and found the film to be "notable chiefly for the accuracy with which it reflects this anonymity." Caligula continued to garner negative reception long after its release. It has been reappraised by some critics; review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a negative score of 23% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 3.06/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Endlessly perverse and indulgent, Caligula throws in hardcore sex every time the plot threatens to get interesting." Leslie Halliwell said Caligula was "a vile curiosity of interest chiefly to sado-masochists". Time Out London called it "a dreary shambles". Positive criticism of the film came from Moviehole reviewer Clint Morris, who awarded it 3 stars out of 5, calling it "[a] classic in the coolest sense of the word". New Times critic Gregory Weinkauf gave the film 3 out of 5, calling it "Kinda dumb and tacky, but at least it's a real movie". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reviewer Philip Martin also gave the film 3 out of 5. Writers for The Hamilton Spectator and St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Caligula was one of the worst films they'd seen. Writing for The A.V. Club, Keith Phipps said, "As a one-of-a-kind marriage of the historical epic and the porn film ... Caligula deserves a look. But it might be better to let Guccione's savagely unpleasant folly fade into the century that spawned it". Retrospective recognition Caligula has been described as a "cult classic" by William Hawes in a book about the film. Helen Mirren has defended her involvement with the final product of the film and even described Caligula as "an irresistible mix of art and genitals". In 2005, artist Francesco Vezzoli produced a fake trailer for an alleged remake called Gore Vidal's Caligula as a promotion for Versace's new line of accessories; the remake was to star Helen Mirren as "the Empress Tiberius", Gerard Butler as Chaerea, Milla Jovovich as Drusilla, Courtney Love as Caligula, and Karen Black as Agrippina the Elder and featuring an introduction by Gore Vidal. The fake trailer was screened worldwide, including New York City's Whitney Museum of American Art's 2006 Whitney Biennial. Leonardo DiCaprio has cited the film as an influence on his performance as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. Reconstruction attempts In 2007, Caligula was released on DVD and Blu-ray in an "Imperial Edition", which featured the unrated theatrical release version and a new version featuring alternative sequencing from the original theatrical release and without the explicit sexual content shot by Guccione, marking the first attempt to reconstruct the film into a version closer to Brass's intentions. This edition also includes audio commentaries featuring Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren, and interviews with the cast and crew. In February 2018, Penthouse announced that a new cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski. Tuschinski will use 85 minutes of Brass's original workprint and edit the remainder of the film himself. Brass's family supports Tuschinski's effort, but it remains unconfirmed if Brass will be directly involved with the edit. However, the edit is an attempt to realize Brass's original vision for the film. In July 2018, Alexander Tuschinski released his documentary Mission: Caligula on Vimeo. The film explores his relationship to Caligula, the process of reconstructing Brass's vision and Penthouse CEO Kelly Holland's backing of the project. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. See also Unsimulated sex References External links Alexander Tuschinski. Reconstruction of the Director's Cut Alexander Tuschinski. Caligula: Director's Cut (Tinto Brass interview) (YouTube) Caligula on-set photographs by Mario Tursi, (unit photographer) Caligula and Italian censorship (in italian) 1979 films 1979 drama films 1970s biographical drama films 1970s erotic drama films 1970s multilingual films 1970s exploitation films American films American political drama films American biographical drama films Films directed by Tinto Brass Biographical films about Roman emperors Depictions of Caligula on film Cultural depictions of Claudius Cultural depictions of Messalina Cultural depictions of Tiberius Cultural depictions of Agrippina the Younger Drama films based on actual events Epic films based on actual events 1970s English-language films English-language Italian films American epic films American multilingual films American erotic drama films American drama films American historical drama films American independent films American LGBT-related films American exploitation films Films set in ancient Rome Films set in the Roman Empire Films set in the 1st century Films shot in Rome Incest in film Italian films Italian drama films Italian erotic drama films Italian independent films Italian biographical films Italian epic films Italian historical drama films Italian multilingual films Italian LGBT-related films LGBT-related controversies in film Obscenity controversies in film Rating controversies in film Penthouse (magazine) Films based on works by Gore Vidal Historical epic films Films scored by Bruno Nicolai Peplum films 1979 independent films Cultural depictions of Julia Drusilla
true
[ "Sign cricket (also called pub cricket) is a car game which is played in the United Kingdom and other countries with a sufficient number of suitably named pubs. Players score points by spotting pub signs: the score is equal to the total number of physical legs belonging to the people or animals in the pub's name. (For example, the King George would be worth two points.)\n\nRules\nThere are several variations of the rules. A basic version is described in the 1966 AA Book of the Road. Taking it in turns during a journey, one player bats. This means he looks for pubs which the car passes. When one is found he gets a run (point) for each physical leg possessed by the subject of the title of the pub. Thus \"The Jolly Sailor\", a biped, gets 2 points whilst \"The White Horse\", a quadruped, gets 4. If a pub's name is that of an object or concept with no legs, it scores no points. A player is out if the pub name includes the word \"arms\" or \"head\" (e.g. \"The King's Head\", \"The Baker's Arms\"), and it is the next player's turn. The game ends at the end of the journey. The player with the highest score wins.\n\nDisputes\nDisputes can occur with many pub signs. For example, is \"Hogshead\" out (the head of a hog) or no points (the type of barrel known as a hogshead)? Does the \"Highwayman's Arms\" get a player out, treating \"arms\" as naming the highwayman's front limbs, or two points, counting his legs and treating \"arms\" as referring to his weapons? Is \"King Henry's Rest\" two points because of the King or no points because the \"Rest\" is an inanimate object? How many horses are there in \"Coach and Horses\"? Does the slug in \"The Slug and Lettuce\" have one leg or no legs?\n\nThese disputes can be resolved by mutual agreement as they arise but players may prefer to agree house rules in advance. There are three ways to handle signs with plural nouns such as \"The Coach and Horses\": (1) agree that any ill-defined plural noun counts as two of that object (so two horses, for eight points); (2) count the horses on the picture outside the pub (e.g. four horses get 16 points); or (3) agree in advance that ill-defined groups such as \"The Coach and Horses\" or \"The Cavaliers\" count a certain number of runs (e.g. six or ten).\n\nNumberplate cricket\nOne variation on this game scores 'runs' based on car number plates. When the driver gets behind another car, the number plate is examined, and the number plate either scores runs or wickets. The numbers in the plate are added together and multiplied by the number of vowels in the plate. If the answer is 0, then a wicket falls. For example:\n\nAB02XYZ – numbers added together = 2, × 1 vowel = 2 runs\nA999EOU = 9+9+9 (27) × 4 = 108\nFG04SDF = 4 × 0 = 0 (wicket)\n\nPlay continues until the batter loses 10 wickets, then the next player bats.\n\nHigh scoring pubs\nOf commonly occurring pub signs, amongst the best are \"The Seven Swans\" (14 points) and \"Fox and Hounds\" (12 points). Some unusual pub names can score far more – \"The Twenty Church Wardens\", in Cockley Cley, Norfolk, scores 40 points and \"The Million Hare\", in Woolwich, scored 4 million points in the basic version of the game until it was renamed.\n\n\"The Cricketers\" scores four points (the number of cricketers is unspecified, so assume two) but \"The Cricket Team\", if it existed, would score 22 (there are eleven cricketers on a cricket team). \"The Eleven Cricketers\" at Storrington in Sussex, now closed, did score 22 runs since the number of cricketers was specified.\n\nThe \"Duke of York's Men\" can be argued to fetch 20,000 points, by reference to the nursery rhyme, but can also be argued to score only four points as the name does not specify how many men. Similarly, \"The Beehive\" could be argued to equal 60000 points, as there would be at least 10,000 bees in a beehive; conversely it could be argued to gain twelve points as the number of bees are not specified. It could also be argued that the beehive is the hive itself and therefore scores no points.\n\nExample game\nAlice and Bob play the game using the basic version and handling plurals using method (1). Alice is in.\nThe Fox – 4 points (4) \nHenry IV – 2 points (6) \nThe Oak Tree – 0 points (6) \nCoach and Horses – 8 points, because we assume two horses and no passengers (14) \nKing's Head – Alice is out with 14 points, Bob is in \nThe Crown and Anchor – 0 points (0) \nThe Red Lion – 4 points (4) \nThe Three Horseshoes – 0 points (4) \nThe Carpenter's Arms – Bob is out with 4 points, Alice is back in \nThe Pig and Rooster – 6 points (20) \nThe Baker's Arms – Alice is out with 20 points, Bob is back in \nThe Zebra – 4 points (8) \nThe Fox and Hounds – 12 points, because we assume one fox and two hounds (20) \nThe Silver Star – 0 points (20) \nThe Wrestlers – 4 points, because we assume two wrestlers (24) \nThe County Arms – Bob is out with 4 points, Alice is back in \nSir Isaac Newton – 2 points (22)\n\nThe journey ends. Bob wins with 24 points to Alice's 22.\n\nReferences\n\nCar games", "A flammable liquid is a combustible liquid which can be easily ignited in air at ambient temperatures, i.e. it has a flash point at or below nominal threshold temperatures defined by a number of national and international standards organisations.\n\nThe Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the United States Department of Labor defines a liquid as flammable if it has a flash point at or below 199.4 °F (93 °C). Prior to bringing regulations in line with the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) in 2012, OSHA considered flammable liquids to be those with a flash point below 100 °F (37.8 °C). Those with flash points above 100 °F and below 200 °F (93.3 °C) were classified as combustible liquids. Studies show that the actual measure of a liquid's flammability, its flash point, is dependent on altitude.\n\nCategorization \n\nBoth OSHA and GHS further divide flammable liquids into 4 categories:\n\n Category I flammable liquids are those with boiling points ≤ 95 °F (35 °C) and flash points < 73 °F (23 °C)\n Category II flammable liquids are those with boiling points > 95 °F and flash points < 73 °F\n Category III flammable liquids are those with flash points > 73 °F and ≤ 140 °F (60 °C)\n Category IV flammable liquids are those with flash points > 140 °F and ≤ 199.4 °F\n\nThese categorizations are dependent upon a set altitude and atmospheric pressure, as both boiling point and flash point change with changes in pressure.\n\nLabeling \nBoth GHS and OSHA require the labeling of flammable liquids, on containers and safety data sheets, as follows:\n\nSee also \nFire prevention\nFire protection\nFlammability\nList of R-phrases\n\nReferences \n\nFuels" ]
[ "Caligula (film)", "Legal problems", "What were the legal problems?", "When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials.", "What happened during the lawsuit?", "authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide \"the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy\".", "What happened from there?", "Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene.", "Did they get delayed in production?", "I don't know.", "What else did you find interesting in this section?", "\"lacked artistic and scientific value\" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to \"[appeal] to prurient interests\", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values", "What type of political values?", "corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that \"absolute power corrupts absolutely\".", "Did many agree with those points?", "A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula" ]
C_ec630b18dfde49fb8e39646409595e70_0
What was his response?
8
What was A Madison response?
Caligula (film)
In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, Massachusetts, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta, prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form as of 2014. In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award because the punitive damages were determined to be unrecoverable. CANNOTANSWER
"the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law."
Caligula () is a 1979 erotic historical drama film focusing on the rise and fall of the eponymous Roman Emperor Caligula. The film stars Malcolm McDowell in the title role, alongside Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Steiner and John Gielgud. Producer Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse magazine, intended to produce an erotic feature film narrative with high production values and name actors. Gore Vidal originated the idea for a film about the controversial Roman emperor and produced a draft screenplay under the working title Gore Vidal's Caligula. The director, Tinto Brass, extensively altered Vidal's original screenplay, however, leading Vidal to disavow the film. The final screenplay focuses on the idea that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". However, both Brass and Vidal disagreed with Guccione's use of unsimulated sexual content, which Brass refused to film. Because the producers did not allow Brass to edit the film, they changed its tone and style significantly and added hardcore sex scenes not filmed by Brass, thus turning Caligula into an erotic drama featuring Penthouse Pets as extras in unsimulated sex scenes filmed during post-production by Guccione and Giancarlo Lui. This version, released to Italian cinemas in 1979 and American cinemas the following year, disregarded the director's intentions to present the film as a political satire. As a result, Brass also disavowed the film. Caligulas release was met with legal issues and controversies over its violent and sexual content; multiple cut versions were released worldwide, while its uncut form remains banned in several countries. However, the film is considered to be a cult classic with significant merit for its political content and historical portrayal. The script was later adapted into a novelisation written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. In 2018, Penthouse announced that a new Director's Cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski, with the approval of Brass's family. No release date for that cut has been confirmed. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. Plot Caligula is the young heir to the throne of his great uncle, the Emperor Tiberius. One morning, a blackbird flies into his room; Caligula considers this a bad omen. Shortly afterward, one of the heads of the Praetorian Guard, Naevius Sutorius Macro, tells Caligula that Tiberius demands his immediate presence at Capri, where the Emperor lives with his close friend Nerva, dim-witted relative Claudius, and Caligula's adopted son (Tiberius's grandson) Gemellus. Fearing assassination, Caligula is afraid to leave but his sister and lover Drusilla persuades him to go. At Capri, Caligula finds that Tiberius has become depraved, showing signs of advanced venereal diseases, and embittered with Rome and politics. Tiberius enjoys swimming with naked youths and watching degrading sex shows that include deformed people and animals. Caligula observes with fascination and horror. Tensions rise when Tiberius tries to poison Caligula in front of Gemellus. Nerva commits suicide and Caligula tries to kill Tiberius but loses his nerve. Proving his loyalty to Caligula, Macro kills Tiberius instead with Gemellus as a witness. After Tiberius' death and burial, Caligula is proclaimed the new Emperor, then proclaims Drusilla as his equal, to the apparent disgust of the Roman Senate. Drusilla, fearful of Macro's influence, persuades Caligula to get rid of him. Caligula sets up a mock trial in which Gemellus is intimidated into testifying that Macro murdered Tiberius, then has Macro's wife Ennia banished from Rome. After Macro is executed in a gruesome public game, Caligula appoints Tiberius' former adviser Longinus as his personal assistant while pronouncing the docile Senator Chaerea as the new head of the Praetorian Guard. Drusilla tries to find Caligula a wife among the priestesses of the goddess Isis, the cult they secretly practise. Caligula wants to marry Drusilla, but she insists they cannot marry because she is his sister. Instead, Caligula marries Caesonia, a priestess and notorious courtesan, after she bears him an heir. Drusilla reluctantly supports their marriage. Meanwhile, despite Caligula's popularity with the masses, the Senate expresses disapproval for what initially seem to be light eccentricities. Darker aspects of Caligula's personality emerge when he rapes a bride and groom on their wedding day in a minor fit of jealousy and orders Gemellus's execution to provoke a reaction from Drusilla. After discovering that Caesonia is pregnant, Caligula suffers severe fever. Drusilla nurses him back to health. Just as he fully recovers, Caesonia bears him a daughter, Julia Drusilla. During the celebration, Drusilla collapses with the same fever he suffered. Soon afterward, Caligula receives another ill omen in the form of a blackbird. Despite his praying to Isis out of desperation, Drusilla dies from her fever. Initially unable to accept her death, Caligula suffers a nervous breakdown and rampages through the palace, destroying a statue of Isis while clutching Drusilla's body. Now in a deep depression, Caligula walks the Roman streets disguised as a beggar; he causes a disturbance after watching an amateur performance mocking his relationship with Drusilla. After a brief stay in a city gaol, Caligula proclaims himself a god and becomes determined to destroy the senatorial class, which he has come to loathe. The new reign he leads becomes a series of humiliations against the foundations of Romesenators' wives are forced to work in the service of the state as prostitutes, estates are confiscated, the old religion is desecrated and the army is made to embark on a mock invasion of Britain. Unable to further tolerate his actions, Longinus conspires with Chaerea to assassinate Caligula. Caligula enters his bedroom where a nervous Caesonia awaits him. Another blackbird appears but only Caesonia is frightened of it. The next morning, after rehearsing an Egyptian play, Caligula and his family are attacked in a coup headed by Chaerea. Caesonia and Julia are murdered, and Chaerea stabs Caligula in the stomach. With his final breath, the Emperor defiantly whimpers "I live!" as Caligula and his family's bodies are thrown down the stadium's steps and their blood is washed off the marble floor. Claudius witnesses the entire ordeal and is horrified even after being proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard. Cast Production Development The men's magazine Penthouse had long been involved in film funding, helping invest in films made by other studios, including Chinatown, The Longest Yard and The Day of the Locust, but it had never produced a film on its own. The magazine's founder Bob Guccione wanted to produce an explicit adult film within a feature film narrative that had high production values; he decided to produce a film about the rise and fall of the Roman emperor Caligula. Development began under producer Franco Rossellini, the nephew of filmmaker Roberto Rossellini. A screenplay was written by Lina Wertmüller, but Guccione rejected Wertmüller's script and paid Gore Vidal to write a new screenplay. Vidal's screenplay had a strong focus on homosexuality, leading Guccione to demand rewrites which toned down the homosexual content for wider audience appeal. Guccione was concerned that Vidal's script contained several homosexual sex scenes and only one scene of heterosexual sex, which was between Caligula and his sister Drusilla. Vidal was paid for his screenplay, which was titled Gore Vidal's Caligula. Elaborate sets were built by production designer Danilo Donati, who also designed the film's costumes, jewelry, hair styles, wigs and makeup. Several mainstream actors were cast, Guccione intending to make a film which he felt, like Citizen Kane, would be a landmark in cinematic history. Guccione offered directing duties to John Huston and Lina Wertmüller, both of whom rejected the film. After viewing scenes from the film Salon Kitty, Guccione agreed to have lunch with that film's director Tinto Brass, believing Brass would be the ideal person to direct Caligula. Brass had a reputation for being difficult to deal with on film sets but Guccione thought the film's epic scope would "keep [Brass] in line" and that Brass understood the concept of the film enough to direct it. Brass described Vidal's screenplay as "the work of an aging arteriosclerotic" and agreed to direct only if he was allowed to rewrite Vidal's screenplay. Brass's screenplay expanded the sexual content to include orgies, decorative phalluses, and much female nudity. Guccione said Brass's rewrites were done out of necessity to the film's visual narrative and did not alter the dialogue or content. In an interview for Time magazine, Vidal said that in film production, directors were "parasites" and a film's author was its screenwriter; in response, Brass demanded Vidal's removal from the set and Guccione agreed. Guccione considered film to be a "collective effort, involving the input of a great number of artists and craftsmen", and the director to be the leader of a "team effort". Vidal filed a contractual dispute over the film because of Brass's rewrites; Guccione said Vidal had demanded 10% of the film's profits, which Vidal said was not the case. Vidal distanced himself from the production, calling Brass a "megalomaniac". Brass publicly stated, "If I ever really get mad at Gore Vidal, I'll publish his script". Vidal's name was removed from the film's title; the credits were changed to state that the film was "adapted from a screenplay by Gore Vidal", crediting no official screenwriter. Guccione said, "Gore's work was basically done and Tinto's work was about to begin". Themes and significance The film's primary theme is "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Vidal's script presented Caligula as a good man driven to madness by absolute power; Brass's screenplay envisioned Caligula as a "born monster". In The Encyclopedia of Epic Films, author Djoymi Baker describes Brass's screenplay as "an antiepic with an antihero, on a path of self-inflicted, antisocial descent". Guccione said this final draft was more violent than sexual, stating, "I maintain the film is actually anti-erotic ... in every one of its scenes you'll find a mixture of gore or violence or some other rather ugly things". Casting Orson Welles was initially offered $1 million dollars to star as Tiberius, a figure which would have been his highest ever salary, but he refused on moral grounds when he read the script. Gore Vidal expressed disbelief that this could have ever been the case as he felt that Welles could not have portrayed Tiberius, but then recalled Kenneth Tynan remarking to him at the time that Welles was "upset" by the script. Renowned actors who did accept roles in the film included Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud, with Maria Schneider cast as Caligula's doomed sister Drusilla. Schneider became uncomfortable with appearing nude and in sexual scenes, and left the production, to be replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy, whom Brass had previously worked with on Salon Kitty. Schneider had also apparently angered Brass by sewing up the open tunics she was supposed to wear on camera. Gielgud was also offered the role of Tiberius, which he declined, as he felt Vidal's script was "pornographic"; however, he later accepted the role of Nerva. Director Tinto Brass cast his own acquaintances as senators and noblemen, including ex-convicts, thieves and anarchists. Guccione cast Penthouse Pets as female extras in sexual scenes. Filming Principal photography began in 1976 in Rome. McDowell got along well with Tinto Brass, while Peter O'Toole immediately disliked the director. John Gielgud and Helen Mirren were indifferent to Brass; they ultimately trusted his direction and focused on their own performances. O'Toole had stopped drinking alcohol before filming, but Guccione described O'Toole as being "strung out on something" and said the actor was not sober during the entire filming schedule. During the film's production, McDowell took members of the production to dinner at an expensive restaurant to celebrate England's win in a football match against the Italian team. He left the choreographer to pay for the meal, saying he had forgotten to bring enough money. At the end of the production, McDowell gave his dresser a pendant bearing her name, but it was misspelled and she gave it back to him. McDowell offered her a signet ring, a prop from the film. She refused because it belonged to the production company. Brass decided not to focus much on Danilo Donati's elaborate sets, and intentionally kept the Penthouse Pets in the background during sex scenes. He focused instead on women whom Guccione considered to be unattractive. Brass and Guccione disagreed about the film's approach to sexual content; Guccione preferred unsimulated sexual content that Brass did not want to film. Post-production Filming concluded on 24 December 1976. Guccione said Brass shot enough film to "make the original version of Ben-Hur about 50 times over". Brass started editing the film but was not allowed to continue after he had edited approximately the first hour of it. His rough-cut was disassembled, and the film was edited by several editors, changing its tone and structure significantly by removing and re-arranging many scenes, using different takes, a slower editing style and music other than Brass intended. A few weeks after filming had concluded, Guccione and Giancarlo Lui returned to Rome with several Penthouse Pets. Guccione and Lui "hired a skeleton crew, snuck back into the studios at night, raided the prop room" and shot hardcore sex scenes to edit into the film. Brass ultimately disowned the film. Although there were a number of editors on the film, their names were not credited. Instead, the credit "Editing by the Production" is given during the opening credits. The film was intended for release in English, but with many of the supporting actors/actresses only speaking Italian, their lines needed to be dubbed. Peter O'Toole was reluctant to re-record his English dialogue, he stayed away from the film's producers, then finally agreed to re-record his dialogue. Soundtrack The film was scored by Bruno Nicolai under the name Paul Clemente. According to Kristopher Spencer, the score "is gloriously dramatic, capturing both the decadent atmosphere of ancient Rome and the twisted tragedy of its true story". The score also featured music by Aram Khachaturian (from Spartacus) and Sergei Prokofiev (from Romeo and Juliet). In November 1980, Guccione formed Penthouse Records to release a double album soundtrack to Caligula. The album featured Nicolai's score and two versions—one in a disco style—of a love theme titled "We Are One", which did not appear in the film. Track listing Release An edited version of the film had a limited run in a small town near Forli, Italy before opening in Rome on Sunday, November 11, 1979. In Rome, it was the highest-grossing film of the weekend, with a gross of $59,950 from 6 theaters. The film was confiscated by Italian police on November 15 with the pubblico ministero calling many scenes in the film "flagrantly obscene". In the United States, Guccione refused to submit Caligula to the MPAA because he did not want the film to receive a ratingeven Xwhich he considered to be "demeaning". Instead, Guccione applied his own "Mature Audiences" rating to the film, instructing theater owners not to admit anyone under the age of 18. The film premiered in the United States on 1 February 1980, at the Trans Lux East Theatre, which Guccione had rented exclusively to screen the film; he changed the theater's name to Penthouse East. Rather than leasing prints to exhibitors, the distributor rented theaters that specialized in foreign and art films for the purpose of screening Caligula exclusively in order to keep the film out of theaters that showed pornographic films. In 1981, the Brazilian Board of Censors approved the establishment of special theaters to screen In the Realm of the Senses and Caligula because they were international box office hits. Caligula grossed at the box office. The film was a financial success in France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan. A 105-minute R-rated version without the explicit sexual material was released in 1981. The script was adapted into a novelization written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. Legal problems In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form . In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award, ruling that punitive damages were not allowed by the law governing the case. Reception Contemporary reviews Caligula received generally negative reviews. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, calling it "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash". Ebert wrote, "In the two hours of this film that I saw, there were no scenes of joy, natural pleasure, or good sensual cheer. There was, instead, a nauseating excursion into base and sad fantasies." It is also notable for being one of the few films Ebert ever walked out of—he walked out 2 hours into its 170-minute length after feeling "disgusted and unspeakably depressed". He and Gene Siskel selected the film as one of their "dogs of the year" in a 1980 episode of Sneak Previews. Hank Werba of Variety described the film as a "moral holocaust" in his review. Rex Reed called Caligula "a trough of rotten swill". Jay Scott, reviewing Caligula for The Globe and Mail, said, "Caligula doesn't really work on any level". Scott unfavourably compared Caligula with In the Realm of the Senses, describing the latter film as a better treatment of extreme sexuality. Scott's review went on to say "Rome would seem to be at least as fecund a territory for the cinematic exploration of sex, death and money, as pre-war Japan ... but what's missing from Caligula, which is rife with all three, is any connective tissue (also any point of view, any thought, any meaning)". Scott concluded his review by claiming the whole film's production was "a boondoggle of landmark proportions". New York critic David Denby described the film as "an infinitely degraded version of Fellini Satyricon." Tom Milne (Monthly Film Bulletin) stated that the film was "by no means so awesomely bad as most critics have been pleased to report—but pretty bad all the same" and found the film to be "notable chiefly for the accuracy with which it reflects this anonymity." Caligula continued to garner negative reception long after its release. It has been reappraised by some critics; review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a negative score of 23% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 3.06/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Endlessly perverse and indulgent, Caligula throws in hardcore sex every time the plot threatens to get interesting." Leslie Halliwell said Caligula was "a vile curiosity of interest chiefly to sado-masochists". Time Out London called it "a dreary shambles". Positive criticism of the film came from Moviehole reviewer Clint Morris, who awarded it 3 stars out of 5, calling it "[a] classic in the coolest sense of the word". New Times critic Gregory Weinkauf gave the film 3 out of 5, calling it "Kinda dumb and tacky, but at least it's a real movie". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reviewer Philip Martin also gave the film 3 out of 5. Writers for The Hamilton Spectator and St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Caligula was one of the worst films they'd seen. Writing for The A.V. Club, Keith Phipps said, "As a one-of-a-kind marriage of the historical epic and the porn film ... Caligula deserves a look. But it might be better to let Guccione's savagely unpleasant folly fade into the century that spawned it". Retrospective recognition Caligula has been described as a "cult classic" by William Hawes in a book about the film. Helen Mirren has defended her involvement with the final product of the film and even described Caligula as "an irresistible mix of art and genitals". In 2005, artist Francesco Vezzoli produced a fake trailer for an alleged remake called Gore Vidal's Caligula as a promotion for Versace's new line of accessories; the remake was to star Helen Mirren as "the Empress Tiberius", Gerard Butler as Chaerea, Milla Jovovich as Drusilla, Courtney Love as Caligula, and Karen Black as Agrippina the Elder and featuring an introduction by Gore Vidal. The fake trailer was screened worldwide, including New York City's Whitney Museum of American Art's 2006 Whitney Biennial. Leonardo DiCaprio has cited the film as an influence on his performance as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. Reconstruction attempts In 2007, Caligula was released on DVD and Blu-ray in an "Imperial Edition", which featured the unrated theatrical release version and a new version featuring alternative sequencing from the original theatrical release and without the explicit sexual content shot by Guccione, marking the first attempt to reconstruct the film into a version closer to Brass's intentions. This edition also includes audio commentaries featuring Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren, and interviews with the cast and crew. In February 2018, Penthouse announced that a new cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski. Tuschinski will use 85 minutes of Brass's original workprint and edit the remainder of the film himself. Brass's family supports Tuschinski's effort, but it remains unconfirmed if Brass will be directly involved with the edit. However, the edit is an attempt to realize Brass's original vision for the film. In July 2018, Alexander Tuschinski released his documentary Mission: Caligula on Vimeo. The film explores his relationship to Caligula, the process of reconstructing Brass's vision and Penthouse CEO Kelly Holland's backing of the project. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. See also Unsimulated sex References External links Alexander Tuschinski. Reconstruction of the Director's Cut Alexander Tuschinski. Caligula: Director's Cut (Tinto Brass interview) (YouTube) Caligula on-set photographs by Mario Tursi, (unit photographer) Caligula and Italian censorship (in italian) 1979 films 1979 drama films 1970s biographical drama films 1970s erotic drama films 1970s multilingual films 1970s exploitation films American films American political drama films American biographical drama films Films directed by Tinto Brass Biographical films about Roman emperors Depictions of Caligula on film Cultural depictions of Claudius Cultural depictions of Messalina Cultural depictions of Tiberius Cultural depictions of Agrippina the Younger Drama films based on actual events Epic films based on actual events 1970s English-language films English-language Italian films American epic films American multilingual films American erotic drama films American drama films American historical drama films American independent films American LGBT-related films American exploitation films Films set in ancient Rome Films set in the Roman Empire Films set in the 1st century Films shot in Rome Incest in film Italian films Italian drama films Italian erotic drama films Italian independent films Italian biographical films Italian epic films Italian historical drama films Italian multilingual films Italian LGBT-related films LGBT-related controversies in film Obscenity controversies in film Rating controversies in film Penthouse (magazine) Films based on works by Gore Vidal Historical epic films Films scored by Bruno Nicolai Peplum films 1979 independent films Cultural depictions of Julia Drusilla
true
[ "Hugh Raymond Phillips (8 April 1929 – 2018) was an English cricketer. Phillips was a right-handed batsman. He was born at Kuala Lumpur in what was then British Malaya, now Malaysia.\n\nPhillips made a single first-class appearance for Warwickshire against Scotland at Edgbaston in 1951. Scotland won the toss and elected to bat in their first-innings, making 359 all out. In response, Warwickshire made 332 all out, with Phillips scoring 3 runs at number five, before he was dismissed by Samuel Thomson. This was his only first-class batting innings, with the match being declared a draw.\n\nHe died in 2018 in New Zealand.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nHugh Phillips at ESPNcricinfo\nHugh Phillips at CricketArchive\n\n1929 births\n2018 deaths\nSportspeople from Kuala Lumpur\nEnglish cricketers\nWarwickshire cricketers", "Ziyad Marar is an author and President of Global Publishing at SAGE Publishing. He was born in 1966 in Iraq, and moved to London aged 10. He has published four books combining his interests in psychology and philosophy. His fourth Judged: The Value of Being Misunderstood was published in 2018.\n\nBiography \nMarar was born in 1966 in Baghdad, Iraq, then lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Beirut, Lebanon before moving with his family to London in the late 1970s. He attended Exeter University where he obtained a BSc in psychology. He completed an MA in the philosophy and psychology of language from Birkbeck, University of London. Marar joined SAGE in 1989 and has worked across all aspects of publishing. He was appointed Editorial Director in 1997, Deputy Managing Director in 2006, and took on a more global role in 2010 as Global Publishing Director. In 2016, Marar was promoted to President, Global Publishing where he has overall responsibility for SAGE's publishing strategy .\n\nIn recent years at SAGE, Marar has also focused on supporting the social sciences more generally. He has spoken and written on this theme in various international contexts. In early 2015 was appointed to the board of the Campaign for Social Science (CfSS) and in 2020 he was elected as a fellow of the Academy of Social Science, an event he reflected on in a widely read article for Social Science Space.\nIn 2015, Marar was invited to sit on the board of trustees for the UK academic news site, The Conversation.\n\nHe also sits on the boards of the Big House Theatre Company, and The Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights.\n\nMarar has written four books. The Happiness Paradox (2003; covering how philosophy and psychology can create a better understanding of modern identity), Deception (2008; about people's relationship with truth and the possibility of a truly honest life) and Intimacy (2012). and Judged: The Value of Being Misunderstood (2018).\n\nHe lives in London with his wife and three daughters.\n\nMarar tweets @ZiyadMarar\n\nBooks\n Judged: The Value of Being Misunderstood, Bloomsbury, 2018\n Intimacy: Understanding the Subtle Power of Human Connection, Acumen Publishing 2012\nDeception, Acumen Publishing 2008\nThe Happiness Paradox, Reaktion Books 2003\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Profile at Greene Heaton\n Interview with Little Atoms\nResponse to annual Edge Question\n 2017: What scientific term of concept ought to be more widely know?\n https://www.edge.org/response-detail/27118\n 2016: What to you consider the most interesting recent scientific news? What makes it important?\n https://www.edge.org/response-detail/26755\n 2015: What do you think about machines that think?\n https://www.edge.org/response-detail/26105\n SAGE Connection: What's the big deal about big data?\n Times Higher Education: Academic freedom and freedom of voice: Yale's ‘shrieking girl’ and the rush to judgement \n The Guardian: Unloved and sidelined – why are social sciences ignored by politicians\n The Bookseller – Opinion piece on Social Science in the US\n Research Information – Interview on eBook Development\n YouTube – Campaign for Social Sciences Annual Lecture\n The Guardian: Why Does Social Science have such a hard job explaining itself?\n Open Access essay published with the British Academy \n The Guardian: Social Sciences need a collective voice\n Research Information – Opinion blog on cuts to social science funding \n Times Higher Education: Self Confidence crisis in social research\n\n1966 births\nIraqi writers\nLiving people" ]
[ "Caligula (film)", "Legal problems", "What were the legal problems?", "When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials.", "What happened during the lawsuit?", "authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide \"the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy\".", "What happened from there?", "Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene.", "Did they get delayed in production?", "I don't know.", "What else did you find interesting in this section?", "\"lacked artistic and scientific value\" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to \"[appeal] to prurient interests\", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values", "What type of political values?", "corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that \"absolute power corrupts absolutely\".", "Did many agree with those points?", "A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula", "What was his response?", "\"the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law.\"" ]
C_ec630b18dfde49fb8e39646409595e70_0
How did the legal problems end?
9
How did the Caligula legal problems end?
Caligula (film)
In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, Massachusetts, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta, prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form as of 2014. In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award because the punitive damages were determined to be unrecoverable. CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Caligula () is a 1979 erotic historical drama film focusing on the rise and fall of the eponymous Roman Emperor Caligula. The film stars Malcolm McDowell in the title role, alongside Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Steiner and John Gielgud. Producer Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse magazine, intended to produce an erotic feature film narrative with high production values and name actors. Gore Vidal originated the idea for a film about the controversial Roman emperor and produced a draft screenplay under the working title Gore Vidal's Caligula. The director, Tinto Brass, extensively altered Vidal's original screenplay, however, leading Vidal to disavow the film. The final screenplay focuses on the idea that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". However, both Brass and Vidal disagreed with Guccione's use of unsimulated sexual content, which Brass refused to film. Because the producers did not allow Brass to edit the film, they changed its tone and style significantly and added hardcore sex scenes not filmed by Brass, thus turning Caligula into an erotic drama featuring Penthouse Pets as extras in unsimulated sex scenes filmed during post-production by Guccione and Giancarlo Lui. This version, released to Italian cinemas in 1979 and American cinemas the following year, disregarded the director's intentions to present the film as a political satire. As a result, Brass also disavowed the film. Caligulas release was met with legal issues and controversies over its violent and sexual content; multiple cut versions were released worldwide, while its uncut form remains banned in several countries. However, the film is considered to be a cult classic with significant merit for its political content and historical portrayal. The script was later adapted into a novelisation written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. In 2018, Penthouse announced that a new Director's Cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski, with the approval of Brass's family. No release date for that cut has been confirmed. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. Plot Caligula is the young heir to the throne of his great uncle, the Emperor Tiberius. One morning, a blackbird flies into his room; Caligula considers this a bad omen. Shortly afterward, one of the heads of the Praetorian Guard, Naevius Sutorius Macro, tells Caligula that Tiberius demands his immediate presence at Capri, where the Emperor lives with his close friend Nerva, dim-witted relative Claudius, and Caligula's adopted son (Tiberius's grandson) Gemellus. Fearing assassination, Caligula is afraid to leave but his sister and lover Drusilla persuades him to go. At Capri, Caligula finds that Tiberius has become depraved, showing signs of advanced venereal diseases, and embittered with Rome and politics. Tiberius enjoys swimming with naked youths and watching degrading sex shows that include deformed people and animals. Caligula observes with fascination and horror. Tensions rise when Tiberius tries to poison Caligula in front of Gemellus. Nerva commits suicide and Caligula tries to kill Tiberius but loses his nerve. Proving his loyalty to Caligula, Macro kills Tiberius instead with Gemellus as a witness. After Tiberius' death and burial, Caligula is proclaimed the new Emperor, then proclaims Drusilla as his equal, to the apparent disgust of the Roman Senate. Drusilla, fearful of Macro's influence, persuades Caligula to get rid of him. Caligula sets up a mock trial in which Gemellus is intimidated into testifying that Macro murdered Tiberius, then has Macro's wife Ennia banished from Rome. After Macro is executed in a gruesome public game, Caligula appoints Tiberius' former adviser Longinus as his personal assistant while pronouncing the docile Senator Chaerea as the new head of the Praetorian Guard. Drusilla tries to find Caligula a wife among the priestesses of the goddess Isis, the cult they secretly practise. Caligula wants to marry Drusilla, but she insists they cannot marry because she is his sister. Instead, Caligula marries Caesonia, a priestess and notorious courtesan, after she bears him an heir. Drusilla reluctantly supports their marriage. Meanwhile, despite Caligula's popularity with the masses, the Senate expresses disapproval for what initially seem to be light eccentricities. Darker aspects of Caligula's personality emerge when he rapes a bride and groom on their wedding day in a minor fit of jealousy and orders Gemellus's execution to provoke a reaction from Drusilla. After discovering that Caesonia is pregnant, Caligula suffers severe fever. Drusilla nurses him back to health. Just as he fully recovers, Caesonia bears him a daughter, Julia Drusilla. During the celebration, Drusilla collapses with the same fever he suffered. Soon afterward, Caligula receives another ill omen in the form of a blackbird. Despite his praying to Isis out of desperation, Drusilla dies from her fever. Initially unable to accept her death, Caligula suffers a nervous breakdown and rampages through the palace, destroying a statue of Isis while clutching Drusilla's body. Now in a deep depression, Caligula walks the Roman streets disguised as a beggar; he causes a disturbance after watching an amateur performance mocking his relationship with Drusilla. After a brief stay in a city gaol, Caligula proclaims himself a god and becomes determined to destroy the senatorial class, which he has come to loathe. The new reign he leads becomes a series of humiliations against the foundations of Romesenators' wives are forced to work in the service of the state as prostitutes, estates are confiscated, the old religion is desecrated and the army is made to embark on a mock invasion of Britain. Unable to further tolerate his actions, Longinus conspires with Chaerea to assassinate Caligula. Caligula enters his bedroom where a nervous Caesonia awaits him. Another blackbird appears but only Caesonia is frightened of it. The next morning, after rehearsing an Egyptian play, Caligula and his family are attacked in a coup headed by Chaerea. Caesonia and Julia are murdered, and Chaerea stabs Caligula in the stomach. With his final breath, the Emperor defiantly whimpers "I live!" as Caligula and his family's bodies are thrown down the stadium's steps and their blood is washed off the marble floor. Claudius witnesses the entire ordeal and is horrified even after being proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard. Cast Production Development The men's magazine Penthouse had long been involved in film funding, helping invest in films made by other studios, including Chinatown, The Longest Yard and The Day of the Locust, but it had never produced a film on its own. The magazine's founder Bob Guccione wanted to produce an explicit adult film within a feature film narrative that had high production values; he decided to produce a film about the rise and fall of the Roman emperor Caligula. Development began under producer Franco Rossellini, the nephew of filmmaker Roberto Rossellini. A screenplay was written by Lina Wertmüller, but Guccione rejected Wertmüller's script and paid Gore Vidal to write a new screenplay. Vidal's screenplay had a strong focus on homosexuality, leading Guccione to demand rewrites which toned down the homosexual content for wider audience appeal. Guccione was concerned that Vidal's script contained several homosexual sex scenes and only one scene of heterosexual sex, which was between Caligula and his sister Drusilla. Vidal was paid for his screenplay, which was titled Gore Vidal's Caligula. Elaborate sets were built by production designer Danilo Donati, who also designed the film's costumes, jewelry, hair styles, wigs and makeup. Several mainstream actors were cast, Guccione intending to make a film which he felt, like Citizen Kane, would be a landmark in cinematic history. Guccione offered directing duties to John Huston and Lina Wertmüller, both of whom rejected the film. After viewing scenes from the film Salon Kitty, Guccione agreed to have lunch with that film's director Tinto Brass, believing Brass would be the ideal person to direct Caligula. Brass had a reputation for being difficult to deal with on film sets but Guccione thought the film's epic scope would "keep [Brass] in line" and that Brass understood the concept of the film enough to direct it. Brass described Vidal's screenplay as "the work of an aging arteriosclerotic" and agreed to direct only if he was allowed to rewrite Vidal's screenplay. Brass's screenplay expanded the sexual content to include orgies, decorative phalluses, and much female nudity. Guccione said Brass's rewrites were done out of necessity to the film's visual narrative and did not alter the dialogue or content. In an interview for Time magazine, Vidal said that in film production, directors were "parasites" and a film's author was its screenwriter; in response, Brass demanded Vidal's removal from the set and Guccione agreed. Guccione considered film to be a "collective effort, involving the input of a great number of artists and craftsmen", and the director to be the leader of a "team effort". Vidal filed a contractual dispute over the film because of Brass's rewrites; Guccione said Vidal had demanded 10% of the film's profits, which Vidal said was not the case. Vidal distanced himself from the production, calling Brass a "megalomaniac". Brass publicly stated, "If I ever really get mad at Gore Vidal, I'll publish his script". Vidal's name was removed from the film's title; the credits were changed to state that the film was "adapted from a screenplay by Gore Vidal", crediting no official screenwriter. Guccione said, "Gore's work was basically done and Tinto's work was about to begin". Themes and significance The film's primary theme is "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Vidal's script presented Caligula as a good man driven to madness by absolute power; Brass's screenplay envisioned Caligula as a "born monster". In The Encyclopedia of Epic Films, author Djoymi Baker describes Brass's screenplay as "an antiepic with an antihero, on a path of self-inflicted, antisocial descent". Guccione said this final draft was more violent than sexual, stating, "I maintain the film is actually anti-erotic ... in every one of its scenes you'll find a mixture of gore or violence or some other rather ugly things". Casting Orson Welles was initially offered $1 million dollars to star as Tiberius, a figure which would have been his highest ever salary, but he refused on moral grounds when he read the script. Gore Vidal expressed disbelief that this could have ever been the case as he felt that Welles could not have portrayed Tiberius, but then recalled Kenneth Tynan remarking to him at the time that Welles was "upset" by the script. Renowned actors who did accept roles in the film included Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud, with Maria Schneider cast as Caligula's doomed sister Drusilla. Schneider became uncomfortable with appearing nude and in sexual scenes, and left the production, to be replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy, whom Brass had previously worked with on Salon Kitty. Schneider had also apparently angered Brass by sewing up the open tunics she was supposed to wear on camera. Gielgud was also offered the role of Tiberius, which he declined, as he felt Vidal's script was "pornographic"; however, he later accepted the role of Nerva. Director Tinto Brass cast his own acquaintances as senators and noblemen, including ex-convicts, thieves and anarchists. Guccione cast Penthouse Pets as female extras in sexual scenes. Filming Principal photography began in 1976 in Rome. McDowell got along well with Tinto Brass, while Peter O'Toole immediately disliked the director. John Gielgud and Helen Mirren were indifferent to Brass; they ultimately trusted his direction and focused on their own performances. O'Toole had stopped drinking alcohol before filming, but Guccione described O'Toole as being "strung out on something" and said the actor was not sober during the entire filming schedule. During the film's production, McDowell took members of the production to dinner at an expensive restaurant to celebrate England's win in a football match against the Italian team. He left the choreographer to pay for the meal, saying he had forgotten to bring enough money. At the end of the production, McDowell gave his dresser a pendant bearing her name, but it was misspelled and she gave it back to him. McDowell offered her a signet ring, a prop from the film. She refused because it belonged to the production company. Brass decided not to focus much on Danilo Donati's elaborate sets, and intentionally kept the Penthouse Pets in the background during sex scenes. He focused instead on women whom Guccione considered to be unattractive. Brass and Guccione disagreed about the film's approach to sexual content; Guccione preferred unsimulated sexual content that Brass did not want to film. Post-production Filming concluded on 24 December 1976. Guccione said Brass shot enough film to "make the original version of Ben-Hur about 50 times over". Brass started editing the film but was not allowed to continue after he had edited approximately the first hour of it. His rough-cut was disassembled, and the film was edited by several editors, changing its tone and structure significantly by removing and re-arranging many scenes, using different takes, a slower editing style and music other than Brass intended. A few weeks after filming had concluded, Guccione and Giancarlo Lui returned to Rome with several Penthouse Pets. Guccione and Lui "hired a skeleton crew, snuck back into the studios at night, raided the prop room" and shot hardcore sex scenes to edit into the film. Brass ultimately disowned the film. Although there were a number of editors on the film, their names were not credited. Instead, the credit "Editing by the Production" is given during the opening credits. The film was intended for release in English, but with many of the supporting actors/actresses only speaking Italian, their lines needed to be dubbed. Peter O'Toole was reluctant to re-record his English dialogue, he stayed away from the film's producers, then finally agreed to re-record his dialogue. Soundtrack The film was scored by Bruno Nicolai under the name Paul Clemente. According to Kristopher Spencer, the score "is gloriously dramatic, capturing both the decadent atmosphere of ancient Rome and the twisted tragedy of its true story". The score also featured music by Aram Khachaturian (from Spartacus) and Sergei Prokofiev (from Romeo and Juliet). In November 1980, Guccione formed Penthouse Records to release a double album soundtrack to Caligula. The album featured Nicolai's score and two versions—one in a disco style—of a love theme titled "We Are One", which did not appear in the film. Track listing Release An edited version of the film had a limited run in a small town near Forli, Italy before opening in Rome on Sunday, November 11, 1979. In Rome, it was the highest-grossing film of the weekend, with a gross of $59,950 from 6 theaters. The film was confiscated by Italian police on November 15 with the pubblico ministero calling many scenes in the film "flagrantly obscene". In the United States, Guccione refused to submit Caligula to the MPAA because he did not want the film to receive a ratingeven Xwhich he considered to be "demeaning". Instead, Guccione applied his own "Mature Audiences" rating to the film, instructing theater owners not to admit anyone under the age of 18. The film premiered in the United States on 1 February 1980, at the Trans Lux East Theatre, which Guccione had rented exclusively to screen the film; he changed the theater's name to Penthouse East. Rather than leasing prints to exhibitors, the distributor rented theaters that specialized in foreign and art films for the purpose of screening Caligula exclusively in order to keep the film out of theaters that showed pornographic films. In 1981, the Brazilian Board of Censors approved the establishment of special theaters to screen In the Realm of the Senses and Caligula because they were international box office hits. Caligula grossed at the box office. The film was a financial success in France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan. A 105-minute R-rated version without the explicit sexual material was released in 1981. The script was adapted into a novelization written by William Johnston under the pseudonym William Howard. Legal problems In 1979, when Guccione tried to import the film's footage into the U.S., customs officials seized it. Federal officials did not declare the film to be obscene. When the film was released in New York City, the anti-pornography organization Morality in Media unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against these federal officials. In Boston, authorities seized the film. Penthouse took legal action, partly because Guccione thought the legal challenges and moral controversies would provide "the kind of [marketing] coverage money can never buy". Penthouse won the case when a Boston Municipal Court ruled that Caligula had passed the Miller test and was not obscene. While the Boston judge said the film "lacked artistic and scientific value" because of its depiction of sex and considered it to "[appeal] to prurient interests", he said the film's depiction of ancient Rome contained political values which enabled it to pass the Miller test in its depiction of corruption in ancient Rome, which dramatized the political theme that "absolute power corrupts absolutely". A Madison, Wisconsin, district attorney declined an anti-pornography crusader's request to prevent the release of Caligula on the basis that "the most offensive portions of the film are those explicitly depicting violent, and not sexual conduct, which is not in any way prohibited by the criminal law." Atlanta prosecutors threatened legal action if the film was to be screened in the city, but experts testified in court on behalf of the film, and Atlanta, too, declared that the film was not obscene. Citizens for Decency through Law, a private watchdog group which protested against films which it deemed immoral, sought to prevent the film's exhibition in Fairlawn, Ohio, on the grounds that it would be a "public nuisance", leading Penthouse to withdraw the film from exhibition there to avoid another trial. CDL's lawyer advised against attempting to prosecute Penthouse for obscenity and instead recommended a civil proceeding, because the film would not be placed against the Miller test. The Penthouse attorney described the Fairlawn events as being driven by conservative morality reinforced by Ronald Reagan's presidential victory, stating, "Apparently, these extremists have interpreted a change by administration to mean a clarion call for a mandate to shackle the public's mind again." The uncut film was granted a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification in 2008. The film was banned in Australia, where it continues to be banned in its uncut form . In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming sexual harassment. In 1990, after a protracted litigation, a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages. On appeal, court vacated the award, ruling that punitive damages were not allowed by the law governing the case. Reception Contemporary reviews Caligula received generally negative reviews. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, calling it "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash". Ebert wrote, "In the two hours of this film that I saw, there were no scenes of joy, natural pleasure, or good sensual cheer. There was, instead, a nauseating excursion into base and sad fantasies." It is also notable for being one of the few films Ebert ever walked out of—he walked out 2 hours into its 170-minute length after feeling "disgusted and unspeakably depressed". He and Gene Siskel selected the film as one of their "dogs of the year" in a 1980 episode of Sneak Previews. Hank Werba of Variety described the film as a "moral holocaust" in his review. Rex Reed called Caligula "a trough of rotten swill". Jay Scott, reviewing Caligula for The Globe and Mail, said, "Caligula doesn't really work on any level". Scott unfavourably compared Caligula with In the Realm of the Senses, describing the latter film as a better treatment of extreme sexuality. Scott's review went on to say "Rome would seem to be at least as fecund a territory for the cinematic exploration of sex, death and money, as pre-war Japan ... but what's missing from Caligula, which is rife with all three, is any connective tissue (also any point of view, any thought, any meaning)". Scott concluded his review by claiming the whole film's production was "a boondoggle of landmark proportions". New York critic David Denby described the film as "an infinitely degraded version of Fellini Satyricon." Tom Milne (Monthly Film Bulletin) stated that the film was "by no means so awesomely bad as most critics have been pleased to report—but pretty bad all the same" and found the film to be "notable chiefly for the accuracy with which it reflects this anonymity." Caligula continued to garner negative reception long after its release. It has been reappraised by some critics; review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a negative score of 23% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 3.06/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Endlessly perverse and indulgent, Caligula throws in hardcore sex every time the plot threatens to get interesting." Leslie Halliwell said Caligula was "a vile curiosity of interest chiefly to sado-masochists". Time Out London called it "a dreary shambles". Positive criticism of the film came from Moviehole reviewer Clint Morris, who awarded it 3 stars out of 5, calling it "[a] classic in the coolest sense of the word". New Times critic Gregory Weinkauf gave the film 3 out of 5, calling it "Kinda dumb and tacky, but at least it's a real movie". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reviewer Philip Martin also gave the film 3 out of 5. Writers for The Hamilton Spectator and St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Caligula was one of the worst films they'd seen. Writing for The A.V. Club, Keith Phipps said, "As a one-of-a-kind marriage of the historical epic and the porn film ... Caligula deserves a look. But it might be better to let Guccione's savagely unpleasant folly fade into the century that spawned it". Retrospective recognition Caligula has been described as a "cult classic" by William Hawes in a book about the film. Helen Mirren has defended her involvement with the final product of the film and even described Caligula as "an irresistible mix of art and genitals". In 2005, artist Francesco Vezzoli produced a fake trailer for an alleged remake called Gore Vidal's Caligula as a promotion for Versace's new line of accessories; the remake was to star Helen Mirren as "the Empress Tiberius", Gerard Butler as Chaerea, Milla Jovovich as Drusilla, Courtney Love as Caligula, and Karen Black as Agrippina the Elder and featuring an introduction by Gore Vidal. The fake trailer was screened worldwide, including New York City's Whitney Museum of American Art's 2006 Whitney Biennial. Leonardo DiCaprio has cited the film as an influence on his performance as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. Reconstruction attempts In 2007, Caligula was released on DVD and Blu-ray in an "Imperial Edition", which featured the unrated theatrical release version and a new version featuring alternative sequencing from the original theatrical release and without the explicit sexual content shot by Guccione, marking the first attempt to reconstruct the film into a version closer to Brass's intentions. This edition also includes audio commentaries featuring Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren, and interviews with the cast and crew. In February 2018, Penthouse announced that a new cut of the film was being edited by Alexander Tuschinski. Tuschinski will use 85 minutes of Brass's original workprint and edit the remainder of the film himself. Brass's family supports Tuschinski's effort, but it remains unconfirmed if Brass will be directly involved with the edit. However, the edit is an attempt to realize Brass's original vision for the film. In July 2018, Alexander Tuschinski released his documentary Mission: Caligula on Vimeo. The film explores his relationship to Caligula, the process of reconstructing Brass's vision and Penthouse CEO Kelly Holland's backing of the project. In 2020, another version of the film was announced to be released in the fall of that year, edited by E. Elias Merhige to follow more closely Gore Vidal's original screenplay instead of Tinto Brass's or Bob Guccione's vision. See also Unsimulated sex References External links Alexander Tuschinski. Reconstruction of the Director's Cut Alexander Tuschinski. Caligula: Director's Cut (Tinto Brass interview) (YouTube) Caligula on-set photographs by Mario Tursi, (unit photographer) Caligula and Italian censorship (in italian) 1979 films 1979 drama films 1970s biographical drama films 1970s erotic drama films 1970s multilingual films 1970s exploitation films American films American political drama films American biographical drama films Films directed by Tinto Brass Biographical films about Roman emperors Depictions of Caligula on film Cultural depictions of Claudius Cultural depictions of Messalina Cultural depictions of Tiberius Cultural depictions of Agrippina the Younger Drama films based on actual events Epic films based on actual events 1970s English-language films English-language Italian films American epic films American multilingual films American erotic drama films American drama films American historical drama films American independent films American LGBT-related films American exploitation films Films set in ancient Rome Films set in the Roman Empire Films set in the 1st century Films shot in Rome Incest in film Italian films Italian drama films Italian erotic drama films Italian independent films Italian biographical films Italian epic films Italian historical drama films Italian multilingual films Italian LGBT-related films LGBT-related controversies in film Obscenity controversies in film Rating controversies in film Penthouse (magazine) Films based on works by Gore Vidal Historical epic films Films scored by Bruno Nicolai Peplum films 1979 independent films Cultural depictions of Julia Drusilla
false
[ "António Castanheira Neves (born 8 November 1929 in Tábua) is a Portuguese legal philosopher and a professor emeritus at the law faculty of the University of Coimbra.\n\nAccording to Castanheira Neves, law can only be understood through legal problems (roughly, legal cases), which have to be solved within the legal system (including a necessary connection to morality). Law, he claims, is not something given or previous, but the solution to legal problems. Legal problems are the decisive starting point. His opposition to positivism, to natural law and to the several theories of legal syllogism would make him one of the first and most accomplished advocates of interpretivism.\n\nCastanheira Neves, however, has always claimed that law — the task of lawyers — is not essentially interpretive or hermeneutical, but practical, i.e., action guiding. He maintains that legal interpretation is not a necessary feature of legal reasoning. On the contrary, law always arises from legal problems, which are concrete, historically situated, normative, and practical. Every legal decision aims to settle what someone (legally) ought to do in a particular case in a particular historical (and social) situation, and that is its defining feature. A legal decision is also itself an action. Interpretation is not always needed and, when it is, it is auxiliary.\n\nThe central tenets of Castanheira Neves' philosophy of law were made clear in his 1967 massive book on the philosophical and methodological distinction between matter of fact and matter of law. Castanheira Neves addresses the similarities and significant differences between his and Dworkin's theses in the last part of his 2003 book.\n\nCastanheira Neves also claims that there is no law in general norms (rules, principles, etc.) as laid down by legislators, but only in solving particular cases. To this thesis, he calls \"jurisprudentialism\".\n\nLaw is not an element, but a synthesis, not a premise for validity, but fulfilled validity, not a prius, but a posterius, not a given, but a solution, it is not in the beginning, but in the end. (Castanheira Neves, 1967, p. 586)\n\nIn this, he was preceded by authors like Viehweg and schools of thought like critical legal studies, but he differed from these authors as he claimed it to be essential to law as a normative matter, and not only descriptively. His position is therefore equivalent, in this subject, to J. Dancy's later moral particularism. Castanheira Neves would come to agree with Gadamer's dictum that all interpretation is application (as Dworkin did).\n\nMajor works\n(1967) Questão-de-facto — questão-de-direito ou o problema metodológico da juridicidade, Coimbra: Almedina. Matter of fact / matter of law, or the methodological problem of legality.\n(1983) O instituto dos \"assentos\" e a função jurídica dos supremos tribunais, Coimbra: offprint of RLJ. The institute of \"assentos\" and the legal function of supreme courts, first published between 1973 and 1982.\n(1993) Metodologia jurídica. Problemas fundamentais, Coimbra: Coimbra Editora, 1993. Legal methodology / Fundamental problems.\n(1995) Digesta: escritos acerca do direito, do pensamento jurídico, da sua metodologia e outros, 2 vols., Coimbra: Coimbra Editora. Digesta is a collection of works first published between 1968 and 1994, including:\n(1976) A revolução e o direito (Revolution and law),\n(1979) A unidade do sistema jurídico (The unity of the legal system), and\n(1982) Fontes do direito (Sources of the law).\n(2003) O actual problema metodológico da interpretação jurídica, Coimbra: Coimbra Editora. The present day methodological problem of legal interpretation.\n\nReferences\nJ. Figueiredo Dias, J. J. Gomes Canotilho, J. Faria Costa (eds.) (2008) Studia Iuridica 90 - Ars Ivdicandi - Estudos em Homenagem ao Prof. Doutor António Castanheira Neves. Coimbra: Coimbra Editora (1324 pp., including a short biography and a complete list of his works).\n \n\n1929 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Tábua\nPhilosophers of law", "The Legal Aid Agency is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the United Kingdom. It provides both civil and criminal legal aid and advice in England and Wales. The agency was formed on 1 April 2013 as a replacement for the Legal Services Commission, which unlike the Legal Aid Agency, was a non-departmental public body of the MoJ. This change was enacted by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 to allow for greater ministerial control over the UK government's legal aid budget.\n\nChief executive \nUntil recently, the agency's Chief Executive, the Director of Legal Casework, was Shaun McNally (since April 2016.) However, in March 2021 this role has now been taken over by Jane Harbottle, who has herself confirmed \"it is an honour.\"\n\nThe Chief Executive's role primarily involved achieving the departments policies, ensuring a diverse and competent workforce, as well as making sure the Legal Aid Agency meets statutory obligations. It is also his or her decision about legal aid funding in individual cases.\n\nAchievements \nIn 2019, the Legal Aid Agency processed 91% of civil applications for legal aid within 20 days, and 100% of crime applications within 2 days. In total, they processed 400,000 applications for legal aid.\n\nCriticism \nThe Legal Aid Agency has been criticised by the Law society because many areas of the country have little or no legal aid providers. Additionally, there have been disapprovals of the Legal Aid Agency's handling of exceptional case funding (ECP). ECP is legal funding for a case which does not fall within the scope of LASPO. The Legal Aid Agency had planned for 5,000 to 7,000 applications for ECP in the first year post LASPO, however only achieved 1,520.\n\nFurther criticism stems from the Legal Aid Agency's payment and treatment of legal aid providers. Funding provided by the Legal Aid Agency can often take years to come through to barristers. This was identified by the Law Society of England and Wales during the pandemic, who pushed for further guidance from the Legal Aid Agency regarding cash flow problems. The Law Society also expressed their view in a different report that fees provided by the Legal Aid Agency should be paid more fairly, and cover out-of-work hours performed by legal aid providers.\n\nIn 2017, the Bach Commission called for the replacement of the Legal Aid Agency with an independent body that does not have any government involvement.\n\nIn a 2018 High court Judgement, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) lost another Judicial Review. The case was to decide how much the LAA pays out in complex fraud cases. \n\nIn 2020 Soclitors' leaders launched legal action against the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). The Judicial Review was called because the LAA did not consult solicitors on changes to bringing cost assessment in house. This would mean there would be no independent review of how much the LAA would payout. So essentially the LAA would not be able to dispute payment with itself.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Legal Aid Agency\n\nMinistry of Justice (United Kingdom)\nExecutive agencies of the United Kingdom government\nEnglish law\nLegal aid\nSolicitors\n2013 establishments in the United Kingdom" ]
[ "Bernie Leadon", "Early life and musical beginnings" ]
C_999f9d9ff37c4fa4a5d16a2a9777cd01_1
Where was Bernie born?
1
Where was Bernie Leadon born?
Bernie Leadon
Leadon was born in Minneapolis, one of ten siblings, to Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon, devout Roman Catholics. His father was an aerospace engineer and nuclear physicist whose career moved the family around the U.S. The family enjoyed music and, at an early age, Bernie developed an interest in folk and bluegrass music. He eventually mastered the 5-string banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar. As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit, the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. His stint in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers did not last long. In late 1963, his family once again relocated to Gainesville, Florida, when his father accepted a position as Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. Leadon attended Gainesville High School, where he met classmate and future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. Upon Leadon's joining the group, rechristened Maundy Quintet, they gigged locally, even sharing the bill with future Gainesville legend Tom Petty and his early band the Epics (a band that also included Bernie's brother, musician Tom Leadon). A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967, to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group, Hearts & Flowers, was enticing enough for Leadon to return to California, where he soon became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, their second release Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. CANNOTANSWER
Leadon was born in Minneapolis,
Bernie Leadon (pronounced led-un; born July 19, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of three country rock bands: Hearts & Flowers, Dillard & Clark, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, dobro) coming from a bluegrass background. He introduced elements of this music to a mainstream audience during his tenure with the Eagles. Leadon's music career since leaving the Eagles has been low-key, resulting in two solo albums (the first actually being a collaborative project with Michael Georgiades) with a gap of 27 years in between. Leadon has also appeared on many other artists' records as a session musician. Early life and musical beginnings In San Diego, California, Leadon met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. He later met future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967 to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group Hearts & Flowers brought Leadon to California, where he became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, its second release, Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women, for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. Dillard & Clark By late 1968, Leadon had befriended bluegrass/banjo legend Doug Dillard, late of the Dillards. While staying with Dillard, informal jam sessions with prolific songwriter and ex-Byrds member Gene Clark began to take shape, and morphed into what eventually became Dillard & Clark, a seminal country-rock band who laid the groundwork for the country-rock sound that dominated the L.A. music scene for the next decade. In 1968, the group recorded their classic and highly influential LP, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark. The album featured Leadon's warm and distinctive backing vocals and impressive multi-instrumental work. The album's highlights include several compositions co-written with Clark, most notably the future Eagles staple (and somewhat of a signature song for Leadon) from their debut album, "Train Leaves Here This Morning". The Flying Burrito Brothers Leadon left Dillard & Clark in 1969, eventually reconnecting with ex-Squirrel Barker (and ex-Byrd) Chris Hillman, who asked him to join the Flying Burrito Brothers, a fledgling country-rock band that Hillman had formed a year earlier with fellow ex-Byrd Gram Parsons. Leadon recorded two albums with the group: Burrito Deluxe and the post-Parsons LP The Flying Burrito Bros. After the latter album's release in 1971, Leadon had tired of the band's lack of commercial success and decided to leave the band to pursue an opportunity to play with three musicians he had worked with while moonlighting in Linda Ronstadt's backing band that summer. The resultant project, the Eagles, found the success he had craved. Eagles Leadon was the last original member to join the Eagles, a band initially formed by guitarist/singer Glenn Frey, drummer/singer Don Henley, and former Poco bassist/singer Randy Meisner. Leadon is often credited with helping shape the band's early country-rock sound, bringing his strong sense of harmony as well as his country, bluegrass and acoustic sensibilities to the group. Instruments he played during his tenure in the band were electric guitar, B-Bender, acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, dobro, and pedal steel guitar. Upon the release of their debut album, Eagles, the group met with near instantaneous success, due largely to the strength of their hit singles "Take It Easy", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", and "Witchy Woman" (co-written by Leadon and Henley), all of which highlighted Leadon's multi-instrumental talent on electric guitar, B-Bender, banjo, and harmony vocals. Their follow-up, Desperado, was another strong country-rock venture highlighted by the classics "Tequila Sunrise" and the title track. Leadon had a prominent role on the album, but it was met by surprisingly lukewarm reviews and lackluster sales. As a result, the band attempted to distance itself from the "country rock" label for their third album On the Border. In doing so, Leadon encouraged the group to recruit his old friend, guitarist Don Felder, to the band. The result was the guitar-heavy top 40 hit "Already Gone". The album also included "My Man", Leadon's touching tribute to his old bandmate and friend Gram Parsons, who had died of a drug overdose the year prior at Joshua Tree National Monument in southeastern California. With the wild success of On the Border and its follow-up smash, One of These Nights, tension within the band grew, with some sources saying Leadon grew increasingly frustrated by the band's direction away from his beloved country and bluegrass and toward album-oriented stadium rock. He famously quit the band in 1975 by pouring a beer over Glenn Frey's head. He later cited a need to get healthy and break the vicious cycle of touring, recording, and heavy drug use that was rampant within the band. Upon Leadon's departure, Asylum Records released Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975), which highlighted the band's Leadon years and went on to become the best-selling album in United States history, with sales in excess of 38 million units. He was replaced by former James Gang guitarist and singer Joe Walsh. Although it has long been believed that he left because he was dissatisfied with the band moving into rock and roll, Leadon denies it and said in 2013, "That's an oversimplification; it implies that I had no interest in rock or blues or anything but country rock. That's just not the case. I didn't just play Fender Telecaster. I played a Gibson Les Paul and I enjoyed rock & roll. That's evident from the early albums." Later career Upon leaving the Eagles, Leadon retreated from the limelight, only to resurface in 1977 with musician friend Michael Georgiades for the album, Natural Progressions (credited to The Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades Band), featuring Leadon and Georgiades on guitars and alternating lead vocals, along with Bryan Garofalo on bass, Dave Kemper on drums, and Steve Goldstein on keyboard. In 1985, he recorded an album of bluegrass and gospel favorites under the name Ever Call Ready, featuring Chris Hillman and Al Perkins. He also had a short stint with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the late 1980s. In 1993, he became a member of Run C&W, a novelty group singing Motown hits "bluegrass style", recording two albums for MCA Records. In 1998, Leadon reunited with the Eagles in New York City for the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All seven current and former Eagles members performed together on "Take It Easy" and "Hotel California". In 2004, he released his second solo effort in 27 years (and his first under solely his name), Mirror. Leadon toured with The Eagles from 2013 through 2015 during their History of the Eagles Tour In 2015, Leadon appeared on producer Ethan Johns' third solo album, Silver Liner. In February 2016, Leadon appeared at the Grammy Awards ceremony with Jackson Browne and the current surviving Eagles members - Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit - performing "Take it Easy", in tribute to Glenn Frey who had died a month earlier. Personal life His brother is musician Tom Leadon, who played in the band Mudcrutch, which began the career of Tom Petty. For a few years in the mid-1970s, Leadon lived in Topanga Canyon, a bohemian enclave known for its musician residents. Leadon's house-plus-recording-studio had previously been owned by singer-songwriter Neil Young, and was the site of frequent parties. Leadon lived with Patti Davis, the free-spirited daughter of conservative California Governor Ronald Reagan, who was at that time campaigning for president, and distancing himself from his daughter because Leadon and she were unmarried but living together. Leadon and Davis co-wrote the song "I Wish You Peace", which Leadon insisted the Eagles include on the album One of These Nights, against the wishes of his bandmates. He currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is a session musician and producer. Discography References Sources External links Bernie Leadon Online The Complete Hearts and Flowers Liner Notes The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers Rock of Ages' Bernie Leadon Interview Bernie Leadon's Official Website-Archived American male singer-songwriters American multi-instrumentalists American bluegrass musicians American country rock musicians American banjoists American bluegrass guitarists American male guitarists American bluegrass mandolinists American country banjoists American country guitarists American country mandolinists American country singer-songwriters American country rock singers American rock guitarists American session musicians 1947 births Living people Grammy Award winners Singer-songwriters from California American mandolinists American surfers Lead guitarists Pedal steel guitarists Resonator guitarists Eagles (band) members The Flying Burrito Brothers members Nitty Gritty Dirt Band members Asylum Records artists Musicians from Minneapolis Gainesville High School (Florida) alumni People from Topanga, California 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American composers Singer-songwriters from Minnesota Guitarists from Minnesota 20th-century American guitarists Catholics from California Run C&W members Country musicians from California Country musicians from Minnesota
false
[ "Mike and Bernie Winters were an English comedy double act, consisting of brothers Mike Winters, born Michael Weinstein (15 November 1926 – 24 August 2013) and Bernie Winters, born Bernard Weinstein (6 September 1930 – 4 May 1991). The act was very popular in the United Kingdom from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s.\n\nEarly life\nThe Winters brothers were born in Islington. One of their grandfathers, who had arrived in Britain from Russia aged 16, ran a restaurant in Parfett Street, Whitechapel. Samuel, Mike and Bernie's father, was a boxer and gambler; their mother, Rachel, came from a circus family. In an interview posted on YouTube, a man purporting to be Mike Winters says that Rachel's brothers were champion boxers Jack Bloomfield and Joe Bloomfield.\n\nWhen Bernie was three, the Weinstein family moved to a house in Tottenham, across the road from George Marks, who later became Harrison Marks, the glamour photographer. Mike recalled that it was with George that he mounted his first 'promotion'. \"We would dress up in whatever clothes we had managed to scrounge from our parents and put on shows in our garden.\" (pp17 Shake a Pagoda Tree W.H. Allen 1976)). Bernie's friend was Danny Sewell, younger brother of George who went on to star in such shows as Special Branch and UFO. Danny was the local heavy and used to look after Bernie. \"If anybody said anything nasty to me, he (Danny) hit them.\"\n\nMike won a scholarship to Tottenham Grammar School but was evacuated to Wiltshire with his younger brother where he eventually ended up at the City of Oxford High School for Boys. At 15 Mike won a scholarship and grant to the Royal Academy of Music to study clarinet, where he was one of the founders of the Royal Academy of Music Jazz Quintet. Bernie moved along the apprenticeship route, getting a job at the Regency Club in London's Soho where he played the ukulele and performed as a comedian.\n\nDuring World War II, Mike, underage, was in the Merchant Navy. Following a medical discharge he enlisted in the Canadian Legion as a musician and after a year was promoted to the honorary rank of captain. Bernie served alongside Mike as a drummer in the Canadian Legion. After the war, Bernie took drumming lessons at the London Palladium and Mike, who had studied clarinet at the Academy, formed a double act playing musical items and doing impressions.\n\nShortly after being discharged, the pair won a talent contest held in Manchester. They won the first prize which was a one-week tour of variety theatres. Despite changing their stage name to the Winters brothers, they were not successful at first, and went their separate ways for a time. The pair got back together in the form of a three-handed act called The Three Loose Screws where they learnt to dance and improve their skills.\n\nDouble act\n\nOn 25 June 1955, Mike and Bernie made their first television appearance. This was on the BBC show Variety Parade, which was a great hit. The brothers stayed with the show until 1958. Their next move, secured by their agent Joe Collins (father of Joan Collins and Jackie Collins), was to the ITV show Sunday Night at the London Palladium, which at the time was the most important variety show on UK television. Due to their popularity they were invited to appear before Queen Elizabeth II at the 1962 Royal Variety Show. In 1963 they starred alongside Frankie Howerd and Tommy Cooper in the Michael Winner film The Cool Mikado. By 1965, their act was a great success, thanks in part to the shows Big Night Out and its follow-up, Blackpool Night Out. Features of their act were that Mike would appear on stage first, often playing the clarinet. Bernie would then poke his head through a curtain and say \"Eeeeh!\", followed by him pulling Mike's cheeks and calling him \"choochy-face\". Bernie also had the cheery catchphrase \"I'll smash yer face in\".\nIn appearance, Mike was slightly built and sharply dressed, whilst Bernie was larger and displayed his slightly protruding front teeth to produce a mildly gormless and 'goofy' look.\n\nThe brothers were rewarded with their own show that ran from 1965 to 1973. On Mothering Sunday, 24 March 1974, they again appeared on Sunday Night at the London Palladium. The following year they appeared as guest stars on The Peters and Lee Story on ATV on 27 December 1975. The BBC TV series The Story of Light Entertainment reported that Bernie had had a long running affair with a dancer 20 years his junior, Dinah May, and that caused friction between the brothers. They finally broke up in 1978.\n\nSolo careers\n\nMike moved to Florida because his wife, Cassie Winters, suffered from arthritis and Bernie went solo in the UK, signing a contract with Thames Television. Bernie's biggest success was his eponymous series where his comedy \"partner\" was a St Bernard dog named Schnorbitz. Bernie Winters owned and trained Schnorbitz, and the dog played a major part in his later career. The comic Harry Hill also introduced a St Bernard named Schnorbitz into his act, although he was keen to stress that it was not the same dog.\n\nIn 1987, Bernie hosted a quiz show on HTV called Scribble. He also presented a UK version of Make Me Laugh, a Tyne Tees Television production for ITV. The show launched the comedy career of Brian Conley. He was also one of the hosts of the long running ITV show Whose Baby?, taking over from Leslie Crowther in the mid-1980s.\n\nIn the 1980s, the brothers finally made peace with each other, but they never worked together again. Bernie Winters died on 4 May 1991, aged 60, from stomach cancer.\n\nMike opened the first theatre club in Miami and worked with boxing manager Angelo Dundee, presenting black-tie boxing events. Mike was also active in charity work, with visits to Miami from Muhammad Ali, Prince Michael of Kent and Prince Edward and was awarded the city of Miami keys by the mayor. With Jude Parry, Mike also co-produced, directed, performed in and wrote the first British professional pantomime to appear in Florida, continuing to do so for five years. Davy Jones of the Monkees appeared. He published five books: a biography of Angelo Dundee, and The Axis of Greatness about the relationship between Angelo and his boxers Sugar Ray Leonard and Ali. He also wrote two novels, Miami One Way and Razor Sharp. His final book was a light-hearted memoir, The Sunny Side of Winters. He finally moved to Fairford, Gloucestershire, with his wife of 57 years. He died on 24 August 2013 aged 86.\n\nFootnotes\n\nExternal links\n\n Television Heaven\n\nJewish English male actors\nJewish English comedians\nEnglish male television actors\nMusic hall performers\nEnglish comedy duos\nSibling duos", "Bernie S. (born Edward Cummings) is a computer hacker living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a regular panelist on the WBAI radio show Off the Hook. In 2001 he appeared in Freedom Downtime, a documentary produced by 2600 Films.\n\nConfiscation\nIn 1995, the police department of Haverford Township, Pennsylvania happened upon what they believed to be a drug transaction. However, upon looking closer, they discovered Bernie and others were actually buying and selling crystals used in crystal radio and other technological applications. The police who responded were not knowledgeable about technology or computers, which led them to confiscate all the crystals as suspicious materials along with some reading material such as The Whole Spy Catalog.\n\nAfter the United States Secret Service inquired about the seized equipment, Special Agent Thomas Varney informed local police that some of the equipment was for illicit purposes only. Bernie was subsequently arrested and charged with possession of a non-working RadioShack Red box (phreaking) tone phone dialer. Additional materials were seized and never returned.\n\nCriminal complaint\nCharges were filed against Edward E. Cummings (case number 95-320) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The charges were for the possession of a speed dialer, an IBM Thinkpad laptop, and computer discs which could be used for unauthorized telecommunications access. The Grand Jury convened on March 13, 1995, and Bernie S's trial was scheduled for September 8, 1995. Varney labeled Bernie S a danger to society for having too much information, due to the publishing by 2600 Films and Bernie S of Secret Service offices locations, phone numbers, and radio frequencies, along with photos and codes.\n\nImprisonment\nOn September 7, 1995, Bernie S. pleaded guilty to possession of technology which could be used in a fraudulent manner. He was released on October 13, 1995. In January 1996, he was arrested for tampering with evidence, a violation of the conditions set for his probation. In March 1996, he received a sentence of 6 to 24 months.\n\nWhile awaiting a parole hearing, he was charged by Bucks County, Pennsylvania prison officials with misuse of the telephone system when he received a call from Rob Bernstein, a reporter for Internet Underground. The charges could have added as much as nine months to his sentence. Bernie S. appealed the decision, and he filed a grievance for harassment and intimidation against the prison. While awaiting his release on parole, he was moved to a high-security facility, where he was attacked by a fellow inmate and suffered a broken arm and jaw.\n\nAfter a letter writing campaign, a telephone campaign, and a physical demonstration outside the prison where he was housed, on September 13, 1996 Bernie S. was released on parole.\n\nSee also\n 2600: The Hacker Quarterly\n 2600's Off The Wall Radio Program\n Haverford Township Police Department\n The Secret Service Big Brother is Watching You\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nPlace of birth missing (living people)\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nLiving people\n2600: The Hacker Quarterly" ]
[ "Bernie Leadon", "Early life and musical beginnings", "Where was Bernie born?", "Leadon was born in Minneapolis," ]
C_999f9d9ff37c4fa4a5d16a2a9777cd01_1
Who were his parents?
2
Who were Bernie Leadon's parents?
Bernie Leadon
Leadon was born in Minneapolis, one of ten siblings, to Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon, devout Roman Catholics. His father was an aerospace engineer and nuclear physicist whose career moved the family around the U.S. The family enjoyed music and, at an early age, Bernie developed an interest in folk and bluegrass music. He eventually mastered the 5-string banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar. As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit, the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. His stint in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers did not last long. In late 1963, his family once again relocated to Gainesville, Florida, when his father accepted a position as Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. Leadon attended Gainesville High School, where he met classmate and future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. Upon Leadon's joining the group, rechristened Maundy Quintet, they gigged locally, even sharing the bill with future Gainesville legend Tom Petty and his early band the Epics (a band that also included Bernie's brother, musician Tom Leadon). A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967, to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group, Hearts & Flowers, was enticing enough for Leadon to return to California, where he soon became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, their second release Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. CANNOTANSWER
Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon,
Bernie Leadon (pronounced led-un; born July 19, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of three country rock bands: Hearts & Flowers, Dillard & Clark, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, dobro) coming from a bluegrass background. He introduced elements of this music to a mainstream audience during his tenure with the Eagles. Leadon's music career since leaving the Eagles has been low-key, resulting in two solo albums (the first actually being a collaborative project with Michael Georgiades) with a gap of 27 years in between. Leadon has also appeared on many other artists' records as a session musician. Early life and musical beginnings In San Diego, California, Leadon met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. He later met future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967 to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group Hearts & Flowers brought Leadon to California, where he became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, its second release, Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women, for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. Dillard & Clark By late 1968, Leadon had befriended bluegrass/banjo legend Doug Dillard, late of the Dillards. While staying with Dillard, informal jam sessions with prolific songwriter and ex-Byrds member Gene Clark began to take shape, and morphed into what eventually became Dillard & Clark, a seminal country-rock band who laid the groundwork for the country-rock sound that dominated the L.A. music scene for the next decade. In 1968, the group recorded their classic and highly influential LP, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark. The album featured Leadon's warm and distinctive backing vocals and impressive multi-instrumental work. The album's highlights include several compositions co-written with Clark, most notably the future Eagles staple (and somewhat of a signature song for Leadon) from their debut album, "Train Leaves Here This Morning". The Flying Burrito Brothers Leadon left Dillard & Clark in 1969, eventually reconnecting with ex-Squirrel Barker (and ex-Byrd) Chris Hillman, who asked him to join the Flying Burrito Brothers, a fledgling country-rock band that Hillman had formed a year earlier with fellow ex-Byrd Gram Parsons. Leadon recorded two albums with the group: Burrito Deluxe and the post-Parsons LP The Flying Burrito Bros. After the latter album's release in 1971, Leadon had tired of the band's lack of commercial success and decided to leave the band to pursue an opportunity to play with three musicians he had worked with while moonlighting in Linda Ronstadt's backing band that summer. The resultant project, the Eagles, found the success he had craved. Eagles Leadon was the last original member to join the Eagles, a band initially formed by guitarist/singer Glenn Frey, drummer/singer Don Henley, and former Poco bassist/singer Randy Meisner. Leadon is often credited with helping shape the band's early country-rock sound, bringing his strong sense of harmony as well as his country, bluegrass and acoustic sensibilities to the group. Instruments he played during his tenure in the band were electric guitar, B-Bender, acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, dobro, and pedal steel guitar. Upon the release of their debut album, Eagles, the group met with near instantaneous success, due largely to the strength of their hit singles "Take It Easy", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", and "Witchy Woman" (co-written by Leadon and Henley), all of which highlighted Leadon's multi-instrumental talent on electric guitar, B-Bender, banjo, and harmony vocals. Their follow-up, Desperado, was another strong country-rock venture highlighted by the classics "Tequila Sunrise" and the title track. Leadon had a prominent role on the album, but it was met by surprisingly lukewarm reviews and lackluster sales. As a result, the band attempted to distance itself from the "country rock" label for their third album On the Border. In doing so, Leadon encouraged the group to recruit his old friend, guitarist Don Felder, to the band. The result was the guitar-heavy top 40 hit "Already Gone". The album also included "My Man", Leadon's touching tribute to his old bandmate and friend Gram Parsons, who had died of a drug overdose the year prior at Joshua Tree National Monument in southeastern California. With the wild success of On the Border and its follow-up smash, One of These Nights, tension within the band grew, with some sources saying Leadon grew increasingly frustrated by the band's direction away from his beloved country and bluegrass and toward album-oriented stadium rock. He famously quit the band in 1975 by pouring a beer over Glenn Frey's head. He later cited a need to get healthy and break the vicious cycle of touring, recording, and heavy drug use that was rampant within the band. Upon Leadon's departure, Asylum Records released Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975), which highlighted the band's Leadon years and went on to become the best-selling album in United States history, with sales in excess of 38 million units. He was replaced by former James Gang guitarist and singer Joe Walsh. Although it has long been believed that he left because he was dissatisfied with the band moving into rock and roll, Leadon denies it and said in 2013, "That's an oversimplification; it implies that I had no interest in rock or blues or anything but country rock. That's just not the case. I didn't just play Fender Telecaster. I played a Gibson Les Paul and I enjoyed rock & roll. That's evident from the early albums." Later career Upon leaving the Eagles, Leadon retreated from the limelight, only to resurface in 1977 with musician friend Michael Georgiades for the album, Natural Progressions (credited to The Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades Band), featuring Leadon and Georgiades on guitars and alternating lead vocals, along with Bryan Garofalo on bass, Dave Kemper on drums, and Steve Goldstein on keyboard. In 1985, he recorded an album of bluegrass and gospel favorites under the name Ever Call Ready, featuring Chris Hillman and Al Perkins. He also had a short stint with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the late 1980s. In 1993, he became a member of Run C&W, a novelty group singing Motown hits "bluegrass style", recording two albums for MCA Records. In 1998, Leadon reunited with the Eagles in New York City for the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All seven current and former Eagles members performed together on "Take It Easy" and "Hotel California". In 2004, he released his second solo effort in 27 years (and his first under solely his name), Mirror. Leadon toured with The Eagles from 2013 through 2015 during their History of the Eagles Tour In 2015, Leadon appeared on producer Ethan Johns' third solo album, Silver Liner. In February 2016, Leadon appeared at the Grammy Awards ceremony with Jackson Browne and the current surviving Eagles members - Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit - performing "Take it Easy", in tribute to Glenn Frey who had died a month earlier. Personal life His brother is musician Tom Leadon, who played in the band Mudcrutch, which began the career of Tom Petty. For a few years in the mid-1970s, Leadon lived in Topanga Canyon, a bohemian enclave known for its musician residents. Leadon's house-plus-recording-studio had previously been owned by singer-songwriter Neil Young, and was the site of frequent parties. Leadon lived with Patti Davis, the free-spirited daughter of conservative California Governor Ronald Reagan, who was at that time campaigning for president, and distancing himself from his daughter because Leadon and she were unmarried but living together. Leadon and Davis co-wrote the song "I Wish You Peace", which Leadon insisted the Eagles include on the album One of These Nights, against the wishes of his bandmates. He currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is a session musician and producer. Discography References Sources External links Bernie Leadon Online The Complete Hearts and Flowers Liner Notes The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers Rock of Ages' Bernie Leadon Interview Bernie Leadon's Official Website-Archived American male singer-songwriters American multi-instrumentalists American bluegrass musicians American country rock musicians American banjoists American bluegrass guitarists American male guitarists American bluegrass mandolinists American country banjoists American country guitarists American country mandolinists American country singer-songwriters American country rock singers American rock guitarists American session musicians 1947 births Living people Grammy Award winners Singer-songwriters from California American mandolinists American surfers Lead guitarists Pedal steel guitarists Resonator guitarists Eagles (band) members The Flying Burrito Brothers members Nitty Gritty Dirt Band members Asylum Records artists Musicians from Minneapolis Gainesville High School (Florida) alumni People from Topanga, California 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American composers Singer-songwriters from Minnesota Guitarists from Minnesota 20th-century American guitarists Catholics from California Run C&W members Country musicians from California Country musicians from Minnesota
false
[ "The Extraordinary Tale of Nicholas Pierce is a 2011 adventure novel written by Alexander DeLuca. It follows the journey of a university teacher Nicholas Pierce, who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder as he searches for his biological parents, traveling across states in the United States of America. He travels with a friend, who is an eccentric barista in a cafe in upstate New York, named Sergei Tarasov.\n\nPlot\nNicholas Pierce suffers from OCD. He is also missing the memory of the first five years of his life. Raised by adoptive parents, one day he receives a mysterious box from an \"Uncle Nathan\". Curious, he sets off on a journey to find his biological parents with a Russian friend, Sergei Tarasov. On the trip, they meet several people, face money problems and different challenges. They also pick up a hitchhiker, Jessica, who later turns out to be a criminal.\n\nFinally, Nicholas finds his grandparents, who direct him to his biological parents. When he meets them, he finds out that his vaguely registered biological 'parents' were actually neighbors of his real parents who had died in an accident. The mysterious box that he had received is destroyed. He finds out that it contained photographs from his early life.\n\n2011 American novels\nNovels about obsessive–compulsive disorder", "Bomba and the Jungle Girl is a 1952 adventure film directed by Ford Beebe and starring Johnny Sheffield. It is the eighth film (of 12) in the Bomba, the Jungle Boy film series.\n\nPlot\nBomba decides to find out who his parents were. He starts with Cody Casson's diary and follows the trail to a native village. An ancient blind woman tells him his parents, along the village's true ruler, were murdered by the current chieftain and his daughter. With the aid of an inspector and his daughter, Bomba battles the usurpers in the cave where his parents were buried.\n\nCast\nJohnny Sheffield\nKaren Sharpe\nWalter Sande\nSuzette Harbin\nMartin Wilkins\nMorris Buchanan\nLeonard Mudie\nDon Blackman.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1952 films\nAmerican films\nAmerican adventure films\nFilms directed by Ford Beebe\nFilms produced by Walter Mirisch\nMonogram Pictures films\n1952 adventure films\nAmerican black-and-white films" ]
[ "Bernie Leadon", "Early life and musical beginnings", "Where was Bernie born?", "Leadon was born in Minneapolis,", "Who were his parents?", "Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon," ]
C_999f9d9ff37c4fa4a5d16a2a9777cd01_1
Did he have siblings?
3
Did Bernie Leadon have any siblings?
Bernie Leadon
Leadon was born in Minneapolis, one of ten siblings, to Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon, devout Roman Catholics. His father was an aerospace engineer and nuclear physicist whose career moved the family around the U.S. The family enjoyed music and, at an early age, Bernie developed an interest in folk and bluegrass music. He eventually mastered the 5-string banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar. As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit, the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. His stint in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers did not last long. In late 1963, his family once again relocated to Gainesville, Florida, when his father accepted a position as Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. Leadon attended Gainesville High School, where he met classmate and future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. Upon Leadon's joining the group, rechristened Maundy Quintet, they gigged locally, even sharing the bill with future Gainesville legend Tom Petty and his early band the Epics (a band that also included Bernie's brother, musician Tom Leadon). A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967, to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group, Hearts & Flowers, was enticing enough for Leadon to return to California, where he soon became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, their second release Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. CANNOTANSWER
one of ten siblings,
Bernie Leadon (pronounced led-un; born July 19, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of three country rock bands: Hearts & Flowers, Dillard & Clark, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, dobro) coming from a bluegrass background. He introduced elements of this music to a mainstream audience during his tenure with the Eagles. Leadon's music career since leaving the Eagles has been low-key, resulting in two solo albums (the first actually being a collaborative project with Michael Georgiades) with a gap of 27 years in between. Leadon has also appeared on many other artists' records as a session musician. Early life and musical beginnings In San Diego, California, Leadon met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. He later met future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967 to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group Hearts & Flowers brought Leadon to California, where he became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, its second release, Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women, for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. Dillard & Clark By late 1968, Leadon had befriended bluegrass/banjo legend Doug Dillard, late of the Dillards. While staying with Dillard, informal jam sessions with prolific songwriter and ex-Byrds member Gene Clark began to take shape, and morphed into what eventually became Dillard & Clark, a seminal country-rock band who laid the groundwork for the country-rock sound that dominated the L.A. music scene for the next decade. In 1968, the group recorded their classic and highly influential LP, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark. The album featured Leadon's warm and distinctive backing vocals and impressive multi-instrumental work. The album's highlights include several compositions co-written with Clark, most notably the future Eagles staple (and somewhat of a signature song for Leadon) from their debut album, "Train Leaves Here This Morning". The Flying Burrito Brothers Leadon left Dillard & Clark in 1969, eventually reconnecting with ex-Squirrel Barker (and ex-Byrd) Chris Hillman, who asked him to join the Flying Burrito Brothers, a fledgling country-rock band that Hillman had formed a year earlier with fellow ex-Byrd Gram Parsons. Leadon recorded two albums with the group: Burrito Deluxe and the post-Parsons LP The Flying Burrito Bros. After the latter album's release in 1971, Leadon had tired of the band's lack of commercial success and decided to leave the band to pursue an opportunity to play with three musicians he had worked with while moonlighting in Linda Ronstadt's backing band that summer. The resultant project, the Eagles, found the success he had craved. Eagles Leadon was the last original member to join the Eagles, a band initially formed by guitarist/singer Glenn Frey, drummer/singer Don Henley, and former Poco bassist/singer Randy Meisner. Leadon is often credited with helping shape the band's early country-rock sound, bringing his strong sense of harmony as well as his country, bluegrass and acoustic sensibilities to the group. Instruments he played during his tenure in the band were electric guitar, B-Bender, acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, dobro, and pedal steel guitar. Upon the release of their debut album, Eagles, the group met with near instantaneous success, due largely to the strength of their hit singles "Take It Easy", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", and "Witchy Woman" (co-written by Leadon and Henley), all of which highlighted Leadon's multi-instrumental talent on electric guitar, B-Bender, banjo, and harmony vocals. Their follow-up, Desperado, was another strong country-rock venture highlighted by the classics "Tequila Sunrise" and the title track. Leadon had a prominent role on the album, but it was met by surprisingly lukewarm reviews and lackluster sales. As a result, the band attempted to distance itself from the "country rock" label for their third album On the Border. In doing so, Leadon encouraged the group to recruit his old friend, guitarist Don Felder, to the band. The result was the guitar-heavy top 40 hit "Already Gone". The album also included "My Man", Leadon's touching tribute to his old bandmate and friend Gram Parsons, who had died of a drug overdose the year prior at Joshua Tree National Monument in southeastern California. With the wild success of On the Border and its follow-up smash, One of These Nights, tension within the band grew, with some sources saying Leadon grew increasingly frustrated by the band's direction away from his beloved country and bluegrass and toward album-oriented stadium rock. He famously quit the band in 1975 by pouring a beer over Glenn Frey's head. He later cited a need to get healthy and break the vicious cycle of touring, recording, and heavy drug use that was rampant within the band. Upon Leadon's departure, Asylum Records released Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975), which highlighted the band's Leadon years and went on to become the best-selling album in United States history, with sales in excess of 38 million units. He was replaced by former James Gang guitarist and singer Joe Walsh. Although it has long been believed that he left because he was dissatisfied with the band moving into rock and roll, Leadon denies it and said in 2013, "That's an oversimplification; it implies that I had no interest in rock or blues or anything but country rock. That's just not the case. I didn't just play Fender Telecaster. I played a Gibson Les Paul and I enjoyed rock & roll. That's evident from the early albums." Later career Upon leaving the Eagles, Leadon retreated from the limelight, only to resurface in 1977 with musician friend Michael Georgiades for the album, Natural Progressions (credited to The Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades Band), featuring Leadon and Georgiades on guitars and alternating lead vocals, along with Bryan Garofalo on bass, Dave Kemper on drums, and Steve Goldstein on keyboard. In 1985, he recorded an album of bluegrass and gospel favorites under the name Ever Call Ready, featuring Chris Hillman and Al Perkins. He also had a short stint with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the late 1980s. In 1993, he became a member of Run C&W, a novelty group singing Motown hits "bluegrass style", recording two albums for MCA Records. In 1998, Leadon reunited with the Eagles in New York City for the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All seven current and former Eagles members performed together on "Take It Easy" and "Hotel California". In 2004, he released his second solo effort in 27 years (and his first under solely his name), Mirror. Leadon toured with The Eagles from 2013 through 2015 during their History of the Eagles Tour In 2015, Leadon appeared on producer Ethan Johns' third solo album, Silver Liner. In February 2016, Leadon appeared at the Grammy Awards ceremony with Jackson Browne and the current surviving Eagles members - Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit - performing "Take it Easy", in tribute to Glenn Frey who had died a month earlier. Personal life His brother is musician Tom Leadon, who played in the band Mudcrutch, which began the career of Tom Petty. For a few years in the mid-1970s, Leadon lived in Topanga Canyon, a bohemian enclave known for its musician residents. Leadon's house-plus-recording-studio had previously been owned by singer-songwriter Neil Young, and was the site of frequent parties. Leadon lived with Patti Davis, the free-spirited daughter of conservative California Governor Ronald Reagan, who was at that time campaigning for president, and distancing himself from his daughter because Leadon and she were unmarried but living together. Leadon and Davis co-wrote the song "I Wish You Peace", which Leadon insisted the Eagles include on the album One of These Nights, against the wishes of his bandmates. He currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is a session musician and producer. Discography References Sources External links Bernie Leadon Online The Complete Hearts and Flowers Liner Notes The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers Rock of Ages' Bernie Leadon Interview Bernie Leadon's Official Website-Archived American male singer-songwriters American multi-instrumentalists American bluegrass musicians American country rock musicians American banjoists American bluegrass guitarists American male guitarists American bluegrass mandolinists American country banjoists American country guitarists American country mandolinists American country singer-songwriters American country rock singers American rock guitarists American session musicians 1947 births Living people Grammy Award winners Singer-songwriters from California American mandolinists American surfers Lead guitarists Pedal steel guitarists Resonator guitarists Eagles (band) members The Flying Burrito Brothers members Nitty Gritty Dirt Band members Asylum Records artists Musicians from Minneapolis Gainesville High School (Florida) alumni People from Topanga, California 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American composers Singer-songwriters from Minnesota Guitarists from Minnesota 20th-century American guitarists Catholics from California Run C&W members Country musicians from California Country musicians from Minnesota
false
[ "Kayin Maunghnama (; ) are two traditional Karen nats, named San Sae Phoe and Naw Mu Phan, who are believed to live in Mount Zwegabin, Hpa-An, Kayin State.\n\nLegend\nAccording to local legends, a Karen man Saw Phar Thant and his wife Naw Phaw Ya had two children named San Sae Phoe and Naw Mu Phan. After years of saving and honestly collecting all the hard-earned money, he needed to initiate his son into the Buddhist order and to make a big donation. While he was working in the farm, he died after being bitten by a tiger due to bad luck. After the death of Saw Phar Thant, Naw Phaw Ya was left a widow with two children. And then she remarried with Saw Phar Pug, a widower from the same village. At that time, two innocent siblings, San Sae Po and Naw Mu Phan, were full of fear and anxiety. Anxiety and pain overwhelmed them. The quiet little house was full of swearing and shouting. The two siblings burst into tears under the angry and violent insults of their stepfather. \n\nOne day, the stepfather took two siblings to the farm and pushed them down a steep cliff on the way to the farm and returned home alone. Two brothers and sisters fell from the mountain and prayed for Zwegabin Pagoda to be saved so they survived by lying on a bamboo tree under the cliff without dying. The two siblings returned to their mother in almost dawn and told her all about it. Their mother, Naw Phaw Ya was sad and cried. However, when it was not possible to bring the two children back home, she hid them in a forest cave on Mount Zwegabin to keep them safe. The two siblings did not dare go far from the forest cave that their mother left behind. Everywhere they looked in the forest was dark. It was a place they had never been to before, where they could only hear the sounds of wild animals. The younger sister did not know anything so the elder brother had to take care of her. One day morning two siblings made a campfire in the cold weather and a weizza-hermit came to them and greets two siblings. And then he was given three golden pills and forced to go down into the fire, transforming into a young man and a young woman. The two siblings gained the power of influence. They took care Pagoda as promised to hermit, Work diligently for the sake of the Dhamma and all those who believe in the Dhamma and all those who come to the Mount Zwegabin to pray the Pagoda that you will be took care of them, two siblings. \n\nThe Kayin Maunghnama shrine was built about 50 years ago by Sayadaw U Kay Tu of Naung Ein Saing at the foot of Mount Zwegabin. Zwegabin Sayadaw U Kawidaza was also a pilgrimage resort. The Lumbini Garden has also been remodeled to make it more memorable.\n\nReferences\n\nBurmese nats\nBurmese goddesses", "(1548 – September 19, 1603) was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku through early Edo period. He is believed to have been the illegitimate son of Matsudaira Hirotada of Okazaki, and therefore the half-brother of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He known as Matsudaira Saburo Goro Iemoto.\n\nFamily\n Father: Matsudaira Hirotada\n Half-siblings:\n Tokugawa Ieyasu\n Naito Nobunari\n Matsudaira Tadamasa (1544-1591)\n Shooko Eike\n Matsudaira Chikayoshi\n Natural Siblings:\nIchibahime (d.1593) married Arakawa Yoshihiro\n Yadahime married Matsudaira Yasutada\n\n1548 births\n1603 deaths\nSamurai" ]
[ "Bernie Leadon", "Early life and musical beginnings", "Where was Bernie born?", "Leadon was born in Minneapolis,", "Who were his parents?", "Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon,", "Did he have siblings?", "one of ten siblings," ]
C_999f9d9ff37c4fa4a5d16a2a9777cd01_1
How was his childhood?
4
How was Bernie Leadon's childhood?
Bernie Leadon
Leadon was born in Minneapolis, one of ten siblings, to Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon, devout Roman Catholics. His father was an aerospace engineer and nuclear physicist whose career moved the family around the U.S. The family enjoyed music and, at an early age, Bernie developed an interest in folk and bluegrass music. He eventually mastered the 5-string banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar. As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit, the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. His stint in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers did not last long. In late 1963, his family once again relocated to Gainesville, Florida, when his father accepted a position as Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. Leadon attended Gainesville High School, where he met classmate and future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. Upon Leadon's joining the group, rechristened Maundy Quintet, they gigged locally, even sharing the bill with future Gainesville legend Tom Petty and his early band the Epics (a band that also included Bernie's brother, musician Tom Leadon). A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967, to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group, Hearts & Flowers, was enticing enough for Leadon to return to California, where he soon became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, their second release Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. CANNOTANSWER
As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit,
Bernie Leadon (pronounced led-un; born July 19, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of three country rock bands: Hearts & Flowers, Dillard & Clark, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, dobro) coming from a bluegrass background. He introduced elements of this music to a mainstream audience during his tenure with the Eagles. Leadon's music career since leaving the Eagles has been low-key, resulting in two solo albums (the first actually being a collaborative project with Michael Georgiades) with a gap of 27 years in between. Leadon has also appeared on many other artists' records as a session musician. Early life and musical beginnings In San Diego, California, Leadon met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. He later met future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967 to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group Hearts & Flowers brought Leadon to California, where he became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, its second release, Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women, for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. Dillard & Clark By late 1968, Leadon had befriended bluegrass/banjo legend Doug Dillard, late of the Dillards. While staying with Dillard, informal jam sessions with prolific songwriter and ex-Byrds member Gene Clark began to take shape, and morphed into what eventually became Dillard & Clark, a seminal country-rock band who laid the groundwork for the country-rock sound that dominated the L.A. music scene for the next decade. In 1968, the group recorded their classic and highly influential LP, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark. The album featured Leadon's warm and distinctive backing vocals and impressive multi-instrumental work. The album's highlights include several compositions co-written with Clark, most notably the future Eagles staple (and somewhat of a signature song for Leadon) from their debut album, "Train Leaves Here This Morning". The Flying Burrito Brothers Leadon left Dillard & Clark in 1969, eventually reconnecting with ex-Squirrel Barker (and ex-Byrd) Chris Hillman, who asked him to join the Flying Burrito Brothers, a fledgling country-rock band that Hillman had formed a year earlier with fellow ex-Byrd Gram Parsons. Leadon recorded two albums with the group: Burrito Deluxe and the post-Parsons LP The Flying Burrito Bros. After the latter album's release in 1971, Leadon had tired of the band's lack of commercial success and decided to leave the band to pursue an opportunity to play with three musicians he had worked with while moonlighting in Linda Ronstadt's backing band that summer. The resultant project, the Eagles, found the success he had craved. Eagles Leadon was the last original member to join the Eagles, a band initially formed by guitarist/singer Glenn Frey, drummer/singer Don Henley, and former Poco bassist/singer Randy Meisner. Leadon is often credited with helping shape the band's early country-rock sound, bringing his strong sense of harmony as well as his country, bluegrass and acoustic sensibilities to the group. Instruments he played during his tenure in the band were electric guitar, B-Bender, acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, dobro, and pedal steel guitar. Upon the release of their debut album, Eagles, the group met with near instantaneous success, due largely to the strength of their hit singles "Take It Easy", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", and "Witchy Woman" (co-written by Leadon and Henley), all of which highlighted Leadon's multi-instrumental talent on electric guitar, B-Bender, banjo, and harmony vocals. Their follow-up, Desperado, was another strong country-rock venture highlighted by the classics "Tequila Sunrise" and the title track. Leadon had a prominent role on the album, but it was met by surprisingly lukewarm reviews and lackluster sales. As a result, the band attempted to distance itself from the "country rock" label for their third album On the Border. In doing so, Leadon encouraged the group to recruit his old friend, guitarist Don Felder, to the band. The result was the guitar-heavy top 40 hit "Already Gone". The album also included "My Man", Leadon's touching tribute to his old bandmate and friend Gram Parsons, who had died of a drug overdose the year prior at Joshua Tree National Monument in southeastern California. With the wild success of On the Border and its follow-up smash, One of These Nights, tension within the band grew, with some sources saying Leadon grew increasingly frustrated by the band's direction away from his beloved country and bluegrass and toward album-oriented stadium rock. He famously quit the band in 1975 by pouring a beer over Glenn Frey's head. He later cited a need to get healthy and break the vicious cycle of touring, recording, and heavy drug use that was rampant within the band. Upon Leadon's departure, Asylum Records released Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975), which highlighted the band's Leadon years and went on to become the best-selling album in United States history, with sales in excess of 38 million units. He was replaced by former James Gang guitarist and singer Joe Walsh. Although it has long been believed that he left because he was dissatisfied with the band moving into rock and roll, Leadon denies it and said in 2013, "That's an oversimplification; it implies that I had no interest in rock or blues or anything but country rock. That's just not the case. I didn't just play Fender Telecaster. I played a Gibson Les Paul and I enjoyed rock & roll. That's evident from the early albums." Later career Upon leaving the Eagles, Leadon retreated from the limelight, only to resurface in 1977 with musician friend Michael Georgiades for the album, Natural Progressions (credited to The Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades Band), featuring Leadon and Georgiades on guitars and alternating lead vocals, along with Bryan Garofalo on bass, Dave Kemper on drums, and Steve Goldstein on keyboard. In 1985, he recorded an album of bluegrass and gospel favorites under the name Ever Call Ready, featuring Chris Hillman and Al Perkins. He also had a short stint with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the late 1980s. In 1993, he became a member of Run C&W, a novelty group singing Motown hits "bluegrass style", recording two albums for MCA Records. In 1998, Leadon reunited with the Eagles in New York City for the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All seven current and former Eagles members performed together on "Take It Easy" and "Hotel California". In 2004, he released his second solo effort in 27 years (and his first under solely his name), Mirror. Leadon toured with The Eagles from 2013 through 2015 during their History of the Eagles Tour In 2015, Leadon appeared on producer Ethan Johns' third solo album, Silver Liner. In February 2016, Leadon appeared at the Grammy Awards ceremony with Jackson Browne and the current surviving Eagles members - Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit - performing "Take it Easy", in tribute to Glenn Frey who had died a month earlier. Personal life His brother is musician Tom Leadon, who played in the band Mudcrutch, which began the career of Tom Petty. For a few years in the mid-1970s, Leadon lived in Topanga Canyon, a bohemian enclave known for its musician residents. Leadon's house-plus-recording-studio had previously been owned by singer-songwriter Neil Young, and was the site of frequent parties. Leadon lived with Patti Davis, the free-spirited daughter of conservative California Governor Ronald Reagan, who was at that time campaigning for president, and distancing himself from his daughter because Leadon and she were unmarried but living together. Leadon and Davis co-wrote the song "I Wish You Peace", which Leadon insisted the Eagles include on the album One of These Nights, against the wishes of his bandmates. He currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is a session musician and producer. Discography References Sources External links Bernie Leadon Online The Complete Hearts and Flowers Liner Notes The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers Rock of Ages' Bernie Leadon Interview Bernie Leadon's Official Website-Archived American male singer-songwriters American multi-instrumentalists American bluegrass musicians American country rock musicians American banjoists American bluegrass guitarists American male guitarists American bluegrass mandolinists American country banjoists American country guitarists American country mandolinists American country singer-songwriters American country rock singers American rock guitarists American session musicians 1947 births Living people Grammy Award winners Singer-songwriters from California American mandolinists American surfers Lead guitarists Pedal steel guitarists Resonator guitarists Eagles (band) members The Flying Burrito Brothers members Nitty Gritty Dirt Band members Asylum Records artists Musicians from Minneapolis Gainesville High School (Florida) alumni People from Topanga, California 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American composers Singer-songwriters from Minnesota Guitarists from Minnesota 20th-century American guitarists Catholics from California Run C&W members Country musicians from California Country musicians from Minnesota
false
[ "The Fuse: Or How I Burned Simon Bolivar (Kako sam Zapalio Simona Bolivara) is a 2011 Canadian documentary short film directed by Igor Drljaca. The film recounts Drljaca's childhood belief that he was personally responsible for the outbreak of the Bosnian Civil War because he tried to avoid a poor grade on a school assignment. He revisits family VHS tapes to recount how his childhood collides with forces he couldn't possibly comprehend. In doing so, he transforms this deeply personal story of trauma into a much more universal reflection on lost innocence, and how being a child can be accompanied by simultaneous, paradoxical feelings of both boundless power and crushing powerlessness.\n\nThe film premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, and was named to the festival's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list. It had its international premiere at South by Southwest in 2012. It was a nominee for Best Short Documentary at the 1st Canadian Screen Awards.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n , posted by Timelapse Pictures\n\n2011 short films\n2011 films\n2011 documentary films\nBiographical documentary films\nCanadian short documentary films\nCanadian films\nFilms directed by Igor Drljaca", "Min Fynske Barndom, translated into English as My Childhood, is Carl Nielsen's autobiographical account of his childhood on the Danish island of Funen. Published in 1927, it was the basis of the Erik Clausen's film of the same name in 1994, translated into English as My Childhood Symphony.\n\nBook\n\nIn his autobiography, the Danish composer Carl Nielsen describes his early life on the island of Funen until he moved to Copenhagen in 1884 in order to study at the Conservatory. It has been pointed out, however, that as he did not begin writing the account until prompted by his daughter in 1922, the story he tells may have been somewhat over-romanticised, reflecting Hans Christian Andersen's similarly difficult childhood, also on the island of Funen.\n\nThe work does nevertheless provide a detailed account of the composer's early years and is a primary source of information about this period of his life. It describes the hardships of his family, how his father, a painter and farm labourer, went off playing the fiddle at local dances and celebrations to earn a little more. It tells of his earliest musical memories, especially the time when his mother handed him a violin when he was in bed with the measles. We also learn of his school life: \"I was not very good at bookish subjects, but not one of the worst either\". He was fortunate that Emil Petersen, a teacher at the school, \"taught me later on to play the violin properly from notation\", enabling him to play at dances with his father. He also tells us of jobs as a goose-herd when still quite small, a summer spent at a tile works, and an apprenticeship with a shopkeeper who went bankrupt. His musical career began when his father \"had heard that there was an opening for a musician with the Sixteenth Battalion in Odense, We agreed that I should practise the trumpet intensively and register for the audition...\" All went well and Nielsen was able to play in the band while taking violin lessons in Odense.\n\nFilm\n\nIn 1994, Eric Clausen directed the 125-minute film, Min Fynske Barndom, which is based heavily on Nielsen's autobiography. It describes how Nielsen evolved from being a gooseherd and a drummer for the village players to first a member of a regimental band and then a composer of international renown. It also tells the story of an unsuccessful romance. The English-language version is entitled My Childhood Symphony.\n\nBibliography\n Carl Nielsen: Min fynske Barndom, Copenhagen: Martin, 1927, 220 pp. (original edition)\n Carl Nielsen: Min fynske barndom, Frederiksberg: Fisker & Schou, 1995, 181 pp. (current edition)\n Carl Nielsen, Reginald Spink (translator): My childhood, Copenhagen: Wilhelm Hansen, 1972, 152 pp.\n\nReferences\n\nAutobiographies\nMusic autobiographies\n1994 films\nDanish films\nDanish-language films\nDanish non-fiction books\nCarl Nielsen" ]
[ "Bernie Leadon", "Early life and musical beginnings", "Where was Bernie born?", "Leadon was born in Minneapolis,", "Who were his parents?", "Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon,", "Did he have siblings?", "one of ten siblings,", "How was his childhood?", "As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit," ]
C_999f9d9ff37c4fa4a5d16a2a9777cd01_1
Did he start music at this point?
5
Did Bernie Leadon start music after meeting fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray?
Bernie Leadon
Leadon was born in Minneapolis, one of ten siblings, to Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon, devout Roman Catholics. His father was an aerospace engineer and nuclear physicist whose career moved the family around the U.S. The family enjoyed music and, at an early age, Bernie developed an interest in folk and bluegrass music. He eventually mastered the 5-string banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar. As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit, the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. His stint in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers did not last long. In late 1963, his family once again relocated to Gainesville, Florida, when his father accepted a position as Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. Leadon attended Gainesville High School, where he met classmate and future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. Upon Leadon's joining the group, rechristened Maundy Quintet, they gigged locally, even sharing the bill with future Gainesville legend Tom Petty and his early band the Epics (a band that also included Bernie's brother, musician Tom Leadon). A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967, to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group, Hearts & Flowers, was enticing enough for Leadon to return to California, where he soon became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, their second release Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. CANNOTANSWER
The family enjoyed music and, at an early age, Bernie developed an interest in folk and bluegrass music.
Bernie Leadon (pronounced led-un; born July 19, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of three country rock bands: Hearts & Flowers, Dillard & Clark, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, dobro) coming from a bluegrass background. He introduced elements of this music to a mainstream audience during his tenure with the Eagles. Leadon's music career since leaving the Eagles has been low-key, resulting in two solo albums (the first actually being a collaborative project with Michael Georgiades) with a gap of 27 years in between. Leadon has also appeared on many other artists' records as a session musician. Early life and musical beginnings In San Diego, California, Leadon met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. He later met future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967 to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group Hearts & Flowers brought Leadon to California, where he became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, its second release, Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women, for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. Dillard & Clark By late 1968, Leadon had befriended bluegrass/banjo legend Doug Dillard, late of the Dillards. While staying with Dillard, informal jam sessions with prolific songwriter and ex-Byrds member Gene Clark began to take shape, and morphed into what eventually became Dillard & Clark, a seminal country-rock band who laid the groundwork for the country-rock sound that dominated the L.A. music scene for the next decade. In 1968, the group recorded their classic and highly influential LP, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark. The album featured Leadon's warm and distinctive backing vocals and impressive multi-instrumental work. The album's highlights include several compositions co-written with Clark, most notably the future Eagles staple (and somewhat of a signature song for Leadon) from their debut album, "Train Leaves Here This Morning". The Flying Burrito Brothers Leadon left Dillard & Clark in 1969, eventually reconnecting with ex-Squirrel Barker (and ex-Byrd) Chris Hillman, who asked him to join the Flying Burrito Brothers, a fledgling country-rock band that Hillman had formed a year earlier with fellow ex-Byrd Gram Parsons. Leadon recorded two albums with the group: Burrito Deluxe and the post-Parsons LP The Flying Burrito Bros. After the latter album's release in 1971, Leadon had tired of the band's lack of commercial success and decided to leave the band to pursue an opportunity to play with three musicians he had worked with while moonlighting in Linda Ronstadt's backing band that summer. The resultant project, the Eagles, found the success he had craved. Eagles Leadon was the last original member to join the Eagles, a band initially formed by guitarist/singer Glenn Frey, drummer/singer Don Henley, and former Poco bassist/singer Randy Meisner. Leadon is often credited with helping shape the band's early country-rock sound, bringing his strong sense of harmony as well as his country, bluegrass and acoustic sensibilities to the group. Instruments he played during his tenure in the band were electric guitar, B-Bender, acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, dobro, and pedal steel guitar. Upon the release of their debut album, Eagles, the group met with near instantaneous success, due largely to the strength of their hit singles "Take It Easy", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", and "Witchy Woman" (co-written by Leadon and Henley), all of which highlighted Leadon's multi-instrumental talent on electric guitar, B-Bender, banjo, and harmony vocals. Their follow-up, Desperado, was another strong country-rock venture highlighted by the classics "Tequila Sunrise" and the title track. Leadon had a prominent role on the album, but it was met by surprisingly lukewarm reviews and lackluster sales. As a result, the band attempted to distance itself from the "country rock" label for their third album On the Border. In doing so, Leadon encouraged the group to recruit his old friend, guitarist Don Felder, to the band. The result was the guitar-heavy top 40 hit "Already Gone". The album also included "My Man", Leadon's touching tribute to his old bandmate and friend Gram Parsons, who had died of a drug overdose the year prior at Joshua Tree National Monument in southeastern California. With the wild success of On the Border and its follow-up smash, One of These Nights, tension within the band grew, with some sources saying Leadon grew increasingly frustrated by the band's direction away from his beloved country and bluegrass and toward album-oriented stadium rock. He famously quit the band in 1975 by pouring a beer over Glenn Frey's head. He later cited a need to get healthy and break the vicious cycle of touring, recording, and heavy drug use that was rampant within the band. Upon Leadon's departure, Asylum Records released Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975), which highlighted the band's Leadon years and went on to become the best-selling album in United States history, with sales in excess of 38 million units. He was replaced by former James Gang guitarist and singer Joe Walsh. Although it has long been believed that he left because he was dissatisfied with the band moving into rock and roll, Leadon denies it and said in 2013, "That's an oversimplification; it implies that I had no interest in rock or blues or anything but country rock. That's just not the case. I didn't just play Fender Telecaster. I played a Gibson Les Paul and I enjoyed rock & roll. That's evident from the early albums." Later career Upon leaving the Eagles, Leadon retreated from the limelight, only to resurface in 1977 with musician friend Michael Georgiades for the album, Natural Progressions (credited to The Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades Band), featuring Leadon and Georgiades on guitars and alternating lead vocals, along with Bryan Garofalo on bass, Dave Kemper on drums, and Steve Goldstein on keyboard. In 1985, he recorded an album of bluegrass and gospel favorites under the name Ever Call Ready, featuring Chris Hillman and Al Perkins. He also had a short stint with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the late 1980s. In 1993, he became a member of Run C&W, a novelty group singing Motown hits "bluegrass style", recording two albums for MCA Records. In 1998, Leadon reunited with the Eagles in New York City for the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All seven current and former Eagles members performed together on "Take It Easy" and "Hotel California". In 2004, he released his second solo effort in 27 years (and his first under solely his name), Mirror. Leadon toured with The Eagles from 2013 through 2015 during their History of the Eagles Tour In 2015, Leadon appeared on producer Ethan Johns' third solo album, Silver Liner. In February 2016, Leadon appeared at the Grammy Awards ceremony with Jackson Browne and the current surviving Eagles members - Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit - performing "Take it Easy", in tribute to Glenn Frey who had died a month earlier. Personal life His brother is musician Tom Leadon, who played in the band Mudcrutch, which began the career of Tom Petty. For a few years in the mid-1970s, Leadon lived in Topanga Canyon, a bohemian enclave known for its musician residents. Leadon's house-plus-recording-studio had previously been owned by singer-songwriter Neil Young, and was the site of frequent parties. Leadon lived with Patti Davis, the free-spirited daughter of conservative California Governor Ronald Reagan, who was at that time campaigning for president, and distancing himself from his daughter because Leadon and she were unmarried but living together. Leadon and Davis co-wrote the song "I Wish You Peace", which Leadon insisted the Eagles include on the album One of These Nights, against the wishes of his bandmates. He currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is a session musician and producer. Discography References Sources External links Bernie Leadon Online The Complete Hearts and Flowers Liner Notes The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers Rock of Ages' Bernie Leadon Interview Bernie Leadon's Official Website-Archived American male singer-songwriters American multi-instrumentalists American bluegrass musicians American country rock musicians American banjoists American bluegrass guitarists American male guitarists American bluegrass mandolinists American country banjoists American country guitarists American country mandolinists American country singer-songwriters American country rock singers American rock guitarists American session musicians 1947 births Living people Grammy Award winners Singer-songwriters from California American mandolinists American surfers Lead guitarists Pedal steel guitarists Resonator guitarists Eagles (band) members The Flying Burrito Brothers members Nitty Gritty Dirt Band members Asylum Records artists Musicians from Minneapolis Gainesville High School (Florida) alumni People from Topanga, California 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American composers Singer-songwriters from Minnesota Guitarists from Minnesota 20th-century American guitarists Catholics from California Run C&W members Country musicians from California Country musicians from Minnesota
false
[ "Bobby \"Vince\" Paunetto (June 22, 1944 – August 10, 2010) was a vibraphonist and composer associated to Latin jazz and salsa. He did not start on vibraphone until age 17, but went on to befriend Cal Tjader and study at the Berklee College of Music from 1969 to 1973. He had at least three albums by 1976, and several other projects engineered and co-produced by his friend, Fred Weinberg. One of his albums \"Paunetto's Point\" became one of the first \"Quadraphonic\" (Surround sound) albums. Before becoming ill. In 1979 he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Although he continued to compose after that his vibraphone career essentially ended after 1981. Fred Ho referred to him, in his prime, as a leading innovator in fusing salsa music and jazz alongside Eddie Palmieri.\n\nReferences \n\nAmerican jazz vibraphonists\nLatin jazz musicians\nSalsa musicians\nBerklee College of Music alumni\nPeople with multiple sclerosis\n1944 births\n2010 deaths", "To cue audio is to determine the desired initial playback point in a piece of recorded music. It is a technique often used in radio broadcasting and DJing. One dictionary definition is to \"Set a piece of audio or video equipment in readiness to play (a particular part of the recorded material).\"\n\nProcess \nDJs typically find the desired start place on a record, tape, CD, or other media by listening to the recording with headphones and manipulating the turntable or other playback controls. Some DJs mark parts of a record with stickers to make it easier to find parts of record tracks. \n\nDJs use headphones to cue up the start point; this means that the audience cannot hear the playback until the DJ wants them to. Once the recording is cued up to the desired start point, the DJ can then commence the playback of the recording at the desired moment. The goal of cueing is to avoid \"dead air\", that is, silence.\n\nSlip cue \nA subtype of cueing is slip cueing. To slip cue a record, there has to be a felt mat under the record. The DJ finds the desired start point then leaves the stylus at the start point while holding the side of the record, with the turntable spinning. The DJ can then release the record and the music will start immediately.\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n\nAudio mixing\nDJing" ]
[ "Bernie Leadon", "Early life and musical beginnings", "Where was Bernie born?", "Leadon was born in Minneapolis,", "Who were his parents?", "Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon,", "Did he have siblings?", "one of ten siblings,", "How was his childhood?", "As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit,", "Did he start music at this point?", "The family enjoyed music and, at an early age, Bernie developed an interest in folk and bluegrass music." ]
C_999f9d9ff37c4fa4a5d16a2a9777cd01_1
What instruments did he play?
6
What instruments did Bernie Leadon play?
Bernie Leadon
Leadon was born in Minneapolis, one of ten siblings, to Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon, devout Roman Catholics. His father was an aerospace engineer and nuclear physicist whose career moved the family around the U.S. The family enjoyed music and, at an early age, Bernie developed an interest in folk and bluegrass music. He eventually mastered the 5-string banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar. As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit, the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. His stint in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers did not last long. In late 1963, his family once again relocated to Gainesville, Florida, when his father accepted a position as Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. Leadon attended Gainesville High School, where he met classmate and future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. Upon Leadon's joining the group, rechristened Maundy Quintet, they gigged locally, even sharing the bill with future Gainesville legend Tom Petty and his early band the Epics (a band that also included Bernie's brother, musician Tom Leadon). A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967, to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group, Hearts & Flowers, was enticing enough for Leadon to return to California, where he soon became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, their second release Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. CANNOTANSWER
5-string banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar.
Bernie Leadon (pronounced led-un; born July 19, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of three country rock bands: Hearts & Flowers, Dillard & Clark, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, dobro) coming from a bluegrass background. He introduced elements of this music to a mainstream audience during his tenure with the Eagles. Leadon's music career since leaving the Eagles has been low-key, resulting in two solo albums (the first actually being a collaborative project with Michael Georgiades) with a gap of 27 years in between. Leadon has also appeared on many other artists' records as a session musician. Early life and musical beginnings In San Diego, California, Leadon met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. He later met future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967 to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group Hearts & Flowers brought Leadon to California, where he became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, its second release, Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women, for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. Dillard & Clark By late 1968, Leadon had befriended bluegrass/banjo legend Doug Dillard, late of the Dillards. While staying with Dillard, informal jam sessions with prolific songwriter and ex-Byrds member Gene Clark began to take shape, and morphed into what eventually became Dillard & Clark, a seminal country-rock band who laid the groundwork for the country-rock sound that dominated the L.A. music scene for the next decade. In 1968, the group recorded their classic and highly influential LP, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark. The album featured Leadon's warm and distinctive backing vocals and impressive multi-instrumental work. The album's highlights include several compositions co-written with Clark, most notably the future Eagles staple (and somewhat of a signature song for Leadon) from their debut album, "Train Leaves Here This Morning". The Flying Burrito Brothers Leadon left Dillard & Clark in 1969, eventually reconnecting with ex-Squirrel Barker (and ex-Byrd) Chris Hillman, who asked him to join the Flying Burrito Brothers, a fledgling country-rock band that Hillman had formed a year earlier with fellow ex-Byrd Gram Parsons. Leadon recorded two albums with the group: Burrito Deluxe and the post-Parsons LP The Flying Burrito Bros. After the latter album's release in 1971, Leadon had tired of the band's lack of commercial success and decided to leave the band to pursue an opportunity to play with three musicians he had worked with while moonlighting in Linda Ronstadt's backing band that summer. The resultant project, the Eagles, found the success he had craved. Eagles Leadon was the last original member to join the Eagles, a band initially formed by guitarist/singer Glenn Frey, drummer/singer Don Henley, and former Poco bassist/singer Randy Meisner. Leadon is often credited with helping shape the band's early country-rock sound, bringing his strong sense of harmony as well as his country, bluegrass and acoustic sensibilities to the group. Instruments he played during his tenure in the band were electric guitar, B-Bender, acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, dobro, and pedal steel guitar. Upon the release of their debut album, Eagles, the group met with near instantaneous success, due largely to the strength of their hit singles "Take It Easy", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", and "Witchy Woman" (co-written by Leadon and Henley), all of which highlighted Leadon's multi-instrumental talent on electric guitar, B-Bender, banjo, and harmony vocals. Their follow-up, Desperado, was another strong country-rock venture highlighted by the classics "Tequila Sunrise" and the title track. Leadon had a prominent role on the album, but it was met by surprisingly lukewarm reviews and lackluster sales. As a result, the band attempted to distance itself from the "country rock" label for their third album On the Border. In doing so, Leadon encouraged the group to recruit his old friend, guitarist Don Felder, to the band. The result was the guitar-heavy top 40 hit "Already Gone". The album also included "My Man", Leadon's touching tribute to his old bandmate and friend Gram Parsons, who had died of a drug overdose the year prior at Joshua Tree National Monument in southeastern California. With the wild success of On the Border and its follow-up smash, One of These Nights, tension within the band grew, with some sources saying Leadon grew increasingly frustrated by the band's direction away from his beloved country and bluegrass and toward album-oriented stadium rock. He famously quit the band in 1975 by pouring a beer over Glenn Frey's head. He later cited a need to get healthy and break the vicious cycle of touring, recording, and heavy drug use that was rampant within the band. Upon Leadon's departure, Asylum Records released Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975), which highlighted the band's Leadon years and went on to become the best-selling album in United States history, with sales in excess of 38 million units. He was replaced by former James Gang guitarist and singer Joe Walsh. Although it has long been believed that he left because he was dissatisfied with the band moving into rock and roll, Leadon denies it and said in 2013, "That's an oversimplification; it implies that I had no interest in rock or blues or anything but country rock. That's just not the case. I didn't just play Fender Telecaster. I played a Gibson Les Paul and I enjoyed rock & roll. That's evident from the early albums." Later career Upon leaving the Eagles, Leadon retreated from the limelight, only to resurface in 1977 with musician friend Michael Georgiades for the album, Natural Progressions (credited to The Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades Band), featuring Leadon and Georgiades on guitars and alternating lead vocals, along with Bryan Garofalo on bass, Dave Kemper on drums, and Steve Goldstein on keyboard. In 1985, he recorded an album of bluegrass and gospel favorites under the name Ever Call Ready, featuring Chris Hillman and Al Perkins. He also had a short stint with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the late 1980s. In 1993, he became a member of Run C&W, a novelty group singing Motown hits "bluegrass style", recording two albums for MCA Records. In 1998, Leadon reunited with the Eagles in New York City for the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All seven current and former Eagles members performed together on "Take It Easy" and "Hotel California". In 2004, he released his second solo effort in 27 years (and his first under solely his name), Mirror. Leadon toured with The Eagles from 2013 through 2015 during their History of the Eagles Tour In 2015, Leadon appeared on producer Ethan Johns' third solo album, Silver Liner. In February 2016, Leadon appeared at the Grammy Awards ceremony with Jackson Browne and the current surviving Eagles members - Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit - performing "Take it Easy", in tribute to Glenn Frey who had died a month earlier. Personal life His brother is musician Tom Leadon, who played in the band Mudcrutch, which began the career of Tom Petty. For a few years in the mid-1970s, Leadon lived in Topanga Canyon, a bohemian enclave known for its musician residents. Leadon's house-plus-recording-studio had previously been owned by singer-songwriter Neil Young, and was the site of frequent parties. Leadon lived with Patti Davis, the free-spirited daughter of conservative California Governor Ronald Reagan, who was at that time campaigning for president, and distancing himself from his daughter because Leadon and she were unmarried but living together. Leadon and Davis co-wrote the song "I Wish You Peace", which Leadon insisted the Eagles include on the album One of These Nights, against the wishes of his bandmates. He currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is a session musician and producer. Discography References Sources External links Bernie Leadon Online The Complete Hearts and Flowers Liner Notes The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers Rock of Ages' Bernie Leadon Interview Bernie Leadon's Official Website-Archived American male singer-songwriters American multi-instrumentalists American bluegrass musicians American country rock musicians American banjoists American bluegrass guitarists American male guitarists American bluegrass mandolinists American country banjoists American country guitarists American country mandolinists American country singer-songwriters American country rock singers American rock guitarists American session musicians 1947 births Living people Grammy Award winners Singer-songwriters from California American mandolinists American surfers Lead guitarists Pedal steel guitarists Resonator guitarists Eagles (band) members The Flying Burrito Brothers members Nitty Gritty Dirt Band members Asylum Records artists Musicians from Minneapolis Gainesville High School (Florida) alumni People from Topanga, California 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American composers Singer-songwriters from Minnesota Guitarists from Minnesota 20th-century American guitarists Catholics from California Run C&W members Country musicians from California Country musicians from Minnesota
false
[ "The panerusan instruments or elaborating instruments are one of the divisions of instruments used in Indonesian gamelan. Instead of the rhythmic structure provided by the colotomic instruments, and the core melody of the balungan instruments, the panerusan instruments play variations on the balungan. They are usually the most difficult instruments to learn in the gamelan, but provide the most opportunity for improvisation and creativity in the performer.\n\nPanerusan instruments include the gendér, suling, rebab, siter/celempung, bonang, and gambang. The female singer, the pesindhen, is also often included, as she sings in a similar fashion to the instrumental techniques. As these include the only wind instruments, string instruments, and wooden percussion instruments found in the gamelan, they provide a timbre which stands out from most of the gamelan.\n\nThe notes that the panerusan instruments play are largely in melodic formulas known as cengkok and sekaran. These are selected from a huge collection which every performer carries in his head, based on the patet, mood, and traditions surrounding a piece.\n\nSekaran\nSekaran (Javanese for \"flowering\") is a type of elaboration used in the Javanese gamelan, especially on the bonang barung.\n\nIt is similar to the cengkok of other elaborating instruments in its floridity and openness to improvisation, but a sekaran generally happens only at the end of a nongan or other colotomic division. It is usually preceded by imbal, an interlocking pattern between the bonang barung and the bonang panerus.\n\nDifferent sekaran are used in different pathet, but there are always a variety available. A good bonang player will choose a sekaran based on how the other instruments and the sindhen are improvising.\n\nTraditionally the bonang panerus did not play sekaran, and simply continued in the imbal pattern, but now some players use sekaran, as long as they maintain the fast character of typical bonang panerus parts.\n\nSee also\n\n Gamelan\n Slendro\n Pathet\n Cengkok\n Seleh\n Music of Indonesia\n Music of Java\n\nReferences\n\nGamelan instruments\nGamelan theory", "Dennis Waring is a historian and ethnomusicologist who was the Connecticut State Troubadour from 2003 through 2004. He has authored a book on the history of the Estey Organ Company titled Manufacturing the Muse: Estey Organs & Consumer Culture in Victorian America which was his doctoral dissertation at Weslyan University. He is a local expert on the organs and the role of musical instruments as \"primary cultural indicators\".\n\nWaring believes in bringing music to a wide audience. He makes improvised instruments out of cardboard and household scraps and teaches other people to do the same.\n\nPublications\n\n Folk Instruments Make Them & Play Them, It's Easy & It's Fun (1979)\n Making Wood Folk Instruments (1990)\n Great Folk Instruments To Make & Play (1999)\n Cardboard Folk Instruments to Make Play (2000)\n Make Your Own Electric Guitar Bass (2001)\n Manufacturing the Muse: Estey Organs & Consumer Culture in Victorian America (2002)\n Making Drums (2003)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Waring Music - personal site\n\nEthnomusicologists\nWesleyan University alumni\nYear of birth missing (living people)\nLiving people" ]
[ "Bernie Leadon", "Early life and musical beginnings", "Where was Bernie born?", "Leadon was born in Minneapolis,", "Who were his parents?", "Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon,", "Did he have siblings?", "one of ten siblings,", "How was his childhood?", "As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit,", "Did he start music at this point?", "The family enjoyed music and, at an early age, Bernie developed an interest in folk and bluegrass music.", "What instruments did he play?", "5-string banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar." ]
C_999f9d9ff37c4fa4a5d16a2a9777cd01_1
Did he sing also?
7
Did Bernie Leadon sing along with playing 5-string banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar?
Bernie Leadon
Leadon was born in Minneapolis, one of ten siblings, to Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon, devout Roman Catholics. His father was an aerospace engineer and nuclear physicist whose career moved the family around the U.S. The family enjoyed music and, at an early age, Bernie developed an interest in folk and bluegrass music. He eventually mastered the 5-string banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar. As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit, the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. His stint in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers did not last long. In late 1963, his family once again relocated to Gainesville, Florida, when his father accepted a position as Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. Leadon attended Gainesville High School, where he met classmate and future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. Upon Leadon's joining the group, rechristened Maundy Quintet, they gigged locally, even sharing the bill with future Gainesville legend Tom Petty and his early band the Epics (a band that also included Bernie's brother, musician Tom Leadon). A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967, to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group, Hearts & Flowers, was enticing enough for Leadon to return to California, where he soon became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, their second release Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. CANNOTANSWER
CANNOTANSWER
Bernie Leadon (pronounced led-un; born July 19, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of three country rock bands: Hearts & Flowers, Dillard & Clark, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, dobro) coming from a bluegrass background. He introduced elements of this music to a mainstream audience during his tenure with the Eagles. Leadon's music career since leaving the Eagles has been low-key, resulting in two solo albums (the first actually being a collaborative project with Michael Georgiades) with a gap of 27 years in between. Leadon has also appeared on many other artists' records as a session musician. Early life and musical beginnings In San Diego, California, Leadon met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. He later met future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967 to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group Hearts & Flowers brought Leadon to California, where he became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, its second release, Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women, for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. Dillard & Clark By late 1968, Leadon had befriended bluegrass/banjo legend Doug Dillard, late of the Dillards. While staying with Dillard, informal jam sessions with prolific songwriter and ex-Byrds member Gene Clark began to take shape, and morphed into what eventually became Dillard & Clark, a seminal country-rock band who laid the groundwork for the country-rock sound that dominated the L.A. music scene for the next decade. In 1968, the group recorded their classic and highly influential LP, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark. The album featured Leadon's warm and distinctive backing vocals and impressive multi-instrumental work. The album's highlights include several compositions co-written with Clark, most notably the future Eagles staple (and somewhat of a signature song for Leadon) from their debut album, "Train Leaves Here This Morning". The Flying Burrito Brothers Leadon left Dillard & Clark in 1969, eventually reconnecting with ex-Squirrel Barker (and ex-Byrd) Chris Hillman, who asked him to join the Flying Burrito Brothers, a fledgling country-rock band that Hillman had formed a year earlier with fellow ex-Byrd Gram Parsons. Leadon recorded two albums with the group: Burrito Deluxe and the post-Parsons LP The Flying Burrito Bros. After the latter album's release in 1971, Leadon had tired of the band's lack of commercial success and decided to leave the band to pursue an opportunity to play with three musicians he had worked with while moonlighting in Linda Ronstadt's backing band that summer. The resultant project, the Eagles, found the success he had craved. Eagles Leadon was the last original member to join the Eagles, a band initially formed by guitarist/singer Glenn Frey, drummer/singer Don Henley, and former Poco bassist/singer Randy Meisner. Leadon is often credited with helping shape the band's early country-rock sound, bringing his strong sense of harmony as well as his country, bluegrass and acoustic sensibilities to the group. Instruments he played during his tenure in the band were electric guitar, B-Bender, acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, dobro, and pedal steel guitar. Upon the release of their debut album, Eagles, the group met with near instantaneous success, due largely to the strength of their hit singles "Take It Easy", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", and "Witchy Woman" (co-written by Leadon and Henley), all of which highlighted Leadon's multi-instrumental talent on electric guitar, B-Bender, banjo, and harmony vocals. Their follow-up, Desperado, was another strong country-rock venture highlighted by the classics "Tequila Sunrise" and the title track. Leadon had a prominent role on the album, but it was met by surprisingly lukewarm reviews and lackluster sales. As a result, the band attempted to distance itself from the "country rock" label for their third album On the Border. In doing so, Leadon encouraged the group to recruit his old friend, guitarist Don Felder, to the band. The result was the guitar-heavy top 40 hit "Already Gone". The album also included "My Man", Leadon's touching tribute to his old bandmate and friend Gram Parsons, who had died of a drug overdose the year prior at Joshua Tree National Monument in southeastern California. With the wild success of On the Border and its follow-up smash, One of These Nights, tension within the band grew, with some sources saying Leadon grew increasingly frustrated by the band's direction away from his beloved country and bluegrass and toward album-oriented stadium rock. He famously quit the band in 1975 by pouring a beer over Glenn Frey's head. He later cited a need to get healthy and break the vicious cycle of touring, recording, and heavy drug use that was rampant within the band. Upon Leadon's departure, Asylum Records released Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975), which highlighted the band's Leadon years and went on to become the best-selling album in United States history, with sales in excess of 38 million units. He was replaced by former James Gang guitarist and singer Joe Walsh. Although it has long been believed that he left because he was dissatisfied with the band moving into rock and roll, Leadon denies it and said in 2013, "That's an oversimplification; it implies that I had no interest in rock or blues or anything but country rock. That's just not the case. I didn't just play Fender Telecaster. I played a Gibson Les Paul and I enjoyed rock & roll. That's evident from the early albums." Later career Upon leaving the Eagles, Leadon retreated from the limelight, only to resurface in 1977 with musician friend Michael Georgiades for the album, Natural Progressions (credited to The Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades Band), featuring Leadon and Georgiades on guitars and alternating lead vocals, along with Bryan Garofalo on bass, Dave Kemper on drums, and Steve Goldstein on keyboard. In 1985, he recorded an album of bluegrass and gospel favorites under the name Ever Call Ready, featuring Chris Hillman and Al Perkins. He also had a short stint with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the late 1980s. In 1993, he became a member of Run C&W, a novelty group singing Motown hits "bluegrass style", recording two albums for MCA Records. In 1998, Leadon reunited with the Eagles in New York City for the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All seven current and former Eagles members performed together on "Take It Easy" and "Hotel California". In 2004, he released his second solo effort in 27 years (and his first under solely his name), Mirror. Leadon toured with The Eagles from 2013 through 2015 during their History of the Eagles Tour In 2015, Leadon appeared on producer Ethan Johns' third solo album, Silver Liner. In February 2016, Leadon appeared at the Grammy Awards ceremony with Jackson Browne and the current surviving Eagles members - Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit - performing "Take it Easy", in tribute to Glenn Frey who had died a month earlier. Personal life His brother is musician Tom Leadon, who played in the band Mudcrutch, which began the career of Tom Petty. For a few years in the mid-1970s, Leadon lived in Topanga Canyon, a bohemian enclave known for its musician residents. Leadon's house-plus-recording-studio had previously been owned by singer-songwriter Neil Young, and was the site of frequent parties. Leadon lived with Patti Davis, the free-spirited daughter of conservative California Governor Ronald Reagan, who was at that time campaigning for president, and distancing himself from his daughter because Leadon and she were unmarried but living together. Leadon and Davis co-wrote the song "I Wish You Peace", which Leadon insisted the Eagles include on the album One of These Nights, against the wishes of his bandmates. He currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is a session musician and producer. Discography References Sources External links Bernie Leadon Online The Complete Hearts and Flowers Liner Notes The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers Rock of Ages' Bernie Leadon Interview Bernie Leadon's Official Website-Archived American male singer-songwriters American multi-instrumentalists American bluegrass musicians American country rock musicians American banjoists American bluegrass guitarists American male guitarists American bluegrass mandolinists American country banjoists American country guitarists American country mandolinists American country singer-songwriters American country rock singers American rock guitarists American session musicians 1947 births Living people Grammy Award winners Singer-songwriters from California American mandolinists American surfers Lead guitarists Pedal steel guitarists Resonator guitarists Eagles (band) members The Flying Burrito Brothers members Nitty Gritty Dirt Band members Asylum Records artists Musicians from Minneapolis Gainesville High School (Florida) alumni People from Topanga, California 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American composers Singer-songwriters from Minnesota Guitarists from Minnesota 20th-century American guitarists Catholics from California Run C&W members Country musicians from California Country musicians from Minnesota
false
[ "Sing Pao Daily News () is a Hong Kong-based Chinese language newspaper.\n\nSing Pao may also refer to:\n\n Sing Tao Daily, also known as Sing Tao Jih Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper\n Sing Tao Wan Pao, a defunct evening edition of Sing Tao Daily; see Sing Tao Holdings\n Sing Sian Yer Pao, a Thai Chinese-language newspaper\n Sing Thai Wan Pao, a defunct evening edition of Sing Sian Yer Pao\n\nSee also\n Sin Poh (disambiguation)\n Star News (disambiguation)", "Sing Sing is a prison in New York State.\n\nSing Sing may also refer to:\n\nMusic\n Sing-Sing (band), a British band\n Sing Sing (1984–1994), a 1997 album by The Honeymoon Killers\n \"Sing Sing\" (song), a 1978 song by Gaz\n \"Sing Sing\", a song from the Marianas Trench album Masterpiece Theatre\n\nOther uses\n Sing Sing (film), a 1983 Italian comedy film\n Sing Sing (horse) (1957-72), a British thoroughbred racehorse\n Sing-sing (New Guinea), a cultural event in Papua New Guinea\n Sing Sing, historic name of the village of Ossining, New York\n\nSee also\n Sing (disambiguation)\n Sing Sing Sing (disambiguation)" ]
[ "Bernie Leadon", "Early life and musical beginnings", "Where was Bernie born?", "Leadon was born in Minneapolis,", "Who were his parents?", "Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon,", "Did he have siblings?", "one of ten siblings,", "How was his childhood?", "As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit,", "Did he start music at this point?", "The family enjoyed music and, at an early age, Bernie developed an interest in folk and bluegrass music.", "What instruments did he play?", "5-string banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar.", "Did he sing also?", "I don't know." ]
C_999f9d9ff37c4fa4a5d16a2a9777cd01_1
What gigs did he do?
8
What gigs did Bernie Leadon do?
Bernie Leadon
Leadon was born in Minneapolis, one of ten siblings, to Dr. Bernard Leadon Jr. and Ann Teresa (nee Sweetser) Leadon, devout Roman Catholics. His father was an aerospace engineer and nuclear physicist whose career moved the family around the U.S. The family enjoyed music and, at an early age, Bernie developed an interest in folk and bluegrass music. He eventually mastered the 5-string banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar. As a young teen he moved with his family to San Diego, where he met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit, the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. His stint in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers did not last long. In late 1963, his family once again relocated to Gainesville, Florida, when his father accepted a position as Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. Leadon attended Gainesville High School, where he met classmate and future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. Upon Leadon's joining the group, rechristened Maundy Quintet, they gigged locally, even sharing the bill with future Gainesville legend Tom Petty and his early band the Epics (a band that also included Bernie's brother, musician Tom Leadon). A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967, to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group, Hearts & Flowers, was enticing enough for Leadon to return to California, where he soon became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, their second release Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. CANNOTANSWER
His stint in the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers did not last long.
Bernie Leadon (pronounced led-un; born July 19, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of three country rock bands: Hearts & Flowers, Dillard & Clark, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, dobro) coming from a bluegrass background. He introduced elements of this music to a mainstream audience during his tenure with the Eagles. Leadon's music career since leaving the Eagles has been low-key, resulting in two solo albums (the first actually being a collaborative project with Michael Georgiades) with a gap of 27 years in between. Leadon has also appeared on many other artists' records as a session musician. Early life and musical beginnings In San Diego, California, Leadon met fellow musicians Ed Douglas and Larry Murray of the local bluegrass outfit the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The Barkers proved a breeding ground for future California country rock talent, including shy, 18-year-old mandolin player Chris Hillman, with whom Leadon maintained a lifelong friendship. Augmented by banjo player (and future Flying Burrito Brother) Kenny Wertz, the Squirrel Barkers eventually asked Leadon to join the group, upon Wertz's joining the Air Force in 1963. He later met future Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder, whose band, the Continentals, had just lost guitarist Stephen Stills. A call from ex-Squirrel Barker Larry Murray in 1967 to join his fledgling psychedelic country-folk group Hearts & Flowers brought Leadon to California, where he became involved with the burgeoning L.A. folk/country rock scene. Leadon recorded one album with the band, its second release, Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women, for Capitol Records. The record was a local hit but failed to make much of a dent on the national album charts. Discouraged, the group disbanded the following year. Dillard & Clark By late 1968, Leadon had befriended bluegrass/banjo legend Doug Dillard, late of the Dillards. While staying with Dillard, informal jam sessions with prolific songwriter and ex-Byrds member Gene Clark began to take shape, and morphed into what eventually became Dillard & Clark, a seminal country-rock band who laid the groundwork for the country-rock sound that dominated the L.A. music scene for the next decade. In 1968, the group recorded their classic and highly influential LP, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark. The album featured Leadon's warm and distinctive backing vocals and impressive multi-instrumental work. The album's highlights include several compositions co-written with Clark, most notably the future Eagles staple (and somewhat of a signature song for Leadon) from their debut album, "Train Leaves Here This Morning". The Flying Burrito Brothers Leadon left Dillard & Clark in 1969, eventually reconnecting with ex-Squirrel Barker (and ex-Byrd) Chris Hillman, who asked him to join the Flying Burrito Brothers, a fledgling country-rock band that Hillman had formed a year earlier with fellow ex-Byrd Gram Parsons. Leadon recorded two albums with the group: Burrito Deluxe and the post-Parsons LP The Flying Burrito Bros. After the latter album's release in 1971, Leadon had tired of the band's lack of commercial success and decided to leave the band to pursue an opportunity to play with three musicians he had worked with while moonlighting in Linda Ronstadt's backing band that summer. The resultant project, the Eagles, found the success he had craved. Eagles Leadon was the last original member to join the Eagles, a band initially formed by guitarist/singer Glenn Frey, drummer/singer Don Henley, and former Poco bassist/singer Randy Meisner. Leadon is often credited with helping shape the band's early country-rock sound, bringing his strong sense of harmony as well as his country, bluegrass and acoustic sensibilities to the group. Instruments he played during his tenure in the band were electric guitar, B-Bender, acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, dobro, and pedal steel guitar. Upon the release of their debut album, Eagles, the group met with near instantaneous success, due largely to the strength of their hit singles "Take It Easy", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", and "Witchy Woman" (co-written by Leadon and Henley), all of which highlighted Leadon's multi-instrumental talent on electric guitar, B-Bender, banjo, and harmony vocals. Their follow-up, Desperado, was another strong country-rock venture highlighted by the classics "Tequila Sunrise" and the title track. Leadon had a prominent role on the album, but it was met by surprisingly lukewarm reviews and lackluster sales. As a result, the band attempted to distance itself from the "country rock" label for their third album On the Border. In doing so, Leadon encouraged the group to recruit his old friend, guitarist Don Felder, to the band. The result was the guitar-heavy top 40 hit "Already Gone". The album also included "My Man", Leadon's touching tribute to his old bandmate and friend Gram Parsons, who had died of a drug overdose the year prior at Joshua Tree National Monument in southeastern California. With the wild success of On the Border and its follow-up smash, One of These Nights, tension within the band grew, with some sources saying Leadon grew increasingly frustrated by the band's direction away from his beloved country and bluegrass and toward album-oriented stadium rock. He famously quit the band in 1975 by pouring a beer over Glenn Frey's head. He later cited a need to get healthy and break the vicious cycle of touring, recording, and heavy drug use that was rampant within the band. Upon Leadon's departure, Asylum Records released Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975), which highlighted the band's Leadon years and went on to become the best-selling album in United States history, with sales in excess of 38 million units. He was replaced by former James Gang guitarist and singer Joe Walsh. Although it has long been believed that he left because he was dissatisfied with the band moving into rock and roll, Leadon denies it and said in 2013, "That's an oversimplification; it implies that I had no interest in rock or blues or anything but country rock. That's just not the case. I didn't just play Fender Telecaster. I played a Gibson Les Paul and I enjoyed rock & roll. That's evident from the early albums." Later career Upon leaving the Eagles, Leadon retreated from the limelight, only to resurface in 1977 with musician friend Michael Georgiades for the album, Natural Progressions (credited to The Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades Band), featuring Leadon and Georgiades on guitars and alternating lead vocals, along with Bryan Garofalo on bass, Dave Kemper on drums, and Steve Goldstein on keyboard. In 1985, he recorded an album of bluegrass and gospel favorites under the name Ever Call Ready, featuring Chris Hillman and Al Perkins. He also had a short stint with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the late 1980s. In 1993, he became a member of Run C&W, a novelty group singing Motown hits "bluegrass style", recording two albums for MCA Records. In 1998, Leadon reunited with the Eagles in New York City for the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All seven current and former Eagles members performed together on "Take It Easy" and "Hotel California". In 2004, he released his second solo effort in 27 years (and his first under solely his name), Mirror. Leadon toured with The Eagles from 2013 through 2015 during their History of the Eagles Tour In 2015, Leadon appeared on producer Ethan Johns' third solo album, Silver Liner. In February 2016, Leadon appeared at the Grammy Awards ceremony with Jackson Browne and the current surviving Eagles members - Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit - performing "Take it Easy", in tribute to Glenn Frey who had died a month earlier. Personal life His brother is musician Tom Leadon, who played in the band Mudcrutch, which began the career of Tom Petty. For a few years in the mid-1970s, Leadon lived in Topanga Canyon, a bohemian enclave known for its musician residents. Leadon's house-plus-recording-studio had previously been owned by singer-songwriter Neil Young, and was the site of frequent parties. Leadon lived with Patti Davis, the free-spirited daughter of conservative California Governor Ronald Reagan, who was at that time campaigning for president, and distancing himself from his daughter because Leadon and she were unmarried but living together. Leadon and Davis co-wrote the song "I Wish You Peace", which Leadon insisted the Eagles include on the album One of These Nights, against the wishes of his bandmates. He currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is a session musician and producer. Discography References Sources External links Bernie Leadon Online The Complete Hearts and Flowers Liner Notes The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers Rock of Ages' Bernie Leadon Interview Bernie Leadon's Official Website-Archived American male singer-songwriters American multi-instrumentalists American bluegrass musicians American country rock musicians American banjoists American bluegrass guitarists American male guitarists American bluegrass mandolinists American country banjoists American country guitarists American country mandolinists American country singer-songwriters American country rock singers American rock guitarists American session musicians 1947 births Living people Grammy Award winners Singer-songwriters from California American mandolinists American surfers Lead guitarists Pedal steel guitarists Resonator guitarists Eagles (band) members The Flying Burrito Brothers members Nitty Gritty Dirt Band members Asylum Records artists Musicians from Minneapolis Gainesville High School (Florida) alumni People from Topanga, California 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American composers Singer-songwriters from Minnesota Guitarists from Minnesota 20th-century American guitarists Catholics from California Run C&W members Country musicians from California Country musicians from Minnesota
false
[ "\"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)", "Steven Michael \"Steve\" Kemp (born 29 December 1978 in Lancashire, England) is an English drummer. He was the drummer of indie rock band Hard-Fi.\n\nCareer\nOriginally from Lancashire, Kemp went to Carnforth High School, before he moved to London in his late teens to do a musical course. Kemp is a big fan of Liverpool F.C. and was originally a drummer for a DJ who happened to be friends with Richard Archer. When Archer was scouting for members to be in his band, he asked Kemp to be part of it, through Kemp's link with the DJ.\n\nIn December 2007 he slammed bands such as Led Zeppelin and The Police for charging their fans £100 for tickets to their live concerts. He said \"I know these old bands have a huge legacy but paying over £100 for a ticket is a joke. If it's a band you really love, of course you want to go and see them - but why should you then pay so much money for it? These rock 'n' roll dinosaurs are coming out for a last pay cheque. I don't know what they’re going to do on stage that's so special\". He then joked that, \"I think we should split up in November, just to get back together in December. See if it makes us more famous. Maybe we could have November off and get back together in December and call it the reunion tour. The few remaining tickets will sell out in no time. It will be a winner. It will be perfect.\"\n\nIn an interview with ilikemusic, Kemp was asked to reflect on whether he has time to \"smell the roses and enjoy the journey and reflect\"\n\n\"It's weird because you don't whilst you're doing it. You don't realise how much you're enjoying yourself sometimes. I really try and stop myself in my tracks now and say 'look what you've achieved, look what you've just done, look what you're doing'. I really try and do that, because if you don't, you're always focusing on what's next rather than what's just happened. When we played our tour in May 2006 and we did the five Brixton Academy gigs I remember at the time I was so amazingly tired and shattered I enjoyed it, but it was really hard work. Now I can look back and think what a fucking laugh. It does take a while for it to sink in before you can look back and really enjoy yourselves.\n\nBut it's all amazing. We've had two number one records. We've sold over a million records. We've achieved so much that you have to remind yourself how fantastic that all is, and if it all finished tomorrow, then I've done what I always wanted to do. But hopefully it's not going to finish tomorrow and we can continue on to bigger and better things.\"\n\nReferences\n\nHard-Fi members\nLiving people\nPeople from Carnforth\nEnglish rock drummers\n1978 births\n21st-century drummers" ]
[ "Lin-Manuel Miranda", "2002-10: In the Heights" ]
C_479a4148191a4e52a82e4e5de5bd67f8_1
What was In the Heights?
1
What is In the Heights?
Lin-Manuel Miranda
In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Book writer Quiara Alegria Hudes joined the team in 2004. After success off-Broadway, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010 until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Miranda also did work for film and television. In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. He also has done work for Sesame Street, playing occasional roles and singing the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric Company and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. During these years, Miranda also worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed music for commercials. CANNOTANSWER
musical
Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, playwright, and film director. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals In the Heights (2005) and Hamilton (2015), and the soundtrack of Disney's Encanto (2021). His accolades include three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Pulitzer Prize. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Miranda made his Broadway debut in the 2008 musical In the Heights, in which he starred and wrote the music and lyrics. The production was a critical and commercial success, winning the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The stage musical was adapted into a film released in June 2021. Miranda gained wider recognition for writing the script, music, and lyrics for Hamilton, which has been acclaimed as a pop culture phenomenon since its 2015 Broadway premiere. It earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for a record 16 Tony Awards and won 11, including Miranda's first win for the Best Book of a Musical. The Hamilton cast recording spent ten weeks atop Billboards Top Rap Albums chart and became the eleventh-biggest album of the 2010s. The Hamilton Mixtape, a cover album by Miranda, further reached number one on the Billboard 200. A frequent collaborator of the Walt Disney Company, Miranda has written original songs for the studio, which has garnered him two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ("How Far I'll Go" and "Dos Oruguitas"). He worked on the 2016 animated musical Moana, and wrote the story and music for Encanto—a widespread critical and commercial success; its song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" broke various records, marked Miranda's first-ever number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles charts, and propelled him to mainstream fame. He starred as Jack in the musical fantasy Mary Poppins Returns (2018), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. For his performance in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton released in 2020, he received Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Miranda debuted as a film director with Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021), a biographical musical drama. He also had a voice role in the animated film Vivo, released in 2021. His television work includes recurring roles on The Electric Company (2009–2010) and His Dark Materials (2019). Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live in 2017 and had a guest role on Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2018, for which he was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He has been politically active on behalf of Puerto Rico, and supported the 2016 PROMESA. He met with politicians in 2016 to speak out in favor of debt relief for Puerto Rico and raised funds for rescue efforts and disaster relief after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Early life and education Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980, in New York City to Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, a clinical psychologist, and Luis Miranda Jr., a Democratic Party consultant. The name "Lin-Manuel" was inspired by a poem about the Vietnam War, Nana roja para mi hijo Lin Manuel, by the Puerto Rican writer José Manuel Torres Santiago. He was raised in the neighborhood of Inwood. He is of Puerto Rican descent, along with Mexican from a grandparent. During childhood and his teens, he spent at least one month each year with his grandparents in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Miranda has one older sister, Luz, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the MirRam Group, a strategic consulting firm in Government and Communications. Miranda attended Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School. Among his classmates was journalist Chris Hayes, who was Miranda's first director when Miranda starred in a school play described by Hayes as "a 20-minute musical that featured a maniacal fetal pig in a nightmare that [Miranda] had cut up in biology class". His classmates also included rapper Immortal Technique, who bullied Miranda, although the two later became friends. Miranda began writing musicals at school. As a student, Miranda wrote the earliest draft of what would become his first Broadway musical, In the Heights, in 1999, his sophomore year of college at Wesleyan University. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan's student theater company, Second Stage, Miranda added freestyle rap and salsa numbers, and the show was premiered there in 1999. Miranda wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan and acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to William Shakespeare. He graduated from Wesleyan in 2002. Career Theatre 2002–2010: In the Heights In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes joined the team in 2004. After premiering in Connecticut in 2005 and opening at the 37 Arts Theater off-Broadway in 2007, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010, until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. During this time, he also performed at bar and bat mitzvahs. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. During these years, Miranda worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant critic, and composed music for commercials. In 2003, Miranda co-founded Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip hop improv group that has toured the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as the Aspen, Melbourne and Montreal Comedy Festivals. The group created a limited television series for Pivot in 2014 and made its Broadway debut on October 2, 2019, at the Booth Theatre in a self-titled show to positive reviews. 2011–2014: Bring It On and other theatrical work Miranda co-wrote the music and lyrics for Bring It On: The Musical with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. Bring It On premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2011. The musical began a US national tour on October 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. It played a limited engagement on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, beginning previews on July 12, and officially opening on August 1, 2012. It closed on December 30, 2012. It was nominated for Tony Awards in the categories of Best Musical and Best Choreography. In February 2012, Miranda appeared in Merrily We Roll Along, in the role of Charley, in an Encores! staged concert at New York City Center. His theatrical achievements in 2014 included an Emmy Award for the song "Bigger!", which he and Kitt co-wrote for the opening number at the 67th Tony Awards. Miranda wrote music and lyrics for the one-act musical 21 Chump Street, and performed as narrator for the show's single performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on June 7, 2014, which was broadcast on National Public Radio's This American Life on June 20, 2014. Later that month, he starred in the June 2014 Encores! revival of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick... Boom!, under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori. The show was directed by Oliver Butler. Earlier in 2014, he guest starred in a show by comedy duo The Skivvies. 2015–2016: Hamilton While on a vacation in 2008, Miranda read Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton and, inspired by the book, wrote a rap about Hamilton that he performed for the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by Alex Lacamoire. Miranda later said he spent a year writing the Hamilton song "My Shot", revising it countless times for every verse to reflect Alexander Hamilton's intellect. By 2012, Miranda was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Hamilton, which he then referred to as the Hamilton Mixtape. The New York Times called it "an obvious game changer". Hamilton: An American Musical premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015, directed by Thomas Kail. Miranda wrote the book and score and starred as the title character. The show received highly positive reviews, and its engagement was sold out. Chernow and Miranda received the 2015 History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society for their work in creating the musical. The show began previews on Broadway in July 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and officially opened on August 6, 2015, earning positive reviews. On the first night of Hamilton previews, over 700 people lined up for lottery tickets. The Hamilton ticket lottery evolved into Ham4Ham, a series of outdoor mini-performances for lottery participants that was hosted daily by Miranda and cast members for over a year, until August 31, 2016. Miranda earned a 3% royalty on each performance of Hamilton, earning him $12.7 million by July 2017. Hamilton won the Tony Award for Best Musical; Miranda won the Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical and received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical, and the Hamilton cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In May 2016, for his work in the role of Alexander Hamilton, Miranda received the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. On March 15, 2016, members of the cast of Hamilton performed at the White House and hosted workshops; Miranda performed freestyle rap from prompts held up by President Obama. In April 2016, Miranda and Jeremy McCarter published Hamilton: The Revolution, a book describing Hamiltons journey from conception to Broadway success and discussing the cultural revolution that permeates the show. Miranda gave his last performance in Hamilton on July 9, 2016, but vowed to return to the show. Miranda reprised the role of Alexander Hamilton for a three-week run in Puerto Rico January 11–27, 2019, for which the engagement was sold out in three hours in November 2018. In a review, Chris Jones praised "deeper on-stage emotions" in Miranda's reprisal, as well as improved vocal and dance technique than on Broadway. A documentary about the creation of the show, Hamilton's America, featuring Miranda, premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 1, 2016, and first aired on PBS' Great Performances series on October 21, 2016. A taping of the OBT version of Hamilton was released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. On January 24, 2016, Miranda performed the offstage cameo role of Loud Hailer in the Broadway production of Les Misérables, fulfilling his childhood dream of being in the show, as it was the first production he ever saw on Broadway. Film Early acting roles Miranda appeared in a small role in the Walt Disney Pictures live-action film The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012). 2015–present: Disney projects Miranda interviewed with Disney in the winter of 2013, and submitted a six-song demo package to Walt Disney Animation Studios. This began a series of collaborations with the company: Moana – In spring 2014, the studio hired Miranda to help write and perform music for Moana, its 2016 animated feature film. From 2014 to 2016, Miranda collaborated with Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina on the songs for Moana. He later explained that because he was so busy with Moana and Hamilton, he turned down other projects "that would have distracted" him, but this served as an "ego check" as Hamilton became a hit. Moana opened in November 2016 and was a box office hit, earning positive reviews and praise from critics for Miranda's songwriting. Miranda also sang the song "We Know the Way" in the film, and recorded a duet with Jordan Fisher of the song "You're Welcome", which was played over the film's end credits. For the song "How Far I'll Go", Miranda received Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, Oscar, and Grammy Award nominations. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – While working on Hamilton, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), writing a song for the scene in Maz Kanata's cantina, an homage to the classic Mos Eisley Cantina scene and song by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes. DuckTales – Miranda debuted in May 2018 as the voice of Fenton "Gizmoduck" Crackshell-Cabrera in Disney Channel's 2017 reboot of DuckTales. Mary Poppins Returns – Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter and former apprentice to Bert, the chimney sweep played by Dick Van Dyke in the original 1964 film Mary Poppins. This is his first major role after leaving the Broadway cast of Hamilton. Miranda traveled to London in 2017 for the film, directed by Rob Marshall, which was released in December 2018. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Following his work on The Force Awakens, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), writing a song for the scene on the desert planet Pasaana, in addition to making a cameo appearance as a Resistance trooper. The live stage recording of the original Broadway production of Hamilton was acquired by Walt Disney Pictures and released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. Encanto – Miranda collaborated again with Walt Disney Animation Studios on an animated musical titled Encanto directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, with Charise Castro Smith co-directing. The film was released on November 24, 2021. The Little Mermaid – In August 2016, Miranda agreed to write songs with Alan Menken for Disney's forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Miranda will co-produce the film with Marc Platt and Rob Marshall, the latter of whom will direct. Menken announced in July 2017 that he and Miranda had begun working on new songs for the project. Miranda and Menken wrote four new songs for The Little Mermaid, which had been recorded by April 2020. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 26, 2023. In the Heights (2021) On November 7, 2008, Universal Pictures announced that they planned to adapt In the Heights as a feature film for release in 2011.<ref>Gans, Andrew. "Universal Plans Silver-Screen Adaptation of In the Heights'"], Playbill, November 7, 2008</ref> However, the project was canceled in March 2011, reportedly due to the fact Universal was looking for a "bankable Latino star" like Shakira or Jennifer Lopez instead of unknown actors. In January 2012, Miranda stated that the film adaptation was back under discussion; in May 2016, it was announced that Miranda would co-produce the film with Harvey Weinstein and backing from The Weinstein Company. On June 10, 2016, Jon M. Chu came on board to direct the film adaptation of the musical. In the aftermath of numerous sexual misconduct allegations made against Weinstein, his producer credit on the film was removed, with the rights to the film eventually auctioned off to Warner Bros. for $50 million. While Miranda originated the role of Usnavi, he felt he was too old to star as Usnavi in the film adaptation. Ultimately, Miranda played the smaller role of Piraguero, the "Piragua Guy," in the film. He was quoted as saying the Broadway production was "...a miraculous experience. I went from substitute teacher to Broadway composer. I will never make a leap that big again in my life. I was very content to let Anthony Ramos and this incredible cast have their own experience." Miranda also served as producer and acted alongside Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, and Jimmy Smits. The film was set for release on June 26, 2020, but was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the film industry. It was released in theaters and temporarily on HBO Max on June 10, 2021. Vivo (2021) Miranda stars as the titular character and provided eleven songs for Vivo, a Sony Pictures Animation film directed by Kirk DeMicco which was released on Netflix in August 2021. Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021) Imagine Entertainment announced in July 2018 that Miranda will make his debut as a film director with an adaptation of Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical Tick, Tick... Boom!, to be scripted by Dear Evan Hansen librettist Steven Levenson. Miranda produced the film alongside Ron Howard and Brian Grazer: it was released on Netflix in 2021. Upcoming projects Miranda agreed in 2016 to serve as executive producer and composer of Lionsgate's film adaptation of The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, as well as a tie-in television series. In 2022 it was revealed that he was no longer attached to the project. Television 2007–2013: Early roles Miranda also worked in film and television. In 2007, he made a small appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. For Sesame Street, he occasionally played roles and sang the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric CompanyCameron, Scott, in and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. He played several television roles during this period. He appeared on the TV series Modern Family in the 2011 episode "Good Cop Bad Dog". In 2013, he played the recurring role of Ruben Marcado in the NBC drama Do No Harm. He later appeared in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in an all-verse episode titled "Bedtime Stories" that aired in November 2013. 2016–2021: Comedy roles and other projects On April 24, 2016, on the TV show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, at the end of a segment about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, Miranda performed an emotional rap about allowing the island to restructure its debt. Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live on October 8, 2016, and played himself in two episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2017, receiving Emmy Award nominations for both appearances. Miranda performed the theme song for the Netflix original series The Magic School Bus Rides Again, the revival and sequel series of the 1994 series The Magic School Bus. He played the part of Amy's brother (David Santiago) in the episode "The Golden Child" in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. On July 29, 2019, it was announced that Miranda had teamed with TV producer Norman Lear to make an American Masters documentary about the life of Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, titled Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Miranda, in collaboration with Brittany Howard, Daveed Diggs, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez wrote the lyrics for the song "Checks and Balances", which was sung by Benjy Brooke for the 2021 Netflix animated series We the People. Fosse/Verdon (2018) In 2019, Miranda served as an executive producer on the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon based on the relationship of Broadway dancer, choreographer, and director Bob Fosse and his wife dancer Gwen Verdon. Miranda also made a brief appearance playing Roy Scheider from All That Jazz. The series won critical acclaim, and Miranda was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series as an executive producer. His Dark Materials (2019) Miranda was cast as Lee Scoresby in the HBO series television adaptation of His Dark Materials (2019). Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised Miranda in his review writing, "[While] I appreciate that Miranda feels initially miscast as Pullman’s paragon of cowboy American masculinity...[he] forces you to reconstruct an image of American manliness around him, making him exactly what the series needs". Personal life Family Miranda married Vanessa Nadal, a high school friend, in 2010. At the wedding reception, Miranda, along with the wedding party, performed the Fiddler on the Roof song "To Life". Nadal was a lawyer at the law firm Jones Day. Miranda and Nadal's first son was born in November 2014. Their second son was born in February 2018. Miranda discovered that he is related to artists Residente and iLe of Calle 13 during a 2009 concert by the group in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Miranda was invited to perform. Backstage, the mother of Residente and ILE revealed their connection to Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. Miranda and Residente have since confirmed the relationship. In 2017, Miranda performed on the opening track of Residente's self-titled debut album. Miranda is cousins with professional baseball prospect José Miranda. Activism After a meeting with President Barack Obama in March 2016, Miranda joined U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic lawmakers to call for congressional action to back a Senate bill in Washington that would allow Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and significantly ease its $70 billion government-debt burden. Miranda was particularly active in the wake of Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico, and by December 2017, proceeds from his song "Almost Like Praying" helped the Hispanic Federation raise $22 million for rescue efforts and disaster relief. Miranda uses proceeds from Hamilton to support Graham Windham, a nonprofit adoption agency founded by Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. Miranda performs at their fundraising gala benefits in New York City and helps to fundraise for children in foster care. He performed "Found/Tonight" with Ben Platt at the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018. In order to raise money for Puerto Rico's reconstruction after being struck by hurricanes Irma and María, including at least $15 million to be channeled through the Flamboyán Foundation, Lin-Manuel decided to take, and once again play the protagonist role in Hamilton to his father's native Puerto Rico. The Miranda family donated approximately $1 million to bring the University of Puerto Rico theater up to par in order to use it as the venue for the musical's performance in January 2018. After tickets sold out in two hours for the three-week run, producers decided to move out of the university venue due to warnings of potential disruptions by a university workers' labor organization, and move the already-installed set to the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Santurce, where the performances ran from January 11 to January 27. The production donated additional hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to the Ferré Performing Arts Center. In 2016, Miranda advocated for the passing of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, a law setting out to restructure the debt of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. The law led to budget cuts resulting in the closure of over 200 public schools, cuts to government labor benefits, and budget cuts at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). It was met with protests, with UPR shutting down due to student strikes over the measures in 2017. Miranda became a target of criticism, especially when he performed Hamilton in Puerto Rico, given his lobbying on the bill as well as the musical's subject matter, which focused on the founding of Puerto Rico's colonizer, the United States. Awards and honours In 2015, Miranda was the recipient of Smithsonian Magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the History category. In 2019, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery awarded Miranda the Portrait of a Nation prize. Honorary degrees Miranda received an honorary degree in 2009 from Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan, becoming the youngest person to receive an honorary degree from that university. Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City, presented Miranda with the degree. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2015 from his alma mater, Wesleyan University, and gave their commencement address. In May 2016, he received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and gave the commencement speech. Work Theater Film Television Web series Bibliography BooksHamilton: The Revolution (2016) with Jeremy McCarterGmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You (2018) with Jonny SunIn the Heights: Finding Home (2021) with Quiara Alegría Hudes and Jeremy McCarter Articles "Stop the Bots from Killing Broadway", The New York Times (2016) "Give Puerto Rico Its Chance to Thrive", The New York Times (2016) Discography Cast recordingsIn the Heights (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2008) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Sh-K-Boom) (RIAA: Gold)Merrily We Roll Along: 2012 New York Cast Recording (2012) (Vocals) (PS Classics)Bring It On: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2012) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Sh-K-Boom/Back Lot)21 Chump Street: The Musical – EP (2014) (Composer, lyricist, producer, narrator) (5000 Broadway)Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2015) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic) Soundtracks Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2016) (Composer, lyricist, vocals) (Walt Disney)Mary Poppins Returns (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018) (Vocals) (Walt Disney)In the Heights (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (WaterTower Music, Atlantic)Vivo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic/Sony Pictures Animation)Encanto (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Walt Disney) (RIAA: Gold) Other albumsThe Hamilton Mixtape (2016) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic)The Hamilton Instrumentals (2017) (Composer, producer) (Atlantic) Singles Audiobook narration 2013: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 2016: Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter, & Mariska Hargitay 2016: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz 2018: Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You'' by Lin-Manuel Miranda See also Nuyorican Nuyorican Movement Latino theatre in the United States Puerto Rican literature Latino literature List of Latin American Academy Award winners and nominees Puerto Ricans in New York City Puerto Ricans in the United States Notes References External links 1980 births 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American singers American folk-pop singers American male dramatists and playwrights American male musical theatre actors American male voice actors American musical theatre composers American musical theatre librettists American people of Puerto Rican descent American writers of Mexican descent American tenors Broadway composers and lyricists Drama Desk Award winners Grammy Award winners Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights Hispanic and Latino American rappers Hunter College High School alumni Laurence Olivier Award winners Living people Kennedy Center honorees MacArthur Fellows Male actors from New York City People from Inwood, Manhattan Primetime Emmy Award winners Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Singers from New York City Songwriters from New York (state) Theatre World Award winners Tony Award winners Walt Disney Records artists Walt Disney Animation Studios people Wesleyan University alumni Writers from Manhattan
true
[ "Peoria Heights Community Unit District 325 is the unit school district of Peoria Heights and an adjacent area of Peoria along Illinois Route 29 and the Illinois River to the north, all in Peoria County, Illinois. It has one high school — Peoria Heights High School — and one grade school, both the same site.\n\nHistory\nDistrict 325 was organized on from the territory of two elementary districts — Gardener School District 112 and Peoria Heights School District 120 — and the remaining territory of Richwoods Community High School District 312.\n\nOld districts\nGardener School District 112 was District #2 of Richwoods Township under the 19th century numbering. Its first school location was known as Stafford School and was a log cabin. The second site was bought in 1874. The first school on that site was a one-room frame building, which lasted for about 30 years. Its replacement was expanded in 1947.\n\nPeoria Heights School District 120 was District #10 of Richwoods Township under the 19th century numbering. It also started in a log cabin, called Richwoods Academy, on what is now the corner of Lake Avenue and Prospect Road. The second site was a frame building built in 1882 south of the railroad track on the east side of what is now Prospect Road. The third site was Kelly Avenue School, which started in 1896 in a new, one-room schoolhouse with a bell tower. The second classroom was added in around 1898, and a third in 1903. This frame schoolhouse was moved to the back of the lot when the brick Kelly Avenue School, with eight classrooms and a basement, was built in 1916. The old frame schoolhouse was used as the Peoria Heights Congregational Church, then as Masonic Grandview Lodge 1112 until they erected their own brick building at Prospect Road and Division Street in 1950. The frame building was torn down in 1953. An additional school, Monroe Avenue School, opened in 1954.\n\nRichwoods Community High School District 312 opened Richwoods Community High School in 1957. In November 1964, the high school's land was annexed into the city of Peoria and into Peoria Public Schools District 150. Resulting court cases gave control of the high school to District 150 in 1967.\n\nDistrict 325\nPeoria Heights High School was built in 1971.\n\nAround 1999, a new Peoria Heights Grade School was built next to the high school. Kelly Avenue School was torn down and replaced with a strip mall, and Monroe Avenue School became a private middle school.\n\nElementary schools\n Peoria Heights Grade School\n\nHigh schools\n Peoria Heights High School\n\nSee also\n Richwoods High School\n Richwoods Township, Peoria County, Illinois\n\nReferences\n\nSchool districts established in 1969\nEducation in Peoria County, Illinois\nSchool districts in Illinois\n1969 establishments in Illinois", "Georges Heights is an urban locality in the suburb of Mosman, adjoining Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Georges Heights is located in the local government area of the Municipality of Mosman and is part of the Lower North Shore.\n\nHistory\n\nGeorges Heights was named after King George III, who reigned from 1760 to 1820, which was during the time that the First Fleet left Portsmouth, England in 1788 and arrived in what is now Sydney Harbour.\n\nThe Georges Head Battery located in Georges Heights was constructed in 1871. A naval depot stands on the eastern side of Chowder Bay.\n\nHeritage listings\nGeorges Heights has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:\n Chowder Bay Road: Georges Head Military Fortifications\n\nReferences\n\nSydney localities\nMosman Council" ]
[ "Lin-Manuel Miranda", "2002-10: In the Heights", "What was In the Heights?", "musical" ]
C_479a4148191a4e52a82e4e5de5bd67f8_1
When did it open?
2
When did musical In the Heights open?
Lin-Manuel Miranda
In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Book writer Quiara Alegria Hudes joined the team in 2004. After success off-Broadway, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010 until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Miranda also did work for film and television. In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. He also has done work for Sesame Street, playing occasional roles and singing the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric Company and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. During these years, Miranda also worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed music for commercials. CANNOTANSWER
opening in March 2008.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, playwright, and film director. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals In the Heights (2005) and Hamilton (2015), and the soundtrack of Disney's Encanto (2021). His accolades include three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Pulitzer Prize. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Miranda made his Broadway debut in the 2008 musical In the Heights, in which he starred and wrote the music and lyrics. The production was a critical and commercial success, winning the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The stage musical was adapted into a film released in June 2021. Miranda gained wider recognition for writing the script, music, and lyrics for Hamilton, which has been acclaimed as a pop culture phenomenon since its 2015 Broadway premiere. It earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for a record 16 Tony Awards and won 11, including Miranda's first win for the Best Book of a Musical. The Hamilton cast recording spent ten weeks atop Billboards Top Rap Albums chart and became the eleventh-biggest album of the 2010s. The Hamilton Mixtape, a cover album by Miranda, further reached number one on the Billboard 200. A frequent collaborator of the Walt Disney Company, Miranda has written original songs for the studio, which has garnered him two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ("How Far I'll Go" and "Dos Oruguitas"). He worked on the 2016 animated musical Moana, and wrote the story and music for Encanto—a widespread critical and commercial success; its song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" broke various records, marked Miranda's first-ever number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles charts, and propelled him to mainstream fame. He starred as Jack in the musical fantasy Mary Poppins Returns (2018), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. For his performance in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton released in 2020, he received Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Miranda debuted as a film director with Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021), a biographical musical drama. He also had a voice role in the animated film Vivo, released in 2021. His television work includes recurring roles on The Electric Company (2009–2010) and His Dark Materials (2019). Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live in 2017 and had a guest role on Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2018, for which he was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He has been politically active on behalf of Puerto Rico, and supported the 2016 PROMESA. He met with politicians in 2016 to speak out in favor of debt relief for Puerto Rico and raised funds for rescue efforts and disaster relief after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Early life and education Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980, in New York City to Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, a clinical psychologist, and Luis Miranda Jr., a Democratic Party consultant. The name "Lin-Manuel" was inspired by a poem about the Vietnam War, Nana roja para mi hijo Lin Manuel, by the Puerto Rican writer José Manuel Torres Santiago. He was raised in the neighborhood of Inwood. He is of Puerto Rican descent, along with Mexican from a grandparent. During childhood and his teens, he spent at least one month each year with his grandparents in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Miranda has one older sister, Luz, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the MirRam Group, a strategic consulting firm in Government and Communications. Miranda attended Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School. Among his classmates was journalist Chris Hayes, who was Miranda's first director when Miranda starred in a school play described by Hayes as "a 20-minute musical that featured a maniacal fetal pig in a nightmare that [Miranda] had cut up in biology class". His classmates also included rapper Immortal Technique, who bullied Miranda, although the two later became friends. Miranda began writing musicals at school. As a student, Miranda wrote the earliest draft of what would become his first Broadway musical, In the Heights, in 1999, his sophomore year of college at Wesleyan University. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan's student theater company, Second Stage, Miranda added freestyle rap and salsa numbers, and the show was premiered there in 1999. Miranda wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan and acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to William Shakespeare. He graduated from Wesleyan in 2002. Career Theatre 2002–2010: In the Heights In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes joined the team in 2004. After premiering in Connecticut in 2005 and opening at the 37 Arts Theater off-Broadway in 2007, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010, until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. During this time, he also performed at bar and bat mitzvahs. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. During these years, Miranda worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant critic, and composed music for commercials. In 2003, Miranda co-founded Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip hop improv group that has toured the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as the Aspen, Melbourne and Montreal Comedy Festivals. The group created a limited television series for Pivot in 2014 and made its Broadway debut on October 2, 2019, at the Booth Theatre in a self-titled show to positive reviews. 2011–2014: Bring It On and other theatrical work Miranda co-wrote the music and lyrics for Bring It On: The Musical with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. Bring It On premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2011. The musical began a US national tour on October 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. It played a limited engagement on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, beginning previews on July 12, and officially opening on August 1, 2012. It closed on December 30, 2012. It was nominated for Tony Awards in the categories of Best Musical and Best Choreography. In February 2012, Miranda appeared in Merrily We Roll Along, in the role of Charley, in an Encores! staged concert at New York City Center. His theatrical achievements in 2014 included an Emmy Award for the song "Bigger!", which he and Kitt co-wrote for the opening number at the 67th Tony Awards. Miranda wrote music and lyrics for the one-act musical 21 Chump Street, and performed as narrator for the show's single performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on June 7, 2014, which was broadcast on National Public Radio's This American Life on June 20, 2014. Later that month, he starred in the June 2014 Encores! revival of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick... Boom!, under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori. The show was directed by Oliver Butler. Earlier in 2014, he guest starred in a show by comedy duo The Skivvies. 2015–2016: Hamilton While on a vacation in 2008, Miranda read Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton and, inspired by the book, wrote a rap about Hamilton that he performed for the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by Alex Lacamoire. Miranda later said he spent a year writing the Hamilton song "My Shot", revising it countless times for every verse to reflect Alexander Hamilton's intellect. By 2012, Miranda was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Hamilton, which he then referred to as the Hamilton Mixtape. The New York Times called it "an obvious game changer". Hamilton: An American Musical premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015, directed by Thomas Kail. Miranda wrote the book and score and starred as the title character. The show received highly positive reviews, and its engagement was sold out. Chernow and Miranda received the 2015 History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society for their work in creating the musical. The show began previews on Broadway in July 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and officially opened on August 6, 2015, earning positive reviews. On the first night of Hamilton previews, over 700 people lined up for lottery tickets. The Hamilton ticket lottery evolved into Ham4Ham, a series of outdoor mini-performances for lottery participants that was hosted daily by Miranda and cast members for over a year, until August 31, 2016. Miranda earned a 3% royalty on each performance of Hamilton, earning him $12.7 million by July 2017. Hamilton won the Tony Award for Best Musical; Miranda won the Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical and received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical, and the Hamilton cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In May 2016, for his work in the role of Alexander Hamilton, Miranda received the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. On March 15, 2016, members of the cast of Hamilton performed at the White House and hosted workshops; Miranda performed freestyle rap from prompts held up by President Obama. In April 2016, Miranda and Jeremy McCarter published Hamilton: The Revolution, a book describing Hamiltons journey from conception to Broadway success and discussing the cultural revolution that permeates the show. Miranda gave his last performance in Hamilton on July 9, 2016, but vowed to return to the show. Miranda reprised the role of Alexander Hamilton for a three-week run in Puerto Rico January 11–27, 2019, for which the engagement was sold out in three hours in November 2018. In a review, Chris Jones praised "deeper on-stage emotions" in Miranda's reprisal, as well as improved vocal and dance technique than on Broadway. A documentary about the creation of the show, Hamilton's America, featuring Miranda, premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 1, 2016, and first aired on PBS' Great Performances series on October 21, 2016. A taping of the OBT version of Hamilton was released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. On January 24, 2016, Miranda performed the offstage cameo role of Loud Hailer in the Broadway production of Les Misérables, fulfilling his childhood dream of being in the show, as it was the first production he ever saw on Broadway. Film Early acting roles Miranda appeared in a small role in the Walt Disney Pictures live-action film The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012). 2015–present: Disney projects Miranda interviewed with Disney in the winter of 2013, and submitted a six-song demo package to Walt Disney Animation Studios. This began a series of collaborations with the company: Moana – In spring 2014, the studio hired Miranda to help write and perform music for Moana, its 2016 animated feature film. From 2014 to 2016, Miranda collaborated with Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina on the songs for Moana. He later explained that because he was so busy with Moana and Hamilton, he turned down other projects "that would have distracted" him, but this served as an "ego check" as Hamilton became a hit. Moana opened in November 2016 and was a box office hit, earning positive reviews and praise from critics for Miranda's songwriting. Miranda also sang the song "We Know the Way" in the film, and recorded a duet with Jordan Fisher of the song "You're Welcome", which was played over the film's end credits. For the song "How Far I'll Go", Miranda received Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, Oscar, and Grammy Award nominations. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – While working on Hamilton, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), writing a song for the scene in Maz Kanata's cantina, an homage to the classic Mos Eisley Cantina scene and song by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes. DuckTales – Miranda debuted in May 2018 as the voice of Fenton "Gizmoduck" Crackshell-Cabrera in Disney Channel's 2017 reboot of DuckTales. Mary Poppins Returns – Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter and former apprentice to Bert, the chimney sweep played by Dick Van Dyke in the original 1964 film Mary Poppins. This is his first major role after leaving the Broadway cast of Hamilton. Miranda traveled to London in 2017 for the film, directed by Rob Marshall, which was released in December 2018. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Following his work on The Force Awakens, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), writing a song for the scene on the desert planet Pasaana, in addition to making a cameo appearance as a Resistance trooper. The live stage recording of the original Broadway production of Hamilton was acquired by Walt Disney Pictures and released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. Encanto – Miranda collaborated again with Walt Disney Animation Studios on an animated musical titled Encanto directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, with Charise Castro Smith co-directing. The film was released on November 24, 2021. The Little Mermaid – In August 2016, Miranda agreed to write songs with Alan Menken for Disney's forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Miranda will co-produce the film with Marc Platt and Rob Marshall, the latter of whom will direct. Menken announced in July 2017 that he and Miranda had begun working on new songs for the project. Miranda and Menken wrote four new songs for The Little Mermaid, which had been recorded by April 2020. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 26, 2023. In the Heights (2021) On November 7, 2008, Universal Pictures announced that they planned to adapt In the Heights as a feature film for release in 2011.<ref>Gans, Andrew. "Universal Plans Silver-Screen Adaptation of In the Heights'"], Playbill, November 7, 2008</ref> However, the project was canceled in March 2011, reportedly due to the fact Universal was looking for a "bankable Latino star" like Shakira or Jennifer Lopez instead of unknown actors. In January 2012, Miranda stated that the film adaptation was back under discussion; in May 2016, it was announced that Miranda would co-produce the film with Harvey Weinstein and backing from The Weinstein Company. On June 10, 2016, Jon M. Chu came on board to direct the film adaptation of the musical. In the aftermath of numerous sexual misconduct allegations made against Weinstein, his producer credit on the film was removed, with the rights to the film eventually auctioned off to Warner Bros. for $50 million. While Miranda originated the role of Usnavi, he felt he was too old to star as Usnavi in the film adaptation. Ultimately, Miranda played the smaller role of Piraguero, the "Piragua Guy," in the film. He was quoted as saying the Broadway production was "...a miraculous experience. I went from substitute teacher to Broadway composer. I will never make a leap that big again in my life. I was very content to let Anthony Ramos and this incredible cast have their own experience." Miranda also served as producer and acted alongside Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, and Jimmy Smits. The film was set for release on June 26, 2020, but was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the film industry. It was released in theaters and temporarily on HBO Max on June 10, 2021. Vivo (2021) Miranda stars as the titular character and provided eleven songs for Vivo, a Sony Pictures Animation film directed by Kirk DeMicco which was released on Netflix in August 2021. Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021) Imagine Entertainment announced in July 2018 that Miranda will make his debut as a film director with an adaptation of Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical Tick, Tick... Boom!, to be scripted by Dear Evan Hansen librettist Steven Levenson. Miranda produced the film alongside Ron Howard and Brian Grazer: it was released on Netflix in 2021. Upcoming projects Miranda agreed in 2016 to serve as executive producer and composer of Lionsgate's film adaptation of The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, as well as a tie-in television series. In 2022 it was revealed that he was no longer attached to the project. Television 2007–2013: Early roles Miranda also worked in film and television. In 2007, he made a small appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. For Sesame Street, he occasionally played roles and sang the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric CompanyCameron, Scott, in and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. He played several television roles during this period. He appeared on the TV series Modern Family in the 2011 episode "Good Cop Bad Dog". In 2013, he played the recurring role of Ruben Marcado in the NBC drama Do No Harm. He later appeared in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in an all-verse episode titled "Bedtime Stories" that aired in November 2013. 2016–2021: Comedy roles and other projects On April 24, 2016, on the TV show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, at the end of a segment about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, Miranda performed an emotional rap about allowing the island to restructure its debt. Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live on October 8, 2016, and played himself in two episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2017, receiving Emmy Award nominations for both appearances. Miranda performed the theme song for the Netflix original series The Magic School Bus Rides Again, the revival and sequel series of the 1994 series The Magic School Bus. He played the part of Amy's brother (David Santiago) in the episode "The Golden Child" in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. On July 29, 2019, it was announced that Miranda had teamed with TV producer Norman Lear to make an American Masters documentary about the life of Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, titled Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Miranda, in collaboration with Brittany Howard, Daveed Diggs, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez wrote the lyrics for the song "Checks and Balances", which was sung by Benjy Brooke for the 2021 Netflix animated series We the People. Fosse/Verdon (2018) In 2019, Miranda served as an executive producer on the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon based on the relationship of Broadway dancer, choreographer, and director Bob Fosse and his wife dancer Gwen Verdon. Miranda also made a brief appearance playing Roy Scheider from All That Jazz. The series won critical acclaim, and Miranda was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series as an executive producer. His Dark Materials (2019) Miranda was cast as Lee Scoresby in the HBO series television adaptation of His Dark Materials (2019). Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised Miranda in his review writing, "[While] I appreciate that Miranda feels initially miscast as Pullman’s paragon of cowboy American masculinity...[he] forces you to reconstruct an image of American manliness around him, making him exactly what the series needs". Personal life Family Miranda married Vanessa Nadal, a high school friend, in 2010. At the wedding reception, Miranda, along with the wedding party, performed the Fiddler on the Roof song "To Life". Nadal was a lawyer at the law firm Jones Day. Miranda and Nadal's first son was born in November 2014. Their second son was born in February 2018. Miranda discovered that he is related to artists Residente and iLe of Calle 13 during a 2009 concert by the group in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Miranda was invited to perform. Backstage, the mother of Residente and ILE revealed their connection to Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. Miranda and Residente have since confirmed the relationship. In 2017, Miranda performed on the opening track of Residente's self-titled debut album. Miranda is cousins with professional baseball prospect José Miranda. Activism After a meeting with President Barack Obama in March 2016, Miranda joined U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic lawmakers to call for congressional action to back a Senate bill in Washington that would allow Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and significantly ease its $70 billion government-debt burden. Miranda was particularly active in the wake of Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico, and by December 2017, proceeds from his song "Almost Like Praying" helped the Hispanic Federation raise $22 million for rescue efforts and disaster relief. Miranda uses proceeds from Hamilton to support Graham Windham, a nonprofit adoption agency founded by Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. Miranda performs at their fundraising gala benefits in New York City and helps to fundraise for children in foster care. He performed "Found/Tonight" with Ben Platt at the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018. In order to raise money for Puerto Rico's reconstruction after being struck by hurricanes Irma and María, including at least $15 million to be channeled through the Flamboyán Foundation, Lin-Manuel decided to take, and once again play the protagonist role in Hamilton to his father's native Puerto Rico. The Miranda family donated approximately $1 million to bring the University of Puerto Rico theater up to par in order to use it as the venue for the musical's performance in January 2018. After tickets sold out in two hours for the three-week run, producers decided to move out of the university venue due to warnings of potential disruptions by a university workers' labor organization, and move the already-installed set to the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Santurce, where the performances ran from January 11 to January 27. The production donated additional hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to the Ferré Performing Arts Center. In 2016, Miranda advocated for the passing of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, a law setting out to restructure the debt of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. The law led to budget cuts resulting in the closure of over 200 public schools, cuts to government labor benefits, and budget cuts at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). It was met with protests, with UPR shutting down due to student strikes over the measures in 2017. Miranda became a target of criticism, especially when he performed Hamilton in Puerto Rico, given his lobbying on the bill as well as the musical's subject matter, which focused on the founding of Puerto Rico's colonizer, the United States. Awards and honours In 2015, Miranda was the recipient of Smithsonian Magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the History category. In 2019, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery awarded Miranda the Portrait of a Nation prize. Honorary degrees Miranda received an honorary degree in 2009 from Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan, becoming the youngest person to receive an honorary degree from that university. Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City, presented Miranda with the degree. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2015 from his alma mater, Wesleyan University, and gave their commencement address. In May 2016, he received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and gave the commencement speech. Work Theater Film Television Web series Bibliography BooksHamilton: The Revolution (2016) with Jeremy McCarterGmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You (2018) with Jonny SunIn the Heights: Finding Home (2021) with Quiara Alegría Hudes and Jeremy McCarter Articles "Stop the Bots from Killing Broadway", The New York Times (2016) "Give Puerto Rico Its Chance to Thrive", The New York Times (2016) Discography Cast recordingsIn the Heights (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2008) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Sh-K-Boom) (RIAA: Gold)Merrily We Roll Along: 2012 New York Cast Recording (2012) (Vocals) (PS Classics)Bring It On: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2012) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Sh-K-Boom/Back Lot)21 Chump Street: The Musical – EP (2014) (Composer, lyricist, producer, narrator) (5000 Broadway)Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2015) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic) Soundtracks Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2016) (Composer, lyricist, vocals) (Walt Disney)Mary Poppins Returns (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018) (Vocals) (Walt Disney)In the Heights (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (WaterTower Music, Atlantic)Vivo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic/Sony Pictures Animation)Encanto (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Walt Disney) (RIAA: Gold) Other albumsThe Hamilton Mixtape (2016) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic)The Hamilton Instrumentals (2017) (Composer, producer) (Atlantic) Singles Audiobook narration 2013: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 2016: Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter, & Mariska Hargitay 2016: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz 2018: Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You'' by Lin-Manuel Miranda See also Nuyorican Nuyorican Movement Latino theatre in the United States Puerto Rican literature Latino literature List of Latin American Academy Award winners and nominees Puerto Ricans in New York City Puerto Ricans in the United States Notes References External links 1980 births 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American singers American folk-pop singers American male dramatists and playwrights American male musical theatre actors American male voice actors American musical theatre composers American musical theatre librettists American people of Puerto Rican descent American writers of Mexican descent American tenors Broadway composers and lyricists Drama Desk Award winners Grammy Award winners Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights Hispanic and Latino American rappers Hunter College High School alumni Laurence Olivier Award winners Living people Kennedy Center honorees MacArthur Fellows Male actors from New York City People from Inwood, Manhattan Primetime Emmy Award winners Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Singers from New York City Songwriters from New York (state) Theatre World Award winners Tony Award winners Walt Disney Records artists Walt Disney Animation Studios people Wesleyan University alumni Writers from Manhattan
true
[ "Fourth-seeded Martina Hingis won in the final 6–2, 6–2 over Mary Pierce to capture the women's singles tennis title at the 1997 Australian Open. Hingis did not lose a set in the entire tournament. She became the youngest woman (at the age of 16 years and three months) to win a Grand Slam singles title since Lottie Dod won the 1887 Wimbledon Championships.\n\nMonica Seles was the defending champion, but did not compete that year. Steffi Graf's 45-match major winning streak came to an end (started from 1995 French Open) when she was defeated by Amanda Coetzer in the fourth round.\n\nUntil 2019, this would remain the last time that the top three seeded players would fail to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Also, until 2022, this would be the last Australian Open not to feature either Venus or Serena Williams.\n\nSeeds\n\nQualifying\n\nDraw\n\nFinals\n\nTop half\n\nSection 1\n\nSection 2\n\nSection 3\n\nSection 4\n\nBottom half\n\nSection 5\n\nSection 6\n\nSection 7\n\nSection 8\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n 1997 Australian Open – Women's draws and results at the International Tennis Federation\n\nWomen's Singles\nAustralian Open (tennis) by year – Women's singles\n1997 in Australian women's sport\n1997 WTA Tour", "Andre Begemann and Lukáš Rosol were the defending champions, but they did not participate this year. When Prostějov tournament started, Rosol was still in play in doubles competition at French Open.\n\nJulian Knowle and Philipp Oswald won the tournament, defeating Mateusz Kowalczyk and Igor Zelenay in the final, 4–6, 6–3, [11–9].\n\nSeeds\n\nDraw\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Main Draw\n\nUniCredit Czech Open - Doubles\n2015 Doubles" ]
[ "Lin-Manuel Miranda", "2002-10: In the Heights", "What was In the Heights?", "musical", "When did it open?", "opening in March 2008." ]
C_479a4148191a4e52a82e4e5de5bd67f8_1
Did it win any awards?
3
Did 'In the Heights' win any awards?
Lin-Manuel Miranda
In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Book writer Quiara Alegria Hudes joined the team in 2004. After success off-Broadway, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010 until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Miranda also did work for film and television. In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. He also has done work for Sesame Street, playing occasional roles and singing the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric Company and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. During these years, Miranda also worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed music for commercials. CANNOTANSWER
It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four,
Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, playwright, and film director. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals In the Heights (2005) and Hamilton (2015), and the soundtrack of Disney's Encanto (2021). His accolades include three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Pulitzer Prize. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Miranda made his Broadway debut in the 2008 musical In the Heights, in which he starred and wrote the music and lyrics. The production was a critical and commercial success, winning the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The stage musical was adapted into a film released in June 2021. Miranda gained wider recognition for writing the script, music, and lyrics for Hamilton, which has been acclaimed as a pop culture phenomenon since its 2015 Broadway premiere. It earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for a record 16 Tony Awards and won 11, including Miranda's first win for the Best Book of a Musical. The Hamilton cast recording spent ten weeks atop Billboards Top Rap Albums chart and became the eleventh-biggest album of the 2010s. The Hamilton Mixtape, a cover album by Miranda, further reached number one on the Billboard 200. A frequent collaborator of the Walt Disney Company, Miranda has written original songs for the studio, which has garnered him two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ("How Far I'll Go" and "Dos Oruguitas"). He worked on the 2016 animated musical Moana, and wrote the story and music for Encanto—a widespread critical and commercial success; its song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" broke various records, marked Miranda's first-ever number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles charts, and propelled him to mainstream fame. He starred as Jack in the musical fantasy Mary Poppins Returns (2018), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. For his performance in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton released in 2020, he received Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Miranda debuted as a film director with Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021), a biographical musical drama. He also had a voice role in the animated film Vivo, released in 2021. His television work includes recurring roles on The Electric Company (2009–2010) and His Dark Materials (2019). Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live in 2017 and had a guest role on Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2018, for which he was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He has been politically active on behalf of Puerto Rico, and supported the 2016 PROMESA. He met with politicians in 2016 to speak out in favor of debt relief for Puerto Rico and raised funds for rescue efforts and disaster relief after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Early life and education Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980, in New York City to Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, a clinical psychologist, and Luis Miranda Jr., a Democratic Party consultant. The name "Lin-Manuel" was inspired by a poem about the Vietnam War, Nana roja para mi hijo Lin Manuel, by the Puerto Rican writer José Manuel Torres Santiago. He was raised in the neighborhood of Inwood. He is of Puerto Rican descent, along with Mexican from a grandparent. During childhood and his teens, he spent at least one month each year with his grandparents in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Miranda has one older sister, Luz, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the MirRam Group, a strategic consulting firm in Government and Communications. Miranda attended Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School. Among his classmates was journalist Chris Hayes, who was Miranda's first director when Miranda starred in a school play described by Hayes as "a 20-minute musical that featured a maniacal fetal pig in a nightmare that [Miranda] had cut up in biology class". His classmates also included rapper Immortal Technique, who bullied Miranda, although the two later became friends. Miranda began writing musicals at school. As a student, Miranda wrote the earliest draft of what would become his first Broadway musical, In the Heights, in 1999, his sophomore year of college at Wesleyan University. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan's student theater company, Second Stage, Miranda added freestyle rap and salsa numbers, and the show was premiered there in 1999. Miranda wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan and acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to William Shakespeare. He graduated from Wesleyan in 2002. Career Theatre 2002–2010: In the Heights In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes joined the team in 2004. After premiering in Connecticut in 2005 and opening at the 37 Arts Theater off-Broadway in 2007, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010, until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. During this time, he also performed at bar and bat mitzvahs. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. During these years, Miranda worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant critic, and composed music for commercials. In 2003, Miranda co-founded Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip hop improv group that has toured the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as the Aspen, Melbourne and Montreal Comedy Festivals. The group created a limited television series for Pivot in 2014 and made its Broadway debut on October 2, 2019, at the Booth Theatre in a self-titled show to positive reviews. 2011–2014: Bring It On and other theatrical work Miranda co-wrote the music and lyrics for Bring It On: The Musical with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. Bring It On premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2011. The musical began a US national tour on October 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. It played a limited engagement on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, beginning previews on July 12, and officially opening on August 1, 2012. It closed on December 30, 2012. It was nominated for Tony Awards in the categories of Best Musical and Best Choreography. In February 2012, Miranda appeared in Merrily We Roll Along, in the role of Charley, in an Encores! staged concert at New York City Center. His theatrical achievements in 2014 included an Emmy Award for the song "Bigger!", which he and Kitt co-wrote for the opening number at the 67th Tony Awards. Miranda wrote music and lyrics for the one-act musical 21 Chump Street, and performed as narrator for the show's single performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on June 7, 2014, which was broadcast on National Public Radio's This American Life on June 20, 2014. Later that month, he starred in the June 2014 Encores! revival of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick... Boom!, under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori. The show was directed by Oliver Butler. Earlier in 2014, he guest starred in a show by comedy duo The Skivvies. 2015–2016: Hamilton While on a vacation in 2008, Miranda read Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton and, inspired by the book, wrote a rap about Hamilton that he performed for the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by Alex Lacamoire. Miranda later said he spent a year writing the Hamilton song "My Shot", revising it countless times for every verse to reflect Alexander Hamilton's intellect. By 2012, Miranda was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Hamilton, which he then referred to as the Hamilton Mixtape. The New York Times called it "an obvious game changer". Hamilton: An American Musical premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015, directed by Thomas Kail. Miranda wrote the book and score and starred as the title character. The show received highly positive reviews, and its engagement was sold out. Chernow and Miranda received the 2015 History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society for their work in creating the musical. The show began previews on Broadway in July 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and officially opened on August 6, 2015, earning positive reviews. On the first night of Hamilton previews, over 700 people lined up for lottery tickets. The Hamilton ticket lottery evolved into Ham4Ham, a series of outdoor mini-performances for lottery participants that was hosted daily by Miranda and cast members for over a year, until August 31, 2016. Miranda earned a 3% royalty on each performance of Hamilton, earning him $12.7 million by July 2017. Hamilton won the Tony Award for Best Musical; Miranda won the Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical and received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical, and the Hamilton cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In May 2016, for his work in the role of Alexander Hamilton, Miranda received the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. On March 15, 2016, members of the cast of Hamilton performed at the White House and hosted workshops; Miranda performed freestyle rap from prompts held up by President Obama. In April 2016, Miranda and Jeremy McCarter published Hamilton: The Revolution, a book describing Hamiltons journey from conception to Broadway success and discussing the cultural revolution that permeates the show. Miranda gave his last performance in Hamilton on July 9, 2016, but vowed to return to the show. Miranda reprised the role of Alexander Hamilton for a three-week run in Puerto Rico January 11–27, 2019, for which the engagement was sold out in three hours in November 2018. In a review, Chris Jones praised "deeper on-stage emotions" in Miranda's reprisal, as well as improved vocal and dance technique than on Broadway. A documentary about the creation of the show, Hamilton's America, featuring Miranda, premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 1, 2016, and first aired on PBS' Great Performances series on October 21, 2016. A taping of the OBT version of Hamilton was released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. On January 24, 2016, Miranda performed the offstage cameo role of Loud Hailer in the Broadway production of Les Misérables, fulfilling his childhood dream of being in the show, as it was the first production he ever saw on Broadway. Film Early acting roles Miranda appeared in a small role in the Walt Disney Pictures live-action film The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012). 2015–present: Disney projects Miranda interviewed with Disney in the winter of 2013, and submitted a six-song demo package to Walt Disney Animation Studios. This began a series of collaborations with the company: Moana – In spring 2014, the studio hired Miranda to help write and perform music for Moana, its 2016 animated feature film. From 2014 to 2016, Miranda collaborated with Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina on the songs for Moana. He later explained that because he was so busy with Moana and Hamilton, he turned down other projects "that would have distracted" him, but this served as an "ego check" as Hamilton became a hit. Moana opened in November 2016 and was a box office hit, earning positive reviews and praise from critics for Miranda's songwriting. Miranda also sang the song "We Know the Way" in the film, and recorded a duet with Jordan Fisher of the song "You're Welcome", which was played over the film's end credits. For the song "How Far I'll Go", Miranda received Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, Oscar, and Grammy Award nominations. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – While working on Hamilton, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), writing a song for the scene in Maz Kanata's cantina, an homage to the classic Mos Eisley Cantina scene and song by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes. DuckTales – Miranda debuted in May 2018 as the voice of Fenton "Gizmoduck" Crackshell-Cabrera in Disney Channel's 2017 reboot of DuckTales. Mary Poppins Returns – Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter and former apprentice to Bert, the chimney sweep played by Dick Van Dyke in the original 1964 film Mary Poppins. This is his first major role after leaving the Broadway cast of Hamilton. Miranda traveled to London in 2017 for the film, directed by Rob Marshall, which was released in December 2018. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Following his work on The Force Awakens, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), writing a song for the scene on the desert planet Pasaana, in addition to making a cameo appearance as a Resistance trooper. The live stage recording of the original Broadway production of Hamilton was acquired by Walt Disney Pictures and released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. Encanto – Miranda collaborated again with Walt Disney Animation Studios on an animated musical titled Encanto directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, with Charise Castro Smith co-directing. The film was released on November 24, 2021. The Little Mermaid – In August 2016, Miranda agreed to write songs with Alan Menken for Disney's forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Miranda will co-produce the film with Marc Platt and Rob Marshall, the latter of whom will direct. Menken announced in July 2017 that he and Miranda had begun working on new songs for the project. Miranda and Menken wrote four new songs for The Little Mermaid, which had been recorded by April 2020. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 26, 2023. In the Heights (2021) On November 7, 2008, Universal Pictures announced that they planned to adapt In the Heights as a feature film for release in 2011.<ref>Gans, Andrew. "Universal Plans Silver-Screen Adaptation of In the Heights'"], Playbill, November 7, 2008</ref> However, the project was canceled in March 2011, reportedly due to the fact Universal was looking for a "bankable Latino star" like Shakira or Jennifer Lopez instead of unknown actors. In January 2012, Miranda stated that the film adaptation was back under discussion; in May 2016, it was announced that Miranda would co-produce the film with Harvey Weinstein and backing from The Weinstein Company. On June 10, 2016, Jon M. Chu came on board to direct the film adaptation of the musical. In the aftermath of numerous sexual misconduct allegations made against Weinstein, his producer credit on the film was removed, with the rights to the film eventually auctioned off to Warner Bros. for $50 million. While Miranda originated the role of Usnavi, he felt he was too old to star as Usnavi in the film adaptation. Ultimately, Miranda played the smaller role of Piraguero, the "Piragua Guy," in the film. He was quoted as saying the Broadway production was "...a miraculous experience. I went from substitute teacher to Broadway composer. I will never make a leap that big again in my life. I was very content to let Anthony Ramos and this incredible cast have their own experience." Miranda also served as producer and acted alongside Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, and Jimmy Smits. The film was set for release on June 26, 2020, but was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the film industry. It was released in theaters and temporarily on HBO Max on June 10, 2021. Vivo (2021) Miranda stars as the titular character and provided eleven songs for Vivo, a Sony Pictures Animation film directed by Kirk DeMicco which was released on Netflix in August 2021. Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021) Imagine Entertainment announced in July 2018 that Miranda will make his debut as a film director with an adaptation of Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical Tick, Tick... Boom!, to be scripted by Dear Evan Hansen librettist Steven Levenson. Miranda produced the film alongside Ron Howard and Brian Grazer: it was released on Netflix in 2021. Upcoming projects Miranda agreed in 2016 to serve as executive producer and composer of Lionsgate's film adaptation of The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, as well as a tie-in television series. In 2022 it was revealed that he was no longer attached to the project. Television 2007–2013: Early roles Miranda also worked in film and television. In 2007, he made a small appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. For Sesame Street, he occasionally played roles and sang the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric CompanyCameron, Scott, in and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. He played several television roles during this period. He appeared on the TV series Modern Family in the 2011 episode "Good Cop Bad Dog". In 2013, he played the recurring role of Ruben Marcado in the NBC drama Do No Harm. He later appeared in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in an all-verse episode titled "Bedtime Stories" that aired in November 2013. 2016–2021: Comedy roles and other projects On April 24, 2016, on the TV show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, at the end of a segment about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, Miranda performed an emotional rap about allowing the island to restructure its debt. Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live on October 8, 2016, and played himself in two episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2017, receiving Emmy Award nominations for both appearances. Miranda performed the theme song for the Netflix original series The Magic School Bus Rides Again, the revival and sequel series of the 1994 series The Magic School Bus. He played the part of Amy's brother (David Santiago) in the episode "The Golden Child" in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. On July 29, 2019, it was announced that Miranda had teamed with TV producer Norman Lear to make an American Masters documentary about the life of Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, titled Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Miranda, in collaboration with Brittany Howard, Daveed Diggs, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez wrote the lyrics for the song "Checks and Balances", which was sung by Benjy Brooke for the 2021 Netflix animated series We the People. Fosse/Verdon (2018) In 2019, Miranda served as an executive producer on the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon based on the relationship of Broadway dancer, choreographer, and director Bob Fosse and his wife dancer Gwen Verdon. Miranda also made a brief appearance playing Roy Scheider from All That Jazz. The series won critical acclaim, and Miranda was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series as an executive producer. His Dark Materials (2019) Miranda was cast as Lee Scoresby in the HBO series television adaptation of His Dark Materials (2019). Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised Miranda in his review writing, "[While] I appreciate that Miranda feels initially miscast as Pullman’s paragon of cowboy American masculinity...[he] forces you to reconstruct an image of American manliness around him, making him exactly what the series needs". Personal life Family Miranda married Vanessa Nadal, a high school friend, in 2010. At the wedding reception, Miranda, along with the wedding party, performed the Fiddler on the Roof song "To Life". Nadal was a lawyer at the law firm Jones Day. Miranda and Nadal's first son was born in November 2014. Their second son was born in February 2018. Miranda discovered that he is related to artists Residente and iLe of Calle 13 during a 2009 concert by the group in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Miranda was invited to perform. Backstage, the mother of Residente and ILE revealed their connection to Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. Miranda and Residente have since confirmed the relationship. In 2017, Miranda performed on the opening track of Residente's self-titled debut album. Miranda is cousins with professional baseball prospect José Miranda. Activism After a meeting with President Barack Obama in March 2016, Miranda joined U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic lawmakers to call for congressional action to back a Senate bill in Washington that would allow Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and significantly ease its $70 billion government-debt burden. Miranda was particularly active in the wake of Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico, and by December 2017, proceeds from his song "Almost Like Praying" helped the Hispanic Federation raise $22 million for rescue efforts and disaster relief. Miranda uses proceeds from Hamilton to support Graham Windham, a nonprofit adoption agency founded by Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. Miranda performs at their fundraising gala benefits in New York City and helps to fundraise for children in foster care. He performed "Found/Tonight" with Ben Platt at the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018. In order to raise money for Puerto Rico's reconstruction after being struck by hurricanes Irma and María, including at least $15 million to be channeled through the Flamboyán Foundation, Lin-Manuel decided to take, and once again play the protagonist role in Hamilton to his father's native Puerto Rico. The Miranda family donated approximately $1 million to bring the University of Puerto Rico theater up to par in order to use it as the venue for the musical's performance in January 2018. After tickets sold out in two hours for the three-week run, producers decided to move out of the university venue due to warnings of potential disruptions by a university workers' labor organization, and move the already-installed set to the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Santurce, where the performances ran from January 11 to January 27. The production donated additional hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to the Ferré Performing Arts Center. In 2016, Miranda advocated for the passing of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, a law setting out to restructure the debt of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. The law led to budget cuts resulting in the closure of over 200 public schools, cuts to government labor benefits, and budget cuts at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). It was met with protests, with UPR shutting down due to student strikes over the measures in 2017. Miranda became a target of criticism, especially when he performed Hamilton in Puerto Rico, given his lobbying on the bill as well as the musical's subject matter, which focused on the founding of Puerto Rico's colonizer, the United States. Awards and honours In 2015, Miranda was the recipient of Smithsonian Magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the History category. In 2019, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery awarded Miranda the Portrait of a Nation prize. Honorary degrees Miranda received an honorary degree in 2009 from Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan, becoming the youngest person to receive an honorary degree from that university. Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City, presented Miranda with the degree. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2015 from his alma mater, Wesleyan University, and gave their commencement address. In May 2016, he received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and gave the commencement speech. Work Theater Film Television Web series Bibliography BooksHamilton: The Revolution (2016) with Jeremy McCarterGmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You (2018) with Jonny SunIn the Heights: Finding Home (2021) with Quiara Alegría Hudes and Jeremy McCarter Articles "Stop the Bots from Killing Broadway", The New York Times (2016) "Give Puerto Rico Its Chance to Thrive", The New York Times (2016) Discography Cast recordingsIn the Heights (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2008) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Sh-K-Boom) (RIAA: Gold)Merrily We Roll Along: 2012 New York Cast Recording (2012) (Vocals) (PS Classics)Bring It On: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2012) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Sh-K-Boom/Back Lot)21 Chump Street: The Musical – EP (2014) (Composer, lyricist, producer, narrator) (5000 Broadway)Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2015) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic) Soundtracks Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2016) (Composer, lyricist, vocals) (Walt Disney)Mary Poppins Returns (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018) (Vocals) (Walt Disney)In the Heights (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (WaterTower Music, Atlantic)Vivo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic/Sony Pictures Animation)Encanto (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Walt Disney) (RIAA: Gold) Other albumsThe Hamilton Mixtape (2016) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic)The Hamilton Instrumentals (2017) (Composer, producer) (Atlantic) Singles Audiobook narration 2013: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 2016: Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter, & Mariska Hargitay 2016: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz 2018: Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You'' by Lin-Manuel Miranda See also Nuyorican Nuyorican Movement Latino theatre in the United States Puerto Rican literature Latino literature List of Latin American Academy Award winners and nominees Puerto Ricans in New York City Puerto Ricans in the United States Notes References External links 1980 births 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American singers American folk-pop singers American male dramatists and playwrights American male musical theatre actors American male voice actors American musical theatre composers American musical theatre librettists American people of Puerto Rican descent American writers of Mexican descent American tenors Broadway composers and lyricists Drama Desk Award winners Grammy Award winners Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights Hispanic and Latino American rappers Hunter College High School alumni Laurence Olivier Award winners Living people Kennedy Center honorees MacArthur Fellows Male actors from New York City People from Inwood, Manhattan Primetime Emmy Award winners Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Singers from New York City Songwriters from New York (state) Theatre World Award winners Tony Award winners Walt Disney Records artists Walt Disney Animation Studios people Wesleyan University alumni Writers from Manhattan
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[ "Le Cousin is a 1997 French film directed by Alain Corneau.\n\nPlot \nThe film deals with the relationship of the police and an informant in the drug scene.\n\nAwards and nominations\nLe Cousin was nominated for 5 César Awards but did not win in any category.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1997 films\n1997 crime films\nFilms about drugs\nFilms directed by Alain Corneau\nFrench crime films\nFrench films\nFrench-language films", "The 23rd Fangoria Chainsaw Awards is an award ceremony presented for horror films that were released in 2020. The nominees were announced on January 20, 2021. The film The Invisible Man won five of its five nominations, including Best Wide Release, as well as the write-in poll of Best Kill. Color Out Of Space and Possessor each took two awards. His House did not win any of its seven nominations. The ceremony was exclusively livestreamed for the first time on the SHUDDER horror streaming service.\n\nWinners and nominees\n\nReferences\n\nFangoria Chainsaw Awards" ]
[ "Lin-Manuel Miranda", "2002-10: In the Heights", "What was In the Heights?", "musical", "When did it open?", "opening in March 2008.", "Did it win any awards?", "It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four," ]
C_479a4148191a4e52a82e4e5de5bd67f8_1
Did Miranda win any awards?
4
Did Miranda win any awards?
Lin-Manuel Miranda
In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Book writer Quiara Alegria Hudes joined the team in 2004. After success off-Broadway, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010 until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Miranda also did work for film and television. In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. He also has done work for Sesame Street, playing occasional roles and singing the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric Company and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. During these years, Miranda also worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed music for commercials. CANNOTANSWER
Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor
Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, playwright, and film director. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals In the Heights (2005) and Hamilton (2015), and the soundtrack of Disney's Encanto (2021). His accolades include three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Pulitzer Prize. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Miranda made his Broadway debut in the 2008 musical In the Heights, in which he starred and wrote the music and lyrics. The production was a critical and commercial success, winning the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The stage musical was adapted into a film released in June 2021. Miranda gained wider recognition for writing the script, music, and lyrics for Hamilton, which has been acclaimed as a pop culture phenomenon since its 2015 Broadway premiere. It earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for a record 16 Tony Awards and won 11, including Miranda's first win for the Best Book of a Musical. The Hamilton cast recording spent ten weeks atop Billboards Top Rap Albums chart and became the eleventh-biggest album of the 2010s. The Hamilton Mixtape, a cover album by Miranda, further reached number one on the Billboard 200. A frequent collaborator of the Walt Disney Company, Miranda has written original songs for the studio, which has garnered him two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ("How Far I'll Go" and "Dos Oruguitas"). He worked on the 2016 animated musical Moana, and wrote the story and music for Encanto—a widespread critical and commercial success; its song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" broke various records, marked Miranda's first-ever number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles charts, and propelled him to mainstream fame. He starred as Jack in the musical fantasy Mary Poppins Returns (2018), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. For his performance in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton released in 2020, he received Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Miranda debuted as a film director with Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021), a biographical musical drama. He also had a voice role in the animated film Vivo, released in 2021. His television work includes recurring roles on The Electric Company (2009–2010) and His Dark Materials (2019). Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live in 2017 and had a guest role on Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2018, for which he was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He has been politically active on behalf of Puerto Rico, and supported the 2016 PROMESA. He met with politicians in 2016 to speak out in favor of debt relief for Puerto Rico and raised funds for rescue efforts and disaster relief after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Early life and education Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980, in New York City to Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, a clinical psychologist, and Luis Miranda Jr., a Democratic Party consultant. The name "Lin-Manuel" was inspired by a poem about the Vietnam War, Nana roja para mi hijo Lin Manuel, by the Puerto Rican writer José Manuel Torres Santiago. He was raised in the neighborhood of Inwood. He is of Puerto Rican descent, along with Mexican from a grandparent. During childhood and his teens, he spent at least one month each year with his grandparents in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Miranda has one older sister, Luz, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the MirRam Group, a strategic consulting firm in Government and Communications. Miranda attended Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School. Among his classmates was journalist Chris Hayes, who was Miranda's first director when Miranda starred in a school play described by Hayes as "a 20-minute musical that featured a maniacal fetal pig in a nightmare that [Miranda] had cut up in biology class". His classmates also included rapper Immortal Technique, who bullied Miranda, although the two later became friends. Miranda began writing musicals at school. As a student, Miranda wrote the earliest draft of what would become his first Broadway musical, In the Heights, in 1999, his sophomore year of college at Wesleyan University. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan's student theater company, Second Stage, Miranda added freestyle rap and salsa numbers, and the show was premiered there in 1999. Miranda wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan and acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to William Shakespeare. He graduated from Wesleyan in 2002. Career Theatre 2002–2010: In the Heights In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes joined the team in 2004. After premiering in Connecticut in 2005 and opening at the 37 Arts Theater off-Broadway in 2007, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010, until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. During this time, he also performed at bar and bat mitzvahs. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. During these years, Miranda worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant critic, and composed music for commercials. In 2003, Miranda co-founded Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip hop improv group that has toured the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as the Aspen, Melbourne and Montreal Comedy Festivals. The group created a limited television series for Pivot in 2014 and made its Broadway debut on October 2, 2019, at the Booth Theatre in a self-titled show to positive reviews. 2011–2014: Bring It On and other theatrical work Miranda co-wrote the music and lyrics for Bring It On: The Musical with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. Bring It On premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2011. The musical began a US national tour on October 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. It played a limited engagement on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, beginning previews on July 12, and officially opening on August 1, 2012. It closed on December 30, 2012. It was nominated for Tony Awards in the categories of Best Musical and Best Choreography. In February 2012, Miranda appeared in Merrily We Roll Along, in the role of Charley, in an Encores! staged concert at New York City Center. His theatrical achievements in 2014 included an Emmy Award for the song "Bigger!", which he and Kitt co-wrote for the opening number at the 67th Tony Awards. Miranda wrote music and lyrics for the one-act musical 21 Chump Street, and performed as narrator for the show's single performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on June 7, 2014, which was broadcast on National Public Radio's This American Life on June 20, 2014. Later that month, he starred in the June 2014 Encores! revival of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick... Boom!, under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori. The show was directed by Oliver Butler. Earlier in 2014, he guest starred in a show by comedy duo The Skivvies. 2015–2016: Hamilton While on a vacation in 2008, Miranda read Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton and, inspired by the book, wrote a rap about Hamilton that he performed for the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by Alex Lacamoire. Miranda later said he spent a year writing the Hamilton song "My Shot", revising it countless times for every verse to reflect Alexander Hamilton's intellect. By 2012, Miranda was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Hamilton, which he then referred to as the Hamilton Mixtape. The New York Times called it "an obvious game changer". Hamilton: An American Musical premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015, directed by Thomas Kail. Miranda wrote the book and score and starred as the title character. The show received highly positive reviews, and its engagement was sold out. Chernow and Miranda received the 2015 History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society for their work in creating the musical. The show began previews on Broadway in July 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and officially opened on August 6, 2015, earning positive reviews. On the first night of Hamilton previews, over 700 people lined up for lottery tickets. The Hamilton ticket lottery evolved into Ham4Ham, a series of outdoor mini-performances for lottery participants that was hosted daily by Miranda and cast members for over a year, until August 31, 2016. Miranda earned a 3% royalty on each performance of Hamilton, earning him $12.7 million by July 2017. Hamilton won the Tony Award for Best Musical; Miranda won the Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical and received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical, and the Hamilton cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In May 2016, for his work in the role of Alexander Hamilton, Miranda received the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. On March 15, 2016, members of the cast of Hamilton performed at the White House and hosted workshops; Miranda performed freestyle rap from prompts held up by President Obama. In April 2016, Miranda and Jeremy McCarter published Hamilton: The Revolution, a book describing Hamiltons journey from conception to Broadway success and discussing the cultural revolution that permeates the show. Miranda gave his last performance in Hamilton on July 9, 2016, but vowed to return to the show. Miranda reprised the role of Alexander Hamilton for a three-week run in Puerto Rico January 11–27, 2019, for which the engagement was sold out in three hours in November 2018. In a review, Chris Jones praised "deeper on-stage emotions" in Miranda's reprisal, as well as improved vocal and dance technique than on Broadway. A documentary about the creation of the show, Hamilton's America, featuring Miranda, premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 1, 2016, and first aired on PBS' Great Performances series on October 21, 2016. A taping of the OBT version of Hamilton was released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. On January 24, 2016, Miranda performed the offstage cameo role of Loud Hailer in the Broadway production of Les Misérables, fulfilling his childhood dream of being in the show, as it was the first production he ever saw on Broadway. Film Early acting roles Miranda appeared in a small role in the Walt Disney Pictures live-action film The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012). 2015–present: Disney projects Miranda interviewed with Disney in the winter of 2013, and submitted a six-song demo package to Walt Disney Animation Studios. This began a series of collaborations with the company: Moana – In spring 2014, the studio hired Miranda to help write and perform music for Moana, its 2016 animated feature film. From 2014 to 2016, Miranda collaborated with Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina on the songs for Moana. He later explained that because he was so busy with Moana and Hamilton, he turned down other projects "that would have distracted" him, but this served as an "ego check" as Hamilton became a hit. Moana opened in November 2016 and was a box office hit, earning positive reviews and praise from critics for Miranda's songwriting. Miranda also sang the song "We Know the Way" in the film, and recorded a duet with Jordan Fisher of the song "You're Welcome", which was played over the film's end credits. For the song "How Far I'll Go", Miranda received Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, Oscar, and Grammy Award nominations. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – While working on Hamilton, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), writing a song for the scene in Maz Kanata's cantina, an homage to the classic Mos Eisley Cantina scene and song by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes. DuckTales – Miranda debuted in May 2018 as the voice of Fenton "Gizmoduck" Crackshell-Cabrera in Disney Channel's 2017 reboot of DuckTales. Mary Poppins Returns – Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter and former apprentice to Bert, the chimney sweep played by Dick Van Dyke in the original 1964 film Mary Poppins. This is his first major role after leaving the Broadway cast of Hamilton. Miranda traveled to London in 2017 for the film, directed by Rob Marshall, which was released in December 2018. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Following his work on The Force Awakens, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), writing a song for the scene on the desert planet Pasaana, in addition to making a cameo appearance as a Resistance trooper. The live stage recording of the original Broadway production of Hamilton was acquired by Walt Disney Pictures and released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. Encanto – Miranda collaborated again with Walt Disney Animation Studios on an animated musical titled Encanto directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, with Charise Castro Smith co-directing. The film was released on November 24, 2021. The Little Mermaid – In August 2016, Miranda agreed to write songs with Alan Menken for Disney's forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Miranda will co-produce the film with Marc Platt and Rob Marshall, the latter of whom will direct. Menken announced in July 2017 that he and Miranda had begun working on new songs for the project. Miranda and Menken wrote four new songs for The Little Mermaid, which had been recorded by April 2020. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 26, 2023. In the Heights (2021) On November 7, 2008, Universal Pictures announced that they planned to adapt In the Heights as a feature film for release in 2011.<ref>Gans, Andrew. "Universal Plans Silver-Screen Adaptation of In the Heights'"], Playbill, November 7, 2008</ref> However, the project was canceled in March 2011, reportedly due to the fact Universal was looking for a "bankable Latino star" like Shakira or Jennifer Lopez instead of unknown actors. In January 2012, Miranda stated that the film adaptation was back under discussion; in May 2016, it was announced that Miranda would co-produce the film with Harvey Weinstein and backing from The Weinstein Company. On June 10, 2016, Jon M. Chu came on board to direct the film adaptation of the musical. In the aftermath of numerous sexual misconduct allegations made against Weinstein, his producer credit on the film was removed, with the rights to the film eventually auctioned off to Warner Bros. for $50 million. While Miranda originated the role of Usnavi, he felt he was too old to star as Usnavi in the film adaptation. Ultimately, Miranda played the smaller role of Piraguero, the "Piragua Guy," in the film. He was quoted as saying the Broadway production was "...a miraculous experience. I went from substitute teacher to Broadway composer. I will never make a leap that big again in my life. I was very content to let Anthony Ramos and this incredible cast have their own experience." Miranda also served as producer and acted alongside Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, and Jimmy Smits. The film was set for release on June 26, 2020, but was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the film industry. It was released in theaters and temporarily on HBO Max on June 10, 2021. Vivo (2021) Miranda stars as the titular character and provided eleven songs for Vivo, a Sony Pictures Animation film directed by Kirk DeMicco which was released on Netflix in August 2021. Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021) Imagine Entertainment announced in July 2018 that Miranda will make his debut as a film director with an adaptation of Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical Tick, Tick... Boom!, to be scripted by Dear Evan Hansen librettist Steven Levenson. Miranda produced the film alongside Ron Howard and Brian Grazer: it was released on Netflix in 2021. Upcoming projects Miranda agreed in 2016 to serve as executive producer and composer of Lionsgate's film adaptation of The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, as well as a tie-in television series. In 2022 it was revealed that he was no longer attached to the project. Television 2007–2013: Early roles Miranda also worked in film and television. In 2007, he made a small appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. For Sesame Street, he occasionally played roles and sang the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric CompanyCameron, Scott, in and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. He played several television roles during this period. He appeared on the TV series Modern Family in the 2011 episode "Good Cop Bad Dog". In 2013, he played the recurring role of Ruben Marcado in the NBC drama Do No Harm. He later appeared in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in an all-verse episode titled "Bedtime Stories" that aired in November 2013. 2016–2021: Comedy roles and other projects On April 24, 2016, on the TV show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, at the end of a segment about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, Miranda performed an emotional rap about allowing the island to restructure its debt. Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live on October 8, 2016, and played himself in two episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2017, receiving Emmy Award nominations for both appearances. Miranda performed the theme song for the Netflix original series The Magic School Bus Rides Again, the revival and sequel series of the 1994 series The Magic School Bus. He played the part of Amy's brother (David Santiago) in the episode "The Golden Child" in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. On July 29, 2019, it was announced that Miranda had teamed with TV producer Norman Lear to make an American Masters documentary about the life of Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, titled Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Miranda, in collaboration with Brittany Howard, Daveed Diggs, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez wrote the lyrics for the song "Checks and Balances", which was sung by Benjy Brooke for the 2021 Netflix animated series We the People. Fosse/Verdon (2018) In 2019, Miranda served as an executive producer on the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon based on the relationship of Broadway dancer, choreographer, and director Bob Fosse and his wife dancer Gwen Verdon. Miranda also made a brief appearance playing Roy Scheider from All That Jazz. The series won critical acclaim, and Miranda was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series as an executive producer. His Dark Materials (2019) Miranda was cast as Lee Scoresby in the HBO series television adaptation of His Dark Materials (2019). Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised Miranda in his review writing, "[While] I appreciate that Miranda feels initially miscast as Pullman’s paragon of cowboy American masculinity...[he] forces you to reconstruct an image of American manliness around him, making him exactly what the series needs". Personal life Family Miranda married Vanessa Nadal, a high school friend, in 2010. At the wedding reception, Miranda, along with the wedding party, performed the Fiddler on the Roof song "To Life". Nadal was a lawyer at the law firm Jones Day. Miranda and Nadal's first son was born in November 2014. Their second son was born in February 2018. Miranda discovered that he is related to artists Residente and iLe of Calle 13 during a 2009 concert by the group in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Miranda was invited to perform. Backstage, the mother of Residente and ILE revealed their connection to Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. Miranda and Residente have since confirmed the relationship. In 2017, Miranda performed on the opening track of Residente's self-titled debut album. Miranda is cousins with professional baseball prospect José Miranda. Activism After a meeting with President Barack Obama in March 2016, Miranda joined U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic lawmakers to call for congressional action to back a Senate bill in Washington that would allow Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and significantly ease its $70 billion government-debt burden. Miranda was particularly active in the wake of Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico, and by December 2017, proceeds from his song "Almost Like Praying" helped the Hispanic Federation raise $22 million for rescue efforts and disaster relief. Miranda uses proceeds from Hamilton to support Graham Windham, a nonprofit adoption agency founded by Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. Miranda performs at their fundraising gala benefits in New York City and helps to fundraise for children in foster care. He performed "Found/Tonight" with Ben Platt at the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018. In order to raise money for Puerto Rico's reconstruction after being struck by hurricanes Irma and María, including at least $15 million to be channeled through the Flamboyán Foundation, Lin-Manuel decided to take, and once again play the protagonist role in Hamilton to his father's native Puerto Rico. The Miranda family donated approximately $1 million to bring the University of Puerto Rico theater up to par in order to use it as the venue for the musical's performance in January 2018. After tickets sold out in two hours for the three-week run, producers decided to move out of the university venue due to warnings of potential disruptions by a university workers' labor organization, and move the already-installed set to the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Santurce, where the performances ran from January 11 to January 27. The production donated additional hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to the Ferré Performing Arts Center. In 2016, Miranda advocated for the passing of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, a law setting out to restructure the debt of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. The law led to budget cuts resulting in the closure of over 200 public schools, cuts to government labor benefits, and budget cuts at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). It was met with protests, with UPR shutting down due to student strikes over the measures in 2017. Miranda became a target of criticism, especially when he performed Hamilton in Puerto Rico, given his lobbying on the bill as well as the musical's subject matter, which focused on the founding of Puerto Rico's colonizer, the United States. Awards and honours In 2015, Miranda was the recipient of Smithsonian Magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the History category. In 2019, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery awarded Miranda the Portrait of a Nation prize. Honorary degrees Miranda received an honorary degree in 2009 from Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan, becoming the youngest person to receive an honorary degree from that university. Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City, presented Miranda with the degree. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2015 from his alma mater, Wesleyan University, and gave their commencement address. In May 2016, he received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and gave the commencement speech. Work Theater Film Television Web series Bibliography BooksHamilton: The Revolution (2016) with Jeremy McCarterGmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You (2018) with Jonny SunIn the Heights: Finding Home (2021) with Quiara Alegría Hudes and Jeremy McCarter Articles "Stop the Bots from Killing Broadway", The New York Times (2016) "Give Puerto Rico Its Chance to Thrive", The New York Times (2016) Discography Cast recordingsIn the Heights (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2008) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Sh-K-Boom) (RIAA: Gold)Merrily We Roll Along: 2012 New York Cast Recording (2012) (Vocals) (PS Classics)Bring It On: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2012) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Sh-K-Boom/Back Lot)21 Chump Street: The Musical – EP (2014) (Composer, lyricist, producer, narrator) (5000 Broadway)Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2015) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic) Soundtracks Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2016) (Composer, lyricist, vocals) (Walt Disney)Mary Poppins Returns (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018) (Vocals) (Walt Disney)In the Heights (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (WaterTower Music, Atlantic)Vivo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic/Sony Pictures Animation)Encanto (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Walt Disney) (RIAA: Gold) Other albumsThe Hamilton Mixtape (2016) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic)The Hamilton Instrumentals (2017) (Composer, producer) (Atlantic) Singles Audiobook narration 2013: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 2016: Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter, & Mariska Hargitay 2016: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz 2018: Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You'' by Lin-Manuel Miranda See also Nuyorican Nuyorican Movement Latino theatre in the United States Puerto Rican literature Latino literature List of Latin American Academy Award winners and nominees Puerto Ricans in New York City Puerto Ricans in the United States Notes References External links 1980 births 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American singers American folk-pop singers American male dramatists and playwrights American male musical theatre actors American male voice actors American musical theatre composers American musical theatre librettists American people of Puerto Rican descent American writers of Mexican descent American tenors Broadway composers and lyricists Drama Desk Award winners Grammy Award winners Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights Hispanic and Latino American rappers Hunter College High School alumni Laurence Olivier Award winners Living people Kennedy Center honorees MacArthur Fellows Male actors from New York City People from Inwood, Manhattan Primetime Emmy Award winners Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Singers from New York City Songwriters from New York (state) Theatre World Award winners Tony Award winners Walt Disney Records artists Walt Disney Animation Studios people Wesleyan University alumni Writers from Manhattan
true
[ "Swann is a 1996 Canadian drama film directed by Anna Benson Gyles, written by David Young, and starring Brenda Fricker as Rose Hindmarch, a small town librarian whose life is significantly changed when Sarah Maloney (Miranda Richardson), a famous author and academic, arrives in town to research a new book about the long-ago murder of local poet Mary Swann. The film's cast also includes Miranda Richardson, Michael Ontkean, David Cubitt, Sean McCann and John Neville. The film was an adaptation of the Carol Shields novel Swann: A Mystery, which was itself inspired by the real-life murder of poet Pat Lowther.\n\nThe film premiered as the opening gala at the 1996 Toronto International Film Festival.\n\nAward nominations\nThe film garnered five Genie Award nominations at the 17th Genie Awards in 1996:\nBest Actress: Brenda Fricker\nBest Supporting Actor: Sean McCann\nBest Art Direction/Production Design: John Dondertman \nBest Costume Design: Elisbetta Beraldo\nBest Original Score: Richard Rodney Bennett \nIt did not win any of the awards.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1996 films\n1996 drama films\nCanadian films\nCanadian drama films\nEnglish-language films\nFilms based on Canadian novels\nFilms scored by Richard Rodney Bennett", "The following is a list of awards and nominations received by American playwright, composer, and performer Lin-Manuel Miranda. Among his numerous accolades, Miranda has won a Pulitzer Prize, three Tony Awards, three Grammys, two Emmys, and two Olivier Awards and has been nominated for two Academy Awards. In 2015, he was the recipient of a Genius Grant from the MacArthur Fellows Program. In 2016, Time magazine included Miranda in its annual Time 100 as one of the \"Most Influential People in the World\" and he received a star on the Puerto Rico Walk of Fame. It was announced in June 2017 that Miranda would be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018. Miranda received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 30, 2018. In December 2018, he received the Kennedy Center Honors for creating Hamilton.\n\nFilm and television\n\nAcademy Awards\n\nAnnie Awards\n\nCritics' Choice Awards\n\nDirectors Guild of America Awards\n\nEmmy Awards\n\nGolden Globe Awards\n\nProducers Guild of America Awards\n\nSatellite Awards\n\nOther awards\n\nTheatre\n\nTony Awards\n\nLaurence Olivier Awards\n\nDrama Desk Awards\n\nDrama League Awards\n\nLucille Lortel Awards\n\nOuter Critics Circle Awards\n\nObie Awards\n\nBroadway.com Audience Choice Awards\n\nOther awards\n\nOther awards\n\nGrammy Awards\n\nHollywood Critics Association Awards\n\nPulitzer Prize\n\nMacArthur Fellowship\nThe MacArthur Fellowship, or \"Genius Grant\", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 individuals, working in any field, who have shown \"extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction\" and are citizens or residents of the United States. It is a \"no strings attached\" award and MacArthur fellows each receive a stipend of $625,000, paid out over five years in quarterly installments. The Fellows program began in 1981 and to date has included 942 people from a variety of disciplines in the arts and sciences. \n\nIn 2015, Lin-Manuel Miranda, along with 23 other individuals, was named as a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship. He was recognized for \"reimagining American musical theater in works that fuse traditional storytelling with contemporary musical styles and voices\", namely his musicals In the Heights and Hamilton.\n\nReferences\n\nMiranda, Lin-Manuel\nAwards" ]
[ "Lin-Manuel Miranda", "2002-10: In the Heights", "What was In the Heights?", "musical", "When did it open?", "opening in March 2008.", "Did it win any awards?", "It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four,", "Did Miranda win any awards?", "Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor" ]
C_479a4148191a4e52a82e4e5de5bd67f8_1
How long was he in the musical?
5
How long was Miranda in the musical?
Lin-Manuel Miranda
In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Book writer Quiara Alegria Hudes joined the team in 2004. After success off-Broadway, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010 until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Miranda also did work for film and television. In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. He also has done work for Sesame Street, playing occasional roles and singing the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric Company and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. During these years, Miranda also worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed music for commercials. CANNOTANSWER
Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, playwright, and film director. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals In the Heights (2005) and Hamilton (2015), and the soundtrack of Disney's Encanto (2021). His accolades include three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Pulitzer Prize. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Miranda made his Broadway debut in the 2008 musical In the Heights, in which he starred and wrote the music and lyrics. The production was a critical and commercial success, winning the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The stage musical was adapted into a film released in June 2021. Miranda gained wider recognition for writing the script, music, and lyrics for Hamilton, which has been acclaimed as a pop culture phenomenon since its 2015 Broadway premiere. It earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for a record 16 Tony Awards and won 11, including Miranda's first win for the Best Book of a Musical. The Hamilton cast recording spent ten weeks atop Billboards Top Rap Albums chart and became the eleventh-biggest album of the 2010s. The Hamilton Mixtape, a cover album by Miranda, further reached number one on the Billboard 200. A frequent collaborator of the Walt Disney Company, Miranda has written original songs for the studio, which has garnered him two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ("How Far I'll Go" and "Dos Oruguitas"). He worked on the 2016 animated musical Moana, and wrote the story and music for Encanto—a widespread critical and commercial success; its song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" broke various records, marked Miranda's first-ever number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles charts, and propelled him to mainstream fame. He starred as Jack in the musical fantasy Mary Poppins Returns (2018), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. For his performance in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton released in 2020, he received Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Miranda debuted as a film director with Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021), a biographical musical drama. He also had a voice role in the animated film Vivo, released in 2021. His television work includes recurring roles on The Electric Company (2009–2010) and His Dark Materials (2019). Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live in 2017 and had a guest role on Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2018, for which he was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He has been politically active on behalf of Puerto Rico, and supported the 2016 PROMESA. He met with politicians in 2016 to speak out in favor of debt relief for Puerto Rico and raised funds for rescue efforts and disaster relief after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Early life and education Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980, in New York City to Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, a clinical psychologist, and Luis Miranda Jr., a Democratic Party consultant. The name "Lin-Manuel" was inspired by a poem about the Vietnam War, Nana roja para mi hijo Lin Manuel, by the Puerto Rican writer José Manuel Torres Santiago. He was raised in the neighborhood of Inwood. He is of Puerto Rican descent, along with Mexican from a grandparent. During childhood and his teens, he spent at least one month each year with his grandparents in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Miranda has one older sister, Luz, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the MirRam Group, a strategic consulting firm in Government and Communications. Miranda attended Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School. Among his classmates was journalist Chris Hayes, who was Miranda's first director when Miranda starred in a school play described by Hayes as "a 20-minute musical that featured a maniacal fetal pig in a nightmare that [Miranda] had cut up in biology class". His classmates also included rapper Immortal Technique, who bullied Miranda, although the two later became friends. Miranda began writing musicals at school. As a student, Miranda wrote the earliest draft of what would become his first Broadway musical, In the Heights, in 1999, his sophomore year of college at Wesleyan University. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan's student theater company, Second Stage, Miranda added freestyle rap and salsa numbers, and the show was premiered there in 1999. Miranda wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan and acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to William Shakespeare. He graduated from Wesleyan in 2002. Career Theatre 2002–2010: In the Heights In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes joined the team in 2004. After premiering in Connecticut in 2005 and opening at the 37 Arts Theater off-Broadway in 2007, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010, until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. During this time, he also performed at bar and bat mitzvahs. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. During these years, Miranda worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant critic, and composed music for commercials. In 2003, Miranda co-founded Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip hop improv group that has toured the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as the Aspen, Melbourne and Montreal Comedy Festivals. The group created a limited television series for Pivot in 2014 and made its Broadway debut on October 2, 2019, at the Booth Theatre in a self-titled show to positive reviews. 2011–2014: Bring It On and other theatrical work Miranda co-wrote the music and lyrics for Bring It On: The Musical with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. Bring It On premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2011. The musical began a US national tour on October 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. It played a limited engagement on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, beginning previews on July 12, and officially opening on August 1, 2012. It closed on December 30, 2012. It was nominated for Tony Awards in the categories of Best Musical and Best Choreography. In February 2012, Miranda appeared in Merrily We Roll Along, in the role of Charley, in an Encores! staged concert at New York City Center. His theatrical achievements in 2014 included an Emmy Award for the song "Bigger!", which he and Kitt co-wrote for the opening number at the 67th Tony Awards. Miranda wrote music and lyrics for the one-act musical 21 Chump Street, and performed as narrator for the show's single performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on June 7, 2014, which was broadcast on National Public Radio's This American Life on June 20, 2014. Later that month, he starred in the June 2014 Encores! revival of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick... Boom!, under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori. The show was directed by Oliver Butler. Earlier in 2014, he guest starred in a show by comedy duo The Skivvies. 2015–2016: Hamilton While on a vacation in 2008, Miranda read Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton and, inspired by the book, wrote a rap about Hamilton that he performed for the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by Alex Lacamoire. Miranda later said he spent a year writing the Hamilton song "My Shot", revising it countless times for every verse to reflect Alexander Hamilton's intellect. By 2012, Miranda was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Hamilton, which he then referred to as the Hamilton Mixtape. The New York Times called it "an obvious game changer". Hamilton: An American Musical premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015, directed by Thomas Kail. Miranda wrote the book and score and starred as the title character. The show received highly positive reviews, and its engagement was sold out. Chernow and Miranda received the 2015 History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society for their work in creating the musical. The show began previews on Broadway in July 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and officially opened on August 6, 2015, earning positive reviews. On the first night of Hamilton previews, over 700 people lined up for lottery tickets. The Hamilton ticket lottery evolved into Ham4Ham, a series of outdoor mini-performances for lottery participants that was hosted daily by Miranda and cast members for over a year, until August 31, 2016. Miranda earned a 3% royalty on each performance of Hamilton, earning him $12.7 million by July 2017. Hamilton won the Tony Award for Best Musical; Miranda won the Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical and received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical, and the Hamilton cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In May 2016, for his work in the role of Alexander Hamilton, Miranda received the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. On March 15, 2016, members of the cast of Hamilton performed at the White House and hosted workshops; Miranda performed freestyle rap from prompts held up by President Obama. In April 2016, Miranda and Jeremy McCarter published Hamilton: The Revolution, a book describing Hamiltons journey from conception to Broadway success and discussing the cultural revolution that permeates the show. Miranda gave his last performance in Hamilton on July 9, 2016, but vowed to return to the show. Miranda reprised the role of Alexander Hamilton for a three-week run in Puerto Rico January 11–27, 2019, for which the engagement was sold out in three hours in November 2018. In a review, Chris Jones praised "deeper on-stage emotions" in Miranda's reprisal, as well as improved vocal and dance technique than on Broadway. A documentary about the creation of the show, Hamilton's America, featuring Miranda, premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 1, 2016, and first aired on PBS' Great Performances series on October 21, 2016. A taping of the OBT version of Hamilton was released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. On January 24, 2016, Miranda performed the offstage cameo role of Loud Hailer in the Broadway production of Les Misérables, fulfilling his childhood dream of being in the show, as it was the first production he ever saw on Broadway. Film Early acting roles Miranda appeared in a small role in the Walt Disney Pictures live-action film The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012). 2015–present: Disney projects Miranda interviewed with Disney in the winter of 2013, and submitted a six-song demo package to Walt Disney Animation Studios. This began a series of collaborations with the company: Moana – In spring 2014, the studio hired Miranda to help write and perform music for Moana, its 2016 animated feature film. From 2014 to 2016, Miranda collaborated with Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina on the songs for Moana. He later explained that because he was so busy with Moana and Hamilton, he turned down other projects "that would have distracted" him, but this served as an "ego check" as Hamilton became a hit. Moana opened in November 2016 and was a box office hit, earning positive reviews and praise from critics for Miranda's songwriting. Miranda also sang the song "We Know the Way" in the film, and recorded a duet with Jordan Fisher of the song "You're Welcome", which was played over the film's end credits. For the song "How Far I'll Go", Miranda received Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, Oscar, and Grammy Award nominations. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – While working on Hamilton, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), writing a song for the scene in Maz Kanata's cantina, an homage to the classic Mos Eisley Cantina scene and song by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes. DuckTales – Miranda debuted in May 2018 as the voice of Fenton "Gizmoduck" Crackshell-Cabrera in Disney Channel's 2017 reboot of DuckTales. Mary Poppins Returns – Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter and former apprentice to Bert, the chimney sweep played by Dick Van Dyke in the original 1964 film Mary Poppins. This is his first major role after leaving the Broadway cast of Hamilton. Miranda traveled to London in 2017 for the film, directed by Rob Marshall, which was released in December 2018. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Following his work on The Force Awakens, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), writing a song for the scene on the desert planet Pasaana, in addition to making a cameo appearance as a Resistance trooper. The live stage recording of the original Broadway production of Hamilton was acquired by Walt Disney Pictures and released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. Encanto – Miranda collaborated again with Walt Disney Animation Studios on an animated musical titled Encanto directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, with Charise Castro Smith co-directing. The film was released on November 24, 2021. The Little Mermaid – In August 2016, Miranda agreed to write songs with Alan Menken for Disney's forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Miranda will co-produce the film with Marc Platt and Rob Marshall, the latter of whom will direct. Menken announced in July 2017 that he and Miranda had begun working on new songs for the project. Miranda and Menken wrote four new songs for The Little Mermaid, which had been recorded by April 2020. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 26, 2023. In the Heights (2021) On November 7, 2008, Universal Pictures announced that they planned to adapt In the Heights as a feature film for release in 2011.<ref>Gans, Andrew. "Universal Plans Silver-Screen Adaptation of In the Heights'"], Playbill, November 7, 2008</ref> However, the project was canceled in March 2011, reportedly due to the fact Universal was looking for a "bankable Latino star" like Shakira or Jennifer Lopez instead of unknown actors. In January 2012, Miranda stated that the film adaptation was back under discussion; in May 2016, it was announced that Miranda would co-produce the film with Harvey Weinstein and backing from The Weinstein Company. On June 10, 2016, Jon M. Chu came on board to direct the film adaptation of the musical. In the aftermath of numerous sexual misconduct allegations made against Weinstein, his producer credit on the film was removed, with the rights to the film eventually auctioned off to Warner Bros. for $50 million. While Miranda originated the role of Usnavi, he felt he was too old to star as Usnavi in the film adaptation. Ultimately, Miranda played the smaller role of Piraguero, the "Piragua Guy," in the film. He was quoted as saying the Broadway production was "...a miraculous experience. I went from substitute teacher to Broadway composer. I will never make a leap that big again in my life. I was very content to let Anthony Ramos and this incredible cast have their own experience." Miranda also served as producer and acted alongside Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, and Jimmy Smits. The film was set for release on June 26, 2020, but was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the film industry. It was released in theaters and temporarily on HBO Max on June 10, 2021. Vivo (2021) Miranda stars as the titular character and provided eleven songs for Vivo, a Sony Pictures Animation film directed by Kirk DeMicco which was released on Netflix in August 2021. Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021) Imagine Entertainment announced in July 2018 that Miranda will make his debut as a film director with an adaptation of Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical Tick, Tick... Boom!, to be scripted by Dear Evan Hansen librettist Steven Levenson. Miranda produced the film alongside Ron Howard and Brian Grazer: it was released on Netflix in 2021. Upcoming projects Miranda agreed in 2016 to serve as executive producer and composer of Lionsgate's film adaptation of The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, as well as a tie-in television series. In 2022 it was revealed that he was no longer attached to the project. Television 2007–2013: Early roles Miranda also worked in film and television. In 2007, he made a small appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. For Sesame Street, he occasionally played roles and sang the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric CompanyCameron, Scott, in and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. He played several television roles during this period. He appeared on the TV series Modern Family in the 2011 episode "Good Cop Bad Dog". In 2013, he played the recurring role of Ruben Marcado in the NBC drama Do No Harm. He later appeared in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in an all-verse episode titled "Bedtime Stories" that aired in November 2013. 2016–2021: Comedy roles and other projects On April 24, 2016, on the TV show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, at the end of a segment about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, Miranda performed an emotional rap about allowing the island to restructure its debt. Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live on October 8, 2016, and played himself in two episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2017, receiving Emmy Award nominations for both appearances. Miranda performed the theme song for the Netflix original series The Magic School Bus Rides Again, the revival and sequel series of the 1994 series The Magic School Bus. He played the part of Amy's brother (David Santiago) in the episode "The Golden Child" in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. On July 29, 2019, it was announced that Miranda had teamed with TV producer Norman Lear to make an American Masters documentary about the life of Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, titled Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Miranda, in collaboration with Brittany Howard, Daveed Diggs, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez wrote the lyrics for the song "Checks and Balances", which was sung by Benjy Brooke for the 2021 Netflix animated series We the People. Fosse/Verdon (2018) In 2019, Miranda served as an executive producer on the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon based on the relationship of Broadway dancer, choreographer, and director Bob Fosse and his wife dancer Gwen Verdon. Miranda also made a brief appearance playing Roy Scheider from All That Jazz. The series won critical acclaim, and Miranda was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series as an executive producer. His Dark Materials (2019) Miranda was cast as Lee Scoresby in the HBO series television adaptation of His Dark Materials (2019). Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised Miranda in his review writing, "[While] I appreciate that Miranda feels initially miscast as Pullman’s paragon of cowboy American masculinity...[he] forces you to reconstruct an image of American manliness around him, making him exactly what the series needs". Personal life Family Miranda married Vanessa Nadal, a high school friend, in 2010. At the wedding reception, Miranda, along with the wedding party, performed the Fiddler on the Roof song "To Life". Nadal was a lawyer at the law firm Jones Day. Miranda and Nadal's first son was born in November 2014. Their second son was born in February 2018. Miranda discovered that he is related to artists Residente and iLe of Calle 13 during a 2009 concert by the group in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Miranda was invited to perform. Backstage, the mother of Residente and ILE revealed their connection to Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. Miranda and Residente have since confirmed the relationship. In 2017, Miranda performed on the opening track of Residente's self-titled debut album. Miranda is cousins with professional baseball prospect José Miranda. Activism After a meeting with President Barack Obama in March 2016, Miranda joined U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic lawmakers to call for congressional action to back a Senate bill in Washington that would allow Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and significantly ease its $70 billion government-debt burden. Miranda was particularly active in the wake of Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico, and by December 2017, proceeds from his song "Almost Like Praying" helped the Hispanic Federation raise $22 million for rescue efforts and disaster relief. Miranda uses proceeds from Hamilton to support Graham Windham, a nonprofit adoption agency founded by Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. Miranda performs at their fundraising gala benefits in New York City and helps to fundraise for children in foster care. He performed "Found/Tonight" with Ben Platt at the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018. In order to raise money for Puerto Rico's reconstruction after being struck by hurricanes Irma and María, including at least $15 million to be channeled through the Flamboyán Foundation, Lin-Manuel decided to take, and once again play the protagonist role in Hamilton to his father's native Puerto Rico. The Miranda family donated approximately $1 million to bring the University of Puerto Rico theater up to par in order to use it as the venue for the musical's performance in January 2018. After tickets sold out in two hours for the three-week run, producers decided to move out of the university venue due to warnings of potential disruptions by a university workers' labor organization, and move the already-installed set to the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Santurce, where the performances ran from January 11 to January 27. The production donated additional hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to the Ferré Performing Arts Center. In 2016, Miranda advocated for the passing of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, a law setting out to restructure the debt of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. The law led to budget cuts resulting in the closure of over 200 public schools, cuts to government labor benefits, and budget cuts at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). It was met with protests, with UPR shutting down due to student strikes over the measures in 2017. Miranda became a target of criticism, especially when he performed Hamilton in Puerto Rico, given his lobbying on the bill as well as the musical's subject matter, which focused on the founding of Puerto Rico's colonizer, the United States. Awards and honours In 2015, Miranda was the recipient of Smithsonian Magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the History category. In 2019, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery awarded Miranda the Portrait of a Nation prize. Honorary degrees Miranda received an honorary degree in 2009 from Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan, becoming the youngest person to receive an honorary degree from that university. Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City, presented Miranda with the degree. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2015 from his alma mater, Wesleyan University, and gave their commencement address. In May 2016, he received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and gave the commencement speech. Work Theater Film Television Web series Bibliography BooksHamilton: The Revolution (2016) with Jeremy McCarterGmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You (2018) with Jonny SunIn the Heights: Finding Home (2021) with Quiara Alegría Hudes and Jeremy McCarter Articles "Stop the Bots from Killing Broadway", The New York Times (2016) "Give Puerto Rico Its Chance to Thrive", The New York Times (2016) Discography Cast recordingsIn the Heights (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2008) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Sh-K-Boom) (RIAA: Gold)Merrily We Roll Along: 2012 New York Cast Recording (2012) (Vocals) (PS Classics)Bring It On: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2012) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Sh-K-Boom/Back Lot)21 Chump Street: The Musical – EP (2014) (Composer, lyricist, producer, narrator) (5000 Broadway)Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2015) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic) Soundtracks Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2016) (Composer, lyricist, vocals) (Walt Disney)Mary Poppins Returns (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018) (Vocals) (Walt Disney)In the Heights (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (WaterTower Music, Atlantic)Vivo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic/Sony Pictures Animation)Encanto (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Walt Disney) (RIAA: Gold) Other albumsThe Hamilton Mixtape (2016) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic)The Hamilton Instrumentals (2017) (Composer, producer) (Atlantic) Singles Audiobook narration 2013: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 2016: Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter, & Mariska Hargitay 2016: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz 2018: Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You'' by Lin-Manuel Miranda See also Nuyorican Nuyorican Movement Latino theatre in the United States Puerto Rican literature Latino literature List of Latin American Academy Award winners and nominees Puerto Ricans in New York City Puerto Ricans in the United States Notes References External links 1980 births 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American singers American folk-pop singers American male dramatists and playwrights American male musical theatre actors American male voice actors American musical theatre composers American musical theatre librettists American people of Puerto Rican descent American writers of Mexican descent American tenors Broadway composers and lyricists Drama Desk Award winners Grammy Award winners Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights Hispanic and Latino American rappers Hunter College High School alumni Laurence Olivier Award winners Living people Kennedy Center honorees MacArthur Fellows Male actors from New York City People from Inwood, Manhattan Primetime Emmy Award winners Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Singers from New York City Songwriters from New York (state) Theatre World Award winners Tony Award winners Walt Disney Records artists Walt Disney Animation Studios people Wesleyan University alumni Writers from Manhattan
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[ "Loose Ends are a British R&B band that had several hit records throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. The trio was formed in London in 1980, initially comprising vocalist and guitarist Carl McIntosh, vocalist Jane Eugene, and keyboard player Steve Nichol. The latter two left the group in 1989, bringing an end to the band's most successful phase.\n\nCareer\nLoose End signed with Virgin Records in 1981 under the name 'Loose End'. Some of their debut material was written for them by Chris Amoo and Eddie Amoo, who had achieved UK Singles Chart success of their own in the 1970s, with their group The Real Thing. The trio changed its name to Loose Ends in 1983 and continued to record for Virgin. They were distributed in the United States by MCA Records.\n\nThe group was founded by Steve Nichol after he left the London Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Nichol went on to tour with The Jam in 1982 as a trumpet, trombone and keyboard player. Together the trio achieved their first success with \"Hangin' on a String (Contemplating)\" in 1985, which reached No. 13 in the UK chart. \"Hangin' on a String\" also reached No. 1 on the US Billboard R&B chart, making Loose Ends the first black British band ever to top that chart. They reached No. 16 with the single \"Magic Touch\" in the same year. The disc was produced in the US, as was their 1986 hit \"Slow Down\" (later used as the theme music for MuchMusic's Soul in The City program). At this time, Carl McIntosh also arranged and played on a number of tracks from Five Star's debut album including the single \"Let Me Be The One\" which reached number two in the same listings later in 1986. Subsequent falling sales saw the threesome notch up their final transatlantic hit in 1988 with \"Watching You (Watching Me).\"\n\nThe group's line-up changed in 1990 due to differences in its proposed musical direction. Eugene and Nichol decided to leave, and were replaced by Linda Carriere and Sunay Suleyman. Look How Long turned out to be the final studio album released under the Loose Ends name, and featured their final hit single, \"Don't Be a Fool\" (1990). McIntosh himself went on to work behind the recording desk with the new members and has continued to do that to date. He has since produced several artists' work, most notably that of Caron Wheeler, Ruth Joy and Kwesi.\n\nToday\nDuring 2015, McIntosh was interviewed by Daniel Falconer of the celebrity magazine Female First to speak about his top 10 career moments. Also in the same year he participated in a charity fundraising event in Glasgow, Scotland in aid of supporting Gambia. In 2016, leading Toronto newspaper Now interviewed Loose Ends' Carl Mcintosh on how he was seen as being responsible for introduced Toronto to UK soul music in the 1980s and '90s. In 2017 McIntosh was asked by Red Bull Music Academy Melbourne, Australia, to speak on how he previously produced Loose Ends songs. During 2020, former BBC Radio 1 and now Smooth Radio presenter Angie Greaves interviewed Mcintosh on how he continued with Loose Ends without the former members explaining how the group did not break up when two members left \n\nSoon after, Carl McIntosh was asked by Roland Corporation music to discuss and demonstrate how he produced the drum programming using the legendary Roland TR-808 drum machine for the hit song Hangin' on a String (Contemplating). McIntosh goes in to great detail explaining how it was produced.\n\nCarl McIntosh continues to perform, writing new songs under the name Loose Ends with the original line-up from 1990, Linda Carriere and Sunay Suleyman. In 2021, Loose Ends signed a new record deal with the British hip hop record label Digital Jukebox Records to release new singles and albums.\n\nDiscography\n\nStudio albums\n\nCompilation albums\n\nSingles\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nMusical groups established in 1980\nBritish contemporary R&B musical groups\nMusical groups from London\nVirgin Records artists\nMCA Records artists\nBlack British musical groups\nBritish soul musical groups\nBritish post-disco music groups", "\"How Long Has This Been Going On?\" is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, for the musical Funny Face in 1928.\n\nHistory\nReplaced by \"He Loves and She Loves\" in Funny Face, it was eventually introduced in the musical Rosalie (1928) by Bobbe Arnst as Mary O'Brien. The lyrics used as first released by Gershwin started with the refrain: \"As a tot, when I trotted in little velvet panties,/ I was kissed by my sisters, my cousins, and my aunties./ Sad to tell, it was hell, an inferno worse than Dante's.\" In the subsequent version of the lyrics as performed by Ella Fitzgerald ten years later, the lyrics of this opening stanza were changed to the melancholy reflections of a worker in evening \"bazaars\" reflecting of the differences between kisses for money in comparison to romantic kisses from someone with emotional ties, which had previously eluded her. She reflects with \"salty tears\" about the differences between the two types of kisses.\n\nThe opening refrain as performed by Fitzgerald was:\n \n\nIn the original Gershwin version of the song, somewhat more upbeat, it is sung by a young woman comparing kisses among family members and friends at holidays, to how different they turn out to be when experienced while expressing romantic affections; she is surprised to find that romantic kisses are very different. The two verses describe her previous negative experiences of kissing: first the childhood attentions of older female relatives, and second while working in a kissing booth. The two choruses describe the excitement of then experiencing a first romantic kiss, and regret at not having experienced it before: \"I could cry salty tears; where have I been all these years? / Little wow, tell me now, how long has this been going on?\"\n\nBing Crosby recorded the song in 1955 for use on his radio show and it was subsequently included in the box set The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56) issued by Mosaic Records (catalog MD7-245) in 2009.\n\nReferences \n\n\"How Long Has This Been Going On?\" at jazzstandards.com\n\n1927 songs\n1920s jazz standards\nSongs with music by George Gershwin\nSongs with lyrics by Ira Gershwin\nLena Horne songs\nCarmen McRae songs\nAndy Williams songs\nSongs from Funny Face (musical)" ]
[ "Lin-Manuel Miranda", "2002-10: In the Heights", "What was In the Heights?", "musical", "When did it open?", "opening in March 2008.", "Did it win any awards?", "It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four,", "Did Miranda win any awards?", "Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor", "How long was he in the musical?", "Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009." ]
C_479a4148191a4e52a82e4e5de5bd67f8_1
What did he do after he left?
6
What did Miranda do after he left the cast of the Broadway production?
Lin-Manuel Miranda
In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Book writer Quiara Alegria Hudes joined the team in 2004. After success off-Broadway, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010 until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Miranda also did work for film and television. In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. He also has done work for Sesame Street, playing occasional roles and singing the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric Company and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. During these years, Miranda also worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed music for commercials. CANNOTANSWER
Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, playwright, and film director. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals In the Heights (2005) and Hamilton (2015), and the soundtrack of Disney's Encanto (2021). His accolades include three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Pulitzer Prize. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Miranda made his Broadway debut in the 2008 musical In the Heights, in which he starred and wrote the music and lyrics. The production was a critical and commercial success, winning the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The stage musical was adapted into a film released in June 2021. Miranda gained wider recognition for writing the script, music, and lyrics for Hamilton, which has been acclaimed as a pop culture phenomenon since its 2015 Broadway premiere. It earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for a record 16 Tony Awards and won 11, including Miranda's first win for the Best Book of a Musical. The Hamilton cast recording spent ten weeks atop Billboards Top Rap Albums chart and became the eleventh-biggest album of the 2010s. The Hamilton Mixtape, a cover album by Miranda, further reached number one on the Billboard 200. A frequent collaborator of the Walt Disney Company, Miranda has written original songs for the studio, which has garnered him two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ("How Far I'll Go" and "Dos Oruguitas"). He worked on the 2016 animated musical Moana, and wrote the story and music for Encanto—a widespread critical and commercial success; its song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" broke various records, marked Miranda's first-ever number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles charts, and propelled him to mainstream fame. He starred as Jack in the musical fantasy Mary Poppins Returns (2018), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. For his performance in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton released in 2020, he received Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Miranda debuted as a film director with Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021), a biographical musical drama. He also had a voice role in the animated film Vivo, released in 2021. His television work includes recurring roles on The Electric Company (2009–2010) and His Dark Materials (2019). Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live in 2017 and had a guest role on Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2018, for which he was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He has been politically active on behalf of Puerto Rico, and supported the 2016 PROMESA. He met with politicians in 2016 to speak out in favor of debt relief for Puerto Rico and raised funds for rescue efforts and disaster relief after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Early life and education Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980, in New York City to Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, a clinical psychologist, and Luis Miranda Jr., a Democratic Party consultant. The name "Lin-Manuel" was inspired by a poem about the Vietnam War, Nana roja para mi hijo Lin Manuel, by the Puerto Rican writer José Manuel Torres Santiago. He was raised in the neighborhood of Inwood. He is of Puerto Rican descent, along with Mexican from a grandparent. During childhood and his teens, he spent at least one month each year with his grandparents in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Miranda has one older sister, Luz, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the MirRam Group, a strategic consulting firm in Government and Communications. Miranda attended Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School. Among his classmates was journalist Chris Hayes, who was Miranda's first director when Miranda starred in a school play described by Hayes as "a 20-minute musical that featured a maniacal fetal pig in a nightmare that [Miranda] had cut up in biology class". His classmates also included rapper Immortal Technique, who bullied Miranda, although the two later became friends. Miranda began writing musicals at school. As a student, Miranda wrote the earliest draft of what would become his first Broadway musical, In the Heights, in 1999, his sophomore year of college at Wesleyan University. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan's student theater company, Second Stage, Miranda added freestyle rap and salsa numbers, and the show was premiered there in 1999. Miranda wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan and acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to William Shakespeare. He graduated from Wesleyan in 2002. Career Theatre 2002–2010: In the Heights In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes joined the team in 2004. After premiering in Connecticut in 2005 and opening at the 37 Arts Theater off-Broadway in 2007, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010, until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. During this time, he also performed at bar and bat mitzvahs. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. During these years, Miranda worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant critic, and composed music for commercials. In 2003, Miranda co-founded Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip hop improv group that has toured the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as the Aspen, Melbourne and Montreal Comedy Festivals. The group created a limited television series for Pivot in 2014 and made its Broadway debut on October 2, 2019, at the Booth Theatre in a self-titled show to positive reviews. 2011–2014: Bring It On and other theatrical work Miranda co-wrote the music and lyrics for Bring It On: The Musical with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. Bring It On premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2011. The musical began a US national tour on October 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. It played a limited engagement on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, beginning previews on July 12, and officially opening on August 1, 2012. It closed on December 30, 2012. It was nominated for Tony Awards in the categories of Best Musical and Best Choreography. In February 2012, Miranda appeared in Merrily We Roll Along, in the role of Charley, in an Encores! staged concert at New York City Center. His theatrical achievements in 2014 included an Emmy Award for the song "Bigger!", which he and Kitt co-wrote for the opening number at the 67th Tony Awards. Miranda wrote music and lyrics for the one-act musical 21 Chump Street, and performed as narrator for the show's single performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on June 7, 2014, which was broadcast on National Public Radio's This American Life on June 20, 2014. Later that month, he starred in the June 2014 Encores! revival of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick... Boom!, under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori. The show was directed by Oliver Butler. Earlier in 2014, he guest starred in a show by comedy duo The Skivvies. 2015–2016: Hamilton While on a vacation in 2008, Miranda read Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton and, inspired by the book, wrote a rap about Hamilton that he performed for the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by Alex Lacamoire. Miranda later said he spent a year writing the Hamilton song "My Shot", revising it countless times for every verse to reflect Alexander Hamilton's intellect. By 2012, Miranda was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Hamilton, which he then referred to as the Hamilton Mixtape. The New York Times called it "an obvious game changer". Hamilton: An American Musical premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015, directed by Thomas Kail. Miranda wrote the book and score and starred as the title character. The show received highly positive reviews, and its engagement was sold out. Chernow and Miranda received the 2015 History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society for their work in creating the musical. The show began previews on Broadway in July 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and officially opened on August 6, 2015, earning positive reviews. On the first night of Hamilton previews, over 700 people lined up for lottery tickets. The Hamilton ticket lottery evolved into Ham4Ham, a series of outdoor mini-performances for lottery participants that was hosted daily by Miranda and cast members for over a year, until August 31, 2016. Miranda earned a 3% royalty on each performance of Hamilton, earning him $12.7 million by July 2017. Hamilton won the Tony Award for Best Musical; Miranda won the Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical and received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical, and the Hamilton cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In May 2016, for his work in the role of Alexander Hamilton, Miranda received the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. On March 15, 2016, members of the cast of Hamilton performed at the White House and hosted workshops; Miranda performed freestyle rap from prompts held up by President Obama. In April 2016, Miranda and Jeremy McCarter published Hamilton: The Revolution, a book describing Hamiltons journey from conception to Broadway success and discussing the cultural revolution that permeates the show. Miranda gave his last performance in Hamilton on July 9, 2016, but vowed to return to the show. Miranda reprised the role of Alexander Hamilton for a three-week run in Puerto Rico January 11–27, 2019, for which the engagement was sold out in three hours in November 2018. In a review, Chris Jones praised "deeper on-stage emotions" in Miranda's reprisal, as well as improved vocal and dance technique than on Broadway. A documentary about the creation of the show, Hamilton's America, featuring Miranda, premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 1, 2016, and first aired on PBS' Great Performances series on October 21, 2016. A taping of the OBT version of Hamilton was released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. On January 24, 2016, Miranda performed the offstage cameo role of Loud Hailer in the Broadway production of Les Misérables, fulfilling his childhood dream of being in the show, as it was the first production he ever saw on Broadway. Film Early acting roles Miranda appeared in a small role in the Walt Disney Pictures live-action film The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012). 2015–present: Disney projects Miranda interviewed with Disney in the winter of 2013, and submitted a six-song demo package to Walt Disney Animation Studios. This began a series of collaborations with the company: Moana – In spring 2014, the studio hired Miranda to help write and perform music for Moana, its 2016 animated feature film. From 2014 to 2016, Miranda collaborated with Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina on the songs for Moana. He later explained that because he was so busy with Moana and Hamilton, he turned down other projects "that would have distracted" him, but this served as an "ego check" as Hamilton became a hit. Moana opened in November 2016 and was a box office hit, earning positive reviews and praise from critics for Miranda's songwriting. Miranda also sang the song "We Know the Way" in the film, and recorded a duet with Jordan Fisher of the song "You're Welcome", which was played over the film's end credits. For the song "How Far I'll Go", Miranda received Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, Oscar, and Grammy Award nominations. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – While working on Hamilton, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), writing a song for the scene in Maz Kanata's cantina, an homage to the classic Mos Eisley Cantina scene and song by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes. DuckTales – Miranda debuted in May 2018 as the voice of Fenton "Gizmoduck" Crackshell-Cabrera in Disney Channel's 2017 reboot of DuckTales. Mary Poppins Returns – Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter and former apprentice to Bert, the chimney sweep played by Dick Van Dyke in the original 1964 film Mary Poppins. This is his first major role after leaving the Broadway cast of Hamilton. Miranda traveled to London in 2017 for the film, directed by Rob Marshall, which was released in December 2018. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Following his work on The Force Awakens, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), writing a song for the scene on the desert planet Pasaana, in addition to making a cameo appearance as a Resistance trooper. The live stage recording of the original Broadway production of Hamilton was acquired by Walt Disney Pictures and released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. Encanto – Miranda collaborated again with Walt Disney Animation Studios on an animated musical titled Encanto directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, with Charise Castro Smith co-directing. The film was released on November 24, 2021. The Little Mermaid – In August 2016, Miranda agreed to write songs with Alan Menken for Disney's forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Miranda will co-produce the film with Marc Platt and Rob Marshall, the latter of whom will direct. Menken announced in July 2017 that he and Miranda had begun working on new songs for the project. Miranda and Menken wrote four new songs for The Little Mermaid, which had been recorded by April 2020. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 26, 2023. In the Heights (2021) On November 7, 2008, Universal Pictures announced that they planned to adapt In the Heights as a feature film for release in 2011.<ref>Gans, Andrew. "Universal Plans Silver-Screen Adaptation of In the Heights'"], Playbill, November 7, 2008</ref> However, the project was canceled in March 2011, reportedly due to the fact Universal was looking for a "bankable Latino star" like Shakira or Jennifer Lopez instead of unknown actors. In January 2012, Miranda stated that the film adaptation was back under discussion; in May 2016, it was announced that Miranda would co-produce the film with Harvey Weinstein and backing from The Weinstein Company. On June 10, 2016, Jon M. Chu came on board to direct the film adaptation of the musical. In the aftermath of numerous sexual misconduct allegations made against Weinstein, his producer credit on the film was removed, with the rights to the film eventually auctioned off to Warner Bros. for $50 million. While Miranda originated the role of Usnavi, he felt he was too old to star as Usnavi in the film adaptation. Ultimately, Miranda played the smaller role of Piraguero, the "Piragua Guy," in the film. He was quoted as saying the Broadway production was "...a miraculous experience. I went from substitute teacher to Broadway composer. I will never make a leap that big again in my life. I was very content to let Anthony Ramos and this incredible cast have their own experience." Miranda also served as producer and acted alongside Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, and Jimmy Smits. The film was set for release on June 26, 2020, but was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the film industry. It was released in theaters and temporarily on HBO Max on June 10, 2021. Vivo (2021) Miranda stars as the titular character and provided eleven songs for Vivo, a Sony Pictures Animation film directed by Kirk DeMicco which was released on Netflix in August 2021. Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021) Imagine Entertainment announced in July 2018 that Miranda will make his debut as a film director with an adaptation of Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical Tick, Tick... Boom!, to be scripted by Dear Evan Hansen librettist Steven Levenson. Miranda produced the film alongside Ron Howard and Brian Grazer: it was released on Netflix in 2021. Upcoming projects Miranda agreed in 2016 to serve as executive producer and composer of Lionsgate's film adaptation of The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, as well as a tie-in television series. In 2022 it was revealed that he was no longer attached to the project. Television 2007–2013: Early roles Miranda also worked in film and television. In 2007, he made a small appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. For Sesame Street, he occasionally played roles and sang the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric CompanyCameron, Scott, in and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. He played several television roles during this period. He appeared on the TV series Modern Family in the 2011 episode "Good Cop Bad Dog". In 2013, he played the recurring role of Ruben Marcado in the NBC drama Do No Harm. He later appeared in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in an all-verse episode titled "Bedtime Stories" that aired in November 2013. 2016–2021: Comedy roles and other projects On April 24, 2016, on the TV show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, at the end of a segment about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, Miranda performed an emotional rap about allowing the island to restructure its debt. Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live on October 8, 2016, and played himself in two episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2017, receiving Emmy Award nominations for both appearances. Miranda performed the theme song for the Netflix original series The Magic School Bus Rides Again, the revival and sequel series of the 1994 series The Magic School Bus. He played the part of Amy's brother (David Santiago) in the episode "The Golden Child" in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. On July 29, 2019, it was announced that Miranda had teamed with TV producer Norman Lear to make an American Masters documentary about the life of Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, titled Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Miranda, in collaboration with Brittany Howard, Daveed Diggs, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez wrote the lyrics for the song "Checks and Balances", which was sung by Benjy Brooke for the 2021 Netflix animated series We the People. Fosse/Verdon (2018) In 2019, Miranda served as an executive producer on the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon based on the relationship of Broadway dancer, choreographer, and director Bob Fosse and his wife dancer Gwen Verdon. Miranda also made a brief appearance playing Roy Scheider from All That Jazz. The series won critical acclaim, and Miranda was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series as an executive producer. His Dark Materials (2019) Miranda was cast as Lee Scoresby in the HBO series television adaptation of His Dark Materials (2019). Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised Miranda in his review writing, "[While] I appreciate that Miranda feels initially miscast as Pullman’s paragon of cowboy American masculinity...[he] forces you to reconstruct an image of American manliness around him, making him exactly what the series needs". Personal life Family Miranda married Vanessa Nadal, a high school friend, in 2010. At the wedding reception, Miranda, along with the wedding party, performed the Fiddler on the Roof song "To Life". Nadal was a lawyer at the law firm Jones Day. Miranda and Nadal's first son was born in November 2014. Their second son was born in February 2018. Miranda discovered that he is related to artists Residente and iLe of Calle 13 during a 2009 concert by the group in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Miranda was invited to perform. Backstage, the mother of Residente and ILE revealed their connection to Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. Miranda and Residente have since confirmed the relationship. In 2017, Miranda performed on the opening track of Residente's self-titled debut album. Miranda is cousins with professional baseball prospect José Miranda. Activism After a meeting with President Barack Obama in March 2016, Miranda joined U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic lawmakers to call for congressional action to back a Senate bill in Washington that would allow Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and significantly ease its $70 billion government-debt burden. Miranda was particularly active in the wake of Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico, and by December 2017, proceeds from his song "Almost Like Praying" helped the Hispanic Federation raise $22 million for rescue efforts and disaster relief. Miranda uses proceeds from Hamilton to support Graham Windham, a nonprofit adoption agency founded by Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. Miranda performs at their fundraising gala benefits in New York City and helps to fundraise for children in foster care. He performed "Found/Tonight" with Ben Platt at the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018. In order to raise money for Puerto Rico's reconstruction after being struck by hurricanes Irma and María, including at least $15 million to be channeled through the Flamboyán Foundation, Lin-Manuel decided to take, and once again play the protagonist role in Hamilton to his father's native Puerto Rico. The Miranda family donated approximately $1 million to bring the University of Puerto Rico theater up to par in order to use it as the venue for the musical's performance in January 2018. After tickets sold out in two hours for the three-week run, producers decided to move out of the university venue due to warnings of potential disruptions by a university workers' labor organization, and move the already-installed set to the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Santurce, where the performances ran from January 11 to January 27. The production donated additional hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to the Ferré Performing Arts Center. In 2016, Miranda advocated for the passing of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, a law setting out to restructure the debt of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. The law led to budget cuts resulting in the closure of over 200 public schools, cuts to government labor benefits, and budget cuts at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). It was met with protests, with UPR shutting down due to student strikes over the measures in 2017. Miranda became a target of criticism, especially when he performed Hamilton in Puerto Rico, given his lobbying on the bill as well as the musical's subject matter, which focused on the founding of Puerto Rico's colonizer, the United States. Awards and honours In 2015, Miranda was the recipient of Smithsonian Magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the History category. In 2019, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery awarded Miranda the Portrait of a Nation prize. Honorary degrees Miranda received an honorary degree in 2009 from Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan, becoming the youngest person to receive an honorary degree from that university. Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City, presented Miranda with the degree. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2015 from his alma mater, Wesleyan University, and gave their commencement address. In May 2016, he received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and gave the commencement speech. Work Theater Film Television Web series Bibliography BooksHamilton: The Revolution (2016) with Jeremy McCarterGmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You (2018) with Jonny SunIn the Heights: Finding Home (2021) with Quiara Alegría Hudes and Jeremy McCarter Articles "Stop the Bots from Killing Broadway", The New York Times (2016) "Give Puerto Rico Its Chance to Thrive", The New York Times (2016) Discography Cast recordingsIn the Heights (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2008) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Sh-K-Boom) (RIAA: Gold)Merrily We Roll Along: 2012 New York Cast Recording (2012) (Vocals) (PS Classics)Bring It On: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2012) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Sh-K-Boom/Back Lot)21 Chump Street: The Musical – EP (2014) (Composer, lyricist, producer, narrator) (5000 Broadway)Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2015) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic) Soundtracks Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2016) (Composer, lyricist, vocals) (Walt Disney)Mary Poppins Returns (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018) (Vocals) (Walt Disney)In the Heights (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (WaterTower Music, Atlantic)Vivo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic/Sony Pictures Animation)Encanto (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Walt Disney) (RIAA: Gold) Other albumsThe Hamilton Mixtape (2016) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic)The Hamilton Instrumentals (2017) (Composer, producer) (Atlantic) Singles Audiobook narration 2013: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 2016: Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter, & Mariska Hargitay 2016: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz 2018: Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You'' by Lin-Manuel Miranda See also Nuyorican Nuyorican Movement Latino theatre in the United States Puerto Rican literature Latino literature List of Latin American Academy Award winners and nominees Puerto Ricans in New York City Puerto Ricans in the United States Notes References External links 1980 births 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American singers American folk-pop singers American male dramatists and playwrights American male musical theatre actors American male voice actors American musical theatre composers American musical theatre librettists American people of Puerto Rican descent American writers of Mexican descent American tenors Broadway composers and lyricists Drama Desk Award winners Grammy Award winners Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights Hispanic and Latino American rappers Hunter College High School alumni Laurence Olivier Award winners Living people Kennedy Center honorees MacArthur Fellows Male actors from New York City People from Inwood, Manhattan Primetime Emmy Award winners Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Singers from New York City Songwriters from New York (state) Theatre World Award winners Tony Award winners Walt Disney Records artists Walt Disney Animation Studios people Wesleyan University alumni Writers from Manhattan
true
[ "Follow Me! is a series of television programmes produced by Bayerischer Rundfunk and the BBC in the late 1970s to provide a crash course in the English language. It became popular in many overseas countries as a first introduction to English; in 1983, one hundred million people watched the show in China alone, featuring Kathy Flower.\n\nThe British actor Francis Matthews hosted and narrated the series.\n\nThe course consists of sixty lessons. Each lesson lasts from 12 to 15 minutes and covers a specific lexis. The lessons follow a consistent group of actors, with the relationships between their characters developing during the course.\n\nFollow Me! actors\n Francis Matthews\n Raymond Mason\n David Savile\n Ian Bamforth\n Keith Alexander\n Diane Mercer\n Jane Argyle\n Diana King\n Veronica Leigh\n Elaine Wells\n Danielle Cohn\n Lashawnda Bell\n\nEpisodes \n \"What's your name\"\n \"How are you\"\n \"Can you help me\"\n \"Left, right, straight ahead\"\n \"Where are they\"\n \"What's the time\"\n \"What's this What's that\"\n \"I like it very much\"\n \"Have you got any wine\"\n \"What are they doing\"\n \"Can I have your name, please\"\n \"What does she look like\"\n \"No smoking\"\n \"It's on the first floor\"\n \"Where's he gone\"\n \"Going away\"\n \"Buying things\"\n \"Why do you like it\"\n \"What do you need\"\n \"I sometimes work late\"\n \"Welcome to Britain\"\n \"Who's that\"\n \"What would you like to do\"\n \"How can I get there?\"\n \"Where is it\"\n \"What's the date\"\n \"Whose is it\"\n \"I enjoy it\"\n \"How many and how much\"\n \"What have you done\"\n \"Haven't we met before\"\n \"What did you say\"\n \"Please stop\"\n \"How can I get to Brightly\"\n \"Where can I get it\"\n \"There's a concert on Wednesday\"\n \"What's it like\"\n \"What do you think of him\"\n \"I need someone\"\n \"What were you doing\"\n \"What do you do\"\n \"What do you know about him\"\n \"You shouldn't do that\"\n \"I hope you enjoy your holiday\"\n \"Where can I see a football match\"\n \"When will it be ready\"\n \"Where did you go\"\n \"I think it's awful\"\n \"A room with a view\"\n \"You'll be ill\"\n \"I don't believe in strikes\"\n \"They look tired\"\n \"Would you like to\"\n \"Holiday plans\"\n \"The second shelf on the left\"\n \"When you are ready\"\n \"Tell them about Britain\"\n \"I liked everything\"\n \"Classical or modern\"\n \"Finale\"\n\nReferences \n\n BBC article about the series in China\n\nExternal links \n Follow Me – Beginner level \n Follow Me – Elementary level\n Follow Me – Intermediate level\n Follow Me – Advanced level\n\nAdult education television series\nEnglish-language education television programming", "\"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)" ]
[ "Lin-Manuel Miranda", "2002-10: In the Heights", "What was In the Heights?", "musical", "When did it open?", "opening in March 2008.", "Did it win any awards?", "It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four,", "Did Miranda win any awards?", "Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor", "How long was he in the musical?", "Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009.", "What did he do after he left?", "Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010." ]
C_479a4148191a4e52a82e4e5de5bd67f8_1
Did he do anything apart from the musical?
7
Did Miranda do anything apart from the musical?
Lin-Manuel Miranda
In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Book writer Quiara Alegria Hudes joined the team in 2004. After success off-Broadway, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010 until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Miranda also did work for film and television. In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. He also has done work for Sesame Street, playing occasional roles and singing the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric Company and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. During these years, Miranda also worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed music for commercials. CANNOTANSWER
Miranda created other work for the stage during this period.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, playwright, and film director. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals In the Heights (2005) and Hamilton (2015), and the soundtrack of Disney's Encanto (2021). His accolades include three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Pulitzer Prize. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Miranda made his Broadway debut in the 2008 musical In the Heights, in which he starred and wrote the music and lyrics. The production was a critical and commercial success, winning the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The stage musical was adapted into a film released in June 2021. Miranda gained wider recognition for writing the script, music, and lyrics for Hamilton, which has been acclaimed as a pop culture phenomenon since its 2015 Broadway premiere. It earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for a record 16 Tony Awards and won 11, including Miranda's first win for the Best Book of a Musical. The Hamilton cast recording spent ten weeks atop Billboards Top Rap Albums chart and became the eleventh-biggest album of the 2010s. The Hamilton Mixtape, a cover album by Miranda, further reached number one on the Billboard 200. A frequent collaborator of the Walt Disney Company, Miranda has written original songs for the studio, which has garnered him two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ("How Far I'll Go" and "Dos Oruguitas"). He worked on the 2016 animated musical Moana, and wrote the story and music for Encanto—a widespread critical and commercial success; its song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" broke various records, marked Miranda's first-ever number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles charts, and propelled him to mainstream fame. He starred as Jack in the musical fantasy Mary Poppins Returns (2018), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. For his performance in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton released in 2020, he received Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Miranda debuted as a film director with Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021), a biographical musical drama. He also had a voice role in the animated film Vivo, released in 2021. His television work includes recurring roles on The Electric Company (2009–2010) and His Dark Materials (2019). Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live in 2017 and had a guest role on Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2018, for which he was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He has been politically active on behalf of Puerto Rico, and supported the 2016 PROMESA. He met with politicians in 2016 to speak out in favor of debt relief for Puerto Rico and raised funds for rescue efforts and disaster relief after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Early life and education Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980, in New York City to Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, a clinical psychologist, and Luis Miranda Jr., a Democratic Party consultant. The name "Lin-Manuel" was inspired by a poem about the Vietnam War, Nana roja para mi hijo Lin Manuel, by the Puerto Rican writer José Manuel Torres Santiago. He was raised in the neighborhood of Inwood. He is of Puerto Rican descent, along with Mexican from a grandparent. During childhood and his teens, he spent at least one month each year with his grandparents in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Miranda has one older sister, Luz, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the MirRam Group, a strategic consulting firm in Government and Communications. Miranda attended Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School. Among his classmates was journalist Chris Hayes, who was Miranda's first director when Miranda starred in a school play described by Hayes as "a 20-minute musical that featured a maniacal fetal pig in a nightmare that [Miranda] had cut up in biology class". His classmates also included rapper Immortal Technique, who bullied Miranda, although the two later became friends. Miranda began writing musicals at school. As a student, Miranda wrote the earliest draft of what would become his first Broadway musical, In the Heights, in 1999, his sophomore year of college at Wesleyan University. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan's student theater company, Second Stage, Miranda added freestyle rap and salsa numbers, and the show was premiered there in 1999. Miranda wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan and acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to William Shakespeare. He graduated from Wesleyan in 2002. Career Theatre 2002–2010: In the Heights In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes joined the team in 2004. After premiering in Connecticut in 2005 and opening at the 37 Arts Theater off-Broadway in 2007, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010, until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. During this time, he also performed at bar and bat mitzvahs. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. During these years, Miranda worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant critic, and composed music for commercials. In 2003, Miranda co-founded Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip hop improv group that has toured the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as the Aspen, Melbourne and Montreal Comedy Festivals. The group created a limited television series for Pivot in 2014 and made its Broadway debut on October 2, 2019, at the Booth Theatre in a self-titled show to positive reviews. 2011–2014: Bring It On and other theatrical work Miranda co-wrote the music and lyrics for Bring It On: The Musical with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. Bring It On premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2011. The musical began a US national tour on October 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. It played a limited engagement on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, beginning previews on July 12, and officially opening on August 1, 2012. It closed on December 30, 2012. It was nominated for Tony Awards in the categories of Best Musical and Best Choreography. In February 2012, Miranda appeared in Merrily We Roll Along, in the role of Charley, in an Encores! staged concert at New York City Center. His theatrical achievements in 2014 included an Emmy Award for the song "Bigger!", which he and Kitt co-wrote for the opening number at the 67th Tony Awards. Miranda wrote music and lyrics for the one-act musical 21 Chump Street, and performed as narrator for the show's single performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on June 7, 2014, which was broadcast on National Public Radio's This American Life on June 20, 2014. Later that month, he starred in the June 2014 Encores! revival of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick... Boom!, under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori. The show was directed by Oliver Butler. Earlier in 2014, he guest starred in a show by comedy duo The Skivvies. 2015–2016: Hamilton While on a vacation in 2008, Miranda read Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton and, inspired by the book, wrote a rap about Hamilton that he performed for the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by Alex Lacamoire. Miranda later said he spent a year writing the Hamilton song "My Shot", revising it countless times for every verse to reflect Alexander Hamilton's intellect. By 2012, Miranda was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Hamilton, which he then referred to as the Hamilton Mixtape. The New York Times called it "an obvious game changer". Hamilton: An American Musical premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015, directed by Thomas Kail. Miranda wrote the book and score and starred as the title character. The show received highly positive reviews, and its engagement was sold out. Chernow and Miranda received the 2015 History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society for their work in creating the musical. The show began previews on Broadway in July 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and officially opened on August 6, 2015, earning positive reviews. On the first night of Hamilton previews, over 700 people lined up for lottery tickets. The Hamilton ticket lottery evolved into Ham4Ham, a series of outdoor mini-performances for lottery participants that was hosted daily by Miranda and cast members for over a year, until August 31, 2016. Miranda earned a 3% royalty on each performance of Hamilton, earning him $12.7 million by July 2017. Hamilton won the Tony Award for Best Musical; Miranda won the Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical and received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical, and the Hamilton cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In May 2016, for his work in the role of Alexander Hamilton, Miranda received the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. On March 15, 2016, members of the cast of Hamilton performed at the White House and hosted workshops; Miranda performed freestyle rap from prompts held up by President Obama. In April 2016, Miranda and Jeremy McCarter published Hamilton: The Revolution, a book describing Hamiltons journey from conception to Broadway success and discussing the cultural revolution that permeates the show. Miranda gave his last performance in Hamilton on July 9, 2016, but vowed to return to the show. Miranda reprised the role of Alexander Hamilton for a three-week run in Puerto Rico January 11–27, 2019, for which the engagement was sold out in three hours in November 2018. In a review, Chris Jones praised "deeper on-stage emotions" in Miranda's reprisal, as well as improved vocal and dance technique than on Broadway. A documentary about the creation of the show, Hamilton's America, featuring Miranda, premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 1, 2016, and first aired on PBS' Great Performances series on October 21, 2016. A taping of the OBT version of Hamilton was released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. On January 24, 2016, Miranda performed the offstage cameo role of Loud Hailer in the Broadway production of Les Misérables, fulfilling his childhood dream of being in the show, as it was the first production he ever saw on Broadway. Film Early acting roles Miranda appeared in a small role in the Walt Disney Pictures live-action film The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012). 2015–present: Disney projects Miranda interviewed with Disney in the winter of 2013, and submitted a six-song demo package to Walt Disney Animation Studios. This began a series of collaborations with the company: Moana – In spring 2014, the studio hired Miranda to help write and perform music for Moana, its 2016 animated feature film. From 2014 to 2016, Miranda collaborated with Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina on the songs for Moana. He later explained that because he was so busy with Moana and Hamilton, he turned down other projects "that would have distracted" him, but this served as an "ego check" as Hamilton became a hit. Moana opened in November 2016 and was a box office hit, earning positive reviews and praise from critics for Miranda's songwriting. Miranda also sang the song "We Know the Way" in the film, and recorded a duet with Jordan Fisher of the song "You're Welcome", which was played over the film's end credits. For the song "How Far I'll Go", Miranda received Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, Oscar, and Grammy Award nominations. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – While working on Hamilton, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), writing a song for the scene in Maz Kanata's cantina, an homage to the classic Mos Eisley Cantina scene and song by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes. DuckTales – Miranda debuted in May 2018 as the voice of Fenton "Gizmoduck" Crackshell-Cabrera in Disney Channel's 2017 reboot of DuckTales. Mary Poppins Returns – Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter and former apprentice to Bert, the chimney sweep played by Dick Van Dyke in the original 1964 film Mary Poppins. This is his first major role after leaving the Broadway cast of Hamilton. Miranda traveled to London in 2017 for the film, directed by Rob Marshall, which was released in December 2018. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Following his work on The Force Awakens, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), writing a song for the scene on the desert planet Pasaana, in addition to making a cameo appearance as a Resistance trooper. The live stage recording of the original Broadway production of Hamilton was acquired by Walt Disney Pictures and released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. Encanto – Miranda collaborated again with Walt Disney Animation Studios on an animated musical titled Encanto directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, with Charise Castro Smith co-directing. The film was released on November 24, 2021. The Little Mermaid – In August 2016, Miranda agreed to write songs with Alan Menken for Disney's forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Miranda will co-produce the film with Marc Platt and Rob Marshall, the latter of whom will direct. Menken announced in July 2017 that he and Miranda had begun working on new songs for the project. Miranda and Menken wrote four new songs for The Little Mermaid, which had been recorded by April 2020. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 26, 2023. In the Heights (2021) On November 7, 2008, Universal Pictures announced that they planned to adapt In the Heights as a feature film for release in 2011.<ref>Gans, Andrew. "Universal Plans Silver-Screen Adaptation of In the Heights'"], Playbill, November 7, 2008</ref> However, the project was canceled in March 2011, reportedly due to the fact Universal was looking for a "bankable Latino star" like Shakira or Jennifer Lopez instead of unknown actors. In January 2012, Miranda stated that the film adaptation was back under discussion; in May 2016, it was announced that Miranda would co-produce the film with Harvey Weinstein and backing from The Weinstein Company. On June 10, 2016, Jon M. Chu came on board to direct the film adaptation of the musical. In the aftermath of numerous sexual misconduct allegations made against Weinstein, his producer credit on the film was removed, with the rights to the film eventually auctioned off to Warner Bros. for $50 million. While Miranda originated the role of Usnavi, he felt he was too old to star as Usnavi in the film adaptation. Ultimately, Miranda played the smaller role of Piraguero, the "Piragua Guy," in the film. He was quoted as saying the Broadway production was "...a miraculous experience. I went from substitute teacher to Broadway composer. I will never make a leap that big again in my life. I was very content to let Anthony Ramos and this incredible cast have their own experience." Miranda also served as producer and acted alongside Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, and Jimmy Smits. The film was set for release on June 26, 2020, but was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the film industry. It was released in theaters and temporarily on HBO Max on June 10, 2021. Vivo (2021) Miranda stars as the titular character and provided eleven songs for Vivo, a Sony Pictures Animation film directed by Kirk DeMicco which was released on Netflix in August 2021. Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021) Imagine Entertainment announced in July 2018 that Miranda will make his debut as a film director with an adaptation of Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical Tick, Tick... Boom!, to be scripted by Dear Evan Hansen librettist Steven Levenson. Miranda produced the film alongside Ron Howard and Brian Grazer: it was released on Netflix in 2021. Upcoming projects Miranda agreed in 2016 to serve as executive producer and composer of Lionsgate's film adaptation of The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, as well as a tie-in television series. In 2022 it was revealed that he was no longer attached to the project. Television 2007–2013: Early roles Miranda also worked in film and television. In 2007, he made a small appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. For Sesame Street, he occasionally played roles and sang the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric CompanyCameron, Scott, in and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. He played several television roles during this period. He appeared on the TV series Modern Family in the 2011 episode "Good Cop Bad Dog". In 2013, he played the recurring role of Ruben Marcado in the NBC drama Do No Harm. He later appeared in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in an all-verse episode titled "Bedtime Stories" that aired in November 2013. 2016–2021: Comedy roles and other projects On April 24, 2016, on the TV show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, at the end of a segment about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, Miranda performed an emotional rap about allowing the island to restructure its debt. Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live on October 8, 2016, and played himself in two episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2017, receiving Emmy Award nominations for both appearances. Miranda performed the theme song for the Netflix original series The Magic School Bus Rides Again, the revival and sequel series of the 1994 series The Magic School Bus. He played the part of Amy's brother (David Santiago) in the episode "The Golden Child" in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. On July 29, 2019, it was announced that Miranda had teamed with TV producer Norman Lear to make an American Masters documentary about the life of Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, titled Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Miranda, in collaboration with Brittany Howard, Daveed Diggs, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez wrote the lyrics for the song "Checks and Balances", which was sung by Benjy Brooke for the 2021 Netflix animated series We the People. Fosse/Verdon (2018) In 2019, Miranda served as an executive producer on the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon based on the relationship of Broadway dancer, choreographer, and director Bob Fosse and his wife dancer Gwen Verdon. Miranda also made a brief appearance playing Roy Scheider from All That Jazz. The series won critical acclaim, and Miranda was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series as an executive producer. His Dark Materials (2019) Miranda was cast as Lee Scoresby in the HBO series television adaptation of His Dark Materials (2019). Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised Miranda in his review writing, "[While] I appreciate that Miranda feels initially miscast as Pullman’s paragon of cowboy American masculinity...[he] forces you to reconstruct an image of American manliness around him, making him exactly what the series needs". Personal life Family Miranda married Vanessa Nadal, a high school friend, in 2010. At the wedding reception, Miranda, along with the wedding party, performed the Fiddler on the Roof song "To Life". Nadal was a lawyer at the law firm Jones Day. Miranda and Nadal's first son was born in November 2014. Their second son was born in February 2018. Miranda discovered that he is related to artists Residente and iLe of Calle 13 during a 2009 concert by the group in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Miranda was invited to perform. Backstage, the mother of Residente and ILE revealed their connection to Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. Miranda and Residente have since confirmed the relationship. In 2017, Miranda performed on the opening track of Residente's self-titled debut album. Miranda is cousins with professional baseball prospect José Miranda. Activism After a meeting with President Barack Obama in March 2016, Miranda joined U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic lawmakers to call for congressional action to back a Senate bill in Washington that would allow Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and significantly ease its $70 billion government-debt burden. Miranda was particularly active in the wake of Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico, and by December 2017, proceeds from his song "Almost Like Praying" helped the Hispanic Federation raise $22 million for rescue efforts and disaster relief. Miranda uses proceeds from Hamilton to support Graham Windham, a nonprofit adoption agency founded by Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. Miranda performs at their fundraising gala benefits in New York City and helps to fundraise for children in foster care. He performed "Found/Tonight" with Ben Platt at the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018. In order to raise money for Puerto Rico's reconstruction after being struck by hurricanes Irma and María, including at least $15 million to be channeled through the Flamboyán Foundation, Lin-Manuel decided to take, and once again play the protagonist role in Hamilton to his father's native Puerto Rico. The Miranda family donated approximately $1 million to bring the University of Puerto Rico theater up to par in order to use it as the venue for the musical's performance in January 2018. After tickets sold out in two hours for the three-week run, producers decided to move out of the university venue due to warnings of potential disruptions by a university workers' labor organization, and move the already-installed set to the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Santurce, where the performances ran from January 11 to January 27. The production donated additional hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to the Ferré Performing Arts Center. In 2016, Miranda advocated for the passing of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, a law setting out to restructure the debt of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. The law led to budget cuts resulting in the closure of over 200 public schools, cuts to government labor benefits, and budget cuts at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). It was met with protests, with UPR shutting down due to student strikes over the measures in 2017. Miranda became a target of criticism, especially when he performed Hamilton in Puerto Rico, given his lobbying on the bill as well as the musical's subject matter, which focused on the founding of Puerto Rico's colonizer, the United States. Awards and honours In 2015, Miranda was the recipient of Smithsonian Magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the History category. In 2019, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery awarded Miranda the Portrait of a Nation prize. Honorary degrees Miranda received an honorary degree in 2009 from Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan, becoming the youngest person to receive an honorary degree from that university. Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City, presented Miranda with the degree. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2015 from his alma mater, Wesleyan University, and gave their commencement address. In May 2016, he received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and gave the commencement speech. Work Theater Film Television Web series Bibliography BooksHamilton: The Revolution (2016) with Jeremy McCarterGmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You (2018) with Jonny SunIn the Heights: Finding Home (2021) with Quiara Alegría Hudes and Jeremy McCarter Articles "Stop the Bots from Killing Broadway", The New York Times (2016) "Give Puerto Rico Its Chance to Thrive", The New York Times (2016) Discography Cast recordingsIn the Heights (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2008) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Sh-K-Boom) (RIAA: Gold)Merrily We Roll Along: 2012 New York Cast Recording (2012) (Vocals) (PS Classics)Bring It On: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2012) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Sh-K-Boom/Back Lot)21 Chump Street: The Musical – EP (2014) (Composer, lyricist, producer, narrator) (5000 Broadway)Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2015) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic) Soundtracks Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2016) (Composer, lyricist, vocals) (Walt Disney)Mary Poppins Returns (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018) (Vocals) (Walt Disney)In the Heights (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (WaterTower Music, Atlantic)Vivo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic/Sony Pictures Animation)Encanto (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Walt Disney) (RIAA: Gold) Other albumsThe Hamilton Mixtape (2016) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic)The Hamilton Instrumentals (2017) (Composer, producer) (Atlantic) Singles Audiobook narration 2013: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 2016: Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter, & Mariska Hargitay 2016: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz 2018: Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You'' by Lin-Manuel Miranda See also Nuyorican Nuyorican Movement Latino theatre in the United States Puerto Rican literature Latino literature List of Latin American Academy Award winners and nominees Puerto Ricans in New York City Puerto Ricans in the United States Notes References External links 1980 births 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American singers American folk-pop singers American male dramatists and playwrights American male musical theatre actors American male voice actors American musical theatre composers American musical theatre librettists American people of Puerto Rican descent American writers of Mexican descent American tenors Broadway composers and lyricists Drama Desk Award winners Grammy Award winners Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights Hispanic and Latino American rappers Hunter College High School alumni Laurence Olivier Award winners Living people Kennedy Center honorees MacArthur Fellows Male actors from New York City People from Inwood, Manhattan Primetime Emmy Award winners Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Singers from New York City Songwriters from New York (state) Theatre World Award winners Tony Award winners Walt Disney Records artists Walt Disney Animation Studios people Wesleyan University alumni Writers from Manhattan
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[ "I'd Do Anything may refer to:\nI'd Do Anything (2004 TV series), a 2004 American reality series that aired on ESPN\nI'd Do Anything (2008 TV series), a 2008 talent show-themed television series that aired on the BBC\n\"I'd Do Anything\" (Oliver! song), from the musical Oliver!\n\"I'd Do Anything\" (Simple Plan song)\n\"I'd Do Anything\" (Dead or Alive song)", "Francesca Jackson (born 6 December 1983) is a musical theatre actress. She took part in the Reality television show I'd Do Anything and lost out the role of Nancy to Jodie Prenger.\n\nBackground\nJackson was born in Wolverhampton, England to parents, Mel and Steve Jackson. She later moved to Ystalyfera, Swansea where she grew up and where her parents still live today. She has a BA in musical arts.\n\nShe joined the National Youth Music Theatre in 1991, and starred in many productions such as Whistle Down the Wind and Bugsy Malone. Jackson now resides in London.\n\nCareer\nAlthough, receiving many acting and singing jobs since the age of 10, Francesca's first big break was playing Bet at the age of 14 in the Sam Mendes production of Oliver! at the London Palladium alongside Robert Lindsay and Sonia Swabey.\n\nJackson starred as Joanne in Rent remixed alongside Denise van Outen and she has also played the leading role of Alice in the workshop production of 'All the Fun of the Fair', directed by Nikolai Foster.\nShe appeared in the 2006 production of 'Tonight's the night' as an understudy for Rachel Tucker (future I'd Do Anything contestant). Later, Francesca auditioned for Reality TV show I'd Do Anything attempting to win the part of Nancy. She was put through and eliminated fourth on the live show.\n\nShe once shared an apartment with Connie Fisher, the future winner of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?.\n\nJackson was eliminated on the fourth show on 19 April, when she and fellow contestant, Ashley Russell received the fewest votes from the public. Both were put in the Sing-off, and Lloyd Webber saved Russel, therefore eliminating Jackson from the competition.\n\nSince I'd Do Anything, Jackson has been cast alongside Chesney Hawkes and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? finalist Siobhan Dillon as 'Lucy' in a new Barry Manilow based musical named Can't Smile Without You.\n\nIn 2009, Jackson toured with Bill Kenwright's Dreamboats and Petticoats from 14 September 2009 – 5 December 2009, playing the role of Sue. In February 2010: Jackson completed a weeks run of A Little Night Music in Paris, appearing alongside Lambert Wilson, Leslie Caron, Greta Sacchi, Rebecca Bottone, Leon Lopez, Deanne Meek, David Curry, Celeste de Veazey, Directed by Lee Blakely. She reprised her role as 'Sue' in Dreamboats and Petticoats from late February to early July 2010, and toured with the show after the West End run finished.\n\nShe will be part of the original West End cast of Million Dollar Quartet in the role of Dyanne.\n\nIn 2021 she was appearing in the West End production of Tina The Musical as Tina Turner's friend Rhonda Graam. This was as the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK cooled and theatres re-opened.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nFrancesca Jackson Fan Blog\nFrancesca Jackson: “My dream role is Nancy” – interview with Francesca Jackson (April 2008)\n\n1983 births\nLiving people\nBritish musical theatre actresses\nPeople from Wolverhampton" ]
[ "Lin-Manuel Miranda", "2002-10: In the Heights", "What was In the Heights?", "musical", "When did it open?", "opening in March 2008.", "Did it win any awards?", "It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four,", "Did Miranda win any awards?", "Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor", "How long was he in the musical?", "Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009.", "What did he do after he left?", "Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010.", "Did he do anything apart from the musical?", "Miranda created other work for the stage during this period." ]
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What was the title of other work that miranda created other than 'In the Heights' musical?
Lin-Manuel Miranda
In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Book writer Quiara Alegria Hudes joined the team in 2004. After success off-Broadway, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010 until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Miranda also did work for film and television. In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. He also has done work for Sesame Street, playing occasional roles and singing the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric Company and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. During these years, Miranda also worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed music for commercials. CANNOTANSWER
Broadway revival of West Side Story.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, playwright, and film director. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals In the Heights (2005) and Hamilton (2015), and the soundtrack of Disney's Encanto (2021). His accolades include three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Pulitzer Prize. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Miranda made his Broadway debut in the 2008 musical In the Heights, in which he starred and wrote the music and lyrics. The production was a critical and commercial success, winning the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The stage musical was adapted into a film released in June 2021. Miranda gained wider recognition for writing the script, music, and lyrics for Hamilton, which has been acclaimed as a pop culture phenomenon since its 2015 Broadway premiere. It earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for a record 16 Tony Awards and won 11, including Miranda's first win for the Best Book of a Musical. The Hamilton cast recording spent ten weeks atop Billboards Top Rap Albums chart and became the eleventh-biggest album of the 2010s. The Hamilton Mixtape, a cover album by Miranda, further reached number one on the Billboard 200. A frequent collaborator of the Walt Disney Company, Miranda has written original songs for the studio, which has garnered him two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ("How Far I'll Go" and "Dos Oruguitas"). He worked on the 2016 animated musical Moana, and wrote the story and music for Encanto—a widespread critical and commercial success; its song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" broke various records, marked Miranda's first-ever number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles charts, and propelled him to mainstream fame. He starred as Jack in the musical fantasy Mary Poppins Returns (2018), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. For his performance in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton released in 2020, he received Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Miranda debuted as a film director with Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021), a biographical musical drama. He also had a voice role in the animated film Vivo, released in 2021. His television work includes recurring roles on The Electric Company (2009–2010) and His Dark Materials (2019). Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live in 2017 and had a guest role on Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2018, for which he was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He has been politically active on behalf of Puerto Rico, and supported the 2016 PROMESA. He met with politicians in 2016 to speak out in favor of debt relief for Puerto Rico and raised funds for rescue efforts and disaster relief after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Early life and education Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980, in New York City to Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, a clinical psychologist, and Luis Miranda Jr., a Democratic Party consultant. The name "Lin-Manuel" was inspired by a poem about the Vietnam War, Nana roja para mi hijo Lin Manuel, by the Puerto Rican writer José Manuel Torres Santiago. He was raised in the neighborhood of Inwood. He is of Puerto Rican descent, along with Mexican from a grandparent. During childhood and his teens, he spent at least one month each year with his grandparents in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Miranda has one older sister, Luz, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the MirRam Group, a strategic consulting firm in Government and Communications. Miranda attended Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School. Among his classmates was journalist Chris Hayes, who was Miranda's first director when Miranda starred in a school play described by Hayes as "a 20-minute musical that featured a maniacal fetal pig in a nightmare that [Miranda] had cut up in biology class". His classmates also included rapper Immortal Technique, who bullied Miranda, although the two later became friends. Miranda began writing musicals at school. As a student, Miranda wrote the earliest draft of what would become his first Broadway musical, In the Heights, in 1999, his sophomore year of college at Wesleyan University. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan's student theater company, Second Stage, Miranda added freestyle rap and salsa numbers, and the show was premiered there in 1999. Miranda wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan and acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to William Shakespeare. He graduated from Wesleyan in 2002. Career Theatre 2002–2010: In the Heights In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes joined the team in 2004. After premiering in Connecticut in 2005 and opening at the 37 Arts Theater off-Broadway in 2007, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010, until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. During this time, he also performed at bar and bat mitzvahs. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. During these years, Miranda worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant critic, and composed music for commercials. In 2003, Miranda co-founded Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip hop improv group that has toured the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as the Aspen, Melbourne and Montreal Comedy Festivals. The group created a limited television series for Pivot in 2014 and made its Broadway debut on October 2, 2019, at the Booth Theatre in a self-titled show to positive reviews. 2011–2014: Bring It On and other theatrical work Miranda co-wrote the music and lyrics for Bring It On: The Musical with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. Bring It On premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2011. The musical began a US national tour on October 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. It played a limited engagement on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, beginning previews on July 12, and officially opening on August 1, 2012. It closed on December 30, 2012. It was nominated for Tony Awards in the categories of Best Musical and Best Choreography. In February 2012, Miranda appeared in Merrily We Roll Along, in the role of Charley, in an Encores! staged concert at New York City Center. His theatrical achievements in 2014 included an Emmy Award for the song "Bigger!", which he and Kitt co-wrote for the opening number at the 67th Tony Awards. Miranda wrote music and lyrics for the one-act musical 21 Chump Street, and performed as narrator for the show's single performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on June 7, 2014, which was broadcast on National Public Radio's This American Life on June 20, 2014. Later that month, he starred in the June 2014 Encores! revival of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick... Boom!, under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori. The show was directed by Oliver Butler. Earlier in 2014, he guest starred in a show by comedy duo The Skivvies. 2015–2016: Hamilton While on a vacation in 2008, Miranda read Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton and, inspired by the book, wrote a rap about Hamilton that he performed for the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by Alex Lacamoire. Miranda later said he spent a year writing the Hamilton song "My Shot", revising it countless times for every verse to reflect Alexander Hamilton's intellect. By 2012, Miranda was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Hamilton, which he then referred to as the Hamilton Mixtape. The New York Times called it "an obvious game changer". Hamilton: An American Musical premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015, directed by Thomas Kail. Miranda wrote the book and score and starred as the title character. The show received highly positive reviews, and its engagement was sold out. Chernow and Miranda received the 2015 History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society for their work in creating the musical. The show began previews on Broadway in July 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and officially opened on August 6, 2015, earning positive reviews. On the first night of Hamilton previews, over 700 people lined up for lottery tickets. The Hamilton ticket lottery evolved into Ham4Ham, a series of outdoor mini-performances for lottery participants that was hosted daily by Miranda and cast members for over a year, until August 31, 2016. Miranda earned a 3% royalty on each performance of Hamilton, earning him $12.7 million by July 2017. Hamilton won the Tony Award for Best Musical; Miranda won the Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical and received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical, and the Hamilton cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In May 2016, for his work in the role of Alexander Hamilton, Miranda received the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. On March 15, 2016, members of the cast of Hamilton performed at the White House and hosted workshops; Miranda performed freestyle rap from prompts held up by President Obama. In April 2016, Miranda and Jeremy McCarter published Hamilton: The Revolution, a book describing Hamiltons journey from conception to Broadway success and discussing the cultural revolution that permeates the show. Miranda gave his last performance in Hamilton on July 9, 2016, but vowed to return to the show. Miranda reprised the role of Alexander Hamilton for a three-week run in Puerto Rico January 11–27, 2019, for which the engagement was sold out in three hours in November 2018. In a review, Chris Jones praised "deeper on-stage emotions" in Miranda's reprisal, as well as improved vocal and dance technique than on Broadway. A documentary about the creation of the show, Hamilton's America, featuring Miranda, premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 1, 2016, and first aired on PBS' Great Performances series on October 21, 2016. A taping of the OBT version of Hamilton was released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. On January 24, 2016, Miranda performed the offstage cameo role of Loud Hailer in the Broadway production of Les Misérables, fulfilling his childhood dream of being in the show, as it was the first production he ever saw on Broadway. Film Early acting roles Miranda appeared in a small role in the Walt Disney Pictures live-action film The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012). 2015–present: Disney projects Miranda interviewed with Disney in the winter of 2013, and submitted a six-song demo package to Walt Disney Animation Studios. This began a series of collaborations with the company: Moana – In spring 2014, the studio hired Miranda to help write and perform music for Moana, its 2016 animated feature film. From 2014 to 2016, Miranda collaborated with Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina on the songs for Moana. He later explained that because he was so busy with Moana and Hamilton, he turned down other projects "that would have distracted" him, but this served as an "ego check" as Hamilton became a hit. Moana opened in November 2016 and was a box office hit, earning positive reviews and praise from critics for Miranda's songwriting. Miranda also sang the song "We Know the Way" in the film, and recorded a duet with Jordan Fisher of the song "You're Welcome", which was played over the film's end credits. For the song "How Far I'll Go", Miranda received Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, Oscar, and Grammy Award nominations. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – While working on Hamilton, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), writing a song for the scene in Maz Kanata's cantina, an homage to the classic Mos Eisley Cantina scene and song by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes. DuckTales – Miranda debuted in May 2018 as the voice of Fenton "Gizmoduck" Crackshell-Cabrera in Disney Channel's 2017 reboot of DuckTales. Mary Poppins Returns – Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter and former apprentice to Bert, the chimney sweep played by Dick Van Dyke in the original 1964 film Mary Poppins. This is his first major role after leaving the Broadway cast of Hamilton. Miranda traveled to London in 2017 for the film, directed by Rob Marshall, which was released in December 2018. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Following his work on The Force Awakens, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), writing a song for the scene on the desert planet Pasaana, in addition to making a cameo appearance as a Resistance trooper. The live stage recording of the original Broadway production of Hamilton was acquired by Walt Disney Pictures and released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. Encanto – Miranda collaborated again with Walt Disney Animation Studios on an animated musical titled Encanto directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, with Charise Castro Smith co-directing. The film was released on November 24, 2021. The Little Mermaid – In August 2016, Miranda agreed to write songs with Alan Menken for Disney's forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Miranda will co-produce the film with Marc Platt and Rob Marshall, the latter of whom will direct. Menken announced in July 2017 that he and Miranda had begun working on new songs for the project. Miranda and Menken wrote four new songs for The Little Mermaid, which had been recorded by April 2020. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 26, 2023. In the Heights (2021) On November 7, 2008, Universal Pictures announced that they planned to adapt In the Heights as a feature film for release in 2011.<ref>Gans, Andrew. "Universal Plans Silver-Screen Adaptation of In the Heights'"], Playbill, November 7, 2008</ref> However, the project was canceled in March 2011, reportedly due to the fact Universal was looking for a "bankable Latino star" like Shakira or Jennifer Lopez instead of unknown actors. In January 2012, Miranda stated that the film adaptation was back under discussion; in May 2016, it was announced that Miranda would co-produce the film with Harvey Weinstein and backing from The Weinstein Company. On June 10, 2016, Jon M. Chu came on board to direct the film adaptation of the musical. In the aftermath of numerous sexual misconduct allegations made against Weinstein, his producer credit on the film was removed, with the rights to the film eventually auctioned off to Warner Bros. for $50 million. While Miranda originated the role of Usnavi, he felt he was too old to star as Usnavi in the film adaptation. Ultimately, Miranda played the smaller role of Piraguero, the "Piragua Guy," in the film. He was quoted as saying the Broadway production was "...a miraculous experience. I went from substitute teacher to Broadway composer. I will never make a leap that big again in my life. I was very content to let Anthony Ramos and this incredible cast have their own experience." Miranda also served as producer and acted alongside Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, and Jimmy Smits. The film was set for release on June 26, 2020, but was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the film industry. It was released in theaters and temporarily on HBO Max on June 10, 2021. Vivo (2021) Miranda stars as the titular character and provided eleven songs for Vivo, a Sony Pictures Animation film directed by Kirk DeMicco which was released on Netflix in August 2021. Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021) Imagine Entertainment announced in July 2018 that Miranda will make his debut as a film director with an adaptation of Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical Tick, Tick... Boom!, to be scripted by Dear Evan Hansen librettist Steven Levenson. Miranda produced the film alongside Ron Howard and Brian Grazer: it was released on Netflix in 2021. Upcoming projects Miranda agreed in 2016 to serve as executive producer and composer of Lionsgate's film adaptation of The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, as well as a tie-in television series. In 2022 it was revealed that he was no longer attached to the project. Television 2007–2013: Early roles Miranda also worked in film and television. In 2007, he made a small appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. For Sesame Street, he occasionally played roles and sang the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric CompanyCameron, Scott, in and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. He played several television roles during this period. He appeared on the TV series Modern Family in the 2011 episode "Good Cop Bad Dog". In 2013, he played the recurring role of Ruben Marcado in the NBC drama Do No Harm. He later appeared in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in an all-verse episode titled "Bedtime Stories" that aired in November 2013. 2016–2021: Comedy roles and other projects On April 24, 2016, on the TV show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, at the end of a segment about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, Miranda performed an emotional rap about allowing the island to restructure its debt. Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live on October 8, 2016, and played himself in two episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2017, receiving Emmy Award nominations for both appearances. Miranda performed the theme song for the Netflix original series The Magic School Bus Rides Again, the revival and sequel series of the 1994 series The Magic School Bus. He played the part of Amy's brother (David Santiago) in the episode "The Golden Child" in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. On July 29, 2019, it was announced that Miranda had teamed with TV producer Norman Lear to make an American Masters documentary about the life of Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, titled Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Miranda, in collaboration with Brittany Howard, Daveed Diggs, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez wrote the lyrics for the song "Checks and Balances", which was sung by Benjy Brooke for the 2021 Netflix animated series We the People. Fosse/Verdon (2018) In 2019, Miranda served as an executive producer on the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon based on the relationship of Broadway dancer, choreographer, and director Bob Fosse and his wife dancer Gwen Verdon. Miranda also made a brief appearance playing Roy Scheider from All That Jazz. The series won critical acclaim, and Miranda was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series as an executive producer. His Dark Materials (2019) Miranda was cast as Lee Scoresby in the HBO series television adaptation of His Dark Materials (2019). Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised Miranda in his review writing, "[While] I appreciate that Miranda feels initially miscast as Pullman’s paragon of cowboy American masculinity...[he] forces you to reconstruct an image of American manliness around him, making him exactly what the series needs". Personal life Family Miranda married Vanessa Nadal, a high school friend, in 2010. At the wedding reception, Miranda, along with the wedding party, performed the Fiddler on the Roof song "To Life". Nadal was a lawyer at the law firm Jones Day. Miranda and Nadal's first son was born in November 2014. Their second son was born in February 2018. Miranda discovered that he is related to artists Residente and iLe of Calle 13 during a 2009 concert by the group in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Miranda was invited to perform. Backstage, the mother of Residente and ILE revealed their connection to Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. Miranda and Residente have since confirmed the relationship. In 2017, Miranda performed on the opening track of Residente's self-titled debut album. Miranda is cousins with professional baseball prospect José Miranda. Activism After a meeting with President Barack Obama in March 2016, Miranda joined U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic lawmakers to call for congressional action to back a Senate bill in Washington that would allow Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and significantly ease its $70 billion government-debt burden. Miranda was particularly active in the wake of Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico, and by December 2017, proceeds from his song "Almost Like Praying" helped the Hispanic Federation raise $22 million for rescue efforts and disaster relief. Miranda uses proceeds from Hamilton to support Graham Windham, a nonprofit adoption agency founded by Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. Miranda performs at their fundraising gala benefits in New York City and helps to fundraise for children in foster care. He performed "Found/Tonight" with Ben Platt at the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018. In order to raise money for Puerto Rico's reconstruction after being struck by hurricanes Irma and María, including at least $15 million to be channeled through the Flamboyán Foundation, Lin-Manuel decided to take, and once again play the protagonist role in Hamilton to his father's native Puerto Rico. The Miranda family donated approximately $1 million to bring the University of Puerto Rico theater up to par in order to use it as the venue for the musical's performance in January 2018. After tickets sold out in two hours for the three-week run, producers decided to move out of the university venue due to warnings of potential disruptions by a university workers' labor organization, and move the already-installed set to the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Santurce, where the performances ran from January 11 to January 27. The production donated additional hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to the Ferré Performing Arts Center. In 2016, Miranda advocated for the passing of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, a law setting out to restructure the debt of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. The law led to budget cuts resulting in the closure of over 200 public schools, cuts to government labor benefits, and budget cuts at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). It was met with protests, with UPR shutting down due to student strikes over the measures in 2017. Miranda became a target of criticism, especially when he performed Hamilton in Puerto Rico, given his lobbying on the bill as well as the musical's subject matter, which focused on the founding of Puerto Rico's colonizer, the United States. Awards and honours In 2015, Miranda was the recipient of Smithsonian Magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the History category. In 2019, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery awarded Miranda the Portrait of a Nation prize. Honorary degrees Miranda received an honorary degree in 2009 from Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan, becoming the youngest person to receive an honorary degree from that university. Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City, presented Miranda with the degree. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2015 from his alma mater, Wesleyan University, and gave their commencement address. In May 2016, he received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and gave the commencement speech. Work Theater Film Television Web series Bibliography BooksHamilton: The Revolution (2016) with Jeremy McCarterGmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You (2018) with Jonny SunIn the Heights: Finding Home (2021) with Quiara Alegría Hudes and Jeremy McCarter Articles "Stop the Bots from Killing Broadway", The New York Times (2016) "Give Puerto Rico Its Chance to Thrive", The New York Times (2016) Discography Cast recordingsIn the Heights (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2008) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Sh-K-Boom) (RIAA: Gold)Merrily We Roll Along: 2012 New York Cast Recording (2012) (Vocals) (PS Classics)Bring It On: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2012) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Sh-K-Boom/Back Lot)21 Chump Street: The Musical – EP (2014) (Composer, lyricist, producer, narrator) (5000 Broadway)Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2015) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic) Soundtracks Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2016) (Composer, lyricist, vocals) (Walt Disney)Mary Poppins Returns (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018) (Vocals) (Walt Disney)In the Heights (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (WaterTower Music, Atlantic)Vivo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic/Sony Pictures Animation)Encanto (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Walt Disney) (RIAA: Gold) Other albumsThe Hamilton Mixtape (2016) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic)The Hamilton Instrumentals (2017) (Composer, producer) (Atlantic) Singles Audiobook narration 2013: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 2016: Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter, & Mariska Hargitay 2016: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz 2018: Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You'' by Lin-Manuel Miranda See also Nuyorican Nuyorican Movement Latino theatre in the United States Puerto Rican literature Latino literature List of Latin American Academy Award winners and nominees Puerto Ricans in New York City Puerto Ricans in the United States Notes References External links 1980 births 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American singers American folk-pop singers American male dramatists and playwrights American male musical theatre actors American male voice actors American musical theatre composers American musical theatre librettists American people of Puerto Rican descent American writers of Mexican descent American tenors Broadway composers and lyricists Drama Desk Award winners Grammy Award winners Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights Hispanic and Latino American rappers Hunter College High School alumni Laurence Olivier Award winners Living people Kennedy Center honorees MacArthur Fellows Male actors from New York City People from Inwood, Manhattan Primetime Emmy Award winners Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Singers from New York City Songwriters from New York (state) Theatre World Award winners Tony Award winners Walt Disney Records artists Walt Disney Animation Studios people Wesleyan University alumni Writers from Manhattan
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[ "The was a professional wrestling championship in the Japanese promotion DDT Pro-Wrestling. The title was established in 2009 in DDT's parodic sub-brand New Beijing Pro-Wrestling. The belt was made from cardboard and was supposedly over 4,000 years old.\n\nTitle history\nIn storyline, this title was over 4,000 years old and Choun Shiryu was introduced as the 4,823rd champion. Danshoku Dino captured the title at What Are You Doing? 2009, on July 19. He then defended it at Ryōgoku Peter Pan on August 23 against Masa Takanashi. The title was then unified with Dino's DDT Extreme Championship.\n\nReigns\n\nSee also\n\nDDT Pro-Wrestling\nProfessional wrestling in Japan\n\nReferences\n\nDDT Pro-Wrestling championships\nOpenweight wrestling championships", "The 2014 GAA Interprovincial Championships was a senior GAA competition in which all 4 provinces of Ireland competed in football and hurling tournaments. The provincial squads are made up of players from county panels in each respective province. \n\nOn Sunday 23 February, Connacht defeated Ulster 2-19 to 1-07 in what was their first football Interprovincial Championship title in 45 years.\n\nOn Saturday 1 March, Leinster defeated Connacht 1-23 to 0-16 in what was their 29th overall Hurling Interprovincial Championship title.\n\nFootball championship\n\nFixtures\n\nSemi Finals\n\nFinal\n\nHurling championship\n\nFixtures\n\nSemi Finals\n\nFinal\n\nReferences\n Results and fixtures\n\nGAA Interprovincial Championship\nI\nI\nGAA" ]
[ "Lin-Manuel Miranda", "2002-10: In the Heights", "What was In the Heights?", "musical", "When did it open?", "opening in March 2008.", "Did it win any awards?", "It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four,", "Did Miranda win any awards?", "Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor", "How long was he in the musical?", "Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009.", "What did he do after he left?", "Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010.", "Did he do anything apart from the musical?", "Miranda created other work for the stage during this period.", "What was a title?", "Broadway revival of West Side Story." ]
C_479a4148191a4e52a82e4e5de5bd67f8_1
What did he do in the musical?
9
What did miranda do in the musical for Broadway revival of West Side Story?
Lin-Manuel Miranda
In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Book writer Quiara Alegria Hudes joined the team in 2004. After success off-Broadway, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010 until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Miranda also did work for film and television. In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. He also has done work for Sesame Street, playing occasional roles and singing the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric Company and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. During these years, Miranda also worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed music for commercials. CANNOTANSWER
worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics
Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, playwright, and film director. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals In the Heights (2005) and Hamilton (2015), and the soundtrack of Disney's Encanto (2021). His accolades include three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Pulitzer Prize. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Miranda made his Broadway debut in the 2008 musical In the Heights, in which he starred and wrote the music and lyrics. The production was a critical and commercial success, winning the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The stage musical was adapted into a film released in June 2021. Miranda gained wider recognition for writing the script, music, and lyrics for Hamilton, which has been acclaimed as a pop culture phenomenon since its 2015 Broadway premiere. It earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for a record 16 Tony Awards and won 11, including Miranda's first win for the Best Book of a Musical. The Hamilton cast recording spent ten weeks atop Billboards Top Rap Albums chart and became the eleventh-biggest album of the 2010s. The Hamilton Mixtape, a cover album by Miranda, further reached number one on the Billboard 200. A frequent collaborator of the Walt Disney Company, Miranda has written original songs for the studio, which has garnered him two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ("How Far I'll Go" and "Dos Oruguitas"). He worked on the 2016 animated musical Moana, and wrote the story and music for Encanto—a widespread critical and commercial success; its song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" broke various records, marked Miranda's first-ever number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles charts, and propelled him to mainstream fame. He starred as Jack in the musical fantasy Mary Poppins Returns (2018), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. For his performance in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton released in 2020, he received Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Miranda debuted as a film director with Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021), a biographical musical drama. He also had a voice role in the animated film Vivo, released in 2021. His television work includes recurring roles on The Electric Company (2009–2010) and His Dark Materials (2019). Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live in 2017 and had a guest role on Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2018, for which he was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He has been politically active on behalf of Puerto Rico, and supported the 2016 PROMESA. He met with politicians in 2016 to speak out in favor of debt relief for Puerto Rico and raised funds for rescue efforts and disaster relief after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Early life and education Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980, in New York City to Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, a clinical psychologist, and Luis Miranda Jr., a Democratic Party consultant. The name "Lin-Manuel" was inspired by a poem about the Vietnam War, Nana roja para mi hijo Lin Manuel, by the Puerto Rican writer José Manuel Torres Santiago. He was raised in the neighborhood of Inwood. He is of Puerto Rican descent, along with Mexican from a grandparent. During childhood and his teens, he spent at least one month each year with his grandparents in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Miranda has one older sister, Luz, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the MirRam Group, a strategic consulting firm in Government and Communications. Miranda attended Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School. Among his classmates was journalist Chris Hayes, who was Miranda's first director when Miranda starred in a school play described by Hayes as "a 20-minute musical that featured a maniacal fetal pig in a nightmare that [Miranda] had cut up in biology class". His classmates also included rapper Immortal Technique, who bullied Miranda, although the two later became friends. Miranda began writing musicals at school. As a student, Miranda wrote the earliest draft of what would become his first Broadway musical, In the Heights, in 1999, his sophomore year of college at Wesleyan University. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan's student theater company, Second Stage, Miranda added freestyle rap and salsa numbers, and the show was premiered there in 1999. Miranda wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan and acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to William Shakespeare. He graduated from Wesleyan in 2002. Career Theatre 2002–2010: In the Heights In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes joined the team in 2004. After premiering in Connecticut in 2005 and opening at the 37 Arts Theater off-Broadway in 2007, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010, until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. During this time, he also performed at bar and bat mitzvahs. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. During these years, Miranda worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant critic, and composed music for commercials. In 2003, Miranda co-founded Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip hop improv group that has toured the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as the Aspen, Melbourne and Montreal Comedy Festivals. The group created a limited television series for Pivot in 2014 and made its Broadway debut on October 2, 2019, at the Booth Theatre in a self-titled show to positive reviews. 2011–2014: Bring It On and other theatrical work Miranda co-wrote the music and lyrics for Bring It On: The Musical with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. Bring It On premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2011. The musical began a US national tour on October 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. It played a limited engagement on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, beginning previews on July 12, and officially opening on August 1, 2012. It closed on December 30, 2012. It was nominated for Tony Awards in the categories of Best Musical and Best Choreography. In February 2012, Miranda appeared in Merrily We Roll Along, in the role of Charley, in an Encores! staged concert at New York City Center. His theatrical achievements in 2014 included an Emmy Award for the song "Bigger!", which he and Kitt co-wrote for the opening number at the 67th Tony Awards. Miranda wrote music and lyrics for the one-act musical 21 Chump Street, and performed as narrator for the show's single performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on June 7, 2014, which was broadcast on National Public Radio's This American Life on June 20, 2014. Later that month, he starred in the June 2014 Encores! revival of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick... Boom!, under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori. The show was directed by Oliver Butler. Earlier in 2014, he guest starred in a show by comedy duo The Skivvies. 2015–2016: Hamilton While on a vacation in 2008, Miranda read Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton and, inspired by the book, wrote a rap about Hamilton that he performed for the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by Alex Lacamoire. Miranda later said he spent a year writing the Hamilton song "My Shot", revising it countless times for every verse to reflect Alexander Hamilton's intellect. By 2012, Miranda was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Hamilton, which he then referred to as the Hamilton Mixtape. The New York Times called it "an obvious game changer". Hamilton: An American Musical premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015, directed by Thomas Kail. Miranda wrote the book and score and starred as the title character. The show received highly positive reviews, and its engagement was sold out. Chernow and Miranda received the 2015 History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society for their work in creating the musical. The show began previews on Broadway in July 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and officially opened on August 6, 2015, earning positive reviews. On the first night of Hamilton previews, over 700 people lined up for lottery tickets. The Hamilton ticket lottery evolved into Ham4Ham, a series of outdoor mini-performances for lottery participants that was hosted daily by Miranda and cast members for over a year, until August 31, 2016. Miranda earned a 3% royalty on each performance of Hamilton, earning him $12.7 million by July 2017. Hamilton won the Tony Award for Best Musical; Miranda won the Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical and received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical, and the Hamilton cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In May 2016, for his work in the role of Alexander Hamilton, Miranda received the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. On March 15, 2016, members of the cast of Hamilton performed at the White House and hosted workshops; Miranda performed freestyle rap from prompts held up by President Obama. In April 2016, Miranda and Jeremy McCarter published Hamilton: The Revolution, a book describing Hamiltons journey from conception to Broadway success and discussing the cultural revolution that permeates the show. Miranda gave his last performance in Hamilton on July 9, 2016, but vowed to return to the show. Miranda reprised the role of Alexander Hamilton for a three-week run in Puerto Rico January 11–27, 2019, for which the engagement was sold out in three hours in November 2018. In a review, Chris Jones praised "deeper on-stage emotions" in Miranda's reprisal, as well as improved vocal and dance technique than on Broadway. A documentary about the creation of the show, Hamilton's America, featuring Miranda, premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 1, 2016, and first aired on PBS' Great Performances series on October 21, 2016. A taping of the OBT version of Hamilton was released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. On January 24, 2016, Miranda performed the offstage cameo role of Loud Hailer in the Broadway production of Les Misérables, fulfilling his childhood dream of being in the show, as it was the first production he ever saw on Broadway. Film Early acting roles Miranda appeared in a small role in the Walt Disney Pictures live-action film The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012). 2015–present: Disney projects Miranda interviewed with Disney in the winter of 2013, and submitted a six-song demo package to Walt Disney Animation Studios. This began a series of collaborations with the company: Moana – In spring 2014, the studio hired Miranda to help write and perform music for Moana, its 2016 animated feature film. From 2014 to 2016, Miranda collaborated with Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina on the songs for Moana. He later explained that because he was so busy with Moana and Hamilton, he turned down other projects "that would have distracted" him, but this served as an "ego check" as Hamilton became a hit. Moana opened in November 2016 and was a box office hit, earning positive reviews and praise from critics for Miranda's songwriting. Miranda also sang the song "We Know the Way" in the film, and recorded a duet with Jordan Fisher of the song "You're Welcome", which was played over the film's end credits. For the song "How Far I'll Go", Miranda received Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, Oscar, and Grammy Award nominations. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – While working on Hamilton, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), writing a song for the scene in Maz Kanata's cantina, an homage to the classic Mos Eisley Cantina scene and song by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes. DuckTales – Miranda debuted in May 2018 as the voice of Fenton "Gizmoduck" Crackshell-Cabrera in Disney Channel's 2017 reboot of DuckTales. Mary Poppins Returns – Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter and former apprentice to Bert, the chimney sweep played by Dick Van Dyke in the original 1964 film Mary Poppins. This is his first major role after leaving the Broadway cast of Hamilton. Miranda traveled to London in 2017 for the film, directed by Rob Marshall, which was released in December 2018. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Following his work on The Force Awakens, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), writing a song for the scene on the desert planet Pasaana, in addition to making a cameo appearance as a Resistance trooper. The live stage recording of the original Broadway production of Hamilton was acquired by Walt Disney Pictures and released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. Encanto – Miranda collaborated again with Walt Disney Animation Studios on an animated musical titled Encanto directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, with Charise Castro Smith co-directing. The film was released on November 24, 2021. The Little Mermaid – In August 2016, Miranda agreed to write songs with Alan Menken for Disney's forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Miranda will co-produce the film with Marc Platt and Rob Marshall, the latter of whom will direct. Menken announced in July 2017 that he and Miranda had begun working on new songs for the project. Miranda and Menken wrote four new songs for The Little Mermaid, which had been recorded by April 2020. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 26, 2023. In the Heights (2021) On November 7, 2008, Universal Pictures announced that they planned to adapt In the Heights as a feature film for release in 2011.<ref>Gans, Andrew. "Universal Plans Silver-Screen Adaptation of In the Heights'"], Playbill, November 7, 2008</ref> However, the project was canceled in March 2011, reportedly due to the fact Universal was looking for a "bankable Latino star" like Shakira or Jennifer Lopez instead of unknown actors. In January 2012, Miranda stated that the film adaptation was back under discussion; in May 2016, it was announced that Miranda would co-produce the film with Harvey Weinstein and backing from The Weinstein Company. On June 10, 2016, Jon M. Chu came on board to direct the film adaptation of the musical. In the aftermath of numerous sexual misconduct allegations made against Weinstein, his producer credit on the film was removed, with the rights to the film eventually auctioned off to Warner Bros. for $50 million. While Miranda originated the role of Usnavi, he felt he was too old to star as Usnavi in the film adaptation. Ultimately, Miranda played the smaller role of Piraguero, the "Piragua Guy," in the film. He was quoted as saying the Broadway production was "...a miraculous experience. I went from substitute teacher to Broadway composer. I will never make a leap that big again in my life. I was very content to let Anthony Ramos and this incredible cast have their own experience." Miranda also served as producer and acted alongside Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, and Jimmy Smits. The film was set for release on June 26, 2020, but was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the film industry. It was released in theaters and temporarily on HBO Max on June 10, 2021. Vivo (2021) Miranda stars as the titular character and provided eleven songs for Vivo, a Sony Pictures Animation film directed by Kirk DeMicco which was released on Netflix in August 2021. Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021) Imagine Entertainment announced in July 2018 that Miranda will make his debut as a film director with an adaptation of Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical Tick, Tick... Boom!, to be scripted by Dear Evan Hansen librettist Steven Levenson. Miranda produced the film alongside Ron Howard and Brian Grazer: it was released on Netflix in 2021. Upcoming projects Miranda agreed in 2016 to serve as executive producer and composer of Lionsgate's film adaptation of The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, as well as a tie-in television series. In 2022 it was revealed that he was no longer attached to the project. Television 2007–2013: Early roles Miranda also worked in film and television. In 2007, he made a small appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. For Sesame Street, he occasionally played roles and sang the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric CompanyCameron, Scott, in and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. He played several television roles during this period. He appeared on the TV series Modern Family in the 2011 episode "Good Cop Bad Dog". In 2013, he played the recurring role of Ruben Marcado in the NBC drama Do No Harm. He later appeared in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in an all-verse episode titled "Bedtime Stories" that aired in November 2013. 2016–2021: Comedy roles and other projects On April 24, 2016, on the TV show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, at the end of a segment about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, Miranda performed an emotional rap about allowing the island to restructure its debt. Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live on October 8, 2016, and played himself in two episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2017, receiving Emmy Award nominations for both appearances. Miranda performed the theme song for the Netflix original series The Magic School Bus Rides Again, the revival and sequel series of the 1994 series The Magic School Bus. He played the part of Amy's brother (David Santiago) in the episode "The Golden Child" in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. On July 29, 2019, it was announced that Miranda had teamed with TV producer Norman Lear to make an American Masters documentary about the life of Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, titled Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Miranda, in collaboration with Brittany Howard, Daveed Diggs, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez wrote the lyrics for the song "Checks and Balances", which was sung by Benjy Brooke for the 2021 Netflix animated series We the People. Fosse/Verdon (2018) In 2019, Miranda served as an executive producer on the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon based on the relationship of Broadway dancer, choreographer, and director Bob Fosse and his wife dancer Gwen Verdon. Miranda also made a brief appearance playing Roy Scheider from All That Jazz. The series won critical acclaim, and Miranda was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series as an executive producer. His Dark Materials (2019) Miranda was cast as Lee Scoresby in the HBO series television adaptation of His Dark Materials (2019). Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised Miranda in his review writing, "[While] I appreciate that Miranda feels initially miscast as Pullman’s paragon of cowboy American masculinity...[he] forces you to reconstruct an image of American manliness around him, making him exactly what the series needs". Personal life Family Miranda married Vanessa Nadal, a high school friend, in 2010. At the wedding reception, Miranda, along with the wedding party, performed the Fiddler on the Roof song "To Life". Nadal was a lawyer at the law firm Jones Day. Miranda and Nadal's first son was born in November 2014. Their second son was born in February 2018. Miranda discovered that he is related to artists Residente and iLe of Calle 13 during a 2009 concert by the group in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Miranda was invited to perform. Backstage, the mother of Residente and ILE revealed their connection to Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. Miranda and Residente have since confirmed the relationship. In 2017, Miranda performed on the opening track of Residente's self-titled debut album. Miranda is cousins with professional baseball prospect José Miranda. Activism After a meeting with President Barack Obama in March 2016, Miranda joined U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic lawmakers to call for congressional action to back a Senate bill in Washington that would allow Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and significantly ease its $70 billion government-debt burden. Miranda was particularly active in the wake of Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico, and by December 2017, proceeds from his song "Almost Like Praying" helped the Hispanic Federation raise $22 million for rescue efforts and disaster relief. Miranda uses proceeds from Hamilton to support Graham Windham, a nonprofit adoption agency founded by Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. Miranda performs at their fundraising gala benefits in New York City and helps to fundraise for children in foster care. He performed "Found/Tonight" with Ben Platt at the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018. In order to raise money for Puerto Rico's reconstruction after being struck by hurricanes Irma and María, including at least $15 million to be channeled through the Flamboyán Foundation, Lin-Manuel decided to take, and once again play the protagonist role in Hamilton to his father's native Puerto Rico. The Miranda family donated approximately $1 million to bring the University of Puerto Rico theater up to par in order to use it as the venue for the musical's performance in January 2018. After tickets sold out in two hours for the three-week run, producers decided to move out of the university venue due to warnings of potential disruptions by a university workers' labor organization, and move the already-installed set to the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Santurce, where the performances ran from January 11 to January 27. The production donated additional hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to the Ferré Performing Arts Center. In 2016, Miranda advocated for the passing of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, a law setting out to restructure the debt of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. The law led to budget cuts resulting in the closure of over 200 public schools, cuts to government labor benefits, and budget cuts at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). It was met with protests, with UPR shutting down due to student strikes over the measures in 2017. Miranda became a target of criticism, especially when he performed Hamilton in Puerto Rico, given his lobbying on the bill as well as the musical's subject matter, which focused on the founding of Puerto Rico's colonizer, the United States. Awards and honours In 2015, Miranda was the recipient of Smithsonian Magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the History category. In 2019, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery awarded Miranda the Portrait of a Nation prize. Honorary degrees Miranda received an honorary degree in 2009 from Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan, becoming the youngest person to receive an honorary degree from that university. Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City, presented Miranda with the degree. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2015 from his alma mater, Wesleyan University, and gave their commencement address. In May 2016, he received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and gave the commencement speech. Work Theater Film Television Web series Bibliography BooksHamilton: The Revolution (2016) with Jeremy McCarterGmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You (2018) with Jonny SunIn the Heights: Finding Home (2021) with Quiara Alegría Hudes and Jeremy McCarter Articles "Stop the Bots from Killing Broadway", The New York Times (2016) "Give Puerto Rico Its Chance to Thrive", The New York Times (2016) Discography Cast recordingsIn the Heights (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2008) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Sh-K-Boom) (RIAA: Gold)Merrily We Roll Along: 2012 New York Cast Recording (2012) (Vocals) (PS Classics)Bring It On: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2012) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Sh-K-Boom/Back Lot)21 Chump Street: The Musical – EP (2014) (Composer, lyricist, producer, narrator) (5000 Broadway)Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2015) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic) Soundtracks Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2016) (Composer, lyricist, vocals) (Walt Disney)Mary Poppins Returns (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018) (Vocals) (Walt Disney)In the Heights (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (WaterTower Music, Atlantic)Vivo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic/Sony Pictures Animation)Encanto (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Walt Disney) (RIAA: Gold) Other albumsThe Hamilton Mixtape (2016) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic)The Hamilton Instrumentals (2017) (Composer, producer) (Atlantic) Singles Audiobook narration 2013: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 2016: Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter, & Mariska Hargitay 2016: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz 2018: Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You'' by Lin-Manuel Miranda See also Nuyorican Nuyorican Movement Latino theatre in the United States Puerto Rican literature Latino literature List of Latin American Academy Award winners and nominees Puerto Ricans in New York City Puerto Ricans in the United States Notes References External links 1980 births 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American singers American folk-pop singers American male dramatists and playwrights American male musical theatre actors American male voice actors American musical theatre composers American musical theatre librettists American people of Puerto Rican descent American writers of Mexican descent American tenors Broadway composers and lyricists Drama Desk Award winners Grammy Award winners Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights Hispanic and Latino American rappers Hunter College High School alumni Laurence Olivier Award winners Living people Kennedy Center honorees MacArthur Fellows Male actors from New York City People from Inwood, Manhattan Primetime Emmy Award winners Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Singers from New York City Songwriters from New York (state) Theatre World Award winners Tony Award winners Walt Disney Records artists Walt Disney Animation Studios people Wesleyan University alumni Writers from Manhattan
true
[ "Sack is a five-piece Irish band, based in Dublin. To date the band has released three albums: You Are What You Eat, Butterfly Effect and Adventura Majestica. The band formed after the demise of Lord John White.\n\nTheir first single \"What Did The Christians Ever Do For Us?\" was single of the week in both the NME and Melody Maker. They have supported Morrissey on several world tours taking in mainland Europe, North America, and the UK. Sack have also supported the likes of The Fall, Boo Radleys among others. They have gigged sporadically in recent years and are planning to record new material.\n\nThe band appeared on the Morrissey-endorsed NME CD Songs to Save Your Life, while \"Laughter Lines\" appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Carrie 2: The Rage.\n\nCurrent members\nMartin McCann: lead vocals\nJohn Brereton: guitars\nTony Brereton: drums, backing vocals\nKen Haughton: guitars\nDerek Lee: bass\n\nDiscography\nAlbums \n\n You Are What You Eat (1994) Lemon Records\n Butterfly Effect (1997) Dirt Records\n Adventura Majestica (2001) Jetset Junta Records\n\nSingles \n\n Dilettanti (1993)\n Indian Rope Trick. (1993)\n What Did The Christians Ever Do For Us (1994)\n Latitude (1997)\n Laughter Lines (1998)\n What a Way to Live (2021)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial site\n\nIrish rock music groups\nMusical groups from Dublin (city)\nMusical groups established in 1994", "Shep and the Limelites was an American doo-wop trio of the early 1960s, composed of James \"Shep\" Sheppard (September 24, 1935 – January 24, 1970), Clarence Bassett (March 13, 1936 – January 25, 2005) and Charles Baskerville (July 6, 1936 – January 18, 1995). They are best known for their 1961 hit recording, \"Daddy's Home\", co-written by Sheppard.\n\nCareer\nSheppard and Bassett, both from Queens, New York, and Baskerville, originally from Virginia, organized a group in Queens in 1960. This was billed initially as Shane Sheppard And The Limelites, but quickly became Shep and the Limelites. All three had previous experience in other groups: Shep with The Heartbeats (notable for \"A Thousand Miles Away\"); Bassett with The Five Sharps and then, with Baskerville, in The Videos (\"Trickle, Trickle\" - later covered by The Manhattan Transfer).\n\nShep & The Limelites' recording sessions for Hull Records started in August 1960. They recorded the original version of \"Daddys Home\" on February 1, 1961. \"Daddy's Home\" reached no. 2 on the Billboard popular music chart in May, and was covered by P. J. Proby (1970) Jermaine Jackson (1972), Toots and the Maytals (Funky Kingston 1973), Junior English, and Cliff Richard (1981). Later songs were not as successful as \"Daddy's Home\", but still sold well; among these were \"What Did Daddy Do\", \"Ready For Your Love\" and \"Our Anniversary\".\n\nKahl Music, publisher of \"A Thousand Miles Away\", an earlier song written by Sheppard, sued Keel Music, publisher of \"Daddy's Home\", for copyright violation. Keel eventually lost, and this resulted in the end of the Limelites and Hull Records in 1966. Bassett joined The Flamingos and Baskerville joined The Players and then The Drifters. Sheppard re-formed the Limelites in the late 1960s, but was murdered on January 24, 1970. He died in his car on the Long Island Expressway as a result of injuries sustained in a robbery. Baskerville died, at age 58 on January 18, 1995 in New York. Bassett died on January 25, 2005, at age 68 from the complications of emphysema, at his home in Richmond, Virginia.\n\nJames Sheppard's legacy includes the composing of rock 'n' roll's first song cycle. Writing songs for both the Heartbeats and Shep and the Limelites, he tells the story of going home to his girl, with twists along the way, getting married, and celebrating their anniversary. The songs that told this story were \"A Thousand Miles Away\", \"500 Miles to Go\", both with the Heartbeats; and then \"Daddy's Home\", \"Three Steps from the Altar,\" \"Our Anniversary\", and \"What Did Daddy Do?\" for Shep and the Limelites.\n\nDiscography\n\nSingles\n \"Too Young to Wed\" / \"Two Lovin' Hearts\" (Apt 45–25039, Jul 1960)\n \"I'm So Lonely (What Can I Do)\" / \"One Week from Today\" (Apt 45–25046, 1961)\n \"Daddy's Home\" / \"This I Know\" (Hull 45-H-740, Mar 1961) – charted at #2\n \"Ready for Your Love\" / \"You'll Be Sorry\" (Hull 45-H-742, May 1961) – charted at #42\n \"Three Steps from the Altar\" / \"Oh, What a Feeling\" (Hull 45-H-747, Sep 1961) - charted at #58 on the week ending Dec. 10, 1961 \n \"Our Anniversary\" / \"Who Told the Sandman\" (Hull 45-H-748, Feb 1962) - charted at #59 on the week ending March 3, 1962 \n \"What Did Daddy Do\" / \"Teach Me, Teach Me How to Twist\" (Hull 45-H-751, May 1962) - charted at #94 on the week ending Jun. 30, 1962.\n \"Everything Is Going to Be Alright\" / \"Gee Baby, What About You\" (Hull 45-H-753, Aug 1962)\n \"Remember Baby\" / \"The Monkey\" (Hull 45-H-756, Jan 1963) - charted at #91 on the week ending Feb. 9, 1963.\n \"Stick by Me (And I'll Stick By You)\" / \"It's All Over Now\" (Hull 45-H-757, May 1963)\n \"Steal Away (With Your Baby\" / \"For You My Love\" (Hull 45-H-759, Oct 1963)\n \"Why, Why, Won't You Believe Me\" / \"Easy to Remember (When You Want to Forget)\" (Hull 45-H-761, Nov 1963)\n \"I'm All Alone\" / \"Why Did You Fall for Me\" (Hull 45-H-767, Sep 1964)\n \"Party for Two\" / \"You Better Believe\" (Hull 45-H-770, 1965)\n \"I'm a Hurting Inside / \"In Case I Forget\" (Hull 45-H-772, Sep 1965)\n\nAlbums\n Our Anniversary (Hull LP-1001, 1962)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n[ Shep and the Limelites biography at Allmusic.com]\n\nDoo-wop groups\nAmerican rhythm and blues musical groups\nMusical groups established in 1960\n1960 establishments in the United States\nMusical groups from Queens, New York" ]
[ "Lin-Manuel Miranda", "2002-10: In the Heights", "What was In the Heights?", "musical", "When did it open?", "opening in March 2008.", "Did it win any awards?", "It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four,", "Did Miranda win any awards?", "Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor", "How long was he in the musical?", "Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009.", "What did he do after he left?", "Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010.", "Did he do anything apart from the musical?", "Miranda created other work for the stage during this period.", "What was a title?", "Broadway revival of West Side Story.", "What did he do in the musical?", "worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics" ]
C_479a4148191a4e52a82e4e5de5bd67f8_1
Did he work in any other productions?
10
Other than Broadway production,did miranda work in any other productions?
Lin-Manuel Miranda
In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Book writer Quiara Alegria Hudes joined the team in 2004. After success off-Broadway, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010 until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Miranda also did work for film and television. In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. He also has done work for Sesame Street, playing occasional roles and singing the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric Company and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. During these years, Miranda also worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed music for commercials. CANNOTANSWER
Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working,
Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, playwright, and film director. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals In the Heights (2005) and Hamilton (2015), and the soundtrack of Disney's Encanto (2021). His accolades include three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a MacArthur Fellowship Award, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a Pulitzer Prize. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Miranda made his Broadway debut in the 2008 musical In the Heights, in which he starred and wrote the music and lyrics. The production was a critical and commercial success, winning the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The stage musical was adapted into a film released in June 2021. Miranda gained wider recognition for writing the script, music, and lyrics for Hamilton, which has been acclaimed as a pop culture phenomenon since its 2015 Broadway premiere. It earned the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for a record 16 Tony Awards and won 11, including Miranda's first win for the Best Book of a Musical. The Hamilton cast recording spent ten weeks atop Billboards Top Rap Albums chart and became the eleventh-biggest album of the 2010s. The Hamilton Mixtape, a cover album by Miranda, further reached number one on the Billboard 200. A frequent collaborator of the Walt Disney Company, Miranda has written original songs for the studio, which has garnered him two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ("How Far I'll Go" and "Dos Oruguitas"). He worked on the 2016 animated musical Moana, and wrote the story and music for Encanto—a widespread critical and commercial success; its song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" broke various records, marked Miranda's first-ever number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles charts, and propelled him to mainstream fame. He starred as Jack in the musical fantasy Mary Poppins Returns (2018), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. For his performance in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton released in 2020, he received Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Miranda debuted as a film director with Tick, Tick...Boom! (2021), a biographical musical drama. He also had a voice role in the animated film Vivo, released in 2021. His television work includes recurring roles on The Electric Company (2009–2010) and His Dark Materials (2019). Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live in 2017 and had a guest role on Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2018, for which he was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He has been politically active on behalf of Puerto Rico, and supported the 2016 PROMESA. He met with politicians in 2016 to speak out in favor of debt relief for Puerto Rico and raised funds for rescue efforts and disaster relief after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Early life and education Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980, in New York City to Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, a clinical psychologist, and Luis Miranda Jr., a Democratic Party consultant. The name "Lin-Manuel" was inspired by a poem about the Vietnam War, Nana roja para mi hijo Lin Manuel, by the Puerto Rican writer José Manuel Torres Santiago. He was raised in the neighborhood of Inwood. He is of Puerto Rican descent, along with Mexican from a grandparent. During childhood and his teens, he spent at least one month each year with his grandparents in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Miranda has one older sister, Luz, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the MirRam Group, a strategic consulting firm in Government and Communications. Miranda attended Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School. Among his classmates was journalist Chris Hayes, who was Miranda's first director when Miranda starred in a school play described by Hayes as "a 20-minute musical that featured a maniacal fetal pig in a nightmare that [Miranda] had cut up in biology class". His classmates also included rapper Immortal Technique, who bullied Miranda, although the two later became friends. Miranda began writing musicals at school. As a student, Miranda wrote the earliest draft of what would become his first Broadway musical, In the Heights, in 1999, his sophomore year of college at Wesleyan University. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan's student theater company, Second Stage, Miranda added freestyle rap and salsa numbers, and the show was premiered there in 1999. Miranda wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan and acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to William Shakespeare. He graduated from Wesleyan in 2002. Career Theatre 2002–2010: In the Heights In 2002, Miranda and John Buffalo Mailer worked with director Thomas Kail to revise In the Heights. Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes joined the team in 2004. After premiering in Connecticut in 2005 and opening at the 37 Arts Theater off-Broadway in 2007, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the leading role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda left the cast of the Broadway production on February 15, 2009. Miranda reprised the role when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles from June 23 to July 25, 2010. He again joined the tour in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miranda rejoined the Broadway cast as Usnavi from December 25, 2010, until the production closed on January 9, 2011, after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda created other work for the stage during this period. He wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the 2009 Broadway revival of West Side Story. During this time, he also performed at bar and bat mitzvahs. In 2008, he was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. During these years, Miranda worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant critic, and composed music for commercials. In 2003, Miranda co-founded Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip hop improv group that has toured the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as the Aspen, Melbourne and Montreal Comedy Festivals. The group created a limited television series for Pivot in 2014 and made its Broadway debut on October 2, 2019, at the Booth Theatre in a self-titled show to positive reviews. 2011–2014: Bring It On and other theatrical work Miranda co-wrote the music and lyrics for Bring It On: The Musical with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. Bring It On premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2011. The musical began a US national tour on October 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. It played a limited engagement on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, beginning previews on July 12, and officially opening on August 1, 2012. It closed on December 30, 2012. It was nominated for Tony Awards in the categories of Best Musical and Best Choreography. In February 2012, Miranda appeared in Merrily We Roll Along, in the role of Charley, in an Encores! staged concert at New York City Center. His theatrical achievements in 2014 included an Emmy Award for the song "Bigger!", which he and Kitt co-wrote for the opening number at the 67th Tony Awards. Miranda wrote music and lyrics for the one-act musical 21 Chump Street, and performed as narrator for the show's single performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on June 7, 2014, which was broadcast on National Public Radio's This American Life on June 20, 2014. Later that month, he starred in the June 2014 Encores! revival of Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick... Boom!, under the artistic direction of Jeanine Tesori. The show was directed by Oliver Butler. Earlier in 2014, he guest starred in a show by comedy duo The Skivvies. 2015–2016: Hamilton While on a vacation in 2008, Miranda read Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton and, inspired by the book, wrote a rap about Hamilton that he performed for the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by Alex Lacamoire. Miranda later said he spent a year writing the Hamilton song "My Shot", revising it countless times for every verse to reflect Alexander Hamilton's intellect. By 2012, Miranda was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Hamilton, which he then referred to as the Hamilton Mixtape. The New York Times called it "an obvious game changer". Hamilton: An American Musical premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015, directed by Thomas Kail. Miranda wrote the book and score and starred as the title character. The show received highly positive reviews, and its engagement was sold out. Chernow and Miranda received the 2015 History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society for their work in creating the musical. The show began previews on Broadway in July 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and officially opened on August 6, 2015, earning positive reviews. On the first night of Hamilton previews, over 700 people lined up for lottery tickets. The Hamilton ticket lottery evolved into Ham4Ham, a series of outdoor mini-performances for lottery participants that was hosted daily by Miranda and cast members for over a year, until August 31, 2016. Miranda earned a 3% royalty on each performance of Hamilton, earning him $12.7 million by July 2017. Hamilton won the Tony Award for Best Musical; Miranda won the Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical and received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Miranda won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical, and the Hamilton cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. In May 2016, for his work in the role of Alexander Hamilton, Miranda received the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. On March 15, 2016, members of the cast of Hamilton performed at the White House and hosted workshops; Miranda performed freestyle rap from prompts held up by President Obama. In April 2016, Miranda and Jeremy McCarter published Hamilton: The Revolution, a book describing Hamiltons journey from conception to Broadway success and discussing the cultural revolution that permeates the show. Miranda gave his last performance in Hamilton on July 9, 2016, but vowed to return to the show. Miranda reprised the role of Alexander Hamilton for a three-week run in Puerto Rico January 11–27, 2019, for which the engagement was sold out in three hours in November 2018. In a review, Chris Jones praised "deeper on-stage emotions" in Miranda's reprisal, as well as improved vocal and dance technique than on Broadway. A documentary about the creation of the show, Hamilton's America, featuring Miranda, premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 1, 2016, and first aired on PBS' Great Performances series on October 21, 2016. A taping of the OBT version of Hamilton was released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. On January 24, 2016, Miranda performed the offstage cameo role of Loud Hailer in the Broadway production of Les Misérables, fulfilling his childhood dream of being in the show, as it was the first production he ever saw on Broadway. Film Early acting roles Miranda appeared in a small role in the Walt Disney Pictures live-action film The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012). 2015–present: Disney projects Miranda interviewed with Disney in the winter of 2013, and submitted a six-song demo package to Walt Disney Animation Studios. This began a series of collaborations with the company: Moana – In spring 2014, the studio hired Miranda to help write and perform music for Moana, its 2016 animated feature film. From 2014 to 2016, Miranda collaborated with Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina on the songs for Moana. He later explained that because he was so busy with Moana and Hamilton, he turned down other projects "that would have distracted" him, but this served as an "ego check" as Hamilton became a hit. Moana opened in November 2016 and was a box office hit, earning positive reviews and praise from critics for Miranda's songwriting. Miranda also sang the song "We Know the Way" in the film, and recorded a duet with Jordan Fisher of the song "You're Welcome", which was played over the film's end credits. For the song "How Far I'll Go", Miranda received Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, Oscar, and Grammy Award nominations. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – While working on Hamilton, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), writing a song for the scene in Maz Kanata's cantina, an homage to the classic Mos Eisley Cantina scene and song by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes. DuckTales – Miranda debuted in May 2018 as the voice of Fenton "Gizmoduck" Crackshell-Cabrera in Disney Channel's 2017 reboot of DuckTales. Mary Poppins Returns – Miranda plays Jack, a lamplighter and former apprentice to Bert, the chimney sweep played by Dick Van Dyke in the original 1964 film Mary Poppins. This is his first major role after leaving the Broadway cast of Hamilton. Miranda traveled to London in 2017 for the film, directed by Rob Marshall, which was released in December 2018. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Following his work on The Force Awakens, Miranda contributed music for the Disney-distributed film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), writing a song for the scene on the desert planet Pasaana, in addition to making a cameo appearance as a Resistance trooper. The live stage recording of the original Broadway production of Hamilton was acquired by Walt Disney Pictures and released on Disney+ on July 3, 2020. Encanto – Miranda collaborated again with Walt Disney Animation Studios on an animated musical titled Encanto directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, with Charise Castro Smith co-directing. The film was released on November 24, 2021. The Little Mermaid – In August 2016, Miranda agreed to write songs with Alan Menken for Disney's forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. Miranda will co-produce the film with Marc Platt and Rob Marshall, the latter of whom will direct. Menken announced in July 2017 that he and Miranda had begun working on new songs for the project. Miranda and Menken wrote four new songs for The Little Mermaid, which had been recorded by April 2020. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 26, 2023. In the Heights (2021) On November 7, 2008, Universal Pictures announced that they planned to adapt In the Heights as a feature film for release in 2011.<ref>Gans, Andrew. "Universal Plans Silver-Screen Adaptation of In the Heights'"], Playbill, November 7, 2008</ref> However, the project was canceled in March 2011, reportedly due to the fact Universal was looking for a "bankable Latino star" like Shakira or Jennifer Lopez instead of unknown actors. In January 2012, Miranda stated that the film adaptation was back under discussion; in May 2016, it was announced that Miranda would co-produce the film with Harvey Weinstein and backing from The Weinstein Company. On June 10, 2016, Jon M. Chu came on board to direct the film adaptation of the musical. In the aftermath of numerous sexual misconduct allegations made against Weinstein, his producer credit on the film was removed, with the rights to the film eventually auctioned off to Warner Bros. for $50 million. While Miranda originated the role of Usnavi, he felt he was too old to star as Usnavi in the film adaptation. Ultimately, Miranda played the smaller role of Piraguero, the "Piragua Guy," in the film. He was quoted as saying the Broadway production was "...a miraculous experience. I went from substitute teacher to Broadway composer. I will never make a leap that big again in my life. I was very content to let Anthony Ramos and this incredible cast have their own experience." Miranda also served as producer and acted alongside Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, and Jimmy Smits. The film was set for release on June 26, 2020, but was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the film industry. It was released in theaters and temporarily on HBO Max on June 10, 2021. Vivo (2021) Miranda stars as the titular character and provided eleven songs for Vivo, a Sony Pictures Animation film directed by Kirk DeMicco which was released on Netflix in August 2021. Tick, Tick…Boom! (2021) Imagine Entertainment announced in July 2018 that Miranda will make his debut as a film director with an adaptation of Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical Tick, Tick... Boom!, to be scripted by Dear Evan Hansen librettist Steven Levenson. Miranda produced the film alongside Ron Howard and Brian Grazer: it was released on Netflix in 2021. Upcoming projects Miranda agreed in 2016 to serve as executive producer and composer of Lionsgate's film adaptation of The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss, as well as a tie-in television series. In 2022 it was revealed that he was no longer attached to the project. Television 2007–2013: Early roles Miranda also worked in film and television. In 2007, he made a small appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When", and in 2009, he played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House; he returned to the role in May 2010. For Sesame Street, he occasionally played roles and sang the theme song to the recurring segment Murray Has a Little Lamb. He was a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric CompanyCameron, Scott, in and appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle", playing himself working as an intern and rapper. He played several television roles during this period. He appeared on the TV series Modern Family in the 2011 episode "Good Cop Bad Dog". In 2013, he played the recurring role of Ruben Marcado in the NBC drama Do No Harm. He later appeared in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in an all-verse episode titled "Bedtime Stories" that aired in November 2013. 2016–2021: Comedy roles and other projects On April 24, 2016, on the TV show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, at the end of a segment about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, Miranda performed an emotional rap about allowing the island to restructure its debt. Miranda hosted Saturday Night Live on October 8, 2016, and played himself in two episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2017, receiving Emmy Award nominations for both appearances. Miranda performed the theme song for the Netflix original series The Magic School Bus Rides Again, the revival and sequel series of the 1994 series The Magic School Bus. He played the part of Amy's brother (David Santiago) in the episode "The Golden Child" in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. On July 29, 2019, it was announced that Miranda had teamed with TV producer Norman Lear to make an American Masters documentary about the life of Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, titled Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It. It premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Miranda, in collaboration with Brittany Howard, Daveed Diggs, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Robert Lopez wrote the lyrics for the song "Checks and Balances", which was sung by Benjy Brooke for the 2021 Netflix animated series We the People. Fosse/Verdon (2018) In 2019, Miranda served as an executive producer on the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon based on the relationship of Broadway dancer, choreographer, and director Bob Fosse and his wife dancer Gwen Verdon. Miranda also made a brief appearance playing Roy Scheider from All That Jazz. The series won critical acclaim, and Miranda was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series as an executive producer. His Dark Materials (2019) Miranda was cast as Lee Scoresby in the HBO series television adaptation of His Dark Materials (2019). Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised Miranda in his review writing, "[While] I appreciate that Miranda feels initially miscast as Pullman’s paragon of cowboy American masculinity...[he] forces you to reconstruct an image of American manliness around him, making him exactly what the series needs". Personal life Family Miranda married Vanessa Nadal, a high school friend, in 2010. At the wedding reception, Miranda, along with the wedding party, performed the Fiddler on the Roof song "To Life". Nadal was a lawyer at the law firm Jones Day. Miranda and Nadal's first son was born in November 2014. Their second son was born in February 2018. Miranda discovered that he is related to artists Residente and iLe of Calle 13 during a 2009 concert by the group in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Miranda was invited to perform. Backstage, the mother of Residente and ILE revealed their connection to Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. Miranda and Residente have since confirmed the relationship. In 2017, Miranda performed on the opening track of Residente's self-titled debut album. Miranda is cousins with professional baseball prospect José Miranda. Activism After a meeting with President Barack Obama in March 2016, Miranda joined U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and other Democratic lawmakers to call for congressional action to back a Senate bill in Washington that would allow Puerto Rico to declare bankruptcy and significantly ease its $70 billion government-debt burden. Miranda was particularly active in the wake of Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico, and by December 2017, proceeds from his song "Almost Like Praying" helped the Hispanic Federation raise $22 million for rescue efforts and disaster relief. Miranda uses proceeds from Hamilton to support Graham Windham, a nonprofit adoption agency founded by Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. Miranda performs at their fundraising gala benefits in New York City and helps to fundraise for children in foster care. He performed "Found/Tonight" with Ben Platt at the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018. In order to raise money for Puerto Rico's reconstruction after being struck by hurricanes Irma and María, including at least $15 million to be channeled through the Flamboyán Foundation, Lin-Manuel decided to take, and once again play the protagonist role in Hamilton to his father's native Puerto Rico. The Miranda family donated approximately $1 million to bring the University of Puerto Rico theater up to par in order to use it as the venue for the musical's performance in January 2018. After tickets sold out in two hours for the three-week run, producers decided to move out of the university venue due to warnings of potential disruptions by a university workers' labor organization, and move the already-installed set to the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Santurce, where the performances ran from January 11 to January 27. The production donated additional hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements to the Ferré Performing Arts Center. In 2016, Miranda advocated for the passing of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, a law setting out to restructure the debt of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. The law led to budget cuts resulting in the closure of over 200 public schools, cuts to government labor benefits, and budget cuts at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). It was met with protests, with UPR shutting down due to student strikes over the measures in 2017. Miranda became a target of criticism, especially when he performed Hamilton in Puerto Rico, given his lobbying on the bill as well as the musical's subject matter, which focused on the founding of Puerto Rico's colonizer, the United States. Awards and honours In 2015, Miranda was the recipient of Smithsonian Magazine's American Ingenuity Award in the History category. In 2019, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery awarded Miranda the Portrait of a Nation prize. Honorary degrees Miranda received an honorary degree in 2009 from Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan, becoming the youngest person to receive an honorary degree from that university. Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City, presented Miranda with the degree. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2015 from his alma mater, Wesleyan University, and gave their commencement address. In May 2016, he received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and gave the commencement speech. Work Theater Film Television Web series Bibliography BooksHamilton: The Revolution (2016) with Jeremy McCarterGmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You (2018) with Jonny SunIn the Heights: Finding Home (2021) with Quiara Alegría Hudes and Jeremy McCarter Articles "Stop the Bots from Killing Broadway", The New York Times (2016) "Give Puerto Rico Its Chance to Thrive", The New York Times (2016) Discography Cast recordingsIn the Heights (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2008) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Sh-K-Boom) (RIAA: Gold)Merrily We Roll Along: 2012 New York Cast Recording (2012) (Vocals) (PS Classics)Bring It On: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2012) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Sh-K-Boom/Back Lot)21 Chump Street: The Musical – EP (2014) (Composer, lyricist, producer, narrator) (5000 Broadway)Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2015) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic) Soundtracks Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2016) (Composer, lyricist, vocals) (Walt Disney)Mary Poppins Returns (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018) (Vocals) (Walt Disney)In the Heights (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (WaterTower Music, Atlantic)Vivo (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic/Sony Pictures Animation)Encanto (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021) (Composer, lyricist, producer) (Walt Disney) (RIAA: Gold) Other albumsThe Hamilton Mixtape (2016) (Composer, lyricist, producer, vocals) (Atlantic)The Hamilton Instrumentals (2017) (Composer, producer) (Atlantic) Singles Audiobook narration 2013: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 2016: Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy McCarter, & Mariska Hargitay 2016: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz 2018: Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You'' by Lin-Manuel Miranda See also Nuyorican Nuyorican Movement Latino theatre in the United States Puerto Rican literature Latino literature List of Latin American Academy Award winners and nominees Puerto Ricans in New York City Puerto Ricans in the United States Notes References External links 1980 births 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American singers American folk-pop singers American male dramatists and playwrights American male musical theatre actors American male voice actors American musical theatre composers American musical theatre librettists American people of Puerto Rican descent American writers of Mexican descent American tenors Broadway composers and lyricists Drama Desk Award winners Grammy Award winners Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights Hispanic and Latino American rappers Hunter College High School alumni Laurence Olivier Award winners Living people Kennedy Center honorees MacArthur Fellows Male actors from New York City People from Inwood, Manhattan Primetime Emmy Award winners Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners Singers from New York City Songwriters from New York (state) Theatre World Award winners Tony Award winners Walt Disney Records artists Walt Disney Animation Studios people Wesleyan University alumni Writers from Manhattan
true
[ "Anand Kumar (born: 10 December 1970) is an Indian film director, writer and the founder Anand Kumar Productions pvt ltd. He was born and brought up in Delhi. He started his career in film making with Delhii Heights in 2007 featuring Jimmy Shergill and Neha Dhupia which was produced by Sivaji Productions as their first venture into Mumbai Film Industry. Delhii Heights was directed and written by him. His other movies are Jugaad (2009) featuring Manoj Bajpai and Zila Ghaziabad (2013) featuring Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Vivek Oberoi and Minisha Lamba.\n\nEarly life\nAnand Kumar was born in a Malayali family in Delhi. His parents did not belong to any creative field whatsoever. His father is a Lawyer in Delhi High Court and mother is a housewife. He received his education from DTEA Sr Secondary School, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi. He was a college dropout from MDU Law College, Rohtak. He spent a few years in Hyderabad where he pursued his mass Communication course and thereafter got opportunity to work for various ad films, music, videos and documentaries in Mumbai, Delhi and Chandigarh.\n\nFilmography\n\nAbout Anand Kumar Productions\nIt works on the process of producing motion pictures, video content for television, social media, corporate promotions, commercials and other media-related fields. AKPPL takes special interest in discovering talented artists be it from theater or televisions, who are independent of major studios, record labels, or other commercial channels of distribution and performances.\n\nIn 2014, AKPPL released its first Action based film, Desi Kattey. The film starred Suniel Shetty, Jay Bhanushali, sasha agha, Akhil Kapoor (debutant)and Tia Bajpai received mixed reviews.\n\nThe production house is now gearing up for the Biopic of “Bhaichung Bhutia” and an Action Thriller “Meerut Junction” .. \"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nLiving people\nFilm directors from Delhi\n1970 births", "A theatrical production is any work of theatre, such as a staged play, musical, comedy or drama produced from a written book or script. Theatrical productions also extend to other performance designations such as Dramatic and Nondramatic theatre, as well as Dance theatre. These works are protected by common law or statuary copyright unless in the public domain.\n\nThese productions generally feature actors, costumes and sets. The history of the theatrical production goes back to ancient Greece.\n\nTheatrical productions vary in many ways. They can be anything from high school as well as college productions, community theatre productions to summer stock and regional theatre productions all the way to Broadway and Kings Road productions. Today's contemporary theatres produce a variety of plays and musicals that attract very different audiences.\n\nIn full theatrical productions there are a great number of people working towards many types of shows. A producer acquires financing, hires staff and oversees everything from the beginning to the end of each show. Theatrical staff is separated by department, which varies from theatre to theatre and production to production depending on needs.\n\nThe production will employ front of house and back of house staff. In addition to performers, stage hands, stage managers, lighting and sound technicians, many theatres will hire ushers, concessions workers, janitorial and security in mounting a theatrical production.\n\nTheatrical productions may also involve other types of performance exhibitions, which include improvisational, skit and parody performances which involve varying levels of involvement from off-camera staff or assistants in order to create the productions.\n\nReferences\n\nTheatre" ]
[ "Clarence White", "Musical influence" ]
C_84c2e80c6156481093fd7e74370e6fd6_0
Who was Clarence White
1
Who was Clarence White?
Clarence White
Clarence White helped popularize the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass music, building on the work of guitarists such as Doc Watson. Prior to the advent of the more aggressive flatpicking style pioneered by guitarists like Watson and White, the guitar was strictly a rhythm instrument, save for a few exceptions (such as the occasional guitar track by banjoist Don Reno). Many of the most influential flatpickers of the 20th century cite White as a primary influence, including Dan Crary, Norman Blake, and Tony Rice. Rice owns and plays White's highly modified 1935 Martin D-28. David Grier and Russ Barenberg are two other acoustic guitarists who were heavily influenced by White's guitar work. White's bluegrass playing with the Kentucky Colonels was also a considerable influence on Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, who traveled with the band during 1964. On the electric side of the guitar spectrum, White was similarly influential. Together with fellow Byrds bandmember Gene Parsons, White invented the B-Bender device. This device raises the B-string (second string) of the guitar a whole step by the use of pulleys and levers attached to both the upper strap knob and the second string on the guitar. It is activated by pushing down on the neck, and produces a "pedal steel" type sound. Arlen Roth, heavily influenced by this style, did not at the time know that White and Parsons had invented a B-bender, so instead developed his own unique all-finger bending version of this technique. This was heavily documented in his ground-breaking book, "Nashville Guitar", all of his recordings, as well as his book "Masters of the Telecaster". Subsequently, his Telecaster sound became as notable as his bluegrass playing. Marty Stuart, another guitarist influenced by White's playing, now owns and regularly plays White's 1954 Fender Telecaster with the prototype B-Bender. Music archivist and writer Alec Palao has called White "one of a handful of true greats amongst the instrumentalists of 20th century popular music", before adding that "the waves created by the guitarist's idiosyncratic style are still forming ripples within bluegrass, country and rock 'n' roll." In 2003, White was ranked No. 41 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2010, guitar manufacturer Gibson ranked White at No. 42 on their Top 50 Guitarists of All Time list. CANNOTANSWER
Clarence White helped popularize the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass music,
Clarence White (born Clarence Joseph LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973) was an American bluegrass and country guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the Byrds, as well as for being a pioneer of the musical genre of country rock during the late 1960s. White also worked extensively as a session musician, appearing on recordings by the Everly Brothers, Joe Cocker, Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone, the Monkees, Randy Newman, Gene Clark, Linda Ronstadt, Arlo Guthrie, and Jackson Browne among others. Together with frequent collaborator Gene Parsons, he invented the B-Bender, a guitar accessory that enables a player to mechanically bend the B-string up a whole tone and emulate the sound of a pedal steel guitar. White was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Fame in 2016. Early years Clarence Joseph LeBlanc was born on June 7, 1944 in Lewiston, Maine. The LeBlanc family, who later changed their surname to White, were of French-Canadian ancestry and hailed from New Brunswick, Canada. Clarence's father, Eric LeBlanc, Sr., played guitar, banjo, fiddle, and harmonica, ensuring that his offspring grew up surrounded by music. A child prodigy, Clarence began playing guitar at the age of six. At such a young age he was barely able to hold the instrument and as a result, he briefly switched to ukulele, awaiting a time when his young hands would be big enough to confidently grapple with the guitar. In 1954, when Clarence was ten, the White family relocated to Burbank, California and soon after, Clarence joined his brothers Roland and Eric Jr. (who played mandolin and banjo respectively) in a trio called Three Little Country Boys. Although they initially started out playing contemporary country music, the group soon switched to a purely bluegrass repertoire, as a result of Roland's burgeoning interest in the genre. In 1957, banjoist Billy Ray Latham and Dobro player LeRoy Mack were added to the line-up, with the band renaming themselves the Country Boys soon after. In 1961, the Country Boys also added Roger Bush on double bass, as a replacement for Eric White, Jr. That same year, Clarence and other members of the Country Boys appeared on two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. Between 1959 and 1962, the group released three singles on the Sundown, Republic and Briar International record labels. The Kentucky Colonels Following the recording sessions for the Country Boys' debut album, the band changed its name to the Kentucky Colonels in September 1962, at the suggestion of country guitarist and friend Joe Maphis. The band's album was released by Briar International under the title The New Sound of Bluegrass America in early 1963. Around this time, Clarence's flatpicking guitar style was becoming a much more prominent part of the group's music. After attending a performance by Doc Watson at the Ash Grove folk club in Los Angeles, where he also met the guitarist, Clarence began to explore the possibilities of the acoustic guitar's role in bluegrass music. At that time, the guitar was largely regarded as a rhythm instrument in bluegrass, with only a few performers, such as Doc Watson, exploring its potential for soloing. White soon began to integrate elements of Watson's playing style, including the use of open strings and syncopation, into his own flatpicking guitar technique. His breathtaking speed and virtuosity on the instrument was largely responsible for making the guitar a lead instrument within bluegrass. The Kentucky Colonels became well known on the bluegrass circuit during this period and made many live appearances throughout California and the United States. Between bookings with the Colonels, White also made a guest appearance on Eric Weissberg and Marshall Brickman's New Dimensions in Banjo & Bluegrass album, which would be re-released in 1973 as the soundtrack album to the film Deliverance (with Weissberg and Steve Mandell's version of "Dueling Banjos" added to the album's track listing). Throughout 1964, the Colonels continued to make live appearances at various clubs, concert halls and festivals, as well as recruiting fiddle player Bobby Sloan into their ranks. The Colonels' second album, Appalachian Swing!, was a commercial success and saw White's flatpicking permanently expand the language of bluegrass guitar. Music critic Thom Owens has remarked that White's playing on the album, "helped pioneer a new style in bluegrass; namely, he redefined the acoustic guitar as a solo instrument." Shortly after the recording of the Appalachian Swing! album, Roland and Clarence undertook some session work backing dobroist Tut Taylor on a Dobro-themed album that was released by World Pacific in late 1964 as Dobro Country. Although the brothers were employed as session musicians, the album was credited to Tut Taylor, Roland and Clarence White upon release. Although they were a successful recording act, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the Colonels to make a living, due to the waning popularity of the American folk music revival due to the British Invasion and homegrown folk rock acts, such as the Byrds and Bob Dylan. As a result, the Colonels switched to electric instrumentation and hired a drummer. In spite of these changes, the Kentucky Colonels dissolved as a band following a show on October 31, 1965. Clarence, Roland and Eric Jr. formed a new line-up of the Colonels in 1966, with several other musicians, but this second version of the group was short-lived and by early 1967 they had broken up. Session work (1966–1968) During 1964, White began to look beyond bluegrass music towards rock 'n' roll as an avenue for artistic expression. Although he was influenced by Country guitarists like Doc Watson, Don Reno and Joe Maphis, he also idolized the playing of jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, rock 'n' roller Chuck Berry, and studio musician James Burton. White even anticipated the viability of a folk/rock hybrid when, in the summer of 1964, he was approached by Jim Dickson to record a version of the then-unreleased Bob Dylan song "Mr. Tambourine Man" with electric instruments. However, despite White's enthusiasm for the project, he was unable to convince his bandmates in the Kentucky Colonels of the experiment's validity and ultimately, the song was instead recorded by Dickson's proteges, the Byrds. By the time the original line-up of the Kentucky Colonels folded in late 1965, White had become a respected and well-known guitarist. Abandoning bluegrass temporarily, he switched from his Martin D-28 acoustic guitar to an electric Fender Telecaster, with the intention of becoming a studio musician like his hero James Burton. Transitioning to electric guitar required White to modify his right hand playing technique, switch from open chording to fretting the whole guitar neck with his left hand, and practice using the tone and volume controls. However, he soon mastered the intricacies of the instrument and, between 1965 and 1968, he undertook session work for artists including Ricky Nelson, the Monkees, and the Gosdin Brothers. As 1965 turned into 1966, White met Gene Parsons and Gib Guilbeau at a recording session for the Gosdin Brothers and shortly after, he began to perform live with the duo in local California clubs, as well as doing regular session work on their records, which were released under the moniker of Cajun Gib and Gene. 1966 also saw White begin playing with a country group called Trio, which featured drummer Bart Haney and former Kentucky Colonel, Roger Bush, on bass. In autumn of that year, as a result of his friendship with Gilbeau, Parsons and the Gosdin Brothers, White was asked to provide lead guitar to ex-Byrd Gene Clark's debut solo album, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers. White briefly joined Clark's touring band shortly thereafter. During the Clark album sessions, White reconnected with mandolin player and bassist Chris Hillman, who he had known during the early 1960s as a member of the bluegrass combo the Hillmen. Hillman was currently a member of the Byrds and, in December 1966, he invited White to contribute countrified lead guitar playing to his songs "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name", which both appeared on the Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday album. The country-oriented nature of the songs was something of a stylistic departure for the group and can be seen as an early indicator of the experimentation with country music that would color the Byrds' subsequent work. White also contributed guitar to the band's follow-up album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, and to their seminal 1968 country rock release, Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Nashville West By mid-1967, White had begun performing at night in the band the Reasons (a.k.a. Nashville West), which included bass player Wayne Moore, along with Parsons and Guilbeau (as banjoist-turned-drummer and lead singer respectively). The band mostly worked at the Nashville West club in El Monte, California, frequently borrowing the club's name as their own. Critic Erik Hage has said that, in the years since their formation, the band have become legendary as one of the first to play a seamless blend of country and rock, although L.A. group the International Submarine Band, which featured country rock pioneer Gram Parsons (no relation to Gene), were also exploring a similar sound concurrently. A live recording of Nashville West would eventually be released in 1979, which music historian Richie Unterberger later described as being "of considerable historical interest for anyone interested in the roots of country-rock". Unterberger also remarked that the recording illustrated Nashville West as having "more electric rock influences than most country acts were using at the time." In addition to being a member of Nashville West, White was also a member of another country bar band that regularly played at the Nashville West club called the Roustabouts. In July 1967, White signed with Gary Paxton's Bakersfield International record label and released a pair of solo singles: "Tango for a Sad Mood" b/w "Tuff and Stringy" and "Grandma Funderbunks Music Box" b/w "Riff Raff". He also reportedly recorded a solo album for the label, although it has never been released. The StringBender During 1967, while they were both members of Nashville West, White and Parsons invented a device that enabled Clarence to simulate the sound of a pedal steel guitar on his 1954 Fender Telecaster. The need for such a device was driven by White's desire to bend his guitar's B-string up a full tone, while keeping his left hand on the strings and fretboard. In order to achieve this feat, White felt that he needed a third hand. The guitarist turned to his friend Parsons, who was an amateur machinist, and asked him to design and build an apparatus to pull or drop the B-string. The device, which was known as the Parsons/White StringBender (also known as the B-Bender), was a spring-lever mechanism built into the inside of White's guitar, which linked to the guitar's strap button and the B-string. When it was activated, by pulling down on the guitar neck, it pulled on the B-string and caused the guitar to simulate the "crying" sound of a pedal steel. White would go on to use the device extensively as a member of the Byrds and, as a result, the distinctive sound of the StringBender would become a defining characteristic of that band's music during White's tenure with the group. The Byrds Following the abrupt departure from the Byrds of singer and guitarist Gram Parsons in July 1968, White was invited to join the group as a full-time member, remaining until the band was finally dissolved by lead guitarist Roger McGuinn in February 1973. This extended tenure with the band makes White the second longest-serving member of the Byrds after McGuinn. White was brought into the group at bass player Chris Hillman's suggestion, as someone who could handle the band's older rock material and their newer country-flavored repertoire. Once he was a member of the Byrds, White began to express dissatisfaction with the band's current drummer, Kevin Kelley. Before long, he had persuaded McGuinn and Hillman to replace Kelley with his friend from the recently dissolved Nashville West, Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram). Hillman quit the Byrds within a month of White joining, in order to form the Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons. At around this same time, White and Gene Parsons undertook some informal rehearsing and recording with Hillman and Gram Parsons, as part of a prototype version of the Burrito Brothers. However, the pair declined an invitation to join the new country rock group and instead opted to stay with McGuinn's new-look Byrds. The White-era version of the Byrds, featuring McGuinn, White and Parsons, along with bassists John York (September 1968–September 1969) and Skip Battin (September 1969–February 1973), released five albums and toured relentlessly between 1969 and 1972. Journalist Steve Leggett has noted that, although the original line-up of the Byrds gets the most attention and praise, the latter-day version, featuring McGuinn and White's dual lead guitar work, was regarded by critics and audiences as much more accomplished in concert than any previous configuration of the band had been. Similarly, authors Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz have commented that although the White-era Byrds failed to achieve the commercial success of the original line-up, the group were a formidable live act and a consistently in-demand attraction on the touring circuit. The authors also cited the Byrds' archival release Live at the Fillmore – February 1969 as a good example of the White-era band's musical potency. Rolling Stone journalist David Fricke has commented on White's contribution to the band, by noting, "with his powerful, impeccable tone and melodic ingenuity, White did much to rebuild the creative reputation of the Byrds and define the road-hearty sound of the group at the turn of the '70s." The first Byrds' album to feature White as a full member was Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, which was released in early 1969. The album included a re-recording of the Gene Parsons and White-penned instrumental "Nashville West", as well as a rendition of the traditional song "Old Blue", which was the first Byrds' recording to utilize the StringBender. The Ballad of Easy Rider album followed in November 1969, on which White could be heard leading the band through a rendition of the traditional song "Oil in My Lamp", representing the guitarist's first lead vocal performance as a Byrd. 1970 saw the Byrds release the double album (Untitled), which consisted of one LP of live concert recordings and another of new studio recordings. Upon release, the album was a critical and commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at number 40 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and reaching number 11 on the UK Albums Chart. Two of the album's studio recordings featured White singing lead vocals: a cover version of the Lowell George composition "Truck Stop Girl" and a rendition of Leadbelly's "Take a Whiff on Me" (the latter also featured White playing mandolin). In addition, excerpts from an instrumental jam, recorded during the (Untitled) album sessions and logged in the Columbia Records' files under the title of "Fifteen Minute Jam", were later released as "White's Lightning" and "White's Lightning Pt.2" on The Byrds box set and the remastered double CD version of (Untitled) respectively. The 1971 Byrdmaniax album saw White singing lead vocals on "My Destiny", written by Helen Carter, and "Jamaica Say You Will", penned by the then little-known songwriter Jackson Browne. In addition, White received a co-writing credit for the album's bluegrass instrumental "Green Apple Quick Step". This song also featured White's father, Eric White, Sr., on harmonica. Farther Along, released in November 1971, would prove to be the final album by the White-era Byrds. It featured White singing the Gospel hymn and title track "Farther Along" and a cover of the Larry Murray composition "Bugler". This latter song features White playing mandolin and has been described by Byrds expert Tim Connors as, "the best song on the album, and by far the best vocal ever recorded by Clarence White during his time with the Byrds." Following the release of Farther Along, the band continued to tour throughout 1972, but no new Byrds album appeared. In late 1972, the original five-piece line-up of the Byrds reunited and, as a result, McGuinn decided to disband the existing version of the band. Parsons had been fired in July 1972 and Battin was dismissed by McGuinn in early 1973. The last concert by the White-era version of the Byrds (which at this point featured former Byrd Chris Hillman on bass and Joe Lala on drums) was given on February 24, 1973 at The Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey, with White and McGuinn jokingly firing each other from the band afterwards. Despite being on tour or in the recording studio with the Byrds for the majority of the time between 1969 and 1972, White continued to undertake selected session work for other recording artists. During this period he played on Joe Cocker's 1969 album Joe Cocker!, Randy Newman's 1970 album 12 Songs, and the Everly Brothers' Stories We Could Tell from 1972. In early 1971, White also contributed guitar to Paul Siebel's Jack-Knife Gypsy album and the title track of the L.A. Getaway album by Joel Scott-Hill, John Barbata and Chris Ethridge. Other albums that White contributed his guitar playing to while he was a member of the Byrds include Linda Ronstadt's Hand Sown ... Home Grown (1969), Rita Coolidge's Rita Coolidge (1971), Marc Benno's Minnows (1971), Jackson Browne's Jackson Browne (1972), Gene Clark's Roadmaster (1973), and a trio of Arlo Guthrie albums: Running Down the Road (1969), Washington County (1970) and Hobo's Lullaby (1972). Post-Byrds In mid-February 1973, just prior to the break up of the White-era version of the Byrds, White joined with guitarist Peter Rowan, mandolinist David Grisman, fiddler Richard Greene, and banjoist Bill Keith to form the bluegrass supergroup Muleskinner. The musicians initially assembled as a one-off pickup band to back bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe for a television program, but ended up performing on their own when Monroe's tour bus broke down on the way to the television studios. A recording of this broadcast, which was once thought lost, was released as an album in 1992, under the title Muleskinner Live. A VHS video cassette of the broadcast was also released in 1992 and later re-issued on DVD. As a result of the success of their appearance on the television broadcast, the band was offered a one album recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at the Record Plant in Los Angeles between March 27 and April 14, 1973, with Richard Greene and Joe Boyd producing. The music the band recorded for the Muleskinner album (a.k.a. A Potpourri of Bluegrass Jam) was in the vein of country rock, traditional bluegrass and progressive bluegrass (or "newgrass"). It was also one of the first bluegrass albums to feature a full drum kit. The album was released in the latter half of 1973 and is nowadays regarded by critics as a milestone in the development of progressive bluegrass, with ex-band members Greene, Keith, Grisman, and Rowan all going on to become important figures in the development of that genre. In addition to his work with Muleskinner, White also undertook a number of sessions between late 1972 and early 1973 for his friend Gene Parsons' debut solo album Kindling. White's distinctive guitar and mandolin playing can be heard on the tracks "Do Not Disturb", "On the Spot", "Sonic Bummer", "I Must Be a Tree", "Banjo Dog", "Back Again", and "Drunkard's Dream" (the latter of which also features White contributing harmony vocals). Following completion of the Muleskinner album in April 1973, White reunited with his brothers Roland and Eric Jr. for a tour as the White Brothers (a.k.a. The New Kentucky Colonels). After playing a handful of shows in California, the White Brothers departed for Europe in May 1973. Returning to the U.S., White's final bout of touring took place with the New Kentucky Colonels in June 1973, as part of a four-date country rock package tour with Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Country Gazette, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Gene Parsons, Byron Berline, and Chris Ethridge among others. Although Gram and Clarence had been acquainted with one another since the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo sessions, the pair would develop a fast friendship during the mini-tour, after, what was by all accounts, a very acrimonious re-acquaintance. Following the end of the package tour, White entered the recording studio with producer Jim Dickson on June 28 and 29, 1973 to begin work on a solo album. He recorded a total of six songs, four of which would belatedly be released on the archival album Silver Meteor: A Progressive Country Anthology in 1980. Death White died on July 15, 1973, after being struck by a drunk driver. The accident occurred shortly after 2 a.m., while he and his brother Roland were loading equipment into their car in Palmdale, California, following a White Brothers concert. Gram Parsons was especially shaken by his death; he led a singalong of "Farther Along" at White's funeral service and later conceived his final song (before his own death), "In My Hour of Darkness", as a partial tribute to White. Clarence White was survived by his brothers Roland and Eric and sisters JoAnne and Rosemarie, and his one daughter, Michelle. Musical influence Clarence White helped popularize the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass music, building on the work of guitarists such as Doc Watson. Prior to the advent of the more aggressive flatpicking style pioneered by guitarists like Watson and White, the guitar was strictly a rhythm instrument, save for a few exceptions (such as the occasional guitar track by banjoist Don Reno). Many of the most influential flatpickers of the 20th century cite White as a primary influence, including Dan Crary, Norman Blake, and Tony Rice. Rice owned and played White's highly modified 1935 Martin D-28. David Grier and Russ Barenberg are two other acoustic guitarists who were heavily influenced by White's guitar work. White's bluegrass playing with the Kentucky Colonels was also a considerable influence on Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, who traveled with the band during 1964. On the electric side of the guitar spectrum, White was similarly influential. Together with fellow Byrds bandmember Gene Parsons, White invented the B-Bender device. This device raises the B-string (second string) of the guitar a whole step by the use of pulleys and levers attached to both the upper strap knob and the second string on the guitar. It is activated by pushing down on the neck, and produces a "pedal steel" type sound. Arlen Roth, heavily influenced by this style, did not at the time know that White and Parsons had invented a B-bender, so instead developed his own unique all-finger bending version of this technique. This was heavily documented in his ground-breaking book, "Nashville Guitar", all of his recordings, as well as his book "Masters of the Telecaster". Subsequently, his Telecaster sound became as notable as his bluegrass playing. Marty Stuart, another guitarist influenced by White's playing, now owns and regularly plays White's 1954 Fender Telecaster with the prototype B-Bender. Music archivist and writer Alec Palao has called White "one of a handful of true greats amongst the instrumentalists of 20th century popular music", before adding that "the waves created by the guitarist's idiosyncratic style are still forming ripples within bluegrass, country and rock 'n' roll." In 2003, White was ranked No. 41 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2010, guitar manufacturer Gibson ranked White at No. 42 on their Top 50 Guitarists of All Time list. Selected album discography NOTES: This discography does not include albums that Clarence White played on as a session musician, with the exception of Dobro Country, on which he is billed by name. Sources for this section are Johnny Rogan's book Timeless Flight Revisited and the Kentucky Colonels discography at the AllMusic website. Kentucky Colonels The New Sound of Bluegrass America (1963) Appalachian Swing! (1964) Kentucky Colonels (1974) — UK reissue of Appalachian Swing! with two bonus tracks. Livin' in the Past (1975) — Various live recordings from 1961 to 1965. The Kentucky Colonels 1965-1966 (1976) — Live recordings. Scotty Stoneman, Live in LA with the Kentucky Colonels (1979) — Live recording from 1965. Kentucky Colonels 1966 (1979) — Studio demo recordings for an unreleased album. Clarence White and the Kentucky Colonels (1980) — Live recordings. On Stage (1984) — Live recordings. Long Journey Home (1991) — Live recordings from the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. Live in Stereo (1999) — Live recordings from a 1965 concert in Vancouver. Bush, Latham & White (2011) — Live recordings from 1964. Tut Taylor, Roland and Clarence White Dobro Country (1964) Nashville West Nashville West (a.k.a. The Legendary Nashville West Album) (1979) — Live recordings from 1967. The Byrds Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde (1969) Ballad of Easy Rider (1969) (Untitled) (1970) Byrdmaniax (1971) Farther Along (1971) Live at the Fillmore – February 1969 (2000) Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971 (2008) The Lost Broadcasts (2011) — Live recordings from the Byrds' 1971 appearance on the Beat-Club television program. Muleskinner Muleskinner (aka A Pot Pourri of Bluegrass Jam) (1973) Muleskinner Live: Original Television Soundtrack (1992) — Live recordings from a 1973 television broadcast. The New Kentucky Colonels The White Brothers: The New Kentucky Colonels Live in Sweden 1973 (1976) Live in Holland 1973 (2013) Clarence White 33 Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals (2003) — Recorded in 1962. Tuff & Stringy Sessions 1966–68 (2003) — Various studio sessions. Flatpick (2006) — Recorded 1964, 1967, 1970 and 1973. White Lightnin''' (2008) — Various recordings from 1962 to 1972. Tut Taylor & Clarence White Tut & Clarence Flatpickin''' (2003) References External links The Clarence White Forum Clarence White discography at Byrds Flyght The Essential Clarence White Bluegrass Guitar Leads Retrieved April 19, 2009. Byrd Watcher: Clarence White. Retrieved October 5, 2008. 1944 births 1973 deaths People from Lewiston, Maine American bluegrass musicians Road incident deaths in California Singers from Maine Singer-songwriters from California The Byrds members American people of French-Canadian descent American bluegrass guitarists American male guitarists American session musicians People from Aroostook County, Maine American rock guitarists American country guitarists American country rock musicians American country rock singers American mandolinists American male singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters Lead guitarists 20th-century American singers Guitarists from Los Angeles Guitarists from Maine 20th-century American guitarists Muleskinner (band) members Kentucky Colonels (band) members Nashville West members 20th-century American male singers
true
[ "Clarence White (1944–1973) was an American guitarist.\n\nClarence White may also refer to:\nClarence Cameron White (1880–1960), American composer\nClarence Hudson White (1871–1925), American photographer\nClarence White (baseball) (1901–?), American baseball player", "Muleskinner was an American bluegrass supergroup, active during the early 1970s.\n\nEarly history\nIn the late 1960s, Peter Rowan and David Grisman played together in a psychedelic band Earth Opera. The band didn't last longer than couple of years and Rowan went on to join Seatrain, where he met Richard Greene. After two albums with Seatrain, Greene and Rowan went on to form Muleskinner with banjoist Bill Keith, whom Greene had played with in Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band in the early 1960s, and Clarence White, former guitarist of Kentucky Colonels and The Byrds, along with bassist John Kahn and drummer John Guerin, who also worked for The Byrds.\n\nPlanned show with Bill Monroe\nThis lineup can be considered as a bluegrass supergroup, a term not often used with bluegrass. The original start of the group was connected with Bill Monroe, as Richard Greene (who played for his Bluegrass Boys before), was asked to put a band together to join him in a television program. However, Monroe's bus had some technical problems and Muleskinner had to play the whole evening on their own and it was a success.\n\nRecording contract\nAll this resulted in a recording contract with Warner Bros. and the band recorded its first studio album, Muleskinner, which included elements from jazz, country and progressive bluegrass. This recording can be noted as the first one in the bluegrass genre to include drums.\n\nClarence White death\nThe album was successful, but the band ended under tragic circumstances: guitarist Clarence White was killed by a drunken driver just couple of months after the record was released.\nThe band also recorded a live album in 1973, which was released 25 years later.\n\nDiscography\n Muleskinner (1973) (re-released as A Potpourri of Bluegrass Jam in 1994)\n Muleskinner Live: Original Television Soundtrack (1998, recorded 1973)\n\nMembers\n David Grisman - mandolin\n Peter Rowan - guitar, vocals\n Clarence White - guitar, vocals\n Richard Greene - violin, vocals\n Bill Keith - banjo\n John Kahn - bass\n Stuart Schulman - bass\n John Guerin - drums\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Muleskinner on YouTube\nNew Camptown Races, Dark Hollow\n\nAmerican bluegrass music groups\n1973 disestablishments in California\nMusical groups disestablished in 1973" ]
[ "Clarence White", "Musical influence", "Who was Clarence White", "Clarence White helped popularize the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass music," ]
C_84c2e80c6156481093fd7e74370e6fd6_0
What was his musical influence
2
What was Clarence White's musical influence?
Clarence White
Clarence White helped popularize the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass music, building on the work of guitarists such as Doc Watson. Prior to the advent of the more aggressive flatpicking style pioneered by guitarists like Watson and White, the guitar was strictly a rhythm instrument, save for a few exceptions (such as the occasional guitar track by banjoist Don Reno). Many of the most influential flatpickers of the 20th century cite White as a primary influence, including Dan Crary, Norman Blake, and Tony Rice. Rice owns and plays White's highly modified 1935 Martin D-28. David Grier and Russ Barenberg are two other acoustic guitarists who were heavily influenced by White's guitar work. White's bluegrass playing with the Kentucky Colonels was also a considerable influence on Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, who traveled with the band during 1964. On the electric side of the guitar spectrum, White was similarly influential. Together with fellow Byrds bandmember Gene Parsons, White invented the B-Bender device. This device raises the B-string (second string) of the guitar a whole step by the use of pulleys and levers attached to both the upper strap knob and the second string on the guitar. It is activated by pushing down on the neck, and produces a "pedal steel" type sound. Arlen Roth, heavily influenced by this style, did not at the time know that White and Parsons had invented a B-bender, so instead developed his own unique all-finger bending version of this technique. This was heavily documented in his ground-breaking book, "Nashville Guitar", all of his recordings, as well as his book "Masters of the Telecaster". Subsequently, his Telecaster sound became as notable as his bluegrass playing. Marty Stuart, another guitarist influenced by White's playing, now owns and regularly plays White's 1954 Fender Telecaster with the prototype B-Bender. Music archivist and writer Alec Palao has called White "one of a handful of true greats amongst the instrumentalists of 20th century popular music", before adding that "the waves created by the guitarist's idiosyncratic style are still forming ripples within bluegrass, country and rock 'n' roll." In 2003, White was ranked No. 41 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2010, guitar manufacturer Gibson ranked White at No. 42 on their Top 50 Guitarists of All Time list. CANNOTANSWER
building on the work of guitarists such as Doc Watson.
Clarence White (born Clarence Joseph LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973) was an American bluegrass and country guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the Byrds, as well as for being a pioneer of the musical genre of country rock during the late 1960s. White also worked extensively as a session musician, appearing on recordings by the Everly Brothers, Joe Cocker, Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone, the Monkees, Randy Newman, Gene Clark, Linda Ronstadt, Arlo Guthrie, and Jackson Browne among others. Together with frequent collaborator Gene Parsons, he invented the B-Bender, a guitar accessory that enables a player to mechanically bend the B-string up a whole tone and emulate the sound of a pedal steel guitar. White was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Fame in 2016. Early years Clarence Joseph LeBlanc was born on June 7, 1944 in Lewiston, Maine. The LeBlanc family, who later changed their surname to White, were of French-Canadian ancestry and hailed from New Brunswick, Canada. Clarence's father, Eric LeBlanc, Sr., played guitar, banjo, fiddle, and harmonica, ensuring that his offspring grew up surrounded by music. A child prodigy, Clarence began playing guitar at the age of six. At such a young age he was barely able to hold the instrument and as a result, he briefly switched to ukulele, awaiting a time when his young hands would be big enough to confidently grapple with the guitar. In 1954, when Clarence was ten, the White family relocated to Burbank, California and soon after, Clarence joined his brothers Roland and Eric Jr. (who played mandolin and banjo respectively) in a trio called Three Little Country Boys. Although they initially started out playing contemporary country music, the group soon switched to a purely bluegrass repertoire, as a result of Roland's burgeoning interest in the genre. In 1957, banjoist Billy Ray Latham and Dobro player LeRoy Mack were added to the line-up, with the band renaming themselves the Country Boys soon after. In 1961, the Country Boys also added Roger Bush on double bass, as a replacement for Eric White, Jr. That same year, Clarence and other members of the Country Boys appeared on two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. Between 1959 and 1962, the group released three singles on the Sundown, Republic and Briar International record labels. The Kentucky Colonels Following the recording sessions for the Country Boys' debut album, the band changed its name to the Kentucky Colonels in September 1962, at the suggestion of country guitarist and friend Joe Maphis. The band's album was released by Briar International under the title The New Sound of Bluegrass America in early 1963. Around this time, Clarence's flatpicking guitar style was becoming a much more prominent part of the group's music. After attending a performance by Doc Watson at the Ash Grove folk club in Los Angeles, where he also met the guitarist, Clarence began to explore the possibilities of the acoustic guitar's role in bluegrass music. At that time, the guitar was largely regarded as a rhythm instrument in bluegrass, with only a few performers, such as Doc Watson, exploring its potential for soloing. White soon began to integrate elements of Watson's playing style, including the use of open strings and syncopation, into his own flatpicking guitar technique. His breathtaking speed and virtuosity on the instrument was largely responsible for making the guitar a lead instrument within bluegrass. The Kentucky Colonels became well known on the bluegrass circuit during this period and made many live appearances throughout California and the United States. Between bookings with the Colonels, White also made a guest appearance on Eric Weissberg and Marshall Brickman's New Dimensions in Banjo & Bluegrass album, which would be re-released in 1973 as the soundtrack album to the film Deliverance (with Weissberg and Steve Mandell's version of "Dueling Banjos" added to the album's track listing). Throughout 1964, the Colonels continued to make live appearances at various clubs, concert halls and festivals, as well as recruiting fiddle player Bobby Sloan into their ranks. The Colonels' second album, Appalachian Swing!, was a commercial success and saw White's flatpicking permanently expand the language of bluegrass guitar. Music critic Thom Owens has remarked that White's playing on the album, "helped pioneer a new style in bluegrass; namely, he redefined the acoustic guitar as a solo instrument." Shortly after the recording of the Appalachian Swing! album, Roland and Clarence undertook some session work backing dobroist Tut Taylor on a Dobro-themed album that was released by World Pacific in late 1964 as Dobro Country. Although the brothers were employed as session musicians, the album was credited to Tut Taylor, Roland and Clarence White upon release. Although they were a successful recording act, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the Colonels to make a living, due to the waning popularity of the American folk music revival due to the British Invasion and homegrown folk rock acts, such as the Byrds and Bob Dylan. As a result, the Colonels switched to electric instrumentation and hired a drummer. In spite of these changes, the Kentucky Colonels dissolved as a band following a show on October 31, 1965. Clarence, Roland and Eric Jr. formed a new line-up of the Colonels in 1966, with several other musicians, but this second version of the group was short-lived and by early 1967 they had broken up. Session work (1966–1968) During 1964, White began to look beyond bluegrass music towards rock 'n' roll as an avenue for artistic expression. Although he was influenced by Country guitarists like Doc Watson, Don Reno and Joe Maphis, he also idolized the playing of jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, rock 'n' roller Chuck Berry, and studio musician James Burton. White even anticipated the viability of a folk/rock hybrid when, in the summer of 1964, he was approached by Jim Dickson to record a version of the then-unreleased Bob Dylan song "Mr. Tambourine Man" with electric instruments. However, despite White's enthusiasm for the project, he was unable to convince his bandmates in the Kentucky Colonels of the experiment's validity and ultimately, the song was instead recorded by Dickson's proteges, the Byrds. By the time the original line-up of the Kentucky Colonels folded in late 1965, White had become a respected and well-known guitarist. Abandoning bluegrass temporarily, he switched from his Martin D-28 acoustic guitar to an electric Fender Telecaster, with the intention of becoming a studio musician like his hero James Burton. Transitioning to electric guitar required White to modify his right hand playing technique, switch from open chording to fretting the whole guitar neck with his left hand, and practice using the tone and volume controls. However, he soon mastered the intricacies of the instrument and, between 1965 and 1968, he undertook session work for artists including Ricky Nelson, the Monkees, and the Gosdin Brothers. As 1965 turned into 1966, White met Gene Parsons and Gib Guilbeau at a recording session for the Gosdin Brothers and shortly after, he began to perform live with the duo in local California clubs, as well as doing regular session work on their records, which were released under the moniker of Cajun Gib and Gene. 1966 also saw White begin playing with a country group called Trio, which featured drummer Bart Haney and former Kentucky Colonel, Roger Bush, on bass. In autumn of that year, as a result of his friendship with Gilbeau, Parsons and the Gosdin Brothers, White was asked to provide lead guitar to ex-Byrd Gene Clark's debut solo album, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers. White briefly joined Clark's touring band shortly thereafter. During the Clark album sessions, White reconnected with mandolin player and bassist Chris Hillman, who he had known during the early 1960s as a member of the bluegrass combo the Hillmen. Hillman was currently a member of the Byrds and, in December 1966, he invited White to contribute countrified lead guitar playing to his songs "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name", which both appeared on the Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday album. The country-oriented nature of the songs was something of a stylistic departure for the group and can be seen as an early indicator of the experimentation with country music that would color the Byrds' subsequent work. White also contributed guitar to the band's follow-up album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, and to their seminal 1968 country rock release, Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Nashville West By mid-1967, White had begun performing at night in the band the Reasons (a.k.a. Nashville West), which included bass player Wayne Moore, along with Parsons and Guilbeau (as banjoist-turned-drummer and lead singer respectively). The band mostly worked at the Nashville West club in El Monte, California, frequently borrowing the club's name as their own. Critic Erik Hage has said that, in the years since their formation, the band have become legendary as one of the first to play a seamless blend of country and rock, although L.A. group the International Submarine Band, which featured country rock pioneer Gram Parsons (no relation to Gene), were also exploring a similar sound concurrently. A live recording of Nashville West would eventually be released in 1979, which music historian Richie Unterberger later described as being "of considerable historical interest for anyone interested in the roots of country-rock". Unterberger also remarked that the recording illustrated Nashville West as having "more electric rock influences than most country acts were using at the time." In addition to being a member of Nashville West, White was also a member of another country bar band that regularly played at the Nashville West club called the Roustabouts. In July 1967, White signed with Gary Paxton's Bakersfield International record label and released a pair of solo singles: "Tango for a Sad Mood" b/w "Tuff and Stringy" and "Grandma Funderbunks Music Box" b/w "Riff Raff". He also reportedly recorded a solo album for the label, although it has never been released. The StringBender During 1967, while they were both members of Nashville West, White and Parsons invented a device that enabled Clarence to simulate the sound of a pedal steel guitar on his 1954 Fender Telecaster. The need for such a device was driven by White's desire to bend his guitar's B-string up a full tone, while keeping his left hand on the strings and fretboard. In order to achieve this feat, White felt that he needed a third hand. The guitarist turned to his friend Parsons, who was an amateur machinist, and asked him to design and build an apparatus to pull or drop the B-string. The device, which was known as the Parsons/White StringBender (also known as the B-Bender), was a spring-lever mechanism built into the inside of White's guitar, which linked to the guitar's strap button and the B-string. When it was activated, by pulling down on the guitar neck, it pulled on the B-string and caused the guitar to simulate the "crying" sound of a pedal steel. White would go on to use the device extensively as a member of the Byrds and, as a result, the distinctive sound of the StringBender would become a defining characteristic of that band's music during White's tenure with the group. The Byrds Following the abrupt departure from the Byrds of singer and guitarist Gram Parsons in July 1968, White was invited to join the group as a full-time member, remaining until the band was finally dissolved by lead guitarist Roger McGuinn in February 1973. This extended tenure with the band makes White the second longest-serving member of the Byrds after McGuinn. White was brought into the group at bass player Chris Hillman's suggestion, as someone who could handle the band's older rock material and their newer country-flavored repertoire. Once he was a member of the Byrds, White began to express dissatisfaction with the band's current drummer, Kevin Kelley. Before long, he had persuaded McGuinn and Hillman to replace Kelley with his friend from the recently dissolved Nashville West, Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram). Hillman quit the Byrds within a month of White joining, in order to form the Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons. At around this same time, White and Gene Parsons undertook some informal rehearsing and recording with Hillman and Gram Parsons, as part of a prototype version of the Burrito Brothers. However, the pair declined an invitation to join the new country rock group and instead opted to stay with McGuinn's new-look Byrds. The White-era version of the Byrds, featuring McGuinn, White and Parsons, along with bassists John York (September 1968–September 1969) and Skip Battin (September 1969–February 1973), released five albums and toured relentlessly between 1969 and 1972. Journalist Steve Leggett has noted that, although the original line-up of the Byrds gets the most attention and praise, the latter-day version, featuring McGuinn and White's dual lead guitar work, was regarded by critics and audiences as much more accomplished in concert than any previous configuration of the band had been. Similarly, authors Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz have commented that although the White-era Byrds failed to achieve the commercial success of the original line-up, the group were a formidable live act and a consistently in-demand attraction on the touring circuit. The authors also cited the Byrds' archival release Live at the Fillmore – February 1969 as a good example of the White-era band's musical potency. Rolling Stone journalist David Fricke has commented on White's contribution to the band, by noting, "with his powerful, impeccable tone and melodic ingenuity, White did much to rebuild the creative reputation of the Byrds and define the road-hearty sound of the group at the turn of the '70s." The first Byrds' album to feature White as a full member was Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, which was released in early 1969. The album included a re-recording of the Gene Parsons and White-penned instrumental "Nashville West", as well as a rendition of the traditional song "Old Blue", which was the first Byrds' recording to utilize the StringBender. The Ballad of Easy Rider album followed in November 1969, on which White could be heard leading the band through a rendition of the traditional song "Oil in My Lamp", representing the guitarist's first lead vocal performance as a Byrd. 1970 saw the Byrds release the double album (Untitled), which consisted of one LP of live concert recordings and another of new studio recordings. Upon release, the album was a critical and commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at number 40 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and reaching number 11 on the UK Albums Chart. Two of the album's studio recordings featured White singing lead vocals: a cover version of the Lowell George composition "Truck Stop Girl" and a rendition of Leadbelly's "Take a Whiff on Me" (the latter also featured White playing mandolin). In addition, excerpts from an instrumental jam, recorded during the (Untitled) album sessions and logged in the Columbia Records' files under the title of "Fifteen Minute Jam", were later released as "White's Lightning" and "White's Lightning Pt.2" on The Byrds box set and the remastered double CD version of (Untitled) respectively. The 1971 Byrdmaniax album saw White singing lead vocals on "My Destiny", written by Helen Carter, and "Jamaica Say You Will", penned by the then little-known songwriter Jackson Browne. In addition, White received a co-writing credit for the album's bluegrass instrumental "Green Apple Quick Step". This song also featured White's father, Eric White, Sr., on harmonica. Farther Along, released in November 1971, would prove to be the final album by the White-era Byrds. It featured White singing the Gospel hymn and title track "Farther Along" and a cover of the Larry Murray composition "Bugler". This latter song features White playing mandolin and has been described by Byrds expert Tim Connors as, "the best song on the album, and by far the best vocal ever recorded by Clarence White during his time with the Byrds." Following the release of Farther Along, the band continued to tour throughout 1972, but no new Byrds album appeared. In late 1972, the original five-piece line-up of the Byrds reunited and, as a result, McGuinn decided to disband the existing version of the band. Parsons had been fired in July 1972 and Battin was dismissed by McGuinn in early 1973. The last concert by the White-era version of the Byrds (which at this point featured former Byrd Chris Hillman on bass and Joe Lala on drums) was given on February 24, 1973 at The Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey, with White and McGuinn jokingly firing each other from the band afterwards. Despite being on tour or in the recording studio with the Byrds for the majority of the time between 1969 and 1972, White continued to undertake selected session work for other recording artists. During this period he played on Joe Cocker's 1969 album Joe Cocker!, Randy Newman's 1970 album 12 Songs, and the Everly Brothers' Stories We Could Tell from 1972. In early 1971, White also contributed guitar to Paul Siebel's Jack-Knife Gypsy album and the title track of the L.A. Getaway album by Joel Scott-Hill, John Barbata and Chris Ethridge. Other albums that White contributed his guitar playing to while he was a member of the Byrds include Linda Ronstadt's Hand Sown ... Home Grown (1969), Rita Coolidge's Rita Coolidge (1971), Marc Benno's Minnows (1971), Jackson Browne's Jackson Browne (1972), Gene Clark's Roadmaster (1973), and a trio of Arlo Guthrie albums: Running Down the Road (1969), Washington County (1970) and Hobo's Lullaby (1972). Post-Byrds In mid-February 1973, just prior to the break up of the White-era version of the Byrds, White joined with guitarist Peter Rowan, mandolinist David Grisman, fiddler Richard Greene, and banjoist Bill Keith to form the bluegrass supergroup Muleskinner. The musicians initially assembled as a one-off pickup band to back bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe for a television program, but ended up performing on their own when Monroe's tour bus broke down on the way to the television studios. A recording of this broadcast, which was once thought lost, was released as an album in 1992, under the title Muleskinner Live. A VHS video cassette of the broadcast was also released in 1992 and later re-issued on DVD. As a result of the success of their appearance on the television broadcast, the band was offered a one album recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at the Record Plant in Los Angeles between March 27 and April 14, 1973, with Richard Greene and Joe Boyd producing. The music the band recorded for the Muleskinner album (a.k.a. A Potpourri of Bluegrass Jam) was in the vein of country rock, traditional bluegrass and progressive bluegrass (or "newgrass"). It was also one of the first bluegrass albums to feature a full drum kit. The album was released in the latter half of 1973 and is nowadays regarded by critics as a milestone in the development of progressive bluegrass, with ex-band members Greene, Keith, Grisman, and Rowan all going on to become important figures in the development of that genre. In addition to his work with Muleskinner, White also undertook a number of sessions between late 1972 and early 1973 for his friend Gene Parsons' debut solo album Kindling. White's distinctive guitar and mandolin playing can be heard on the tracks "Do Not Disturb", "On the Spot", "Sonic Bummer", "I Must Be a Tree", "Banjo Dog", "Back Again", and "Drunkard's Dream" (the latter of which also features White contributing harmony vocals). Following completion of the Muleskinner album in April 1973, White reunited with his brothers Roland and Eric Jr. for a tour as the White Brothers (a.k.a. The New Kentucky Colonels). After playing a handful of shows in California, the White Brothers departed for Europe in May 1973. Returning to the U.S., White's final bout of touring took place with the New Kentucky Colonels in June 1973, as part of a four-date country rock package tour with Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Country Gazette, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Gene Parsons, Byron Berline, and Chris Ethridge among others. Although Gram and Clarence had been acquainted with one another since the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo sessions, the pair would develop a fast friendship during the mini-tour, after, what was by all accounts, a very acrimonious re-acquaintance. Following the end of the package tour, White entered the recording studio with producer Jim Dickson on June 28 and 29, 1973 to begin work on a solo album. He recorded a total of six songs, four of which would belatedly be released on the archival album Silver Meteor: A Progressive Country Anthology in 1980. Death White died on July 15, 1973, after being struck by a drunk driver. The accident occurred shortly after 2 a.m., while he and his brother Roland were loading equipment into their car in Palmdale, California, following a White Brothers concert. Gram Parsons was especially shaken by his death; he led a singalong of "Farther Along" at White's funeral service and later conceived his final song (before his own death), "In My Hour of Darkness", as a partial tribute to White. Clarence White was survived by his brothers Roland and Eric and sisters JoAnne and Rosemarie, and his one daughter, Michelle. Musical influence Clarence White helped popularize the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass music, building on the work of guitarists such as Doc Watson. Prior to the advent of the more aggressive flatpicking style pioneered by guitarists like Watson and White, the guitar was strictly a rhythm instrument, save for a few exceptions (such as the occasional guitar track by banjoist Don Reno). Many of the most influential flatpickers of the 20th century cite White as a primary influence, including Dan Crary, Norman Blake, and Tony Rice. Rice owned and played White's highly modified 1935 Martin D-28. David Grier and Russ Barenberg are two other acoustic guitarists who were heavily influenced by White's guitar work. White's bluegrass playing with the Kentucky Colonels was also a considerable influence on Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, who traveled with the band during 1964. On the electric side of the guitar spectrum, White was similarly influential. Together with fellow Byrds bandmember Gene Parsons, White invented the B-Bender device. This device raises the B-string (second string) of the guitar a whole step by the use of pulleys and levers attached to both the upper strap knob and the second string on the guitar. It is activated by pushing down on the neck, and produces a "pedal steel" type sound. Arlen Roth, heavily influenced by this style, did not at the time know that White and Parsons had invented a B-bender, so instead developed his own unique all-finger bending version of this technique. This was heavily documented in his ground-breaking book, "Nashville Guitar", all of his recordings, as well as his book "Masters of the Telecaster". Subsequently, his Telecaster sound became as notable as his bluegrass playing. Marty Stuart, another guitarist influenced by White's playing, now owns and regularly plays White's 1954 Fender Telecaster with the prototype B-Bender. Music archivist and writer Alec Palao has called White "one of a handful of true greats amongst the instrumentalists of 20th century popular music", before adding that "the waves created by the guitarist's idiosyncratic style are still forming ripples within bluegrass, country and rock 'n' roll." In 2003, White was ranked No. 41 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2010, guitar manufacturer Gibson ranked White at No. 42 on their Top 50 Guitarists of All Time list. Selected album discography NOTES: This discography does not include albums that Clarence White played on as a session musician, with the exception of Dobro Country, on which he is billed by name. Sources for this section are Johnny Rogan's book Timeless Flight Revisited and the Kentucky Colonels discography at the AllMusic website. Kentucky Colonels The New Sound of Bluegrass America (1963) Appalachian Swing! (1964) Kentucky Colonels (1974) — UK reissue of Appalachian Swing! with two bonus tracks. Livin' in the Past (1975) — Various live recordings from 1961 to 1965. The Kentucky Colonels 1965-1966 (1976) — Live recordings. Scotty Stoneman, Live in LA with the Kentucky Colonels (1979) — Live recording from 1965. Kentucky Colonels 1966 (1979) — Studio demo recordings for an unreleased album. Clarence White and the Kentucky Colonels (1980) — Live recordings. On Stage (1984) — Live recordings. Long Journey Home (1991) — Live recordings from the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. Live in Stereo (1999) — Live recordings from a 1965 concert in Vancouver. Bush, Latham & White (2011) — Live recordings from 1964. Tut Taylor, Roland and Clarence White Dobro Country (1964) Nashville West Nashville West (a.k.a. The Legendary Nashville West Album) (1979) — Live recordings from 1967. The Byrds Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde (1969) Ballad of Easy Rider (1969) (Untitled) (1970) Byrdmaniax (1971) Farther Along (1971) Live at the Fillmore – February 1969 (2000) Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971 (2008) The Lost Broadcasts (2011) — Live recordings from the Byrds' 1971 appearance on the Beat-Club television program. Muleskinner Muleskinner (aka A Pot Pourri of Bluegrass Jam) (1973) Muleskinner Live: Original Television Soundtrack (1992) — Live recordings from a 1973 television broadcast. The New Kentucky Colonels The White Brothers: The New Kentucky Colonels Live in Sweden 1973 (1976) Live in Holland 1973 (2013) Clarence White 33 Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals (2003) — Recorded in 1962. Tuff & Stringy Sessions 1966–68 (2003) — Various studio sessions. Flatpick (2006) — Recorded 1964, 1967, 1970 and 1973. White Lightnin''' (2008) — Various recordings from 1962 to 1972. Tut Taylor & Clarence White Tut & Clarence Flatpickin''' (2003) References External links The Clarence White Forum Clarence White discography at Byrds Flyght The Essential Clarence White Bluegrass Guitar Leads Retrieved April 19, 2009. Byrd Watcher: Clarence White. Retrieved October 5, 2008. 1944 births 1973 deaths People from Lewiston, Maine American bluegrass musicians Road incident deaths in California Singers from Maine Singer-songwriters from California The Byrds members American people of French-Canadian descent American bluegrass guitarists American male guitarists American session musicians People from Aroostook County, Maine American rock guitarists American country guitarists American country rock musicians American country rock singers American mandolinists American male singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters Lead guitarists 20th-century American singers Guitarists from Los Angeles Guitarists from Maine 20th-century American guitarists Muleskinner (band) members Kentucky Colonels (band) members Nashville West members 20th-century American male singers
true
[ "Matthew Thomas \"Matt\" Gilman (born July 15, 1985) is an American Christian musician. His first release was with Forerunner Music in 2008, Holy, with Cory Asbury. The second album, Awaken Love, was released in 2013 by Forerunner Music. This album was his breakthrough release upon the Billboard magazine Christian Albums and Heatseekers Albums charts. He currently leads worship with Influence Music, who are based at Influence Church.\n\nEarly life\nGilman was born on July 15, 1985, in Minneapolis, Minnesota to a Lutheran-preacher father, Thomas Richard Gilman, and mother, Patricia Lynn Monnier. He started to lead worship services at his father's church when he was 14 years old. He graduated high school in 2002 and subsequently relocated to Kansas City, Missouri, to join the International House of Prayer; this is where he was based out of for a decade, until his departure in 2012.\n\nPersonal life\nGilman has twin sons, Isaac and Caden. He lives in Orlando, Florida, and travels monthly to Influence Church in Anaheim Hills, CA, to lead worship.\n\nMusic career\nGilman's music career commenced in 2008, with the co-released album, Holy, with Cory Asbury, and it was released by Forerunner Music on July 10, 2008. His second album, Awaken Love, was released on August 27, 2013, by Forerunner Music. The album was his breakthrough release upon the Billboard magazine charts, where it placed on the Christian Albums chart at No. 19 and the Heatseekers Albums chart at No. 8. Gilman is presently part of an artist collective known as Influence Music, which was birthed out of Influence Church in Anaheim Hills, CA. http://influencemusicofficial.com Gilman has been leading worship since the age of 14, having grown up in ministry with his father, a Lutheran pastor. In 2002, when Gilman was a senior in high school, he arrived at the International House of Prayer of Kansas City thinking he was just attending a conference about music, his favorite subject. Speaking about this, Gilman said: \"As soon as I walked into the building, I knew this was different. It was not at all what I was expecting. God began to shake me to the core as He opened up a whole new understanding of worship with the Word of God. I knew right away this is what I was made for.\" After serving for ten years as a worship leader at the International House of Prayer, Gilman took up a position with the Orlando House of Prayer.\n\nAs an artist, Gilman has over 27,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and averages 300,000 plays per track. In January 2017, Gilman visited Influence Church in Anaheim California to guest speak and lead worship. He currently travels to Anaheim once a month to lead worship and co-write with the team. Gilman said: \"Influence Church is a body of believers that truly acts as the hands and feet of Jesus. It has been a place of deep healing, refreshing, restoration and musical inspiration for me. I’m so honored to get to run with such an amazing and authentic group of people that I get to call my family.\"\n\nDiscography\n\nStudio albums\n\nReferences\n\n1985 births\nLiving people\nAmerican performers of Christian music\nMusicians from Minneapolis\nMusicians from Kansas City, Missouri\nMusicians from Orlando, Florida\nSongwriters from Minnesota\nSongwriters from Missouri\nSongwriters from Florida", "Witch is an American stoner metal band whose members are from Vermont and Massachusetts.\n\nHistory \nWitch was formed in 2005 by Dinosaur Jr. guitarist J Mascis and long time friend Dave Sweetapple. However, Mascis does not play guitar for the band; he plays his first instrument, the drums. To complete the band's line-up, Mascis and Sweetapple recruited the guitarist and vocalist, Kyle Thomas, from King Tuff and avant-folk group Feathers. Their eponymous debut album was released on March 7, 2006. They also contributed an alternate version of the song \"Rip Van Winkle\" to the Invaders compilation, which was released by Kemado Records later that year. Their latest album Paralyzed was released on March 18, 2008.\n\nStyle \nWitch's trademark sound (particularly in their early work) shows obvious Black Sabbath influence. Black Flag influence was also noted for their sophomore effort, Paralyzed.\n\nBand members \nKyle Thomas – vocals, guitar\nGraham Clise – guitar\nDave Sweetapple – bass\nJ Mascis – drums\n\nDiscography\n\nAlbums \n2006 – Witch – Tee Pee Records\n2008 – Paralyzed – Tee Pee Records\n\nSingles \n2006 – \"Soul of Fire\"/\"Rip Van Winkle (Demo)\" 7\" – Tee Pee Records\n2008 – Witch/Earthless split 7\" – Volcom Entertainment Vinyl Club\n\nDVD \n2007 – Local Band Nitemare – Blueberry Honey/Tee Pee Records (reissue)\n\nExternal links \nWitch at Tee Pee Records\n\nStoner rock musical groups\nAmerican doom metal musical groups\nMusical groups from Massachusetts\nHeavy metal musical groups from Massachusetts\nMusical groups established in 2005\nMusical quartets" ]
[ "Clarence White", "Musical influence", "Who was Clarence White", "Clarence White helped popularize the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass music,", "What was his musical influence", "building on the work of guitarists such as Doc Watson." ]
C_84c2e80c6156481093fd7e74370e6fd6_0
What else was he known for influencing
3
What else was Clarence White known for influencing other than music?
Clarence White
Clarence White helped popularize the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass music, building on the work of guitarists such as Doc Watson. Prior to the advent of the more aggressive flatpicking style pioneered by guitarists like Watson and White, the guitar was strictly a rhythm instrument, save for a few exceptions (such as the occasional guitar track by banjoist Don Reno). Many of the most influential flatpickers of the 20th century cite White as a primary influence, including Dan Crary, Norman Blake, and Tony Rice. Rice owns and plays White's highly modified 1935 Martin D-28. David Grier and Russ Barenberg are two other acoustic guitarists who were heavily influenced by White's guitar work. White's bluegrass playing with the Kentucky Colonels was also a considerable influence on Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, who traveled with the band during 1964. On the electric side of the guitar spectrum, White was similarly influential. Together with fellow Byrds bandmember Gene Parsons, White invented the B-Bender device. This device raises the B-string (second string) of the guitar a whole step by the use of pulleys and levers attached to both the upper strap knob and the second string on the guitar. It is activated by pushing down on the neck, and produces a "pedal steel" type sound. Arlen Roth, heavily influenced by this style, did not at the time know that White and Parsons had invented a B-bender, so instead developed his own unique all-finger bending version of this technique. This was heavily documented in his ground-breaking book, "Nashville Guitar", all of his recordings, as well as his book "Masters of the Telecaster". Subsequently, his Telecaster sound became as notable as his bluegrass playing. Marty Stuart, another guitarist influenced by White's playing, now owns and regularly plays White's 1954 Fender Telecaster with the prototype B-Bender. Music archivist and writer Alec Palao has called White "one of a handful of true greats amongst the instrumentalists of 20th century popular music", before adding that "the waves created by the guitarist's idiosyncratic style are still forming ripples within bluegrass, country and rock 'n' roll." In 2003, White was ranked No. 41 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2010, guitar manufacturer Gibson ranked White at No. 42 on their Top 50 Guitarists of All Time list. CANNOTANSWER
Together with fellow Byrds bandmember Gene Parsons, White invented the B-Bender device.
Clarence White (born Clarence Joseph LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973) was an American bluegrass and country guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the Byrds, as well as for being a pioneer of the musical genre of country rock during the late 1960s. White also worked extensively as a session musician, appearing on recordings by the Everly Brothers, Joe Cocker, Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone, the Monkees, Randy Newman, Gene Clark, Linda Ronstadt, Arlo Guthrie, and Jackson Browne among others. Together with frequent collaborator Gene Parsons, he invented the B-Bender, a guitar accessory that enables a player to mechanically bend the B-string up a whole tone and emulate the sound of a pedal steel guitar. White was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Fame in 2016. Early years Clarence Joseph LeBlanc was born on June 7, 1944 in Lewiston, Maine. The LeBlanc family, who later changed their surname to White, were of French-Canadian ancestry and hailed from New Brunswick, Canada. Clarence's father, Eric LeBlanc, Sr., played guitar, banjo, fiddle, and harmonica, ensuring that his offspring grew up surrounded by music. A child prodigy, Clarence began playing guitar at the age of six. At such a young age he was barely able to hold the instrument and as a result, he briefly switched to ukulele, awaiting a time when his young hands would be big enough to confidently grapple with the guitar. In 1954, when Clarence was ten, the White family relocated to Burbank, California and soon after, Clarence joined his brothers Roland and Eric Jr. (who played mandolin and banjo respectively) in a trio called Three Little Country Boys. Although they initially started out playing contemporary country music, the group soon switched to a purely bluegrass repertoire, as a result of Roland's burgeoning interest in the genre. In 1957, banjoist Billy Ray Latham and Dobro player LeRoy Mack were added to the line-up, with the band renaming themselves the Country Boys soon after. In 1961, the Country Boys also added Roger Bush on double bass, as a replacement for Eric White, Jr. That same year, Clarence and other members of the Country Boys appeared on two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. Between 1959 and 1962, the group released three singles on the Sundown, Republic and Briar International record labels. The Kentucky Colonels Following the recording sessions for the Country Boys' debut album, the band changed its name to the Kentucky Colonels in September 1962, at the suggestion of country guitarist and friend Joe Maphis. The band's album was released by Briar International under the title The New Sound of Bluegrass America in early 1963. Around this time, Clarence's flatpicking guitar style was becoming a much more prominent part of the group's music. After attending a performance by Doc Watson at the Ash Grove folk club in Los Angeles, where he also met the guitarist, Clarence began to explore the possibilities of the acoustic guitar's role in bluegrass music. At that time, the guitar was largely regarded as a rhythm instrument in bluegrass, with only a few performers, such as Doc Watson, exploring its potential for soloing. White soon began to integrate elements of Watson's playing style, including the use of open strings and syncopation, into his own flatpicking guitar technique. His breathtaking speed and virtuosity on the instrument was largely responsible for making the guitar a lead instrument within bluegrass. The Kentucky Colonels became well known on the bluegrass circuit during this period and made many live appearances throughout California and the United States. Between bookings with the Colonels, White also made a guest appearance on Eric Weissberg and Marshall Brickman's New Dimensions in Banjo & Bluegrass album, which would be re-released in 1973 as the soundtrack album to the film Deliverance (with Weissberg and Steve Mandell's version of "Dueling Banjos" added to the album's track listing). Throughout 1964, the Colonels continued to make live appearances at various clubs, concert halls and festivals, as well as recruiting fiddle player Bobby Sloan into their ranks. The Colonels' second album, Appalachian Swing!, was a commercial success and saw White's flatpicking permanently expand the language of bluegrass guitar. Music critic Thom Owens has remarked that White's playing on the album, "helped pioneer a new style in bluegrass; namely, he redefined the acoustic guitar as a solo instrument." Shortly after the recording of the Appalachian Swing! album, Roland and Clarence undertook some session work backing dobroist Tut Taylor on a Dobro-themed album that was released by World Pacific in late 1964 as Dobro Country. Although the brothers were employed as session musicians, the album was credited to Tut Taylor, Roland and Clarence White upon release. Although they were a successful recording act, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the Colonels to make a living, due to the waning popularity of the American folk music revival due to the British Invasion and homegrown folk rock acts, such as the Byrds and Bob Dylan. As a result, the Colonels switched to electric instrumentation and hired a drummer. In spite of these changes, the Kentucky Colonels dissolved as a band following a show on October 31, 1965. Clarence, Roland and Eric Jr. formed a new line-up of the Colonels in 1966, with several other musicians, but this second version of the group was short-lived and by early 1967 they had broken up. Session work (1966–1968) During 1964, White began to look beyond bluegrass music towards rock 'n' roll as an avenue for artistic expression. Although he was influenced by Country guitarists like Doc Watson, Don Reno and Joe Maphis, he also idolized the playing of jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, rock 'n' roller Chuck Berry, and studio musician James Burton. White even anticipated the viability of a folk/rock hybrid when, in the summer of 1964, he was approached by Jim Dickson to record a version of the then-unreleased Bob Dylan song "Mr. Tambourine Man" with electric instruments. However, despite White's enthusiasm for the project, he was unable to convince his bandmates in the Kentucky Colonels of the experiment's validity and ultimately, the song was instead recorded by Dickson's proteges, the Byrds. By the time the original line-up of the Kentucky Colonels folded in late 1965, White had become a respected and well-known guitarist. Abandoning bluegrass temporarily, he switched from his Martin D-28 acoustic guitar to an electric Fender Telecaster, with the intention of becoming a studio musician like his hero James Burton. Transitioning to electric guitar required White to modify his right hand playing technique, switch from open chording to fretting the whole guitar neck with his left hand, and practice using the tone and volume controls. However, he soon mastered the intricacies of the instrument and, between 1965 and 1968, he undertook session work for artists including Ricky Nelson, the Monkees, and the Gosdin Brothers. As 1965 turned into 1966, White met Gene Parsons and Gib Guilbeau at a recording session for the Gosdin Brothers and shortly after, he began to perform live with the duo in local California clubs, as well as doing regular session work on their records, which were released under the moniker of Cajun Gib and Gene. 1966 also saw White begin playing with a country group called Trio, which featured drummer Bart Haney and former Kentucky Colonel, Roger Bush, on bass. In autumn of that year, as a result of his friendship with Gilbeau, Parsons and the Gosdin Brothers, White was asked to provide lead guitar to ex-Byrd Gene Clark's debut solo album, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers. White briefly joined Clark's touring band shortly thereafter. During the Clark album sessions, White reconnected with mandolin player and bassist Chris Hillman, who he had known during the early 1960s as a member of the bluegrass combo the Hillmen. Hillman was currently a member of the Byrds and, in December 1966, he invited White to contribute countrified lead guitar playing to his songs "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name", which both appeared on the Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday album. The country-oriented nature of the songs was something of a stylistic departure for the group and can be seen as an early indicator of the experimentation with country music that would color the Byrds' subsequent work. White also contributed guitar to the band's follow-up album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, and to their seminal 1968 country rock release, Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Nashville West By mid-1967, White had begun performing at night in the band the Reasons (a.k.a. Nashville West), which included bass player Wayne Moore, along with Parsons and Guilbeau (as banjoist-turned-drummer and lead singer respectively). The band mostly worked at the Nashville West club in El Monte, California, frequently borrowing the club's name as their own. Critic Erik Hage has said that, in the years since their formation, the band have become legendary as one of the first to play a seamless blend of country and rock, although L.A. group the International Submarine Band, which featured country rock pioneer Gram Parsons (no relation to Gene), were also exploring a similar sound concurrently. A live recording of Nashville West would eventually be released in 1979, which music historian Richie Unterberger later described as being "of considerable historical interest for anyone interested in the roots of country-rock". Unterberger also remarked that the recording illustrated Nashville West as having "more electric rock influences than most country acts were using at the time." In addition to being a member of Nashville West, White was also a member of another country bar band that regularly played at the Nashville West club called the Roustabouts. In July 1967, White signed with Gary Paxton's Bakersfield International record label and released a pair of solo singles: "Tango for a Sad Mood" b/w "Tuff and Stringy" and "Grandma Funderbunks Music Box" b/w "Riff Raff". He also reportedly recorded a solo album for the label, although it has never been released. The StringBender During 1967, while they were both members of Nashville West, White and Parsons invented a device that enabled Clarence to simulate the sound of a pedal steel guitar on his 1954 Fender Telecaster. The need for such a device was driven by White's desire to bend his guitar's B-string up a full tone, while keeping his left hand on the strings and fretboard. In order to achieve this feat, White felt that he needed a third hand. The guitarist turned to his friend Parsons, who was an amateur machinist, and asked him to design and build an apparatus to pull or drop the B-string. The device, which was known as the Parsons/White StringBender (also known as the B-Bender), was a spring-lever mechanism built into the inside of White's guitar, which linked to the guitar's strap button and the B-string. When it was activated, by pulling down on the guitar neck, it pulled on the B-string and caused the guitar to simulate the "crying" sound of a pedal steel. White would go on to use the device extensively as a member of the Byrds and, as a result, the distinctive sound of the StringBender would become a defining characteristic of that band's music during White's tenure with the group. The Byrds Following the abrupt departure from the Byrds of singer and guitarist Gram Parsons in July 1968, White was invited to join the group as a full-time member, remaining until the band was finally dissolved by lead guitarist Roger McGuinn in February 1973. This extended tenure with the band makes White the second longest-serving member of the Byrds after McGuinn. White was brought into the group at bass player Chris Hillman's suggestion, as someone who could handle the band's older rock material and their newer country-flavored repertoire. Once he was a member of the Byrds, White began to express dissatisfaction with the band's current drummer, Kevin Kelley. Before long, he had persuaded McGuinn and Hillman to replace Kelley with his friend from the recently dissolved Nashville West, Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram). Hillman quit the Byrds within a month of White joining, in order to form the Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons. At around this same time, White and Gene Parsons undertook some informal rehearsing and recording with Hillman and Gram Parsons, as part of a prototype version of the Burrito Brothers. However, the pair declined an invitation to join the new country rock group and instead opted to stay with McGuinn's new-look Byrds. The White-era version of the Byrds, featuring McGuinn, White and Parsons, along with bassists John York (September 1968–September 1969) and Skip Battin (September 1969–February 1973), released five albums and toured relentlessly between 1969 and 1972. Journalist Steve Leggett has noted that, although the original line-up of the Byrds gets the most attention and praise, the latter-day version, featuring McGuinn and White's dual lead guitar work, was regarded by critics and audiences as much more accomplished in concert than any previous configuration of the band had been. Similarly, authors Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz have commented that although the White-era Byrds failed to achieve the commercial success of the original line-up, the group were a formidable live act and a consistently in-demand attraction on the touring circuit. The authors also cited the Byrds' archival release Live at the Fillmore – February 1969 as a good example of the White-era band's musical potency. Rolling Stone journalist David Fricke has commented on White's contribution to the band, by noting, "with his powerful, impeccable tone and melodic ingenuity, White did much to rebuild the creative reputation of the Byrds and define the road-hearty sound of the group at the turn of the '70s." The first Byrds' album to feature White as a full member was Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, which was released in early 1969. The album included a re-recording of the Gene Parsons and White-penned instrumental "Nashville West", as well as a rendition of the traditional song "Old Blue", which was the first Byrds' recording to utilize the StringBender. The Ballad of Easy Rider album followed in November 1969, on which White could be heard leading the band through a rendition of the traditional song "Oil in My Lamp", representing the guitarist's first lead vocal performance as a Byrd. 1970 saw the Byrds release the double album (Untitled), which consisted of one LP of live concert recordings and another of new studio recordings. Upon release, the album was a critical and commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at number 40 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and reaching number 11 on the UK Albums Chart. Two of the album's studio recordings featured White singing lead vocals: a cover version of the Lowell George composition "Truck Stop Girl" and a rendition of Leadbelly's "Take a Whiff on Me" (the latter also featured White playing mandolin). In addition, excerpts from an instrumental jam, recorded during the (Untitled) album sessions and logged in the Columbia Records' files under the title of "Fifteen Minute Jam", were later released as "White's Lightning" and "White's Lightning Pt.2" on The Byrds box set and the remastered double CD version of (Untitled) respectively. The 1971 Byrdmaniax album saw White singing lead vocals on "My Destiny", written by Helen Carter, and "Jamaica Say You Will", penned by the then little-known songwriter Jackson Browne. In addition, White received a co-writing credit for the album's bluegrass instrumental "Green Apple Quick Step". This song also featured White's father, Eric White, Sr., on harmonica. Farther Along, released in November 1971, would prove to be the final album by the White-era Byrds. It featured White singing the Gospel hymn and title track "Farther Along" and a cover of the Larry Murray composition "Bugler". This latter song features White playing mandolin and has been described by Byrds expert Tim Connors as, "the best song on the album, and by far the best vocal ever recorded by Clarence White during his time with the Byrds." Following the release of Farther Along, the band continued to tour throughout 1972, but no new Byrds album appeared. In late 1972, the original five-piece line-up of the Byrds reunited and, as a result, McGuinn decided to disband the existing version of the band. Parsons had been fired in July 1972 and Battin was dismissed by McGuinn in early 1973. The last concert by the White-era version of the Byrds (which at this point featured former Byrd Chris Hillman on bass and Joe Lala on drums) was given on February 24, 1973 at The Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey, with White and McGuinn jokingly firing each other from the band afterwards. Despite being on tour or in the recording studio with the Byrds for the majority of the time between 1969 and 1972, White continued to undertake selected session work for other recording artists. During this period he played on Joe Cocker's 1969 album Joe Cocker!, Randy Newman's 1970 album 12 Songs, and the Everly Brothers' Stories We Could Tell from 1972. In early 1971, White also contributed guitar to Paul Siebel's Jack-Knife Gypsy album and the title track of the L.A. Getaway album by Joel Scott-Hill, John Barbata and Chris Ethridge. Other albums that White contributed his guitar playing to while he was a member of the Byrds include Linda Ronstadt's Hand Sown ... Home Grown (1969), Rita Coolidge's Rita Coolidge (1971), Marc Benno's Minnows (1971), Jackson Browne's Jackson Browne (1972), Gene Clark's Roadmaster (1973), and a trio of Arlo Guthrie albums: Running Down the Road (1969), Washington County (1970) and Hobo's Lullaby (1972). Post-Byrds In mid-February 1973, just prior to the break up of the White-era version of the Byrds, White joined with guitarist Peter Rowan, mandolinist David Grisman, fiddler Richard Greene, and banjoist Bill Keith to form the bluegrass supergroup Muleskinner. The musicians initially assembled as a one-off pickup band to back bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe for a television program, but ended up performing on their own when Monroe's tour bus broke down on the way to the television studios. A recording of this broadcast, which was once thought lost, was released as an album in 1992, under the title Muleskinner Live. A VHS video cassette of the broadcast was also released in 1992 and later re-issued on DVD. As a result of the success of their appearance on the television broadcast, the band was offered a one album recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at the Record Plant in Los Angeles between March 27 and April 14, 1973, with Richard Greene and Joe Boyd producing. The music the band recorded for the Muleskinner album (a.k.a. A Potpourri of Bluegrass Jam) was in the vein of country rock, traditional bluegrass and progressive bluegrass (or "newgrass"). It was also one of the first bluegrass albums to feature a full drum kit. The album was released in the latter half of 1973 and is nowadays regarded by critics as a milestone in the development of progressive bluegrass, with ex-band members Greene, Keith, Grisman, and Rowan all going on to become important figures in the development of that genre. In addition to his work with Muleskinner, White also undertook a number of sessions between late 1972 and early 1973 for his friend Gene Parsons' debut solo album Kindling. White's distinctive guitar and mandolin playing can be heard on the tracks "Do Not Disturb", "On the Spot", "Sonic Bummer", "I Must Be a Tree", "Banjo Dog", "Back Again", and "Drunkard's Dream" (the latter of which also features White contributing harmony vocals). Following completion of the Muleskinner album in April 1973, White reunited with his brothers Roland and Eric Jr. for a tour as the White Brothers (a.k.a. The New Kentucky Colonels). After playing a handful of shows in California, the White Brothers departed for Europe in May 1973. Returning to the U.S., White's final bout of touring took place with the New Kentucky Colonels in June 1973, as part of a four-date country rock package tour with Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Country Gazette, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Gene Parsons, Byron Berline, and Chris Ethridge among others. Although Gram and Clarence had been acquainted with one another since the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo sessions, the pair would develop a fast friendship during the mini-tour, after, what was by all accounts, a very acrimonious re-acquaintance. Following the end of the package tour, White entered the recording studio with producer Jim Dickson on June 28 and 29, 1973 to begin work on a solo album. He recorded a total of six songs, four of which would belatedly be released on the archival album Silver Meteor: A Progressive Country Anthology in 1980. Death White died on July 15, 1973, after being struck by a drunk driver. The accident occurred shortly after 2 a.m., while he and his brother Roland were loading equipment into their car in Palmdale, California, following a White Brothers concert. Gram Parsons was especially shaken by his death; he led a singalong of "Farther Along" at White's funeral service and later conceived his final song (before his own death), "In My Hour of Darkness", as a partial tribute to White. Clarence White was survived by his brothers Roland and Eric and sisters JoAnne and Rosemarie, and his one daughter, Michelle. Musical influence Clarence White helped popularize the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass music, building on the work of guitarists such as Doc Watson. Prior to the advent of the more aggressive flatpicking style pioneered by guitarists like Watson and White, the guitar was strictly a rhythm instrument, save for a few exceptions (such as the occasional guitar track by banjoist Don Reno). Many of the most influential flatpickers of the 20th century cite White as a primary influence, including Dan Crary, Norman Blake, and Tony Rice. Rice owned and played White's highly modified 1935 Martin D-28. David Grier and Russ Barenberg are two other acoustic guitarists who were heavily influenced by White's guitar work. White's bluegrass playing with the Kentucky Colonels was also a considerable influence on Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, who traveled with the band during 1964. On the electric side of the guitar spectrum, White was similarly influential. Together with fellow Byrds bandmember Gene Parsons, White invented the B-Bender device. This device raises the B-string (second string) of the guitar a whole step by the use of pulleys and levers attached to both the upper strap knob and the second string on the guitar. It is activated by pushing down on the neck, and produces a "pedal steel" type sound. Arlen Roth, heavily influenced by this style, did not at the time know that White and Parsons had invented a B-bender, so instead developed his own unique all-finger bending version of this technique. This was heavily documented in his ground-breaking book, "Nashville Guitar", all of his recordings, as well as his book "Masters of the Telecaster". Subsequently, his Telecaster sound became as notable as his bluegrass playing. Marty Stuart, another guitarist influenced by White's playing, now owns and regularly plays White's 1954 Fender Telecaster with the prototype B-Bender. Music archivist and writer Alec Palao has called White "one of a handful of true greats amongst the instrumentalists of 20th century popular music", before adding that "the waves created by the guitarist's idiosyncratic style are still forming ripples within bluegrass, country and rock 'n' roll." In 2003, White was ranked No. 41 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2010, guitar manufacturer Gibson ranked White at No. 42 on their Top 50 Guitarists of All Time list. Selected album discography NOTES: This discography does not include albums that Clarence White played on as a session musician, with the exception of Dobro Country, on which he is billed by name. Sources for this section are Johnny Rogan's book Timeless Flight Revisited and the Kentucky Colonels discography at the AllMusic website. Kentucky Colonels The New Sound of Bluegrass America (1963) Appalachian Swing! (1964) Kentucky Colonels (1974) — UK reissue of Appalachian Swing! with two bonus tracks. Livin' in the Past (1975) — Various live recordings from 1961 to 1965. The Kentucky Colonels 1965-1966 (1976) — Live recordings. Scotty Stoneman, Live in LA with the Kentucky Colonels (1979) — Live recording from 1965. Kentucky Colonels 1966 (1979) — Studio demo recordings for an unreleased album. Clarence White and the Kentucky Colonels (1980) — Live recordings. On Stage (1984) — Live recordings. Long Journey Home (1991) — Live recordings from the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. Live in Stereo (1999) — Live recordings from a 1965 concert in Vancouver. Bush, Latham & White (2011) — Live recordings from 1964. Tut Taylor, Roland and Clarence White Dobro Country (1964) Nashville West Nashville West (a.k.a. The Legendary Nashville West Album) (1979) — Live recordings from 1967. The Byrds Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde (1969) Ballad of Easy Rider (1969) (Untitled) (1970) Byrdmaniax (1971) Farther Along (1971) Live at the Fillmore – February 1969 (2000) Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971 (2008) The Lost Broadcasts (2011) — Live recordings from the Byrds' 1971 appearance on the Beat-Club television program. Muleskinner Muleskinner (aka A Pot Pourri of Bluegrass Jam) (1973) Muleskinner Live: Original Television Soundtrack (1992) — Live recordings from a 1973 television broadcast. The New Kentucky Colonels The White Brothers: The New Kentucky Colonels Live in Sweden 1973 (1976) Live in Holland 1973 (2013) Clarence White 33 Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals (2003) — Recorded in 1962. Tuff & Stringy Sessions 1966–68 (2003) — Various studio sessions. Flatpick (2006) — Recorded 1964, 1967, 1970 and 1973. White Lightnin''' (2008) — Various recordings from 1962 to 1972. Tut Taylor & Clarence White Tut & Clarence Flatpickin''' (2003) References External links The Clarence White Forum Clarence White discography at Byrds Flyght The Essential Clarence White Bluegrass Guitar Leads Retrieved April 19, 2009. Byrd Watcher: Clarence White. Retrieved October 5, 2008. 1944 births 1973 deaths People from Lewiston, Maine American bluegrass musicians Road incident deaths in California Singers from Maine Singer-songwriters from California The Byrds members American people of French-Canadian descent American bluegrass guitarists American male guitarists American session musicians People from Aroostook County, Maine American rock guitarists American country guitarists American country rock musicians American country rock singers American mandolinists American male singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters Lead guitarists 20th-century American singers Guitarists from Los Angeles Guitarists from Maine 20th-century American guitarists Muleskinner (band) members Kentucky Colonels (band) members Nashville West members 20th-century American male singers
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[ "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", "Genie Z. Laborde (born 1928) is an American author, educator, video producer, and artist. She is the founder and CEO of International Dialogue Education Associates, Inc., a business seminar company based in Palo Alto, California. She has authored several business communication and negotiation books and designed the three-day business seminar “Influencing with Integrity”.\n\nBiography \nLaborde’s doctoral degree is from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Her major discipline was Confluent Education, which is Gestalt psychology applied to the educational process. The Confluent Education program was founded by a Ford Foundation Grant for Innovative Education. Laborde’s Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing was conferred by Tulane University, and her Bachelor of Arts in Design and Fine Art was earned at Louisiana State University.\n\nInfluences \n\nInterested by the new esoteric classes offered at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California which formed a key part of the Human Potential Movement of the 1960s, during the 1970s she studied with many of the leaders of this movement including George Leonard, Alan Watts, George I. Brown, Gay Luce, Frank Barron, Buckminster Fuller, Joseph Campbell, Joseph Downing, Barbara Brennan, and received Arica Training.\n\nCareer \n\nIn 1984, Laborde published the communication and negotiation book Influencing with Integrity: Management Skills for Communication and Negotiation, which sold over 151,000 copies and was translated into several languages. The book’s instructional content supports her three-day Influencing with Integrity seminar. The skills taught in the seminar are drawn from Gestalt psychology, linguistics, and right brain insights. While some of the skills overlap with those of neuro-linguistic programming, Laborde emphasizes the psychological principles of Fritz Perls as well as the concrete and theoretical differences between integrity and manipulation in business communication and actions.\n\nIn 1991, Laborde traveled to Russia on invitation from the Russian Psychological Association to teach seminars which included research demonstrating a statistically important movement towards increased personal responsibility as shown by the pre- and post-test figures. Her communication and negotiation seminars have been taught at the United Nations as well as worldwide. Laborde has produced video training films and courses on her influencing and communication techniques. In 2011 her company International Dialogue Education Associates, Inc. released its first iPhone application “Circle of Excellence”.\n\nDuring the course of her career, Laborde has been a member of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Humanistic Psychology, and the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). Laborde has given numerous presentations to the ASTD and was invited to be the keynote speaker for the annual Conference of the ASTD Global Network South Africa in Johannesburg. She has been a visiting scholar at the Western Michigan University, and was selected for the listing of Who’s Who in the West. The Mercury News featured her as the \"Grandmother of Silicon Valley\" in regards to her Palo Alto real estate where a number of tech giants including Nest got their start\n\nPublications \nInfluencing with Integrity: Management Skills for Communication and Negotiation (1984)\nFine Tune Your Brain: When Everything's Going Right and What to Do When It Isn't (1989)\nUsing Your Right Brain For a Change\nInfluencing with Integrity on the Internet (2000)\n103 Ways to Tap Your Right Brain\nSpellbinding: Skills for Relationships (2008)\nRecreating A Relationship with a New Paradigm: A New Set of Beliefs and Experiences that Work Better than the Old\nQuick Skills For Relationships; Expert Communication = Success in Your Relationship\nAdult Coloring Book; The Ten Universal Laws of Charismatic Relationships\nInfluencing with Integrity By The Numbers\nInstant Charisma By Using Your Right Brain\nSelling with Integrity; The Skills of Influencing with Integrity Applied to Sales\nRapport on the Telephone\nChild Development Techniques\nTooting Your Own Horn: How To Measure Soft-Skills Training\nYou CAN Measure the Results of Soft-Skills Training. It's Been Done. Here's How!\nThe ABCs of Negotiation; The Skills of Influencing with Integrity Applied to Negotiation\nInfinite Energy Not Luck; Finding FLOW for Empowerment\n90 Days to Communication Excellence (1985)\nThe ABCs of NLP\n\nReferences \n </ref>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \"Grandmother of Silicon Valley\"\n\nExternal links \n http://influence-integrity.com/\n\n1928 births\nLiving people\nAmerican women writers\nUniversity of California, Santa Barbara alumni\nTulane University alumni\nLouisiana State University alumni\n21st-century American women" ]
[ "Clarence White", "Musical influence", "Who was Clarence White", "Clarence White helped popularize the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass music,", "What was his musical influence", "building on the work of guitarists such as Doc Watson.", "What else was he known for influencing", "Together with fellow Byrds bandmember Gene Parsons, White invented the B-Bender device." ]
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Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
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Are there any other interesting aspects about this article besides Clarence White's invention of the B-Bender device?
Clarence White
Clarence White helped popularize the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass music, building on the work of guitarists such as Doc Watson. Prior to the advent of the more aggressive flatpicking style pioneered by guitarists like Watson and White, the guitar was strictly a rhythm instrument, save for a few exceptions (such as the occasional guitar track by banjoist Don Reno). Many of the most influential flatpickers of the 20th century cite White as a primary influence, including Dan Crary, Norman Blake, and Tony Rice. Rice owns and plays White's highly modified 1935 Martin D-28. David Grier and Russ Barenberg are two other acoustic guitarists who were heavily influenced by White's guitar work. White's bluegrass playing with the Kentucky Colonels was also a considerable influence on Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, who traveled with the band during 1964. On the electric side of the guitar spectrum, White was similarly influential. Together with fellow Byrds bandmember Gene Parsons, White invented the B-Bender device. This device raises the B-string (second string) of the guitar a whole step by the use of pulleys and levers attached to both the upper strap knob and the second string on the guitar. It is activated by pushing down on the neck, and produces a "pedal steel" type sound. Arlen Roth, heavily influenced by this style, did not at the time know that White and Parsons had invented a B-bender, so instead developed his own unique all-finger bending version of this technique. This was heavily documented in his ground-breaking book, "Nashville Guitar", all of his recordings, as well as his book "Masters of the Telecaster". Subsequently, his Telecaster sound became as notable as his bluegrass playing. Marty Stuart, another guitarist influenced by White's playing, now owns and regularly plays White's 1954 Fender Telecaster with the prototype B-Bender. Music archivist and writer Alec Palao has called White "one of a handful of true greats amongst the instrumentalists of 20th century popular music", before adding that "the waves created by the guitarist's idiosyncratic style are still forming ripples within bluegrass, country and rock 'n' roll." In 2003, White was ranked No. 41 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2010, guitar manufacturer Gibson ranked White at No. 42 on their Top 50 Guitarists of All Time list. CANNOTANSWER
Alec Palao has called White "one of a handful of true greats amongst the instrumentalists of 20th century popular music
Clarence White (born Clarence Joseph LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973) was an American bluegrass and country guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the Byrds, as well as for being a pioneer of the musical genre of country rock during the late 1960s. White also worked extensively as a session musician, appearing on recordings by the Everly Brothers, Joe Cocker, Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone, the Monkees, Randy Newman, Gene Clark, Linda Ronstadt, Arlo Guthrie, and Jackson Browne among others. Together with frequent collaborator Gene Parsons, he invented the B-Bender, a guitar accessory that enables a player to mechanically bend the B-string up a whole tone and emulate the sound of a pedal steel guitar. White was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Fame in 2016. Early years Clarence Joseph LeBlanc was born on June 7, 1944 in Lewiston, Maine. The LeBlanc family, who later changed their surname to White, were of French-Canadian ancestry and hailed from New Brunswick, Canada. Clarence's father, Eric LeBlanc, Sr., played guitar, banjo, fiddle, and harmonica, ensuring that his offspring grew up surrounded by music. A child prodigy, Clarence began playing guitar at the age of six. At such a young age he was barely able to hold the instrument and as a result, he briefly switched to ukulele, awaiting a time when his young hands would be big enough to confidently grapple with the guitar. In 1954, when Clarence was ten, the White family relocated to Burbank, California and soon after, Clarence joined his brothers Roland and Eric Jr. (who played mandolin and banjo respectively) in a trio called Three Little Country Boys. Although they initially started out playing contemporary country music, the group soon switched to a purely bluegrass repertoire, as a result of Roland's burgeoning interest in the genre. In 1957, banjoist Billy Ray Latham and Dobro player LeRoy Mack were added to the line-up, with the band renaming themselves the Country Boys soon after. In 1961, the Country Boys also added Roger Bush on double bass, as a replacement for Eric White, Jr. That same year, Clarence and other members of the Country Boys appeared on two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. Between 1959 and 1962, the group released three singles on the Sundown, Republic and Briar International record labels. The Kentucky Colonels Following the recording sessions for the Country Boys' debut album, the band changed its name to the Kentucky Colonels in September 1962, at the suggestion of country guitarist and friend Joe Maphis. The band's album was released by Briar International under the title The New Sound of Bluegrass America in early 1963. Around this time, Clarence's flatpicking guitar style was becoming a much more prominent part of the group's music. After attending a performance by Doc Watson at the Ash Grove folk club in Los Angeles, where he also met the guitarist, Clarence began to explore the possibilities of the acoustic guitar's role in bluegrass music. At that time, the guitar was largely regarded as a rhythm instrument in bluegrass, with only a few performers, such as Doc Watson, exploring its potential for soloing. White soon began to integrate elements of Watson's playing style, including the use of open strings and syncopation, into his own flatpicking guitar technique. His breathtaking speed and virtuosity on the instrument was largely responsible for making the guitar a lead instrument within bluegrass. The Kentucky Colonels became well known on the bluegrass circuit during this period and made many live appearances throughout California and the United States. Between bookings with the Colonels, White also made a guest appearance on Eric Weissberg and Marshall Brickman's New Dimensions in Banjo & Bluegrass album, which would be re-released in 1973 as the soundtrack album to the film Deliverance (with Weissberg and Steve Mandell's version of "Dueling Banjos" added to the album's track listing). Throughout 1964, the Colonels continued to make live appearances at various clubs, concert halls and festivals, as well as recruiting fiddle player Bobby Sloan into their ranks. The Colonels' second album, Appalachian Swing!, was a commercial success and saw White's flatpicking permanently expand the language of bluegrass guitar. Music critic Thom Owens has remarked that White's playing on the album, "helped pioneer a new style in bluegrass; namely, he redefined the acoustic guitar as a solo instrument." Shortly after the recording of the Appalachian Swing! album, Roland and Clarence undertook some session work backing dobroist Tut Taylor on a Dobro-themed album that was released by World Pacific in late 1964 as Dobro Country. Although the brothers were employed as session musicians, the album was credited to Tut Taylor, Roland and Clarence White upon release. Although they were a successful recording act, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the Colonels to make a living, due to the waning popularity of the American folk music revival due to the British Invasion and homegrown folk rock acts, such as the Byrds and Bob Dylan. As a result, the Colonels switched to electric instrumentation and hired a drummer. In spite of these changes, the Kentucky Colonels dissolved as a band following a show on October 31, 1965. Clarence, Roland and Eric Jr. formed a new line-up of the Colonels in 1966, with several other musicians, but this second version of the group was short-lived and by early 1967 they had broken up. Session work (1966–1968) During 1964, White began to look beyond bluegrass music towards rock 'n' roll as an avenue for artistic expression. Although he was influenced by Country guitarists like Doc Watson, Don Reno and Joe Maphis, he also idolized the playing of jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, rock 'n' roller Chuck Berry, and studio musician James Burton. White even anticipated the viability of a folk/rock hybrid when, in the summer of 1964, he was approached by Jim Dickson to record a version of the then-unreleased Bob Dylan song "Mr. Tambourine Man" with electric instruments. However, despite White's enthusiasm for the project, he was unable to convince his bandmates in the Kentucky Colonels of the experiment's validity and ultimately, the song was instead recorded by Dickson's proteges, the Byrds. By the time the original line-up of the Kentucky Colonels folded in late 1965, White had become a respected and well-known guitarist. Abandoning bluegrass temporarily, he switched from his Martin D-28 acoustic guitar to an electric Fender Telecaster, with the intention of becoming a studio musician like his hero James Burton. Transitioning to electric guitar required White to modify his right hand playing technique, switch from open chording to fretting the whole guitar neck with his left hand, and practice using the tone and volume controls. However, he soon mastered the intricacies of the instrument and, between 1965 and 1968, he undertook session work for artists including Ricky Nelson, the Monkees, and the Gosdin Brothers. As 1965 turned into 1966, White met Gene Parsons and Gib Guilbeau at a recording session for the Gosdin Brothers and shortly after, he began to perform live with the duo in local California clubs, as well as doing regular session work on their records, which were released under the moniker of Cajun Gib and Gene. 1966 also saw White begin playing with a country group called Trio, which featured drummer Bart Haney and former Kentucky Colonel, Roger Bush, on bass. In autumn of that year, as a result of his friendship with Gilbeau, Parsons and the Gosdin Brothers, White was asked to provide lead guitar to ex-Byrd Gene Clark's debut solo album, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers. White briefly joined Clark's touring band shortly thereafter. During the Clark album sessions, White reconnected with mandolin player and bassist Chris Hillman, who he had known during the early 1960s as a member of the bluegrass combo the Hillmen. Hillman was currently a member of the Byrds and, in December 1966, he invited White to contribute countrified lead guitar playing to his songs "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name", which both appeared on the Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday album. The country-oriented nature of the songs was something of a stylistic departure for the group and can be seen as an early indicator of the experimentation with country music that would color the Byrds' subsequent work. White also contributed guitar to the band's follow-up album, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, and to their seminal 1968 country rock release, Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Nashville West By mid-1967, White had begun performing at night in the band the Reasons (a.k.a. Nashville West), which included bass player Wayne Moore, along with Parsons and Guilbeau (as banjoist-turned-drummer and lead singer respectively). The band mostly worked at the Nashville West club in El Monte, California, frequently borrowing the club's name as their own. Critic Erik Hage has said that, in the years since their formation, the band have become legendary as one of the first to play a seamless blend of country and rock, although L.A. group the International Submarine Band, which featured country rock pioneer Gram Parsons (no relation to Gene), were also exploring a similar sound concurrently. A live recording of Nashville West would eventually be released in 1979, which music historian Richie Unterberger later described as being "of considerable historical interest for anyone interested in the roots of country-rock". Unterberger also remarked that the recording illustrated Nashville West as having "more electric rock influences than most country acts were using at the time." In addition to being a member of Nashville West, White was also a member of another country bar band that regularly played at the Nashville West club called the Roustabouts. In July 1967, White signed with Gary Paxton's Bakersfield International record label and released a pair of solo singles: "Tango for a Sad Mood" b/w "Tuff and Stringy" and "Grandma Funderbunks Music Box" b/w "Riff Raff". He also reportedly recorded a solo album for the label, although it has never been released. The StringBender During 1967, while they were both members of Nashville West, White and Parsons invented a device that enabled Clarence to simulate the sound of a pedal steel guitar on his 1954 Fender Telecaster. The need for such a device was driven by White's desire to bend his guitar's B-string up a full tone, while keeping his left hand on the strings and fretboard. In order to achieve this feat, White felt that he needed a third hand. The guitarist turned to his friend Parsons, who was an amateur machinist, and asked him to design and build an apparatus to pull or drop the B-string. The device, which was known as the Parsons/White StringBender (also known as the B-Bender), was a spring-lever mechanism built into the inside of White's guitar, which linked to the guitar's strap button and the B-string. When it was activated, by pulling down on the guitar neck, it pulled on the B-string and caused the guitar to simulate the "crying" sound of a pedal steel. White would go on to use the device extensively as a member of the Byrds and, as a result, the distinctive sound of the StringBender would become a defining characteristic of that band's music during White's tenure with the group. The Byrds Following the abrupt departure from the Byrds of singer and guitarist Gram Parsons in July 1968, White was invited to join the group as a full-time member, remaining until the band was finally dissolved by lead guitarist Roger McGuinn in February 1973. This extended tenure with the band makes White the second longest-serving member of the Byrds after McGuinn. White was brought into the group at bass player Chris Hillman's suggestion, as someone who could handle the band's older rock material and their newer country-flavored repertoire. Once he was a member of the Byrds, White began to express dissatisfaction with the band's current drummer, Kevin Kelley. Before long, he had persuaded McGuinn and Hillman to replace Kelley with his friend from the recently dissolved Nashville West, Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram). Hillman quit the Byrds within a month of White joining, in order to form the Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons. At around this same time, White and Gene Parsons undertook some informal rehearsing and recording with Hillman and Gram Parsons, as part of a prototype version of the Burrito Brothers. However, the pair declined an invitation to join the new country rock group and instead opted to stay with McGuinn's new-look Byrds. The White-era version of the Byrds, featuring McGuinn, White and Parsons, along with bassists John York (September 1968–September 1969) and Skip Battin (September 1969–February 1973), released five albums and toured relentlessly between 1969 and 1972. Journalist Steve Leggett has noted that, although the original line-up of the Byrds gets the most attention and praise, the latter-day version, featuring McGuinn and White's dual lead guitar work, was regarded by critics and audiences as much more accomplished in concert than any previous configuration of the band had been. Similarly, authors Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz have commented that although the White-era Byrds failed to achieve the commercial success of the original line-up, the group were a formidable live act and a consistently in-demand attraction on the touring circuit. The authors also cited the Byrds' archival release Live at the Fillmore – February 1969 as a good example of the White-era band's musical potency. Rolling Stone journalist David Fricke has commented on White's contribution to the band, by noting, "with his powerful, impeccable tone and melodic ingenuity, White did much to rebuild the creative reputation of the Byrds and define the road-hearty sound of the group at the turn of the '70s." The first Byrds' album to feature White as a full member was Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, which was released in early 1969. The album included a re-recording of the Gene Parsons and White-penned instrumental "Nashville West", as well as a rendition of the traditional song "Old Blue", which was the first Byrds' recording to utilize the StringBender. The Ballad of Easy Rider album followed in November 1969, on which White could be heard leading the band through a rendition of the traditional song "Oil in My Lamp", representing the guitarist's first lead vocal performance as a Byrd. 1970 saw the Byrds release the double album (Untitled), which consisted of one LP of live concert recordings and another of new studio recordings. Upon release, the album was a critical and commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic, peaking at number 40 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and reaching number 11 on the UK Albums Chart. Two of the album's studio recordings featured White singing lead vocals: a cover version of the Lowell George composition "Truck Stop Girl" and a rendition of Leadbelly's "Take a Whiff on Me" (the latter also featured White playing mandolin). In addition, excerpts from an instrumental jam, recorded during the (Untitled) album sessions and logged in the Columbia Records' files under the title of "Fifteen Minute Jam", were later released as "White's Lightning" and "White's Lightning Pt.2" on The Byrds box set and the remastered double CD version of (Untitled) respectively. The 1971 Byrdmaniax album saw White singing lead vocals on "My Destiny", written by Helen Carter, and "Jamaica Say You Will", penned by the then little-known songwriter Jackson Browne. In addition, White received a co-writing credit for the album's bluegrass instrumental "Green Apple Quick Step". This song also featured White's father, Eric White, Sr., on harmonica. Farther Along, released in November 1971, would prove to be the final album by the White-era Byrds. It featured White singing the Gospel hymn and title track "Farther Along" and a cover of the Larry Murray composition "Bugler". This latter song features White playing mandolin and has been described by Byrds expert Tim Connors as, "the best song on the album, and by far the best vocal ever recorded by Clarence White during his time with the Byrds." Following the release of Farther Along, the band continued to tour throughout 1972, but no new Byrds album appeared. In late 1972, the original five-piece line-up of the Byrds reunited and, as a result, McGuinn decided to disband the existing version of the band. Parsons had been fired in July 1972 and Battin was dismissed by McGuinn in early 1973. The last concert by the White-era version of the Byrds (which at this point featured former Byrd Chris Hillman on bass and Joe Lala on drums) was given on February 24, 1973 at The Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey, with White and McGuinn jokingly firing each other from the band afterwards. Despite being on tour or in the recording studio with the Byrds for the majority of the time between 1969 and 1972, White continued to undertake selected session work for other recording artists. During this period he played on Joe Cocker's 1969 album Joe Cocker!, Randy Newman's 1970 album 12 Songs, and the Everly Brothers' Stories We Could Tell from 1972. In early 1971, White also contributed guitar to Paul Siebel's Jack-Knife Gypsy album and the title track of the L.A. Getaway album by Joel Scott-Hill, John Barbata and Chris Ethridge. Other albums that White contributed his guitar playing to while he was a member of the Byrds include Linda Ronstadt's Hand Sown ... Home Grown (1969), Rita Coolidge's Rita Coolidge (1971), Marc Benno's Minnows (1971), Jackson Browne's Jackson Browne (1972), Gene Clark's Roadmaster (1973), and a trio of Arlo Guthrie albums: Running Down the Road (1969), Washington County (1970) and Hobo's Lullaby (1972). Post-Byrds In mid-February 1973, just prior to the break up of the White-era version of the Byrds, White joined with guitarist Peter Rowan, mandolinist David Grisman, fiddler Richard Greene, and banjoist Bill Keith to form the bluegrass supergroup Muleskinner. The musicians initially assembled as a one-off pickup band to back bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe for a television program, but ended up performing on their own when Monroe's tour bus broke down on the way to the television studios. A recording of this broadcast, which was once thought lost, was released as an album in 1992, under the title Muleskinner Live. A VHS video cassette of the broadcast was also released in 1992 and later re-issued on DVD. As a result of the success of their appearance on the television broadcast, the band was offered a one album recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at the Record Plant in Los Angeles between March 27 and April 14, 1973, with Richard Greene and Joe Boyd producing. The music the band recorded for the Muleskinner album (a.k.a. A Potpourri of Bluegrass Jam) was in the vein of country rock, traditional bluegrass and progressive bluegrass (or "newgrass"). It was also one of the first bluegrass albums to feature a full drum kit. The album was released in the latter half of 1973 and is nowadays regarded by critics as a milestone in the development of progressive bluegrass, with ex-band members Greene, Keith, Grisman, and Rowan all going on to become important figures in the development of that genre. In addition to his work with Muleskinner, White also undertook a number of sessions between late 1972 and early 1973 for his friend Gene Parsons' debut solo album Kindling. White's distinctive guitar and mandolin playing can be heard on the tracks "Do Not Disturb", "On the Spot", "Sonic Bummer", "I Must Be a Tree", "Banjo Dog", "Back Again", and "Drunkard's Dream" (the latter of which also features White contributing harmony vocals). Following completion of the Muleskinner album in April 1973, White reunited with his brothers Roland and Eric Jr. for a tour as the White Brothers (a.k.a. The New Kentucky Colonels). After playing a handful of shows in California, the White Brothers departed for Europe in May 1973. Returning to the U.S., White's final bout of touring took place with the New Kentucky Colonels in June 1973, as part of a four-date country rock package tour with Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Country Gazette, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Gene Parsons, Byron Berline, and Chris Ethridge among others. Although Gram and Clarence had been acquainted with one another since the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo sessions, the pair would develop a fast friendship during the mini-tour, after, what was by all accounts, a very acrimonious re-acquaintance. Following the end of the package tour, White entered the recording studio with producer Jim Dickson on June 28 and 29, 1973 to begin work on a solo album. He recorded a total of six songs, four of which would belatedly be released on the archival album Silver Meteor: A Progressive Country Anthology in 1980. Death White died on July 15, 1973, after being struck by a drunk driver. The accident occurred shortly after 2 a.m., while he and his brother Roland were loading equipment into their car in Palmdale, California, following a White Brothers concert. Gram Parsons was especially shaken by his death; he led a singalong of "Farther Along" at White's funeral service and later conceived his final song (before his own death), "In My Hour of Darkness", as a partial tribute to White. Clarence White was survived by his brothers Roland and Eric and sisters JoAnne and Rosemarie, and his one daughter, Michelle. Musical influence Clarence White helped popularize the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in bluegrass music, building on the work of guitarists such as Doc Watson. Prior to the advent of the more aggressive flatpicking style pioneered by guitarists like Watson and White, the guitar was strictly a rhythm instrument, save for a few exceptions (such as the occasional guitar track by banjoist Don Reno). Many of the most influential flatpickers of the 20th century cite White as a primary influence, including Dan Crary, Norman Blake, and Tony Rice. Rice owned and played White's highly modified 1935 Martin D-28. David Grier and Russ Barenberg are two other acoustic guitarists who were heavily influenced by White's guitar work. White's bluegrass playing with the Kentucky Colonels was also a considerable influence on Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, who traveled with the band during 1964. On the electric side of the guitar spectrum, White was similarly influential. Together with fellow Byrds bandmember Gene Parsons, White invented the B-Bender device. This device raises the B-string (second string) of the guitar a whole step by the use of pulleys and levers attached to both the upper strap knob and the second string on the guitar. It is activated by pushing down on the neck, and produces a "pedal steel" type sound. Arlen Roth, heavily influenced by this style, did not at the time know that White and Parsons had invented a B-bender, so instead developed his own unique all-finger bending version of this technique. This was heavily documented in his ground-breaking book, "Nashville Guitar", all of his recordings, as well as his book "Masters of the Telecaster". Subsequently, his Telecaster sound became as notable as his bluegrass playing. Marty Stuart, another guitarist influenced by White's playing, now owns and regularly plays White's 1954 Fender Telecaster with the prototype B-Bender. Music archivist and writer Alec Palao has called White "one of a handful of true greats amongst the instrumentalists of 20th century popular music", before adding that "the waves created by the guitarist's idiosyncratic style are still forming ripples within bluegrass, country and rock 'n' roll." In 2003, White was ranked No. 41 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2010, guitar manufacturer Gibson ranked White at No. 42 on their Top 50 Guitarists of All Time list. Selected album discography NOTES: This discography does not include albums that Clarence White played on as a session musician, with the exception of Dobro Country, on which he is billed by name. Sources for this section are Johnny Rogan's book Timeless Flight Revisited and the Kentucky Colonels discography at the AllMusic website. Kentucky Colonels The New Sound of Bluegrass America (1963) Appalachian Swing! (1964) Kentucky Colonels (1974) — UK reissue of Appalachian Swing! with two bonus tracks. Livin' in the Past (1975) — Various live recordings from 1961 to 1965. The Kentucky Colonels 1965-1966 (1976) — Live recordings. Scotty Stoneman, Live in LA with the Kentucky Colonels (1979) — Live recording from 1965. Kentucky Colonels 1966 (1979) — Studio demo recordings for an unreleased album. Clarence White and the Kentucky Colonels (1980) — Live recordings. On Stage (1984) — Live recordings. Long Journey Home (1991) — Live recordings from the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. Live in Stereo (1999) — Live recordings from a 1965 concert in Vancouver. Bush, Latham & White (2011) — Live recordings from 1964. Tut Taylor, Roland and Clarence White Dobro Country (1964) Nashville West Nashville West (a.k.a. The Legendary Nashville West Album) (1979) — Live recordings from 1967. The Byrds Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde (1969) Ballad of Easy Rider (1969) (Untitled) (1970) Byrdmaniax (1971) Farther Along (1971) Live at the Fillmore – February 1969 (2000) Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971 (2008) The Lost Broadcasts (2011) — Live recordings from the Byrds' 1971 appearance on the Beat-Club television program. Muleskinner Muleskinner (aka A Pot Pourri of Bluegrass Jam) (1973) Muleskinner Live: Original Television Soundtrack (1992) — Live recordings from a 1973 television broadcast. The New Kentucky Colonels The White Brothers: The New Kentucky Colonels Live in Sweden 1973 (1976) Live in Holland 1973 (2013) Clarence White 33 Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals (2003) — Recorded in 1962. Tuff & Stringy Sessions 1966–68 (2003) — Various studio sessions. Flatpick (2006) — Recorded 1964, 1967, 1970 and 1973. White Lightnin''' (2008) — Various recordings from 1962 to 1972. Tut Taylor & Clarence White Tut & Clarence Flatpickin''' (2003) References External links The Clarence White Forum Clarence White discography at Byrds Flyght The Essential Clarence White Bluegrass Guitar Leads Retrieved April 19, 2009. Byrd Watcher: Clarence White. Retrieved October 5, 2008. 1944 births 1973 deaths People from Lewiston, Maine American bluegrass musicians Road incident deaths in California Singers from Maine Singer-songwriters from California The Byrds members American people of French-Canadian descent American bluegrass guitarists American male guitarists American session musicians People from Aroostook County, Maine American rock guitarists American country guitarists American country rock musicians American country rock singers American mandolinists American male singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters Lead guitarists 20th-century American singers Guitarists from Los Angeles Guitarists from Maine 20th-century American guitarists Muleskinner (band) members Kentucky Colonels (band) members Nashville West members 20th-century American male singers
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[ "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" ]
[ "Paul Ryan", "Early life and education" ]
C_3e8539e8237d4b058d107f04ee5e4a39_1
Where was Ryan born?
1
Where was Paul Ryan born?
Paul Ryan
Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (nee Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Davis Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English ancestry. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan (1858-1917), founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan (1898-1957), was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother remarried, to Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. He attended the Washington Semester program at American University. Ryan worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. CANNOTANSWER
Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin,
Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American retired politician who served as the 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from October 2015 to January 2019. He was the 2012 Republican Party vice presidential nominee running alongside Mitt Romney, losing to incumbent president Barack Obama and then-vice president Joe Biden. Ryan, a native of Janesville, Wisconsin, graduated from Miami University in 1992. He spent five years working for Republicans in Washington, D.C. and returned to Wisconsin in 1997 to work at his family's construction company. Ryan was elected to Congress to represent the following year, replacing an incumbent Republican who ran for U.S. Senate. Ryan would represent the district for 20 years. He chaired the House Budget Committee from 2011 to 2015 and briefly chaired the House Ways and Means Committee in 2015 prior to being elected Speaker of the House in October 2015 following John Boehner's retirement. A self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan was a major proponent of Social Security privatization in the mid-2000s. In the 2010s, two proposals heavily influenced by Ryan—"The Path to Prosperity" and "A Better Way"—advocated for the privatization of Medicare, the conversion of Medicaid into a block grant program, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and significant federal tax cuts. As Speaker, he played a key role in the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act in 2018, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. His other major piece of legislation, the American Health Care Act of 2017, passed the House but failed in the Senate by one vote. Ryan declined to run for re-election in the 2018 midterm elections. With the Democratic Party taking control of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi succeeded Ryan as Speaker of the House. Early life and education Paul Davis Ryan was born on January 29, 1970 in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (née Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Murray Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English descent. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan, founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan, was appointed United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. In 2018, while filming a segment for the PBS series Finding Your Roots, Ryan learned that his DNA results included 3 percent Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Although Ryan's father was not a lifelong heavy drinker, staying sober for nearly twenty years after his first stint in rehabilitation, he had become an alcoholic by the time Ryan was a teenager. Ryan later commented on his relationship with his father, whom he revered as a young child, stating that "[alcohol] made him more distant, irritable and stressed ... whiskey had washed away some of the best parts of the man I knew." When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack, something Ryan later partially attributed to heavy alcohol consumption. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother later married widower Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten, where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. Ryan attended the Washington Semester program at American University. He worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. Early career Betty Ryan reportedly urged her son to accept a congressional position as a legislative aide in Senator Kasten's office, which he did after graduating in 1992. In his early years working on Capitol Hill, Ryan supplemented his income by working as a waiter, as a fitness trainer, and at other jobs. A few months after Kasten lost to Democrat Russ Feingold in the 1992 election, Ryan became a speechwriter for Empower America (now FreedomWorks), a conservative advocacy group founded by Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and William Bennett. Ryan later worked as a speechwriter for Kemp, the Republican vice presidential candidate in the 1996 United States presidential election. Kemp became Ryan's mentor, and Ryan has said he had a "huge influence". In 1995, Ryan became the legislative director for then-U.S. Congressman Sam Brownback of Kansas. In 1997 he returned to Wisconsin, where he worked for a year as a marketing consultant for the construction company Ryan Incorporated Central, owned by his relatives. U.S. House of Representatives Elections Ryan was first elected to the House in 1998, winning the 1st District seat of Republican Mark Neumann, a two-term incumbent who had vacated his seat to make an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate. 28-year-old Ryan won the Republican primary over 29-year-old pianist Michael J. Logan of Twin Lakes, and the general election against Democrat Lydia Spottswood. This made him the second-youngest member of the House. Reelected eight times, Ryan never received less than 55 percent of the vote in a congressional election. He defeated Democratic challenger Jeffrey C. Thomas in the 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 elections. In the 2008 election, Ryan defeated Democrat Marge Krupp. In the 2010 general election, he defeated Democrat John Heckenlively and Libertarian Joseph Kexel. In 2012, under Wisconsin election law, Ryan was allowed to run concurrently for vice president and for Congress and was not allowed to remove his name from the Congressional ballot after being nominated for the vice presidency. He faced Democratic nominee Rob Zerban. As of July 25, 2012, Ryan had over $5.4 million in his congressional campaign account, more than any other House member. He was reelected with 55 percent of his district's vote and 44 percent of the vote in his hometown, Janesville. Zerban again challenged Ryan in the 2014 House election. Ryan won with 63 percent of his district's vote. In the 2016 Republican primary election, Ryan faced businessman Paul Nehlen, who had been endorsed by Sarah Palin. Because of Nehlen's support for Trump, Trump publicly thanked him on Twitter and later told The Washington Post that Nehlen was "running a very good campaign", even though he did not endorse him. On August 5, 2016, Trump endorsed Ryan's re-election after pressure from fellow Republican leaders. In the August 9, 2016 primary election, Ryan overwhelmingly defeated Nehlen, taking over 84 percent of the vote. In the November general election, Ryan faced Democrat Rebecca Solen and won with 65 percent of his district's vote. Committee assignments As Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ryan was not a chair or a member of any committee. Prior to his speakership, Ryan held the following assignments: Committee on Ways and Means (Chairman) Subcommittee on Health Caucus memberships House Republican Caucus Caucus of House Conservatives Republican Study Committee United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus Middle East Economic Partnership Caucus Prayer Caucus Sportsmen's Caucus (Co-Chair) Congressional Western Caucus Pre-Speaker congressional tenure (1999–2015) Ryan became the ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee in 2007 and became chairman of the committee in 2011 after Republicans took control of the House. That same year, he was selected to deliver the Republican response to the State of the Union address. As of August 2012, Ryan had been the primary sponsor of more than 70 bills or amendments, and only two of those bills had become law. One, passed in July 2000, renamed a post office in Ryan's district; the other, passed in December 2008, lowered the excise tax on arrow shafts. As of August 2012, Ryan had also co-sponsored 975 bills, of which 176 had passed; 22% of these bills were originally sponsored by a Democrat. Ryan was a "reliable supporter of the [George W. Bush] administration's foreign policy priorities" who voted for the 2002 Iraq Resolution, authorizing the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2010, Ryan was a member of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Bowles-Simpson Commission), which was tasked with developing a plan to reduce the federal deficit. He voted against the final report of the commission. In 2012, Ryan accused the nation's top military leaders of using "smoke and mirrors" to remain under budget limits passed by Congress. Ryan later said that he misspoke on the issue and called General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to apologize for his comments. Speaker of the House 114th Congress On September 25, 2015, John Boehner formally announced to House Republicans his intention to resign from the speakership and the House. Among those interested in the post, Kevin McCarthy—who had wide support among Republicans, including Boehner, and Ryan, who was set to officially nominate him—was considered the presumptive favorite. His candidacy was opposed by conservative House Republicans of the Freedom Caucus, and when it became clear that caucus members would not support his candidacy, McCarthy withdrew his name from consideration on October 8. This led many Republicans to turn to Ryan as a compromise candidate. The push included a plea from Boehner, who reportedly told Ryan that he was the only person who could unite the House Republicans at a time of turmoil. Ryan released a statement that said, "While I am grateful for the encouragement I've received, I will not be a candidate." The next day however, close aides of Ryan's confirmed that Ryan had re-evaluated the situation, and was considering the possibility of a run. Ryan confirmed on October 22, that he would seek the speakership after receiving the endorsements of two factions of House Republicans, including the conservative Freedom Caucus. Ryan, upon confirming his bid for the speakership, stated, "I never thought I'd be speaker. But I pledged to you that if I could be a unifying figure, then I would serve – I would go all in. After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as one, united team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker." On October 29, Ryan was elected Speaker, receiving 236 votes, an absolute majority of the 435-member chamber. Democrat Nancy Pelosi received 184 votes, with 12 more going to others. After the vote Ryan delivered his first remarks as speaker-elect and was sworn in by John Conyers, the dean of the House, becoming, at age , the youngest person elected as speaker since James G. Blaine (age ) in 1869. Later, he named lobbyist John David Hoppe as his Chief of Staff. As Speaker, Ryan became the leader of the House Republicans. However, by tradition, he largely ceased taking part in debate and almost never voted from the floor. He was also not a member of any committees. 2016 presidential election After Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election on May 4, 2016, Ryan was hesitant to endorse him, stating on May 5 that he was "not ready". Ryan and Trump met in private on May 12, releasing a joint statement afterward, acknowledging their differences but stating "we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground." On June 2, Ryan announced his support for Trump in an op-ed in The Janesville Gazette. The following day, June 3, amid Trump's criticism of Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, Ryan said Trump's critique "just was out of left field for my mind," and voiced disagreement with him. On June 7, Ryan disavowed Trump's comments about Curiel because he believed they were "the textbook definition of a racist comment". Nevertheless, Ryan continued to endorse Trump, believing that more Republican policies will be enacted under Donald Trump than presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. On June 15, after Kevin McCarthy stated during a conversation among Republicans, "There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump. Swear to God", Ryan interjected, "No leaks. This is how we know we're a real family here." On July 5, after FBI Director James Comey advocated against pressing charges against Clinton for her email scandal, Ryan said Comey's decision "defies explanation" and stated that "[d]eclining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent." In October 2016, following the Donald Trump Access Hollywood controversy, Ryan disinvited Trump from a scheduled campaign rally, and announced that he would no longer defend or support Trump's presidential campaign but would focus instead on Congressional races. He also freed down-ticket congress members to use their own judgment about Trump, saying "you all need to do what's best for you and your district." Trump then went on to attack Ryan, accusing him and other "disloyal" Republicans of deliberately undermining his candidacy as part of "a whole sinister deal". 115th Congress Two months after the 2016 elections, Ryan was re-elected Speaker of the House on January 3, 2017, the opening day of the 115th Congress. He received 239 votes to House Democratic Leader Pelosi's 189 votes (with 5 more going to others). On February 7, 2017, Ryan told reporters a replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be introduced "this year" amid speculation Donald Trump would not act toward doing so until the following year. On March 9, Ryan gave a 30-minute lecture explaining the proposed replacement for the ACA, titled the American Health Care Act (AHCA). On March 30, Ryan said that he did not intend to work with Democrats on repealing and replacing the ACA, reasoning their involvement would lead to "government running health care." On April 4, Ryan confirmed renewed discussions of an ACA replacement, but warned that a replacement was in the "conceptual" stages of its development. On May 4, the House narrowly voted for the AHCA to repeal the ACA. On May 9, Ryan said that "a month or two" would pass before the Senate would pass its own ACA repeal and replacement legislation. The Senate created several of its own versions of the act but was unable to pass any of them. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Ryan suggested that candidate Trump should release his tax returns. In May 2017, Ryan said Congress' goal was "calendared 2017 for tax reform" and reported progress was being made in doing so. In December 2017, both houses of Congress passed a $1.5 trillion tax bill called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which Trump signed into law on December 22. The tax law is projected to add an additional $1.5 trillion to the national debt over a decade, but the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation also estimated that the GDP level on average would be 0.7% higher during the same period. In the weeks leading up to his retirement announcement, Ryan also championed a $1.3 trillion government-wide spending bill that boosted military spending significantly. Politico noted that Ryan "clamored for austerity when he's been in the minority, trashing Democrats as profligate budget-busters, but he's happily busted budgets in the majority." In June 2017, Ryan expressed support for strong sanctions on Russia in response to Russian interference in the 2016 elections and its annexation of the Crimea, saying that Russia's actions were "unacceptable". He urged Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Congressional oversight committees to "do their jobs so that we can get to the bottom of all of this." In July Congress passed a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia and giving Congress the power to overrule White House attempts to roll back sanctions. Both houses passed the bill with veto-proof majorities (98-2 in the Senate, 419-3 in the House), so Trump reluctantly signed it into law on August 2, 2017. Ryan provided political cover for Devin Nunes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, who many characterized as a source of the dysfunction in the committee as it investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election. Nunes accused the Obama administration of improperly “unmasking” the identities of Trump associates (which led Nunes' temporary recusal from the committee's Russia investigation), accused the FBI of misconduct, leaked the text messages of Senator Mark Warner (in an effort to misleadingly suggest impropriety on his behalf), and threatened to impeach FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The House Intelligence Committee was one of few so-called "select" committees in Congress, which meant that it was up to Ryan to decide the chairman of the committee. Despite having favored comprehensive immigration earlier in his congressional career, Speaker Ryan prevented immigration legislation from being advanced in the House. When President Trump ended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) – which granted temporary stay for undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as minors – Ryan said DACA recipients should "rest easy" because Congress would solve the problem for them, but Ryan backed no bills to protect DACA recipients. An article in The Washington Post described Ryan's relationship with President Trump as "friendly, if occasionally uneasy," adding that "Ryan did little to check the president or encourage oversight of his administration." Ryan supported Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, and did not support legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Ryan said that legislation to protect Mueller's investigation was not "necessary". On April 11, 2018, Ryan announced that he would not run for re-election in November, saying, "I like to think I've done my part, my little part in history to set us on a better course." In response, Trump tweeted, "Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question." In May 2018, Ryan led the House in passing the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. It was signed into law by President Trump a few days later. After Republicans lost control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections, Ryan suggested that there were irregularities about the election results in California. Ryan said that California's election system was "bizarre", "defies logic" and that "there are a lot of races there we should have won." After Ryan's remarks were reported on, Ryan's spokesperson said "The Speaker did not and does not dispute the results". Assessment of Speaker tenure Following Ryan's retirement announcement, an article in The Washington Post stated that Ryan was "leav[ing] behind a legacy of dramatically expanded government spending and immense deficits, a GOP president unchecked, a broken immigration system, and a party that's fast abandoning the free-trade principles that he himself championed." According to the Associated Press, Ryan "achieved one of his career goals: rewriting the tax code"; however, "on his other defining aim — balancing the budget and cutting back benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — Ryan has utterly failed". Constituent services In fiscal year 2008, Ryan garnered $5.4 million in congressional earmarks, including $3.28 million for bus service in Wisconsin, $1.38 million for the Ice Age Trail, and $735,000 for the Janesville transit system. In 2009, he successfully advocated with the Department of Energy for stimulus funds for energy initiatives in his district. Other home district projects he has supported include a runway extension at the Rock County Airport, an environmental study of the Kenosha Harbor, firefighting equipment for Janesville, road projects in Wisconsin, and commuter rail and streetcar projects in Kenosha. In 2008, Ryan pledged to stop seeking earmarks. Prior to that he had sought earmarks less often than other representatives. Taxpayers for Common Sense records show no earmarks supported by Ryan for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. In 2012, Ryan supported a request for $3.8 million from the Department of Transportation for a new transit center in Janesville, which city officials received in July. Ryan was an active member of a task force established by Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle that tried unsuccessfully to persuade General Motors to keep its assembly plant in Janesville open. He made personal contact with GM executives to try to convince them to save or retool the plant, offering GM hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded incentives. Following the closure of factories in Janesville and Kenosha, constituents expressed dissatisfaction with Ryan's voting history. During the 2011 Congressional summer break, Ryan held town hall meetings by telephone with constituents. The only public meetings Ryan attended in his district required an admission fee of at least $15. In August 2011, constituents in Kenosha and Racine protested when Ryan would not meet with them about economic and employment issues, after weeks of emailed requests from them. His Kenosha office locked its doors and filed a complaint with the police, who told the protesters that they were not allowed in Ryan's office. Ryan maintained a mobile office to serve constituents in outlying areas. 2012 vice presidential campaign Dan Balz of The Washington Post wrote that Ryan was promoted as a candidate for Vice President "by major elements of the conservative opinion makers, including The Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Weekly Standard and the editor of National Review". On August 11, 2012, the Romney campaign announced Ryan as its choice for Vice President through its "Mitt's VP" mobile app. It was reported that Romney had offered the position to Ryan on August 1, 2012, the day after returning from a foreign policy trip to the United Kingdom, Poland, and Israel. On August 11, 2012, Ryan formally accepted Romney's invitation to join his campaign as his running mate, in front of the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk. Ryan is the first individual from Wisconsin as well as the first member of Generation X to run on a major party's national ticket. Also in August 2012, the Associated Press published a story saying that while the Tea Party movement had wanted a nominee other than Romney, it had gotten "one of its ideological heroes" in the Vice Presidential slot. According to the article, Ryan supports the Tea Party's belief in "individual rights, distrust of big government and an allegorical embrace of the Founding Fathers". According to a statistical-historical analysis conducted by Nate Silver, "Ryan is the most conservative Republican member of Congress to be picked for the vice-presidential slot since at least 1900" and "is also more conservative than any Democratic nominee [for vice president who previously served in the Congress] was liberal, meaning that he is the furthest from the center" of any vice presidential candidate chosen from Congress since the turn of the 20th century. Political scientist Eric Schickler commented that while Ryan "may well be the most conservative vice presidential nominee in decades," the NOMINATE methodology "is not suited to making claims about the relative liberalism or conservatism of politicians" over a long time span. A USA Today/Gallup poll found that 39% thought Ryan was an "excellent" or "pretty good" vice presidential choice, compared to 42% who felt he was a "fair" or "poor" choice. Ryan formally accepted his nomination at the 2012 Republican National Convention on August 29, 2012. In his acceptance speech, he promoted Mitt Romney as the presidential candidate, supported repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), said that he and Romney had a plan to generate 12 million new jobs over the ensuing four years, and promoted founding principles as a solution: "We will not duck the tough issues—we will lead. We will not spend four years blaming others—we will take responsibility. We will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles." The speech was well received by the convention audience and praised for being well-delivered. Some fact-checkers purported that there were important factual omissions and that he presented details out of context. Conservative media (including Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post, the Investor's Business Daily, and Fox News) disputed some of the fact-checkers' findings. Of 33 of Ryan's statements which Politifact.com suspected of being false or misleading, it rated 10.5% as True, 18% as Mostly True, 21% as Half True, 36% as Mostly False, 9% as False, and 6% as Pants on Fire. On October 11, 2012, Ryan debated his Democratic counterpart, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, in the only vice presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle. Romney and Ryan lost the 2012 presidential election, but Ryan retained his seat in the House of Representatives. Congressional Leadership Fund The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a Super PAC, has been closely linked and aligned with Ryan. Ryan has directed major GOP donors towards the CLF. Political positions Ryan's political positions were generally conservative, with a focus on fiscal policy. Ryan "played a central role in nearly all" the policy debates of the period 2010–2012. In 2012, Ryan voted against the Simpson-Bowles commission proposal to reduce the deficit, because the proposal raised taxes and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. While he was a self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan's tenure of Speaker of the House saw a major expansion in government spending and a ballooning of deficits despite unified Republican control of Congress and the White House, no recession and no new foreign conflict. Ryan subscribed to supply-side economics and supported tax cuts including eliminating the capital gains tax, the corporate income tax, the estate tax, and the Alternative Minimum Tax. Ryan supports deregulation, including the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999, which repealed some financial regulation of banks from the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. During the economic recovery from the Great Recession of the late 2000s, Ryan supported the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which authorized the Treasury to purchase toxic assets from banks and other financial institutions, and the auto industry bailout; Ryan opposed the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which expanded consumer protections regarding credit card plans, and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which strengthened financial regulation. In 2018 as House Speaker, Ryan helped pass the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act that repealed large parts of Dodd-Frank. In 2016, Ryan rolled out a set of anti-poverty proposals that "seek to expand work requirements for those receiving federal benefits, to give states and local jurisdictions a greater role in administering those benefits, to better measure the results of federal programs for the poor, and to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse." Ryan believes federal poverty reduction programs are ineffective and he supports cuts to welfare, child care, Pell Grants, food stamps, and other federal assistance programs. Ryan supports block granting Medicaid to the states and the privatization of social security and Medicare. Ryan supported the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit and opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as "Obamacare." Ryan supported the American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA), the 2017 House Republican plan to repeal and replace the ACA. In 2012, The New York Times said Ryan was "his party's most forceful spokesman for cutting entitlement spending." Ryan's non-fiscal policy positions were subject to additional national attention with his 2012 candidacy for Vice President. Ryan is pro-life and opposes abortion rights. Ryan opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which provides that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. In 2012, Ryan supported civil unions and opposed same-sex marriage. Ryan supported school vouchers, and supported the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and its repeal the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015. Ryan is unsure, and believes climate scientists are unsure, of the impact of human activity on climate change. Ryan supported tax incentives for the petroleum industry and opposed them for renewable energy. Ryan supported gun rights and opposed stricter gun control. Ryan supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ryan condemned Barack Obama's decision not to block a UN resolution criticizing Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories as "absolutely shameful". Ryan supported President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He stated: "Jerusalem has been, and always will be, the eternal, undivided capital of the State of Israel." Following the 2018 Russia–United States summit, in which Donald Trump stated that he believed Russian government did not interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Ryan confirmed his belief that Russian government interfered and advocated for more economic sanctions against Russia for the interference. Ryan supported U.S. involvement in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen and used his power to block a House vote on the war in Yemen. History with Objectivism At a 2005 Washington, D.C. gathering celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ayn Rand's birth, Ryan credited Rand with having inspired him to get involved in politics. In a speech that same year at the Atlas Society, he said he grew up reading Rand, and that her books taught him about his value system and beliefs. Ryan required staffers and interns in his congressional office to read Rand and gave copies of her novel Atlas Shrugged as gifts to his staff for Christmas. In his Atlas Society speech, he also described Social Security as a "socialist-based system". In 2009, Ryan said, "What's unique about what's happening today in government, in the world, in America, is that it's as if we're living in an Ayn Rand novel right now. I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is under assault." In April 2012, after receiving criticism from Georgetown University faculty members on his budget plan, Ryan rejected Rand's philosophy as atheistic, saying it "reduces human interactions down to mere contracts". He also called the reports of his adherence to Rand's views an "urban legend" and stated that he was deeply influenced by his Roman Catholic faith and by Thomas Aquinas. Electoral history Post-congressional life In March 2019, Ryan joined the board of directors of Fox Corporation, the owner of Fox News Channel and the Fox broadcast network. In August 2019, he joined the board of SHINE Medical Technologies. He has since joined the faculty of the University of Notre Dame as a professor of practice for the 2019–20 academic year as a guest lecturer in political science and economics. In April 2019, Ryan was nominated as the delegation leader to represent President Trump to visit Taipei. With Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, he attended the 40th anniversary ceremony of the Taiwan Relations Act. In October 2019, Ryan launched a non-profit called American Idea Foundation. Personal life In December 2000, Ryan married Janna Christine Little, a tax attorney, a graduate of Wellesley College and George Washington University Law School, and a native of Madill, Oklahoma. The Ryans live in the Courthouse Hill Historic District of Janesville, Wisconsin. They have three children: Elizabeth "Liza" Anne, Charles Wilson, and Samuel Lowery. A Roman Catholic, Ryan is a member of St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Janesville. Janna is a cousin of former Democratic Representative Dan Boren (D-OK). She is also a granddaughter of Reuel Little, who helped found the American Party to support the 1968 presidential campaign of George Wallace. Due to a family history of fatal heart attacks before age 60, Ryan pursues an intense cross-training fitness program called P90X. Ryan has always been a fitness enthusiast and was a personal trainer when he came out of college. About P90X, he said, "It works because it's called muscle confusion. It hits your body in many different ways. Pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, lots of cardio, karate, jump training. It has results, it works. It's a good workout." In a 2010 Politico interview, he said that he weighed 163 pounds and maintained his body fat percentage between 6 and 8%. Tony Horton, creator of P90X, who has personally trained Ryan many times, reiterated the claim saying, "He is very, very, very lean. I know what 6 to 8 percent body fat looks like, and there's no fat anywhere on the man. I'm around 9 percent and he's much leaner than I am. He’s easily 6 to 8 percent body fat. You just have to eat right and exercise every day, and that’s what he does." In a radio interview, Ryan claimed he had once run a marathon in under three hours; he later stated that he forgot his actual time and was just trying to state what he thought was a normal time. His one official marathon time is recorded as slightly over four hours. Awards and honors 2004, 2010 – Guardian of Small Business Award, National Federation of Independent Business 2008 – Defending the American Dream Award, Americans for Prosperity, Wisconsin chapter 2009 – Manufacturing Legislative Excellence Award, National Association of Manufacturers 2009 – Honorary Degree, Miami University 2010 – Legislator of the Year Award, International Franchise Association 2011 – Statesmanship Award, Claremont Institute 2011 – Fiscy Award for responsible financial stewardship and fiscal discipline in government. 2011 – Leadership Award, Jack Kemp Foundation 2011 – Freedom and Prosperity Award, Mason Contractors Association of America 2012 – Chair, Honorary Board of the Archery Trade Association 2014 – Alexander Hamilton Award, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research 2018 – Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service References Further reading Works about Ryan Works by Ryan External links Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Historical Society |- |- |- |- |- |- 1970 births 2012 United States vice-presidential candidates 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Roman Catholics American male non-fiction writers American people of English descent American people of Jewish descent American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American political writers American speechwriters American University alumni Catholics from Wisconsin Living people Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin Miami University alumni Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign Politicians from Janesville, Wisconsin Republican Party (United States) vice presidential nominees Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Speakers of the United States House of Representatives University of Notre Dame faculty Wisconsin Republicans Writers from Wisconsin Joseph A. Craig High School alumni 21st-century American male writers
false
[ "Kevin John Ryan (born 20 June 1984) is an Irish actor, known for his television roles in the TV series Copper and Crossbones.\n\nEarly life\nRyan was born in Dublin, Ireland, He comes from a family of stonecutters, as a young man, Ryan completed a stonecutting apprenticeship, but his own interests were in the dramatic arts. He attended Terenure College.\n\nCareer\nInitially Ryan was a professional dancer, but decided to pursue acting. He moved to Hollywood, where he trained in the Stanislavski system of method acting. His most notable roles are Francis Maguire in Copper, Finnegan in Crossbones and Patrick Ryan in Guilt.\n\nPersonal life\nRyan was married to Dedee Pfeiffer from 2009 to 2012.\n\nFilmography\n\nAwards\nRyan was voted one of Ireland's sexiest Irish men (he was voted #70 in Social & Personal's sexiest Irish men 2008 and voted #59 in 2009).\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1984 births\nIrish male film actors\nIrish male television actors\nLiving people\nMale actors from Dublin (city)", "Dan Ryan (born June 21, 1962) is an American non-profit executive and politician who was elected to the Portland City Council on August 12, 2020. Ryan defeated Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith in a runoff election to succeed Nick Fish, who died of stomach cancer on January 2, 2020. Ryan will serve for the remainder of Fish's term, which ends in 2022.\n\nEarly life and education \nRyan was born in North Portland, Oregon, the youngest of eight children. Ryan was the first in his family to graduate from college. Ryan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oregon and took graduate courses at The New School.\n\nCareer \nPrior to announcing his candidacy for Portland City Council, Ryan worked as an administrator at Portland State University, where he managed the school's first capital campaign.\n\nRyan served as a member of the Portland School Board from 2005 to 2008, and was the CEO of All Hands Raised, an education non-profit, from 2008 to 2019. Ryan is the third LGBT person elected as a commissioner of Portland, and the first to have been diagnosed with HIV. Upon his election in August, Ryan called for an end to the 2020 Portland protests and committed to establishing a \"peace summit\" between local politicians and activists. Ryan assumed office on September 9, 2020.\n\nDuring his campaign, Ryan was endorsed by City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty and former Governor Barbara Roberts.\n\nPersonal life \nWhile living in New York City in 1986, Ryan was diagnosed with HIV. In 1996, Ryan was diagnosed with pneumocystis and was given between six months and a year to live. He then returned from Seattle, where he was living at the time, to his hometown of Portland, Oregon, expecting to die soon.\n\nReferences \n\n1960s births\n21st-century American politicians\nLiving people\nLGBT city councillors from the United States\nOregon Democrats\nPeople with HIV/AIDS\nPortland City Council members (Oregon)\nSchool board members in Oregon\nUniversity of Oregon alumni\n21st-century LGBT people" ]
[ "Paul Ryan", "Early life and education", "Where was Ryan born?", "Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin," ]
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Where did Ryan go to school?
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Where did Paul Ryan go to school?
Paul Ryan
Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (nee Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Davis Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English ancestry. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan (1858-1917), founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan (1898-1957), was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother remarried, to Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. He attended the Washington Semester program at American University. Ryan worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. CANNOTANSWER
Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team,
Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American retired politician who served as the 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from October 2015 to January 2019. He was the 2012 Republican Party vice presidential nominee running alongside Mitt Romney, losing to incumbent president Barack Obama and then-vice president Joe Biden. Ryan, a native of Janesville, Wisconsin, graduated from Miami University in 1992. He spent five years working for Republicans in Washington, D.C. and returned to Wisconsin in 1997 to work at his family's construction company. Ryan was elected to Congress to represent the following year, replacing an incumbent Republican who ran for U.S. Senate. Ryan would represent the district for 20 years. He chaired the House Budget Committee from 2011 to 2015 and briefly chaired the House Ways and Means Committee in 2015 prior to being elected Speaker of the House in October 2015 following John Boehner's retirement. A self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan was a major proponent of Social Security privatization in the mid-2000s. In the 2010s, two proposals heavily influenced by Ryan—"The Path to Prosperity" and "A Better Way"—advocated for the privatization of Medicare, the conversion of Medicaid into a block grant program, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and significant federal tax cuts. As Speaker, he played a key role in the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act in 2018, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. His other major piece of legislation, the American Health Care Act of 2017, passed the House but failed in the Senate by one vote. Ryan declined to run for re-election in the 2018 midterm elections. With the Democratic Party taking control of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi succeeded Ryan as Speaker of the House. Early life and education Paul Davis Ryan was born on January 29, 1970 in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (née Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Murray Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English descent. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan, founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan, was appointed United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. In 2018, while filming a segment for the PBS series Finding Your Roots, Ryan learned that his DNA results included 3 percent Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Although Ryan's father was not a lifelong heavy drinker, staying sober for nearly twenty years after his first stint in rehabilitation, he had become an alcoholic by the time Ryan was a teenager. Ryan later commented on his relationship with his father, whom he revered as a young child, stating that "[alcohol] made him more distant, irritable and stressed ... whiskey had washed away some of the best parts of the man I knew." When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack, something Ryan later partially attributed to heavy alcohol consumption. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother later married widower Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten, where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. Ryan attended the Washington Semester program at American University. He worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. Early career Betty Ryan reportedly urged her son to accept a congressional position as a legislative aide in Senator Kasten's office, which he did after graduating in 1992. In his early years working on Capitol Hill, Ryan supplemented his income by working as a waiter, as a fitness trainer, and at other jobs. A few months after Kasten lost to Democrat Russ Feingold in the 1992 election, Ryan became a speechwriter for Empower America (now FreedomWorks), a conservative advocacy group founded by Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and William Bennett. Ryan later worked as a speechwriter for Kemp, the Republican vice presidential candidate in the 1996 United States presidential election. Kemp became Ryan's mentor, and Ryan has said he had a "huge influence". In 1995, Ryan became the legislative director for then-U.S. Congressman Sam Brownback of Kansas. In 1997 he returned to Wisconsin, where he worked for a year as a marketing consultant for the construction company Ryan Incorporated Central, owned by his relatives. U.S. House of Representatives Elections Ryan was first elected to the House in 1998, winning the 1st District seat of Republican Mark Neumann, a two-term incumbent who had vacated his seat to make an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate. 28-year-old Ryan won the Republican primary over 29-year-old pianist Michael J. Logan of Twin Lakes, and the general election against Democrat Lydia Spottswood. This made him the second-youngest member of the House. Reelected eight times, Ryan never received less than 55 percent of the vote in a congressional election. He defeated Democratic challenger Jeffrey C. Thomas in the 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 elections. In the 2008 election, Ryan defeated Democrat Marge Krupp. In the 2010 general election, he defeated Democrat John Heckenlively and Libertarian Joseph Kexel. In 2012, under Wisconsin election law, Ryan was allowed to run concurrently for vice president and for Congress and was not allowed to remove his name from the Congressional ballot after being nominated for the vice presidency. He faced Democratic nominee Rob Zerban. As of July 25, 2012, Ryan had over $5.4 million in his congressional campaign account, more than any other House member. He was reelected with 55 percent of his district's vote and 44 percent of the vote in his hometown, Janesville. Zerban again challenged Ryan in the 2014 House election. Ryan won with 63 percent of his district's vote. In the 2016 Republican primary election, Ryan faced businessman Paul Nehlen, who had been endorsed by Sarah Palin. Because of Nehlen's support for Trump, Trump publicly thanked him on Twitter and later told The Washington Post that Nehlen was "running a very good campaign", even though he did not endorse him. On August 5, 2016, Trump endorsed Ryan's re-election after pressure from fellow Republican leaders. In the August 9, 2016 primary election, Ryan overwhelmingly defeated Nehlen, taking over 84 percent of the vote. In the November general election, Ryan faced Democrat Rebecca Solen and won with 65 percent of his district's vote. Committee assignments As Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ryan was not a chair or a member of any committee. Prior to his speakership, Ryan held the following assignments: Committee on Ways and Means (Chairman) Subcommittee on Health Caucus memberships House Republican Caucus Caucus of House Conservatives Republican Study Committee United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus Middle East Economic Partnership Caucus Prayer Caucus Sportsmen's Caucus (Co-Chair) Congressional Western Caucus Pre-Speaker congressional tenure (1999–2015) Ryan became the ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee in 2007 and became chairman of the committee in 2011 after Republicans took control of the House. That same year, he was selected to deliver the Republican response to the State of the Union address. As of August 2012, Ryan had been the primary sponsor of more than 70 bills or amendments, and only two of those bills had become law. One, passed in July 2000, renamed a post office in Ryan's district; the other, passed in December 2008, lowered the excise tax on arrow shafts. As of August 2012, Ryan had also co-sponsored 975 bills, of which 176 had passed; 22% of these bills were originally sponsored by a Democrat. Ryan was a "reliable supporter of the [George W. Bush] administration's foreign policy priorities" who voted for the 2002 Iraq Resolution, authorizing the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2010, Ryan was a member of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Bowles-Simpson Commission), which was tasked with developing a plan to reduce the federal deficit. He voted against the final report of the commission. In 2012, Ryan accused the nation's top military leaders of using "smoke and mirrors" to remain under budget limits passed by Congress. Ryan later said that he misspoke on the issue and called General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to apologize for his comments. Speaker of the House 114th Congress On September 25, 2015, John Boehner formally announced to House Republicans his intention to resign from the speakership and the House. Among those interested in the post, Kevin McCarthy—who had wide support among Republicans, including Boehner, and Ryan, who was set to officially nominate him—was considered the presumptive favorite. His candidacy was opposed by conservative House Republicans of the Freedom Caucus, and when it became clear that caucus members would not support his candidacy, McCarthy withdrew his name from consideration on October 8. This led many Republicans to turn to Ryan as a compromise candidate. The push included a plea from Boehner, who reportedly told Ryan that he was the only person who could unite the House Republicans at a time of turmoil. Ryan released a statement that said, "While I am grateful for the encouragement I've received, I will not be a candidate." The next day however, close aides of Ryan's confirmed that Ryan had re-evaluated the situation, and was considering the possibility of a run. Ryan confirmed on October 22, that he would seek the speakership after receiving the endorsements of two factions of House Republicans, including the conservative Freedom Caucus. Ryan, upon confirming his bid for the speakership, stated, "I never thought I'd be speaker. But I pledged to you that if I could be a unifying figure, then I would serve – I would go all in. After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as one, united team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker." On October 29, Ryan was elected Speaker, receiving 236 votes, an absolute majority of the 435-member chamber. Democrat Nancy Pelosi received 184 votes, with 12 more going to others. After the vote Ryan delivered his first remarks as speaker-elect and was sworn in by John Conyers, the dean of the House, becoming, at age , the youngest person elected as speaker since James G. Blaine (age ) in 1869. Later, he named lobbyist John David Hoppe as his Chief of Staff. As Speaker, Ryan became the leader of the House Republicans. However, by tradition, he largely ceased taking part in debate and almost never voted from the floor. He was also not a member of any committees. 2016 presidential election After Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election on May 4, 2016, Ryan was hesitant to endorse him, stating on May 5 that he was "not ready". Ryan and Trump met in private on May 12, releasing a joint statement afterward, acknowledging their differences but stating "we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground." On June 2, Ryan announced his support for Trump in an op-ed in The Janesville Gazette. The following day, June 3, amid Trump's criticism of Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, Ryan said Trump's critique "just was out of left field for my mind," and voiced disagreement with him. On June 7, Ryan disavowed Trump's comments about Curiel because he believed they were "the textbook definition of a racist comment". Nevertheless, Ryan continued to endorse Trump, believing that more Republican policies will be enacted under Donald Trump than presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. On June 15, after Kevin McCarthy stated during a conversation among Republicans, "There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump. Swear to God", Ryan interjected, "No leaks. This is how we know we're a real family here." On July 5, after FBI Director James Comey advocated against pressing charges against Clinton for her email scandal, Ryan said Comey's decision "defies explanation" and stated that "[d]eclining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent." In October 2016, following the Donald Trump Access Hollywood controversy, Ryan disinvited Trump from a scheduled campaign rally, and announced that he would no longer defend or support Trump's presidential campaign but would focus instead on Congressional races. He also freed down-ticket congress members to use their own judgment about Trump, saying "you all need to do what's best for you and your district." Trump then went on to attack Ryan, accusing him and other "disloyal" Republicans of deliberately undermining his candidacy as part of "a whole sinister deal". 115th Congress Two months after the 2016 elections, Ryan was re-elected Speaker of the House on January 3, 2017, the opening day of the 115th Congress. He received 239 votes to House Democratic Leader Pelosi's 189 votes (with 5 more going to others). On February 7, 2017, Ryan told reporters a replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be introduced "this year" amid speculation Donald Trump would not act toward doing so until the following year. On March 9, Ryan gave a 30-minute lecture explaining the proposed replacement for the ACA, titled the American Health Care Act (AHCA). On March 30, Ryan said that he did not intend to work with Democrats on repealing and replacing the ACA, reasoning their involvement would lead to "government running health care." On April 4, Ryan confirmed renewed discussions of an ACA replacement, but warned that a replacement was in the "conceptual" stages of its development. On May 4, the House narrowly voted for the AHCA to repeal the ACA. On May 9, Ryan said that "a month or two" would pass before the Senate would pass its own ACA repeal and replacement legislation. The Senate created several of its own versions of the act but was unable to pass any of them. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Ryan suggested that candidate Trump should release his tax returns. In May 2017, Ryan said Congress' goal was "calendared 2017 for tax reform" and reported progress was being made in doing so. In December 2017, both houses of Congress passed a $1.5 trillion tax bill called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which Trump signed into law on December 22. The tax law is projected to add an additional $1.5 trillion to the national debt over a decade, but the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation also estimated that the GDP level on average would be 0.7% higher during the same period. In the weeks leading up to his retirement announcement, Ryan also championed a $1.3 trillion government-wide spending bill that boosted military spending significantly. Politico noted that Ryan "clamored for austerity when he's been in the minority, trashing Democrats as profligate budget-busters, but he's happily busted budgets in the majority." In June 2017, Ryan expressed support for strong sanctions on Russia in response to Russian interference in the 2016 elections and its annexation of the Crimea, saying that Russia's actions were "unacceptable". He urged Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Congressional oversight committees to "do their jobs so that we can get to the bottom of all of this." In July Congress passed a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia and giving Congress the power to overrule White House attempts to roll back sanctions. Both houses passed the bill with veto-proof majorities (98-2 in the Senate, 419-3 in the House), so Trump reluctantly signed it into law on August 2, 2017. Ryan provided political cover for Devin Nunes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, who many characterized as a source of the dysfunction in the committee as it investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election. Nunes accused the Obama administration of improperly “unmasking” the identities of Trump associates (which led Nunes' temporary recusal from the committee's Russia investigation), accused the FBI of misconduct, leaked the text messages of Senator Mark Warner (in an effort to misleadingly suggest impropriety on his behalf), and threatened to impeach FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The House Intelligence Committee was one of few so-called "select" committees in Congress, which meant that it was up to Ryan to decide the chairman of the committee. Despite having favored comprehensive immigration earlier in his congressional career, Speaker Ryan prevented immigration legislation from being advanced in the House. When President Trump ended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) – which granted temporary stay for undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as minors – Ryan said DACA recipients should "rest easy" because Congress would solve the problem for them, but Ryan backed no bills to protect DACA recipients. An article in The Washington Post described Ryan's relationship with President Trump as "friendly, if occasionally uneasy," adding that "Ryan did little to check the president or encourage oversight of his administration." Ryan supported Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, and did not support legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Ryan said that legislation to protect Mueller's investigation was not "necessary". On April 11, 2018, Ryan announced that he would not run for re-election in November, saying, "I like to think I've done my part, my little part in history to set us on a better course." In response, Trump tweeted, "Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question." In May 2018, Ryan led the House in passing the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. It was signed into law by President Trump a few days later. After Republicans lost control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections, Ryan suggested that there were irregularities about the election results in California. Ryan said that California's election system was "bizarre", "defies logic" and that "there are a lot of races there we should have won." After Ryan's remarks were reported on, Ryan's spokesperson said "The Speaker did not and does not dispute the results". Assessment of Speaker tenure Following Ryan's retirement announcement, an article in The Washington Post stated that Ryan was "leav[ing] behind a legacy of dramatically expanded government spending and immense deficits, a GOP president unchecked, a broken immigration system, and a party that's fast abandoning the free-trade principles that he himself championed." According to the Associated Press, Ryan "achieved one of his career goals: rewriting the tax code"; however, "on his other defining aim — balancing the budget and cutting back benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — Ryan has utterly failed". Constituent services In fiscal year 2008, Ryan garnered $5.4 million in congressional earmarks, including $3.28 million for bus service in Wisconsin, $1.38 million for the Ice Age Trail, and $735,000 for the Janesville transit system. In 2009, he successfully advocated with the Department of Energy for stimulus funds for energy initiatives in his district. Other home district projects he has supported include a runway extension at the Rock County Airport, an environmental study of the Kenosha Harbor, firefighting equipment for Janesville, road projects in Wisconsin, and commuter rail and streetcar projects in Kenosha. In 2008, Ryan pledged to stop seeking earmarks. Prior to that he had sought earmarks less often than other representatives. Taxpayers for Common Sense records show no earmarks supported by Ryan for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. In 2012, Ryan supported a request for $3.8 million from the Department of Transportation for a new transit center in Janesville, which city officials received in July. Ryan was an active member of a task force established by Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle that tried unsuccessfully to persuade General Motors to keep its assembly plant in Janesville open. He made personal contact with GM executives to try to convince them to save or retool the plant, offering GM hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded incentives. Following the closure of factories in Janesville and Kenosha, constituents expressed dissatisfaction with Ryan's voting history. During the 2011 Congressional summer break, Ryan held town hall meetings by telephone with constituents. The only public meetings Ryan attended in his district required an admission fee of at least $15. In August 2011, constituents in Kenosha and Racine protested when Ryan would not meet with them about economic and employment issues, after weeks of emailed requests from them. His Kenosha office locked its doors and filed a complaint with the police, who told the protesters that they were not allowed in Ryan's office. Ryan maintained a mobile office to serve constituents in outlying areas. 2012 vice presidential campaign Dan Balz of The Washington Post wrote that Ryan was promoted as a candidate for Vice President "by major elements of the conservative opinion makers, including The Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Weekly Standard and the editor of National Review". On August 11, 2012, the Romney campaign announced Ryan as its choice for Vice President through its "Mitt's VP" mobile app. It was reported that Romney had offered the position to Ryan on August 1, 2012, the day after returning from a foreign policy trip to the United Kingdom, Poland, and Israel. On August 11, 2012, Ryan formally accepted Romney's invitation to join his campaign as his running mate, in front of the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk. Ryan is the first individual from Wisconsin as well as the first member of Generation X to run on a major party's national ticket. Also in August 2012, the Associated Press published a story saying that while the Tea Party movement had wanted a nominee other than Romney, it had gotten "one of its ideological heroes" in the Vice Presidential slot. According to the article, Ryan supports the Tea Party's belief in "individual rights, distrust of big government and an allegorical embrace of the Founding Fathers". According to a statistical-historical analysis conducted by Nate Silver, "Ryan is the most conservative Republican member of Congress to be picked for the vice-presidential slot since at least 1900" and "is also more conservative than any Democratic nominee [for vice president who previously served in the Congress] was liberal, meaning that he is the furthest from the center" of any vice presidential candidate chosen from Congress since the turn of the 20th century. Political scientist Eric Schickler commented that while Ryan "may well be the most conservative vice presidential nominee in decades," the NOMINATE methodology "is not suited to making claims about the relative liberalism or conservatism of politicians" over a long time span. A USA Today/Gallup poll found that 39% thought Ryan was an "excellent" or "pretty good" vice presidential choice, compared to 42% who felt he was a "fair" or "poor" choice. Ryan formally accepted his nomination at the 2012 Republican National Convention on August 29, 2012. In his acceptance speech, he promoted Mitt Romney as the presidential candidate, supported repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), said that he and Romney had a plan to generate 12 million new jobs over the ensuing four years, and promoted founding principles as a solution: "We will not duck the tough issues—we will lead. We will not spend four years blaming others—we will take responsibility. We will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles." The speech was well received by the convention audience and praised for being well-delivered. Some fact-checkers purported that there were important factual omissions and that he presented details out of context. Conservative media (including Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post, the Investor's Business Daily, and Fox News) disputed some of the fact-checkers' findings. Of 33 of Ryan's statements which Politifact.com suspected of being false or misleading, it rated 10.5% as True, 18% as Mostly True, 21% as Half True, 36% as Mostly False, 9% as False, and 6% as Pants on Fire. On October 11, 2012, Ryan debated his Democratic counterpart, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, in the only vice presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle. Romney and Ryan lost the 2012 presidential election, but Ryan retained his seat in the House of Representatives. Congressional Leadership Fund The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a Super PAC, has been closely linked and aligned with Ryan. Ryan has directed major GOP donors towards the CLF. Political positions Ryan's political positions were generally conservative, with a focus on fiscal policy. Ryan "played a central role in nearly all" the policy debates of the period 2010–2012. In 2012, Ryan voted against the Simpson-Bowles commission proposal to reduce the deficit, because the proposal raised taxes and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. While he was a self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan's tenure of Speaker of the House saw a major expansion in government spending and a ballooning of deficits despite unified Republican control of Congress and the White House, no recession and no new foreign conflict. Ryan subscribed to supply-side economics and supported tax cuts including eliminating the capital gains tax, the corporate income tax, the estate tax, and the Alternative Minimum Tax. Ryan supports deregulation, including the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999, which repealed some financial regulation of banks from the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. During the economic recovery from the Great Recession of the late 2000s, Ryan supported the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which authorized the Treasury to purchase toxic assets from banks and other financial institutions, and the auto industry bailout; Ryan opposed the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which expanded consumer protections regarding credit card plans, and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which strengthened financial regulation. In 2018 as House Speaker, Ryan helped pass the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act that repealed large parts of Dodd-Frank. In 2016, Ryan rolled out a set of anti-poverty proposals that "seek to expand work requirements for those receiving federal benefits, to give states and local jurisdictions a greater role in administering those benefits, to better measure the results of federal programs for the poor, and to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse." Ryan believes federal poverty reduction programs are ineffective and he supports cuts to welfare, child care, Pell Grants, food stamps, and other federal assistance programs. Ryan supports block granting Medicaid to the states and the privatization of social security and Medicare. Ryan supported the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit and opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as "Obamacare." Ryan supported the American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA), the 2017 House Republican plan to repeal and replace the ACA. In 2012, The New York Times said Ryan was "his party's most forceful spokesman for cutting entitlement spending." Ryan's non-fiscal policy positions were subject to additional national attention with his 2012 candidacy for Vice President. Ryan is pro-life and opposes abortion rights. Ryan opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which provides that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. In 2012, Ryan supported civil unions and opposed same-sex marriage. Ryan supported school vouchers, and supported the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and its repeal the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015. Ryan is unsure, and believes climate scientists are unsure, of the impact of human activity on climate change. Ryan supported tax incentives for the petroleum industry and opposed them for renewable energy. Ryan supported gun rights and opposed stricter gun control. Ryan supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ryan condemned Barack Obama's decision not to block a UN resolution criticizing Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories as "absolutely shameful". Ryan supported President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He stated: "Jerusalem has been, and always will be, the eternal, undivided capital of the State of Israel." Following the 2018 Russia–United States summit, in which Donald Trump stated that he believed Russian government did not interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Ryan confirmed his belief that Russian government interfered and advocated for more economic sanctions against Russia for the interference. Ryan supported U.S. involvement in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen and used his power to block a House vote on the war in Yemen. History with Objectivism At a 2005 Washington, D.C. gathering celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ayn Rand's birth, Ryan credited Rand with having inspired him to get involved in politics. In a speech that same year at the Atlas Society, he said he grew up reading Rand, and that her books taught him about his value system and beliefs. Ryan required staffers and interns in his congressional office to read Rand and gave copies of her novel Atlas Shrugged as gifts to his staff for Christmas. In his Atlas Society speech, he also described Social Security as a "socialist-based system". In 2009, Ryan said, "What's unique about what's happening today in government, in the world, in America, is that it's as if we're living in an Ayn Rand novel right now. I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is under assault." In April 2012, after receiving criticism from Georgetown University faculty members on his budget plan, Ryan rejected Rand's philosophy as atheistic, saying it "reduces human interactions down to mere contracts". He also called the reports of his adherence to Rand's views an "urban legend" and stated that he was deeply influenced by his Roman Catholic faith and by Thomas Aquinas. Electoral history Post-congressional life In March 2019, Ryan joined the board of directors of Fox Corporation, the owner of Fox News Channel and the Fox broadcast network. In August 2019, he joined the board of SHINE Medical Technologies. He has since joined the faculty of the University of Notre Dame as a professor of practice for the 2019–20 academic year as a guest lecturer in political science and economics. In April 2019, Ryan was nominated as the delegation leader to represent President Trump to visit Taipei. With Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, he attended the 40th anniversary ceremony of the Taiwan Relations Act. In October 2019, Ryan launched a non-profit called American Idea Foundation. Personal life In December 2000, Ryan married Janna Christine Little, a tax attorney, a graduate of Wellesley College and George Washington University Law School, and a native of Madill, Oklahoma. The Ryans live in the Courthouse Hill Historic District of Janesville, Wisconsin. They have three children: Elizabeth "Liza" Anne, Charles Wilson, and Samuel Lowery. A Roman Catholic, Ryan is a member of St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Janesville. Janna is a cousin of former Democratic Representative Dan Boren (D-OK). She is also a granddaughter of Reuel Little, who helped found the American Party to support the 1968 presidential campaign of George Wallace. Due to a family history of fatal heart attacks before age 60, Ryan pursues an intense cross-training fitness program called P90X. Ryan has always been a fitness enthusiast and was a personal trainer when he came out of college. About P90X, he said, "It works because it's called muscle confusion. It hits your body in many different ways. Pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, lots of cardio, karate, jump training. It has results, it works. It's a good workout." In a 2010 Politico interview, he said that he weighed 163 pounds and maintained his body fat percentage between 6 and 8%. Tony Horton, creator of P90X, who has personally trained Ryan many times, reiterated the claim saying, "He is very, very, very lean. I know what 6 to 8 percent body fat looks like, and there's no fat anywhere on the man. I'm around 9 percent and he's much leaner than I am. He’s easily 6 to 8 percent body fat. You just have to eat right and exercise every day, and that’s what he does." In a radio interview, Ryan claimed he had once run a marathon in under three hours; he later stated that he forgot his actual time and was just trying to state what he thought was a normal time. His one official marathon time is recorded as slightly over four hours. Awards and honors 2004, 2010 – Guardian of Small Business Award, National Federation of Independent Business 2008 – Defending the American Dream Award, Americans for Prosperity, Wisconsin chapter 2009 – Manufacturing Legislative Excellence Award, National Association of Manufacturers 2009 – Honorary Degree, Miami University 2010 – Legislator of the Year Award, International Franchise Association 2011 – Statesmanship Award, Claremont Institute 2011 – Fiscy Award for responsible financial stewardship and fiscal discipline in government. 2011 – Leadership Award, Jack Kemp Foundation 2011 – Freedom and Prosperity Award, Mason Contractors Association of America 2012 – Chair, Honorary Board of the Archery Trade Association 2014 – Alexander Hamilton Award, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research 2018 – Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service References Further reading Works about Ryan Works by Ryan External links Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Historical Society |- |- |- |- |- |- 1970 births 2012 United States vice-presidential candidates 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Roman Catholics American male non-fiction writers American people of English descent American people of Jewish descent American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American political writers American speechwriters American University alumni Catholics from Wisconsin Living people Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin Miami University alumni Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign Politicians from Janesville, Wisconsin Republican Party (United States) vice presidential nominees Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Speakers of the United States House of Representatives University of Notre Dame faculty Wisconsin Republicans Writers from Wisconsin Joseph A. Craig High School alumni 21st-century American male writers
false
[ "Thomas Ryan (born 19 September 1989 in Tallow, County Waterford) is an Irish sportsperson. He plays hurling with his local club Tallow and is a former Waterford senior inter-county team member.\n\nPlaying career\n\nClub\n\nRyan plays his club hurling with his local club Tallow in Waterford. He has played with Tallow/Cois Bride from underage upwards. Ryan has enjoyed little success with Tallow, however he was part of the 2008 under-21(B) team who won the Western hurling title. He also was part of the Minor(b) team who won the 2007 Western Hurling title.\n\nIn 2007 Cois Bhride made it to the county under 18 hurling (B) final where it ended in a draw against St Marys, Ryan was said to be one of the most skillful hurlers playing that day contributing 7points. In 2007 Thomas Ryan played corner forward for the Tallow senior team. He helped them defeat Stradbally by contributing 7 points from play. 2 weeks later Tallow played Lismore in the club championship and won by a single point. Thomas Ryan helped accomplish this by adding 1–2, getting one point from a free. Tallow eventually made it to the Quarter Finals of the Top Oil County Senior Hurling Championship, where they played Abbeyside, where Ryans contribution of 3 points from play was not enough to secure a win. In 2008 Tallow bet Ballyduff Upper very well, 3–16 to 14 points with Thomas Ryan scoring 0–1. The 5 May Tallow played Fourmilewater where it ended in a draw, with Thomas Ryan scoring the game's only goal(1–1). Thomas Ryans' Tallow had already qualified for the knockout stages of the Senior Club championship when they lost to Stradbally, Ryan being Tallow's top scorer and getting 7 points. Tallow drew Ballygunner in the quarter finals and beat them by 2 points, this time Thomas Ryan scored 0–6 (0–5 frees and 0–1 sideline). Tallow lost the semi final to eventual winners and All Ireland runners-up De La Salle, while Thomas Ryan contributed 0–3 of his sides 2–3.\n\nIn 2009 Tallow played Ballygunner in the round 1 stage of the Senior hurling championship. Ballygunner won 2–23 : 2:12 despite Ryan scoring 1–4 of his sides total. Thomas Ryan was unable to play his sides game against Ballyduff Lower due to injury, but nonetheless, Tallow were victorious. For the Round 3 game Tallow drew against Abbeyside with Ryan coming on late as a sub and scoring 2 points.\nPerhaps Thomas Ryan's' best performance with his club was when Tallow played Passage in the round 4 game. In a game of high scoring Tallow won 5–13 : 1–19 and Thomas Ryan contributed 4–1 of the total for Tallow! The point was scored for a sideline cut.\nIn the last of the round games Tallow played Stradbally where Thomas Ryan put up another superb performance scoring 3–5, 1–0 from a penalty he earned himself and 0–3 from frees. This game allowed Tallow to progress to the Quarter Finals.\nTallow lost 1–14 to 0–18 to Ballyduff Upper in the quarter final Knockout stages of the Waterford Senior Hurling Championship, Ryan scored 0–1 of his sides 1–14 compared to Ballyduff Upper's 0–19.\n\nIn 2010 Tallow played Mount Sion with Thomas Ryan scoring 1–3 (1f)\nTallows next game was against Dungarvan where Tallow won by a single point. Ryan contributed 0–4(2f). Tallow then played Ballyduff Lower and won by 3 points. Thomas Ryan did not play as he was recovering from an injury sustained in the Waterford vs Cork Under 21 game. Tallows senior hurling team have already qualified for the Knockout Stages.\nThe 22 August Tallow played Lismore in the group stages where they lost, 1–16 to 1–9. Thomas Ryan scored 0–1 from a free.\nThe final game of the group stages was against Passage where it ended in a draw, with Ryan contributing 7 points.\nIt all ended disappointingly for Tallow however as they drew De La Salle where they lost by 2–15 with Ryan scoring 0–2 from frees.\n\nUnder 21 Intercounty\nIn 2009 Ryan got to the under 21 Munster Final where they lost Clare 2–18 to 2–12, with Ryan scoring 1–1. Clare went on to win the Under 21 All Ireland. The 2010 Under 21 Championship went badly for Waterford losing to Cork 1–16 to 1–3 on the 2/6 in the under-21 Munster quarter final. Ryan badly injured his ankle on 23 June 2010 and has been unable to subsequently play.\n\nIntermediate Intercounty\nIn 2010, Thomas Ryan was part of the intermediate panel that lost to Cork in the Munster final 0–15: 0–13. Thomas Ryan did not play part in the game against Clare but came on as a sub against Cork and scored the side's first point in over 15minutes. Thomas Ryan was also called on to take the sides late free which would have allowed the game go to extra time, but it trailed off wide, resulting in Waterford losing the game.\n\nSenior Intercounty\nRyan made his Intercounty debut against Dublin in the National Hurling League 2009, when he played as a substitute. Previous to this Ryan had been starting for Waterford in the Waterford Crystal Cup competition, contributing a few points. Ryan proved good enough to earn a spot on the Senior panel for the championship.\n\nIn 2010 Ryan was part of the Waterford team who won the Waterford Crystal Cup. He also played a crucial part in the National Hurling league, scoring a goal against Cork and setting up one for teammate Dan Shanahan against Offaly. Ryan started his first National League game against Cork on 21 March. Ryan then started the following League match against Tipperary.\nThomas Ryan although not listed as a sub was part of the Waterford team who bet Cork in the 2010 Munster Final Replay.\nOn 5 August it was confirmed that Ryan was back to full training with the senior panel.\nThomas Ryan made his championship debut against Tipperary in the All Ireland Semi Final where he came on as a sub in the last few minutes.\n\nRyan didn't play for Waterford in the Waterford Crystal Cup due to college commitments. He started his first game for Waterford in the National Hurling League against Dublin where it ended in a draw. Ryan also started the next game on the 20/2 against Wexford where he contributed 2 points from play and Waterford then went on to win.\n\nPersonal life\nThomas Ryan attended St Colmans School, Fermoy and is now a student at University College Cork.\n\nRyan is also a painter of landscapes and has exhibited in events across the country, including the National Ploughing Championship held in Cardenton, County Kildare in 2009.\n\nAchievements\nIn 2003 Thomas Ryan won the All Ireland Feile Skills Competition.\nIn 2009 Thomas Ryan's goal against Clare in the Under 21 championship was nominated for goal of 2009.\n\nNational Hurling League Appearances\n\nChampionship Appearances\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nhttps://web.archive.org/web/20110108021938/http://tallow.waterford.gaa.ie/index.html\nhttp://www.waterford.gaa.ie/\n\n1989 births\nLiving people\nWaterford inter-county hurlers\nTallow hurlers", "James D. Ryan Middle School was a secondary school located in Houston, Texas, United States. The Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan, a magnet middle school, now occupies the campus.\n\nThe school, which served grades 6 through 8, is a part of the Houston Independent School District. It served much Third Ward area and a very small portion of Midtown Houston. The campus is south of Downtown Houston, and in proximity to the University of Houston.\n\nHistory\nAfter Yates High School relocated from 2610 Elgin to 3703 Sampson in 1958, Ryan Colored Junior High School opened in Yates's former location. Ryan was named after the first principal of Yates High. Some older maps referred to the school as Yates Junior High School.\n\nAllan Turner of the Houston Chronicle said that the building served as an \"educational anchor\" for the Third Ward as many professionals in the Third Ward community such as educators, ministers, and lawyers received education in it. Since Ryan's beginning, Turner said that the school's fortunes had risen and fallen as time passed.\n\nThe HISD school board forced Yates principal William S. Holland to stay at Ryan Middle School instead of moving onto the new Yates, and a petition from the community did not succeed in changing this.\n\nThe school opened as a school only for African-Americans; it was desegregated by 1970.\n\nBeginning in 1988 Chase Enterprises subsidiary Rangers Insurance Co. assigned employees to tutor Ryan students, funded school supplies and computers for Ryan, and established a scholarship/endowment fund to provide vocational training and/or university educations to Ryan alumni who abstained from recreational drugs, did not get into legal trouble, and graduated from high school; from 1992 to 1999 166 eligible Ryan alumni benefited from the scholarship. Annually the company deposited $150,000 into the scholarship/endowment fund.\n\nA 2008 Houston Chronicle article stated that Ryan was considered to be among the lowest performing campuses in Houston ISD. HISD staff stated that the district needed signing bonuses in order to convince employees to take positions at Ryan Middle School. During that year, principal Cimberli Johnson was fired because she socially promoted 25 students and issued about $70,800 in paychecks not earned by employees.\n\nMichael McKenzie began his term as principal of Ryan in June 2010. He was previously the principal of a charter school, WALIPP Prep, and was a part of the Apollo 20 program, used to improve under-performing schools. He stated that he was required to keep working with the same assistant principals and counselors who were there prior to the start of his term and that he was not permitted to replace them.\n\nAfter two employees made complaints against McKenzie, an investigation, conducted by HISD's Equal Employment Opportunity office, concluded that he acquired furniture from another employee's office to use in his own office and that he had used profane language during two staff meetings. The investigation also concluded that he made a remark stating that he did not want a homosexual male employee around children due to his sexuality and another stating that he wanted a black male to serve as the assistant principal of the school. McKenzie, a black man, disputed the findings that he made the comments of racial and sexual natures, and he added that he returned the furniture to the employee after initially believing it was HISD property. He accused those filing complaints against him of exhibiting bias towards the principal before him. He filed a complaint against that office of HISD with the federal authorities. He resigned in 2011, after one year of work.\n\nClosure\nFrom 2002 to 2012, the student population fell 70%, from 830 students to 265 students. A proposal to close Ryan Middle School was submitted to the HISD board. If Ryan closed at that time, its students would have been divided between Attucks, Cullen, Dowling, Lanier, and Pershing middle schools. Dallas Dance, the chief of middle schools of HISD, stated that Ryan had 570 middle school-aged students zoned to the campus, but fewer than half of those students chose to attend Ryan. Dance said that over the previous five-year period, HISD had already invested an additional $438,000 per year into Ryan.\n\nParents and community leaders protested the proposed closure. A group of parents threatened to occupy the campus if HISD had it closed temporarily. On Monday May 7, 2012 the board removed the proposed closure of Ryan from its agenda.\n\nIn its final year of operation, there were 263 students at the school, including 182 students in the 6th and 7th grades, making it the smallest middle school in HISD. In March 2013 the district board voted 5-3 to close Ryan. Plans were to rezone the students to Cullen Middle School, from Ryan. The closure occurred even though the NAACP and members of the Third Ward community opposed the closure.\n\nIn 2013, Ryan Middle School's campus reopened as the Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan, a magnet middle school for medical studies. The school is intended to feed into the Michael E. DeBakey High School for the Health Professions.\n\nFor the 2013–2014 school year, 119 of the students who attended Ryan during the 6th or 7th grades during the 2012–2013 school year, or 65% of the total of the 2012–2013 6th and 7th grade students, started attending Cullen Middle School. The remaining students began attending other schools.\n\nNeighborhoods served by the former Ryan Middle School\nSeveral Third Ward area subdivisions, including University Oaks, Oak Manor, University Woods, Washington Terrace, and Riverside Terrace were previously zoned to Ryan Middle School. In addition, the old Ryan Middle School served a small portion of Midtown Houston (the portion south of U.S. Route 59) and a small portion of Neartown.\n\nCuney Homes and Ewing Apartments, units of public housing, were zoned to Ryan Middle School.\n\nProject Row Houses were zoned to Ryan.\n\nResidents of the Texas Medical Center (TMC)'s Laurence H. Favrot Tower Apartments, which housed TMC employees and their dependents, were zoned to Ryan. On August 31, 2012 the complex closed.\n\nSchool uniforms\nFor portions of its history, the school required its students to wear uniforms.\n\nBeginning in 2010 the former Ryan Middle School required male students to wear ties. Richard Connelly of the Houston Press stated that ties could be used as weapons in fights, since an assailant could grab his victim using his tie. As of 2012 the school still required male students to wear ties.\n\nStudent body\nDuring its final school year, Ryan Middle had 272 students. 84% were black, 15% were Hispanic, and the remainder were of other races.\n\nDuring the 2006–2007 school year, the school had 633 pupils\n 85% African American\n 14% Hispanic American\n Less than 1% White American\n Less than 1% Asian American\n Less than 1% Native Americans\n\nAbout 80% of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch.\n\nFeeder patterns\nThe following elementary schools fed into the former Ryan Middle School:\n Lockhart\n Turner\n(partial)\nBlackshear,\n Dodson\n MacGregor\n Peck\n Poe\n Roberts\n\nThree different high schools had zoning boundaries that partially coincided with the former Ryan Middle School boundary:\n Yates High School\n Lamar High School\n Bellaire High School\n\nNotable students\n George Floyd, a black man who was killed during an arrest that caused protests and populated Black Lives Matter\n\nSee also\n\n History of the African-Americans in Houston\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n (officelive.com domain)\n (houstonisd.org domain)\n\nAfrican-American history in Houston\nPublic middle schools in Houston\nHouston Independent School District middle schools\nHistorically segregated African-American schools in Texas\nEducational institutions established in 1958\n1958 establishments in Texas\nEducational institutions disestablished in 2013\n2013 disestablishments in Texas\nThird Ward, Houston" ]
[ "Paul Ryan", "Early life and education", "Where was Ryan born?", "Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin,", "Where did Ryan go to school?", "Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team," ]
C_3e8539e8237d4b058d107f04ee5e4a39_1
Did he do anything noteworthy in school?
3
Did Paul Ryan do anything noteworthy in school?
Paul Ryan
Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (nee Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Davis Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English ancestry. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan (1858-1917), founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan (1898-1957), was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother remarried, to Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. He attended the Washington Semester program at American University. Ryan worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. CANNOTANSWER
then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king.
Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American retired politician who served as the 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from October 2015 to January 2019. He was the 2012 Republican Party vice presidential nominee running alongside Mitt Romney, losing to incumbent president Barack Obama and then-vice president Joe Biden. Ryan, a native of Janesville, Wisconsin, graduated from Miami University in 1992. He spent five years working for Republicans in Washington, D.C. and returned to Wisconsin in 1997 to work at his family's construction company. Ryan was elected to Congress to represent the following year, replacing an incumbent Republican who ran for U.S. Senate. Ryan would represent the district for 20 years. He chaired the House Budget Committee from 2011 to 2015 and briefly chaired the House Ways and Means Committee in 2015 prior to being elected Speaker of the House in October 2015 following John Boehner's retirement. A self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan was a major proponent of Social Security privatization in the mid-2000s. In the 2010s, two proposals heavily influenced by Ryan—"The Path to Prosperity" and "A Better Way"—advocated for the privatization of Medicare, the conversion of Medicaid into a block grant program, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and significant federal tax cuts. As Speaker, he played a key role in the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act in 2018, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. His other major piece of legislation, the American Health Care Act of 2017, passed the House but failed in the Senate by one vote. Ryan declined to run for re-election in the 2018 midterm elections. With the Democratic Party taking control of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi succeeded Ryan as Speaker of the House. Early life and education Paul Davis Ryan was born on January 29, 1970 in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (née Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Murray Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English descent. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan, founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan, was appointed United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. In 2018, while filming a segment for the PBS series Finding Your Roots, Ryan learned that his DNA results included 3 percent Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Although Ryan's father was not a lifelong heavy drinker, staying sober for nearly twenty years after his first stint in rehabilitation, he had become an alcoholic by the time Ryan was a teenager. Ryan later commented on his relationship with his father, whom he revered as a young child, stating that "[alcohol] made him more distant, irritable and stressed ... whiskey had washed away some of the best parts of the man I knew." When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack, something Ryan later partially attributed to heavy alcohol consumption. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother later married widower Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten, where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. Ryan attended the Washington Semester program at American University. He worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. Early career Betty Ryan reportedly urged her son to accept a congressional position as a legislative aide in Senator Kasten's office, which he did after graduating in 1992. In his early years working on Capitol Hill, Ryan supplemented his income by working as a waiter, as a fitness trainer, and at other jobs. A few months after Kasten lost to Democrat Russ Feingold in the 1992 election, Ryan became a speechwriter for Empower America (now FreedomWorks), a conservative advocacy group founded by Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and William Bennett. Ryan later worked as a speechwriter for Kemp, the Republican vice presidential candidate in the 1996 United States presidential election. Kemp became Ryan's mentor, and Ryan has said he had a "huge influence". In 1995, Ryan became the legislative director for then-U.S. Congressman Sam Brownback of Kansas. In 1997 he returned to Wisconsin, where he worked for a year as a marketing consultant for the construction company Ryan Incorporated Central, owned by his relatives. U.S. House of Representatives Elections Ryan was first elected to the House in 1998, winning the 1st District seat of Republican Mark Neumann, a two-term incumbent who had vacated his seat to make an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate. 28-year-old Ryan won the Republican primary over 29-year-old pianist Michael J. Logan of Twin Lakes, and the general election against Democrat Lydia Spottswood. This made him the second-youngest member of the House. Reelected eight times, Ryan never received less than 55 percent of the vote in a congressional election. He defeated Democratic challenger Jeffrey C. Thomas in the 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 elections. In the 2008 election, Ryan defeated Democrat Marge Krupp. In the 2010 general election, he defeated Democrat John Heckenlively and Libertarian Joseph Kexel. In 2012, under Wisconsin election law, Ryan was allowed to run concurrently for vice president and for Congress and was not allowed to remove his name from the Congressional ballot after being nominated for the vice presidency. He faced Democratic nominee Rob Zerban. As of July 25, 2012, Ryan had over $5.4 million in his congressional campaign account, more than any other House member. He was reelected with 55 percent of his district's vote and 44 percent of the vote in his hometown, Janesville. Zerban again challenged Ryan in the 2014 House election. Ryan won with 63 percent of his district's vote. In the 2016 Republican primary election, Ryan faced businessman Paul Nehlen, who had been endorsed by Sarah Palin. Because of Nehlen's support for Trump, Trump publicly thanked him on Twitter and later told The Washington Post that Nehlen was "running a very good campaign", even though he did not endorse him. On August 5, 2016, Trump endorsed Ryan's re-election after pressure from fellow Republican leaders. In the August 9, 2016 primary election, Ryan overwhelmingly defeated Nehlen, taking over 84 percent of the vote. In the November general election, Ryan faced Democrat Rebecca Solen and won with 65 percent of his district's vote. Committee assignments As Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ryan was not a chair or a member of any committee. Prior to his speakership, Ryan held the following assignments: Committee on Ways and Means (Chairman) Subcommittee on Health Caucus memberships House Republican Caucus Caucus of House Conservatives Republican Study Committee United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus Middle East Economic Partnership Caucus Prayer Caucus Sportsmen's Caucus (Co-Chair) Congressional Western Caucus Pre-Speaker congressional tenure (1999–2015) Ryan became the ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee in 2007 and became chairman of the committee in 2011 after Republicans took control of the House. That same year, he was selected to deliver the Republican response to the State of the Union address. As of August 2012, Ryan had been the primary sponsor of more than 70 bills or amendments, and only two of those bills had become law. One, passed in July 2000, renamed a post office in Ryan's district; the other, passed in December 2008, lowered the excise tax on arrow shafts. As of August 2012, Ryan had also co-sponsored 975 bills, of which 176 had passed; 22% of these bills were originally sponsored by a Democrat. Ryan was a "reliable supporter of the [George W. Bush] administration's foreign policy priorities" who voted for the 2002 Iraq Resolution, authorizing the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2010, Ryan was a member of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Bowles-Simpson Commission), which was tasked with developing a plan to reduce the federal deficit. He voted against the final report of the commission. In 2012, Ryan accused the nation's top military leaders of using "smoke and mirrors" to remain under budget limits passed by Congress. Ryan later said that he misspoke on the issue and called General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to apologize for his comments. Speaker of the House 114th Congress On September 25, 2015, John Boehner formally announced to House Republicans his intention to resign from the speakership and the House. Among those interested in the post, Kevin McCarthy—who had wide support among Republicans, including Boehner, and Ryan, who was set to officially nominate him—was considered the presumptive favorite. His candidacy was opposed by conservative House Republicans of the Freedom Caucus, and when it became clear that caucus members would not support his candidacy, McCarthy withdrew his name from consideration on October 8. This led many Republicans to turn to Ryan as a compromise candidate. The push included a plea from Boehner, who reportedly told Ryan that he was the only person who could unite the House Republicans at a time of turmoil. Ryan released a statement that said, "While I am grateful for the encouragement I've received, I will not be a candidate." The next day however, close aides of Ryan's confirmed that Ryan had re-evaluated the situation, and was considering the possibility of a run. Ryan confirmed on October 22, that he would seek the speakership after receiving the endorsements of two factions of House Republicans, including the conservative Freedom Caucus. Ryan, upon confirming his bid for the speakership, stated, "I never thought I'd be speaker. But I pledged to you that if I could be a unifying figure, then I would serve – I would go all in. After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as one, united team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker." On October 29, Ryan was elected Speaker, receiving 236 votes, an absolute majority of the 435-member chamber. Democrat Nancy Pelosi received 184 votes, with 12 more going to others. After the vote Ryan delivered his first remarks as speaker-elect and was sworn in by John Conyers, the dean of the House, becoming, at age , the youngest person elected as speaker since James G. Blaine (age ) in 1869. Later, he named lobbyist John David Hoppe as his Chief of Staff. As Speaker, Ryan became the leader of the House Republicans. However, by tradition, he largely ceased taking part in debate and almost never voted from the floor. He was also not a member of any committees. 2016 presidential election After Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election on May 4, 2016, Ryan was hesitant to endorse him, stating on May 5 that he was "not ready". Ryan and Trump met in private on May 12, releasing a joint statement afterward, acknowledging their differences but stating "we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground." On June 2, Ryan announced his support for Trump in an op-ed in The Janesville Gazette. The following day, June 3, amid Trump's criticism of Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, Ryan said Trump's critique "just was out of left field for my mind," and voiced disagreement with him. On June 7, Ryan disavowed Trump's comments about Curiel because he believed they were "the textbook definition of a racist comment". Nevertheless, Ryan continued to endorse Trump, believing that more Republican policies will be enacted under Donald Trump than presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. On June 15, after Kevin McCarthy stated during a conversation among Republicans, "There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump. Swear to God", Ryan interjected, "No leaks. This is how we know we're a real family here." On July 5, after FBI Director James Comey advocated against pressing charges against Clinton for her email scandal, Ryan said Comey's decision "defies explanation" and stated that "[d]eclining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent." In October 2016, following the Donald Trump Access Hollywood controversy, Ryan disinvited Trump from a scheduled campaign rally, and announced that he would no longer defend or support Trump's presidential campaign but would focus instead on Congressional races. He also freed down-ticket congress members to use their own judgment about Trump, saying "you all need to do what's best for you and your district." Trump then went on to attack Ryan, accusing him and other "disloyal" Republicans of deliberately undermining his candidacy as part of "a whole sinister deal". 115th Congress Two months after the 2016 elections, Ryan was re-elected Speaker of the House on January 3, 2017, the opening day of the 115th Congress. He received 239 votes to House Democratic Leader Pelosi's 189 votes (with 5 more going to others). On February 7, 2017, Ryan told reporters a replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be introduced "this year" amid speculation Donald Trump would not act toward doing so until the following year. On March 9, Ryan gave a 30-minute lecture explaining the proposed replacement for the ACA, titled the American Health Care Act (AHCA). On March 30, Ryan said that he did not intend to work with Democrats on repealing and replacing the ACA, reasoning their involvement would lead to "government running health care." On April 4, Ryan confirmed renewed discussions of an ACA replacement, but warned that a replacement was in the "conceptual" stages of its development. On May 4, the House narrowly voted for the AHCA to repeal the ACA. On May 9, Ryan said that "a month or two" would pass before the Senate would pass its own ACA repeal and replacement legislation. The Senate created several of its own versions of the act but was unable to pass any of them. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Ryan suggested that candidate Trump should release his tax returns. In May 2017, Ryan said Congress' goal was "calendared 2017 for tax reform" and reported progress was being made in doing so. In December 2017, both houses of Congress passed a $1.5 trillion tax bill called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which Trump signed into law on December 22. The tax law is projected to add an additional $1.5 trillion to the national debt over a decade, but the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation also estimated that the GDP level on average would be 0.7% higher during the same period. In the weeks leading up to his retirement announcement, Ryan also championed a $1.3 trillion government-wide spending bill that boosted military spending significantly. Politico noted that Ryan "clamored for austerity when he's been in the minority, trashing Democrats as profligate budget-busters, but he's happily busted budgets in the majority." In June 2017, Ryan expressed support for strong sanctions on Russia in response to Russian interference in the 2016 elections and its annexation of the Crimea, saying that Russia's actions were "unacceptable". He urged Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Congressional oversight committees to "do their jobs so that we can get to the bottom of all of this." In July Congress passed a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia and giving Congress the power to overrule White House attempts to roll back sanctions. Both houses passed the bill with veto-proof majorities (98-2 in the Senate, 419-3 in the House), so Trump reluctantly signed it into law on August 2, 2017. Ryan provided political cover for Devin Nunes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, who many characterized as a source of the dysfunction in the committee as it investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election. Nunes accused the Obama administration of improperly “unmasking” the identities of Trump associates (which led Nunes' temporary recusal from the committee's Russia investigation), accused the FBI of misconduct, leaked the text messages of Senator Mark Warner (in an effort to misleadingly suggest impropriety on his behalf), and threatened to impeach FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The House Intelligence Committee was one of few so-called "select" committees in Congress, which meant that it was up to Ryan to decide the chairman of the committee. Despite having favored comprehensive immigration earlier in his congressional career, Speaker Ryan prevented immigration legislation from being advanced in the House. When President Trump ended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) – which granted temporary stay for undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as minors – Ryan said DACA recipients should "rest easy" because Congress would solve the problem for them, but Ryan backed no bills to protect DACA recipients. An article in The Washington Post described Ryan's relationship with President Trump as "friendly, if occasionally uneasy," adding that "Ryan did little to check the president or encourage oversight of his administration." Ryan supported Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, and did not support legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Ryan said that legislation to protect Mueller's investigation was not "necessary". On April 11, 2018, Ryan announced that he would not run for re-election in November, saying, "I like to think I've done my part, my little part in history to set us on a better course." In response, Trump tweeted, "Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question." In May 2018, Ryan led the House in passing the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. It was signed into law by President Trump a few days later. After Republicans lost control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections, Ryan suggested that there were irregularities about the election results in California. Ryan said that California's election system was "bizarre", "defies logic" and that "there are a lot of races there we should have won." After Ryan's remarks were reported on, Ryan's spokesperson said "The Speaker did not and does not dispute the results". Assessment of Speaker tenure Following Ryan's retirement announcement, an article in The Washington Post stated that Ryan was "leav[ing] behind a legacy of dramatically expanded government spending and immense deficits, a GOP president unchecked, a broken immigration system, and a party that's fast abandoning the free-trade principles that he himself championed." According to the Associated Press, Ryan "achieved one of his career goals: rewriting the tax code"; however, "on his other defining aim — balancing the budget and cutting back benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — Ryan has utterly failed". Constituent services In fiscal year 2008, Ryan garnered $5.4 million in congressional earmarks, including $3.28 million for bus service in Wisconsin, $1.38 million for the Ice Age Trail, and $735,000 for the Janesville transit system. In 2009, he successfully advocated with the Department of Energy for stimulus funds for energy initiatives in his district. Other home district projects he has supported include a runway extension at the Rock County Airport, an environmental study of the Kenosha Harbor, firefighting equipment for Janesville, road projects in Wisconsin, and commuter rail and streetcar projects in Kenosha. In 2008, Ryan pledged to stop seeking earmarks. Prior to that he had sought earmarks less often than other representatives. Taxpayers for Common Sense records show no earmarks supported by Ryan for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. In 2012, Ryan supported a request for $3.8 million from the Department of Transportation for a new transit center in Janesville, which city officials received in July. Ryan was an active member of a task force established by Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle that tried unsuccessfully to persuade General Motors to keep its assembly plant in Janesville open. He made personal contact with GM executives to try to convince them to save or retool the plant, offering GM hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded incentives. Following the closure of factories in Janesville and Kenosha, constituents expressed dissatisfaction with Ryan's voting history. During the 2011 Congressional summer break, Ryan held town hall meetings by telephone with constituents. The only public meetings Ryan attended in his district required an admission fee of at least $15. In August 2011, constituents in Kenosha and Racine protested when Ryan would not meet with them about economic and employment issues, after weeks of emailed requests from them. His Kenosha office locked its doors and filed a complaint with the police, who told the protesters that they were not allowed in Ryan's office. Ryan maintained a mobile office to serve constituents in outlying areas. 2012 vice presidential campaign Dan Balz of The Washington Post wrote that Ryan was promoted as a candidate for Vice President "by major elements of the conservative opinion makers, including The Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Weekly Standard and the editor of National Review". On August 11, 2012, the Romney campaign announced Ryan as its choice for Vice President through its "Mitt's VP" mobile app. It was reported that Romney had offered the position to Ryan on August 1, 2012, the day after returning from a foreign policy trip to the United Kingdom, Poland, and Israel. On August 11, 2012, Ryan formally accepted Romney's invitation to join his campaign as his running mate, in front of the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk. Ryan is the first individual from Wisconsin as well as the first member of Generation X to run on a major party's national ticket. Also in August 2012, the Associated Press published a story saying that while the Tea Party movement had wanted a nominee other than Romney, it had gotten "one of its ideological heroes" in the Vice Presidential slot. According to the article, Ryan supports the Tea Party's belief in "individual rights, distrust of big government and an allegorical embrace of the Founding Fathers". According to a statistical-historical analysis conducted by Nate Silver, "Ryan is the most conservative Republican member of Congress to be picked for the vice-presidential slot since at least 1900" and "is also more conservative than any Democratic nominee [for vice president who previously served in the Congress] was liberal, meaning that he is the furthest from the center" of any vice presidential candidate chosen from Congress since the turn of the 20th century. Political scientist Eric Schickler commented that while Ryan "may well be the most conservative vice presidential nominee in decades," the NOMINATE methodology "is not suited to making claims about the relative liberalism or conservatism of politicians" over a long time span. A USA Today/Gallup poll found that 39% thought Ryan was an "excellent" or "pretty good" vice presidential choice, compared to 42% who felt he was a "fair" or "poor" choice. Ryan formally accepted his nomination at the 2012 Republican National Convention on August 29, 2012. In his acceptance speech, he promoted Mitt Romney as the presidential candidate, supported repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), said that he and Romney had a plan to generate 12 million new jobs over the ensuing four years, and promoted founding principles as a solution: "We will not duck the tough issues—we will lead. We will not spend four years blaming others—we will take responsibility. We will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles." The speech was well received by the convention audience and praised for being well-delivered. Some fact-checkers purported that there were important factual omissions and that he presented details out of context. Conservative media (including Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post, the Investor's Business Daily, and Fox News) disputed some of the fact-checkers' findings. Of 33 of Ryan's statements which Politifact.com suspected of being false or misleading, it rated 10.5% as True, 18% as Mostly True, 21% as Half True, 36% as Mostly False, 9% as False, and 6% as Pants on Fire. On October 11, 2012, Ryan debated his Democratic counterpart, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, in the only vice presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle. Romney and Ryan lost the 2012 presidential election, but Ryan retained his seat in the House of Representatives. Congressional Leadership Fund The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a Super PAC, has been closely linked and aligned with Ryan. Ryan has directed major GOP donors towards the CLF. Political positions Ryan's political positions were generally conservative, with a focus on fiscal policy. Ryan "played a central role in nearly all" the policy debates of the period 2010–2012. In 2012, Ryan voted against the Simpson-Bowles commission proposal to reduce the deficit, because the proposal raised taxes and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. While he was a self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan's tenure of Speaker of the House saw a major expansion in government spending and a ballooning of deficits despite unified Republican control of Congress and the White House, no recession and no new foreign conflict. Ryan subscribed to supply-side economics and supported tax cuts including eliminating the capital gains tax, the corporate income tax, the estate tax, and the Alternative Minimum Tax. Ryan supports deregulation, including the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999, which repealed some financial regulation of banks from the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. During the economic recovery from the Great Recession of the late 2000s, Ryan supported the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which authorized the Treasury to purchase toxic assets from banks and other financial institutions, and the auto industry bailout; Ryan opposed the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which expanded consumer protections regarding credit card plans, and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which strengthened financial regulation. In 2018 as House Speaker, Ryan helped pass the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act that repealed large parts of Dodd-Frank. In 2016, Ryan rolled out a set of anti-poverty proposals that "seek to expand work requirements for those receiving federal benefits, to give states and local jurisdictions a greater role in administering those benefits, to better measure the results of federal programs for the poor, and to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse." Ryan believes federal poverty reduction programs are ineffective and he supports cuts to welfare, child care, Pell Grants, food stamps, and other federal assistance programs. Ryan supports block granting Medicaid to the states and the privatization of social security and Medicare. Ryan supported the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit and opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as "Obamacare." Ryan supported the American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA), the 2017 House Republican plan to repeal and replace the ACA. In 2012, The New York Times said Ryan was "his party's most forceful spokesman for cutting entitlement spending." Ryan's non-fiscal policy positions were subject to additional national attention with his 2012 candidacy for Vice President. Ryan is pro-life and opposes abortion rights. Ryan opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which provides that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. In 2012, Ryan supported civil unions and opposed same-sex marriage. Ryan supported school vouchers, and supported the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and its repeal the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015. Ryan is unsure, and believes climate scientists are unsure, of the impact of human activity on climate change. Ryan supported tax incentives for the petroleum industry and opposed them for renewable energy. Ryan supported gun rights and opposed stricter gun control. Ryan supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ryan condemned Barack Obama's decision not to block a UN resolution criticizing Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories as "absolutely shameful". Ryan supported President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He stated: "Jerusalem has been, and always will be, the eternal, undivided capital of the State of Israel." Following the 2018 Russia–United States summit, in which Donald Trump stated that he believed Russian government did not interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Ryan confirmed his belief that Russian government interfered and advocated for more economic sanctions against Russia for the interference. Ryan supported U.S. involvement in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen and used his power to block a House vote on the war in Yemen. History with Objectivism At a 2005 Washington, D.C. gathering celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ayn Rand's birth, Ryan credited Rand with having inspired him to get involved in politics. In a speech that same year at the Atlas Society, he said he grew up reading Rand, and that her books taught him about his value system and beliefs. Ryan required staffers and interns in his congressional office to read Rand and gave copies of her novel Atlas Shrugged as gifts to his staff for Christmas. In his Atlas Society speech, he also described Social Security as a "socialist-based system". In 2009, Ryan said, "What's unique about what's happening today in government, in the world, in America, is that it's as if we're living in an Ayn Rand novel right now. I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is under assault." In April 2012, after receiving criticism from Georgetown University faculty members on his budget plan, Ryan rejected Rand's philosophy as atheistic, saying it "reduces human interactions down to mere contracts". He also called the reports of his adherence to Rand's views an "urban legend" and stated that he was deeply influenced by his Roman Catholic faith and by Thomas Aquinas. Electoral history Post-congressional life In March 2019, Ryan joined the board of directors of Fox Corporation, the owner of Fox News Channel and the Fox broadcast network. In August 2019, he joined the board of SHINE Medical Technologies. He has since joined the faculty of the University of Notre Dame as a professor of practice for the 2019–20 academic year as a guest lecturer in political science and economics. In April 2019, Ryan was nominated as the delegation leader to represent President Trump to visit Taipei. With Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, he attended the 40th anniversary ceremony of the Taiwan Relations Act. In October 2019, Ryan launched a non-profit called American Idea Foundation. Personal life In December 2000, Ryan married Janna Christine Little, a tax attorney, a graduate of Wellesley College and George Washington University Law School, and a native of Madill, Oklahoma. The Ryans live in the Courthouse Hill Historic District of Janesville, Wisconsin. They have three children: Elizabeth "Liza" Anne, Charles Wilson, and Samuel Lowery. A Roman Catholic, Ryan is a member of St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Janesville. Janna is a cousin of former Democratic Representative Dan Boren (D-OK). She is also a granddaughter of Reuel Little, who helped found the American Party to support the 1968 presidential campaign of George Wallace. Due to a family history of fatal heart attacks before age 60, Ryan pursues an intense cross-training fitness program called P90X. Ryan has always been a fitness enthusiast and was a personal trainer when he came out of college. About P90X, he said, "It works because it's called muscle confusion. It hits your body in many different ways. Pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, lots of cardio, karate, jump training. It has results, it works. It's a good workout." In a 2010 Politico interview, he said that he weighed 163 pounds and maintained his body fat percentage between 6 and 8%. Tony Horton, creator of P90X, who has personally trained Ryan many times, reiterated the claim saying, "He is very, very, very lean. I know what 6 to 8 percent body fat looks like, and there's no fat anywhere on the man. I'm around 9 percent and he's much leaner than I am. He’s easily 6 to 8 percent body fat. You just have to eat right and exercise every day, and that’s what he does." In a radio interview, Ryan claimed he had once run a marathon in under three hours; he later stated that he forgot his actual time and was just trying to state what he thought was a normal time. His one official marathon time is recorded as slightly over four hours. Awards and honors 2004, 2010 – Guardian of Small Business Award, National Federation of Independent Business 2008 – Defending the American Dream Award, Americans for Prosperity, Wisconsin chapter 2009 – Manufacturing Legislative Excellence Award, National Association of Manufacturers 2009 – Honorary Degree, Miami University 2010 – Legislator of the Year Award, International Franchise Association 2011 – Statesmanship Award, Claremont Institute 2011 – Fiscy Award for responsible financial stewardship and fiscal discipline in government. 2011 – Leadership Award, Jack Kemp Foundation 2011 – Freedom and Prosperity Award, Mason Contractors Association of America 2012 – Chair, Honorary Board of the Archery Trade Association 2014 – Alexander Hamilton Award, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research 2018 – Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service References Further reading Works about Ryan Works by Ryan External links Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Historical Society |- |- |- |- |- |- 1970 births 2012 United States vice-presidential candidates 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Roman Catholics American male non-fiction writers American people of English descent American people of Jewish descent American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American political writers American speechwriters American University alumni Catholics from Wisconsin Living people Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin Miami University alumni Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign Politicians from Janesville, Wisconsin Republican Party (United States) vice presidential nominees Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Speakers of the United States House of Representatives University of Notre Dame faculty Wisconsin Republicans Writers from Wisconsin Joseph A. Craig High School alumni 21st-century American male writers
true
[ "Brandon McInnis is an American voice actor and translator. He previously worked as a software engineer before pursuing a career as an actor after being convinced by his brother to do so. Some of his noteworthy roles include Finral in Black Clover, Yūta Hibiki in SSSS.Gridman, Gen Asagiri in Dr. Stone, and Sir Nighteye in My Hero Academia.\n\nBiography\nIn high school, Brandon McInnis did musical theater. However, at the time he did not pursue acting and instead graduated from college with a degree in Japanese. After working in Tokyo, he moved back to the United States to work as a software engineer. At the time, he had no plans of becoming an actor. However, his brother forced him to audition for the town's local performance of Les Misérables, where he was eventually cast as a major character. After that, McInnis decided to pursue a career in acting.\n\nMcInnis is openly gay and engaged to fellow voice actor J. Michael Tatum.\n\nFilmography\n\nAnime\n\nFilms\n\nVideo games\n\nDrama CD\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\n21st-century American male actors\n21st-century American translators\nAmerican gay actors\nAmerican male video game actors\nAmerican male voice actors\nJapanese–English translators\nLiving people\nYear of birth missing (living people)", "Washington Carlos Nunes Rodrigues (Rio de Janeiro, September 1, 1936), also known as Apolinho is a Brazilian radio sports and football broadcaster of Super Rádio Tupi.\n\nDeclared fan of Flamengo, Apolinho assumed the technical command of the equipment in the year of 1995.\n\nRegarding his passage as coach of Flamengo, Apolinho stated:\n\n\"I'm not a coach and I've never been, but Flamengo did not invite me, he summoned me. And every time he calls me I go, for Flamengo I do anything, if the goalkeeper gets hurt and needs me on the goal I go there and play, for Flamengo I do any business, if called I'm in, anything, I go.\"\n\nReferences\n\n1936 births\nLiving people\nBrazilian sports broadcasters\nBrazilian sports journalists\nAssociation football commentators\nFootball people in Brazil\nBrazilian football managers" ]
[ "Paul Ryan", "Early life and education", "Where was Ryan born?", "Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin,", "Where did Ryan go to school?", "Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team,", "Did he do anything noteworthy in school?", "then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king." ]
C_3e8539e8237d4b058d107f04ee5e4a39_1
Where did he attend college?
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Where did Paul Ryan attend college?
Paul Ryan
Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (nee Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Davis Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English ancestry. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan (1858-1917), founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan (1898-1957), was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother remarried, to Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. He attended the Washington Semester program at American University. Ryan worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. CANNOTANSWER
Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio,
Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American retired politician who served as the 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from October 2015 to January 2019. He was the 2012 Republican Party vice presidential nominee running alongside Mitt Romney, losing to incumbent president Barack Obama and then-vice president Joe Biden. Ryan, a native of Janesville, Wisconsin, graduated from Miami University in 1992. He spent five years working for Republicans in Washington, D.C. and returned to Wisconsin in 1997 to work at his family's construction company. Ryan was elected to Congress to represent the following year, replacing an incumbent Republican who ran for U.S. Senate. Ryan would represent the district for 20 years. He chaired the House Budget Committee from 2011 to 2015 and briefly chaired the House Ways and Means Committee in 2015 prior to being elected Speaker of the House in October 2015 following John Boehner's retirement. A self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan was a major proponent of Social Security privatization in the mid-2000s. In the 2010s, two proposals heavily influenced by Ryan—"The Path to Prosperity" and "A Better Way"—advocated for the privatization of Medicare, the conversion of Medicaid into a block grant program, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and significant federal tax cuts. As Speaker, he played a key role in the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act in 2018, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. His other major piece of legislation, the American Health Care Act of 2017, passed the House but failed in the Senate by one vote. Ryan declined to run for re-election in the 2018 midterm elections. With the Democratic Party taking control of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi succeeded Ryan as Speaker of the House. Early life and education Paul Davis Ryan was born on January 29, 1970 in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (née Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Murray Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English descent. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan, founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan, was appointed United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. In 2018, while filming a segment for the PBS series Finding Your Roots, Ryan learned that his DNA results included 3 percent Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Although Ryan's father was not a lifelong heavy drinker, staying sober for nearly twenty years after his first stint in rehabilitation, he had become an alcoholic by the time Ryan was a teenager. Ryan later commented on his relationship with his father, whom he revered as a young child, stating that "[alcohol] made him more distant, irritable and stressed ... whiskey had washed away some of the best parts of the man I knew." When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack, something Ryan later partially attributed to heavy alcohol consumption. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother later married widower Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten, where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. Ryan attended the Washington Semester program at American University. He worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. Early career Betty Ryan reportedly urged her son to accept a congressional position as a legislative aide in Senator Kasten's office, which he did after graduating in 1992. In his early years working on Capitol Hill, Ryan supplemented his income by working as a waiter, as a fitness trainer, and at other jobs. A few months after Kasten lost to Democrat Russ Feingold in the 1992 election, Ryan became a speechwriter for Empower America (now FreedomWorks), a conservative advocacy group founded by Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and William Bennett. Ryan later worked as a speechwriter for Kemp, the Republican vice presidential candidate in the 1996 United States presidential election. Kemp became Ryan's mentor, and Ryan has said he had a "huge influence". In 1995, Ryan became the legislative director for then-U.S. Congressman Sam Brownback of Kansas. In 1997 he returned to Wisconsin, where he worked for a year as a marketing consultant for the construction company Ryan Incorporated Central, owned by his relatives. U.S. House of Representatives Elections Ryan was first elected to the House in 1998, winning the 1st District seat of Republican Mark Neumann, a two-term incumbent who had vacated his seat to make an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate. 28-year-old Ryan won the Republican primary over 29-year-old pianist Michael J. Logan of Twin Lakes, and the general election against Democrat Lydia Spottswood. This made him the second-youngest member of the House. Reelected eight times, Ryan never received less than 55 percent of the vote in a congressional election. He defeated Democratic challenger Jeffrey C. Thomas in the 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 elections. In the 2008 election, Ryan defeated Democrat Marge Krupp. In the 2010 general election, he defeated Democrat John Heckenlively and Libertarian Joseph Kexel. In 2012, under Wisconsin election law, Ryan was allowed to run concurrently for vice president and for Congress and was not allowed to remove his name from the Congressional ballot after being nominated for the vice presidency. He faced Democratic nominee Rob Zerban. As of July 25, 2012, Ryan had over $5.4 million in his congressional campaign account, more than any other House member. He was reelected with 55 percent of his district's vote and 44 percent of the vote in his hometown, Janesville. Zerban again challenged Ryan in the 2014 House election. Ryan won with 63 percent of his district's vote. In the 2016 Republican primary election, Ryan faced businessman Paul Nehlen, who had been endorsed by Sarah Palin. Because of Nehlen's support for Trump, Trump publicly thanked him on Twitter and later told The Washington Post that Nehlen was "running a very good campaign", even though he did not endorse him. On August 5, 2016, Trump endorsed Ryan's re-election after pressure from fellow Republican leaders. In the August 9, 2016 primary election, Ryan overwhelmingly defeated Nehlen, taking over 84 percent of the vote. In the November general election, Ryan faced Democrat Rebecca Solen and won with 65 percent of his district's vote. Committee assignments As Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ryan was not a chair or a member of any committee. Prior to his speakership, Ryan held the following assignments: Committee on Ways and Means (Chairman) Subcommittee on Health Caucus memberships House Republican Caucus Caucus of House Conservatives Republican Study Committee United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus Middle East Economic Partnership Caucus Prayer Caucus Sportsmen's Caucus (Co-Chair) Congressional Western Caucus Pre-Speaker congressional tenure (1999–2015) Ryan became the ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee in 2007 and became chairman of the committee in 2011 after Republicans took control of the House. That same year, he was selected to deliver the Republican response to the State of the Union address. As of August 2012, Ryan had been the primary sponsor of more than 70 bills or amendments, and only two of those bills had become law. One, passed in July 2000, renamed a post office in Ryan's district; the other, passed in December 2008, lowered the excise tax on arrow shafts. As of August 2012, Ryan had also co-sponsored 975 bills, of which 176 had passed; 22% of these bills were originally sponsored by a Democrat. Ryan was a "reliable supporter of the [George W. Bush] administration's foreign policy priorities" who voted for the 2002 Iraq Resolution, authorizing the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2010, Ryan was a member of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Bowles-Simpson Commission), which was tasked with developing a plan to reduce the federal deficit. He voted against the final report of the commission. In 2012, Ryan accused the nation's top military leaders of using "smoke and mirrors" to remain under budget limits passed by Congress. Ryan later said that he misspoke on the issue and called General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to apologize for his comments. Speaker of the House 114th Congress On September 25, 2015, John Boehner formally announced to House Republicans his intention to resign from the speakership and the House. Among those interested in the post, Kevin McCarthy—who had wide support among Republicans, including Boehner, and Ryan, who was set to officially nominate him—was considered the presumptive favorite. His candidacy was opposed by conservative House Republicans of the Freedom Caucus, and when it became clear that caucus members would not support his candidacy, McCarthy withdrew his name from consideration on October 8. This led many Republicans to turn to Ryan as a compromise candidate. The push included a plea from Boehner, who reportedly told Ryan that he was the only person who could unite the House Republicans at a time of turmoil. Ryan released a statement that said, "While I am grateful for the encouragement I've received, I will not be a candidate." The next day however, close aides of Ryan's confirmed that Ryan had re-evaluated the situation, and was considering the possibility of a run. Ryan confirmed on October 22, that he would seek the speakership after receiving the endorsements of two factions of House Republicans, including the conservative Freedom Caucus. Ryan, upon confirming his bid for the speakership, stated, "I never thought I'd be speaker. But I pledged to you that if I could be a unifying figure, then I would serve – I would go all in. After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as one, united team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker." On October 29, Ryan was elected Speaker, receiving 236 votes, an absolute majority of the 435-member chamber. Democrat Nancy Pelosi received 184 votes, with 12 more going to others. After the vote Ryan delivered his first remarks as speaker-elect and was sworn in by John Conyers, the dean of the House, becoming, at age , the youngest person elected as speaker since James G. Blaine (age ) in 1869. Later, he named lobbyist John David Hoppe as his Chief of Staff. As Speaker, Ryan became the leader of the House Republicans. However, by tradition, he largely ceased taking part in debate and almost never voted from the floor. He was also not a member of any committees. 2016 presidential election After Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election on May 4, 2016, Ryan was hesitant to endorse him, stating on May 5 that he was "not ready". Ryan and Trump met in private on May 12, releasing a joint statement afterward, acknowledging their differences but stating "we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground." On June 2, Ryan announced his support for Trump in an op-ed in The Janesville Gazette. The following day, June 3, amid Trump's criticism of Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, Ryan said Trump's critique "just was out of left field for my mind," and voiced disagreement with him. On June 7, Ryan disavowed Trump's comments about Curiel because he believed they were "the textbook definition of a racist comment". Nevertheless, Ryan continued to endorse Trump, believing that more Republican policies will be enacted under Donald Trump than presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. On June 15, after Kevin McCarthy stated during a conversation among Republicans, "There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump. Swear to God", Ryan interjected, "No leaks. This is how we know we're a real family here." On July 5, after FBI Director James Comey advocated against pressing charges against Clinton for her email scandal, Ryan said Comey's decision "defies explanation" and stated that "[d]eclining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent." In October 2016, following the Donald Trump Access Hollywood controversy, Ryan disinvited Trump from a scheduled campaign rally, and announced that he would no longer defend or support Trump's presidential campaign but would focus instead on Congressional races. He also freed down-ticket congress members to use their own judgment about Trump, saying "you all need to do what's best for you and your district." Trump then went on to attack Ryan, accusing him and other "disloyal" Republicans of deliberately undermining his candidacy as part of "a whole sinister deal". 115th Congress Two months after the 2016 elections, Ryan was re-elected Speaker of the House on January 3, 2017, the opening day of the 115th Congress. He received 239 votes to House Democratic Leader Pelosi's 189 votes (with 5 more going to others). On February 7, 2017, Ryan told reporters a replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be introduced "this year" amid speculation Donald Trump would not act toward doing so until the following year. On March 9, Ryan gave a 30-minute lecture explaining the proposed replacement for the ACA, titled the American Health Care Act (AHCA). On March 30, Ryan said that he did not intend to work with Democrats on repealing and replacing the ACA, reasoning their involvement would lead to "government running health care." On April 4, Ryan confirmed renewed discussions of an ACA replacement, but warned that a replacement was in the "conceptual" stages of its development. On May 4, the House narrowly voted for the AHCA to repeal the ACA. On May 9, Ryan said that "a month or two" would pass before the Senate would pass its own ACA repeal and replacement legislation. The Senate created several of its own versions of the act but was unable to pass any of them. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Ryan suggested that candidate Trump should release his tax returns. In May 2017, Ryan said Congress' goal was "calendared 2017 for tax reform" and reported progress was being made in doing so. In December 2017, both houses of Congress passed a $1.5 trillion tax bill called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which Trump signed into law on December 22. The tax law is projected to add an additional $1.5 trillion to the national debt over a decade, but the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation also estimated that the GDP level on average would be 0.7% higher during the same period. In the weeks leading up to his retirement announcement, Ryan also championed a $1.3 trillion government-wide spending bill that boosted military spending significantly. Politico noted that Ryan "clamored for austerity when he's been in the minority, trashing Democrats as profligate budget-busters, but he's happily busted budgets in the majority." In June 2017, Ryan expressed support for strong sanctions on Russia in response to Russian interference in the 2016 elections and its annexation of the Crimea, saying that Russia's actions were "unacceptable". He urged Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Congressional oversight committees to "do their jobs so that we can get to the bottom of all of this." In July Congress passed a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia and giving Congress the power to overrule White House attempts to roll back sanctions. Both houses passed the bill with veto-proof majorities (98-2 in the Senate, 419-3 in the House), so Trump reluctantly signed it into law on August 2, 2017. Ryan provided political cover for Devin Nunes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, who many characterized as a source of the dysfunction in the committee as it investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election. Nunes accused the Obama administration of improperly “unmasking” the identities of Trump associates (which led Nunes' temporary recusal from the committee's Russia investigation), accused the FBI of misconduct, leaked the text messages of Senator Mark Warner (in an effort to misleadingly suggest impropriety on his behalf), and threatened to impeach FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The House Intelligence Committee was one of few so-called "select" committees in Congress, which meant that it was up to Ryan to decide the chairman of the committee. Despite having favored comprehensive immigration earlier in his congressional career, Speaker Ryan prevented immigration legislation from being advanced in the House. When President Trump ended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) – which granted temporary stay for undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as minors – Ryan said DACA recipients should "rest easy" because Congress would solve the problem for them, but Ryan backed no bills to protect DACA recipients. An article in The Washington Post described Ryan's relationship with President Trump as "friendly, if occasionally uneasy," adding that "Ryan did little to check the president or encourage oversight of his administration." Ryan supported Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, and did not support legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Ryan said that legislation to protect Mueller's investigation was not "necessary". On April 11, 2018, Ryan announced that he would not run for re-election in November, saying, "I like to think I've done my part, my little part in history to set us on a better course." In response, Trump tweeted, "Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question." In May 2018, Ryan led the House in passing the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. It was signed into law by President Trump a few days later. After Republicans lost control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections, Ryan suggested that there were irregularities about the election results in California. Ryan said that California's election system was "bizarre", "defies logic" and that "there are a lot of races there we should have won." After Ryan's remarks were reported on, Ryan's spokesperson said "The Speaker did not and does not dispute the results". Assessment of Speaker tenure Following Ryan's retirement announcement, an article in The Washington Post stated that Ryan was "leav[ing] behind a legacy of dramatically expanded government spending and immense deficits, a GOP president unchecked, a broken immigration system, and a party that's fast abandoning the free-trade principles that he himself championed." According to the Associated Press, Ryan "achieved one of his career goals: rewriting the tax code"; however, "on his other defining aim — balancing the budget and cutting back benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — Ryan has utterly failed". Constituent services In fiscal year 2008, Ryan garnered $5.4 million in congressional earmarks, including $3.28 million for bus service in Wisconsin, $1.38 million for the Ice Age Trail, and $735,000 for the Janesville transit system. In 2009, he successfully advocated with the Department of Energy for stimulus funds for energy initiatives in his district. Other home district projects he has supported include a runway extension at the Rock County Airport, an environmental study of the Kenosha Harbor, firefighting equipment for Janesville, road projects in Wisconsin, and commuter rail and streetcar projects in Kenosha. In 2008, Ryan pledged to stop seeking earmarks. Prior to that he had sought earmarks less often than other representatives. Taxpayers for Common Sense records show no earmarks supported by Ryan for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. In 2012, Ryan supported a request for $3.8 million from the Department of Transportation for a new transit center in Janesville, which city officials received in July. Ryan was an active member of a task force established by Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle that tried unsuccessfully to persuade General Motors to keep its assembly plant in Janesville open. He made personal contact with GM executives to try to convince them to save or retool the plant, offering GM hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded incentives. Following the closure of factories in Janesville and Kenosha, constituents expressed dissatisfaction with Ryan's voting history. During the 2011 Congressional summer break, Ryan held town hall meetings by telephone with constituents. The only public meetings Ryan attended in his district required an admission fee of at least $15. In August 2011, constituents in Kenosha and Racine protested when Ryan would not meet with them about economic and employment issues, after weeks of emailed requests from them. His Kenosha office locked its doors and filed a complaint with the police, who told the protesters that they were not allowed in Ryan's office. Ryan maintained a mobile office to serve constituents in outlying areas. 2012 vice presidential campaign Dan Balz of The Washington Post wrote that Ryan was promoted as a candidate for Vice President "by major elements of the conservative opinion makers, including The Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Weekly Standard and the editor of National Review". On August 11, 2012, the Romney campaign announced Ryan as its choice for Vice President through its "Mitt's VP" mobile app. It was reported that Romney had offered the position to Ryan on August 1, 2012, the day after returning from a foreign policy trip to the United Kingdom, Poland, and Israel. On August 11, 2012, Ryan formally accepted Romney's invitation to join his campaign as his running mate, in front of the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk. Ryan is the first individual from Wisconsin as well as the first member of Generation X to run on a major party's national ticket. Also in August 2012, the Associated Press published a story saying that while the Tea Party movement had wanted a nominee other than Romney, it had gotten "one of its ideological heroes" in the Vice Presidential slot. According to the article, Ryan supports the Tea Party's belief in "individual rights, distrust of big government and an allegorical embrace of the Founding Fathers". According to a statistical-historical analysis conducted by Nate Silver, "Ryan is the most conservative Republican member of Congress to be picked for the vice-presidential slot since at least 1900" and "is also more conservative than any Democratic nominee [for vice president who previously served in the Congress] was liberal, meaning that he is the furthest from the center" of any vice presidential candidate chosen from Congress since the turn of the 20th century. Political scientist Eric Schickler commented that while Ryan "may well be the most conservative vice presidential nominee in decades," the NOMINATE methodology "is not suited to making claims about the relative liberalism or conservatism of politicians" over a long time span. A USA Today/Gallup poll found that 39% thought Ryan was an "excellent" or "pretty good" vice presidential choice, compared to 42% who felt he was a "fair" or "poor" choice. Ryan formally accepted his nomination at the 2012 Republican National Convention on August 29, 2012. In his acceptance speech, he promoted Mitt Romney as the presidential candidate, supported repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), said that he and Romney had a plan to generate 12 million new jobs over the ensuing four years, and promoted founding principles as a solution: "We will not duck the tough issues—we will lead. We will not spend four years blaming others—we will take responsibility. We will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles." The speech was well received by the convention audience and praised for being well-delivered. Some fact-checkers purported that there were important factual omissions and that he presented details out of context. Conservative media (including Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post, the Investor's Business Daily, and Fox News) disputed some of the fact-checkers' findings. Of 33 of Ryan's statements which Politifact.com suspected of being false or misleading, it rated 10.5% as True, 18% as Mostly True, 21% as Half True, 36% as Mostly False, 9% as False, and 6% as Pants on Fire. On October 11, 2012, Ryan debated his Democratic counterpart, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, in the only vice presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle. Romney and Ryan lost the 2012 presidential election, but Ryan retained his seat in the House of Representatives. Congressional Leadership Fund The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a Super PAC, has been closely linked and aligned with Ryan. Ryan has directed major GOP donors towards the CLF. Political positions Ryan's political positions were generally conservative, with a focus on fiscal policy. Ryan "played a central role in nearly all" the policy debates of the period 2010–2012. In 2012, Ryan voted against the Simpson-Bowles commission proposal to reduce the deficit, because the proposal raised taxes and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. While he was a self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan's tenure of Speaker of the House saw a major expansion in government spending and a ballooning of deficits despite unified Republican control of Congress and the White House, no recession and no new foreign conflict. Ryan subscribed to supply-side economics and supported tax cuts including eliminating the capital gains tax, the corporate income tax, the estate tax, and the Alternative Minimum Tax. Ryan supports deregulation, including the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999, which repealed some financial regulation of banks from the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. During the economic recovery from the Great Recession of the late 2000s, Ryan supported the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which authorized the Treasury to purchase toxic assets from banks and other financial institutions, and the auto industry bailout; Ryan opposed the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which expanded consumer protections regarding credit card plans, and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which strengthened financial regulation. In 2018 as House Speaker, Ryan helped pass the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act that repealed large parts of Dodd-Frank. In 2016, Ryan rolled out a set of anti-poverty proposals that "seek to expand work requirements for those receiving federal benefits, to give states and local jurisdictions a greater role in administering those benefits, to better measure the results of federal programs for the poor, and to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse." Ryan believes federal poverty reduction programs are ineffective and he supports cuts to welfare, child care, Pell Grants, food stamps, and other federal assistance programs. Ryan supports block granting Medicaid to the states and the privatization of social security and Medicare. Ryan supported the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit and opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as "Obamacare." Ryan supported the American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA), the 2017 House Republican plan to repeal and replace the ACA. In 2012, The New York Times said Ryan was "his party's most forceful spokesman for cutting entitlement spending." Ryan's non-fiscal policy positions were subject to additional national attention with his 2012 candidacy for Vice President. Ryan is pro-life and opposes abortion rights. Ryan opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which provides that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. In 2012, Ryan supported civil unions and opposed same-sex marriage. Ryan supported school vouchers, and supported the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and its repeal the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015. Ryan is unsure, and believes climate scientists are unsure, of the impact of human activity on climate change. Ryan supported tax incentives for the petroleum industry and opposed them for renewable energy. Ryan supported gun rights and opposed stricter gun control. Ryan supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ryan condemned Barack Obama's decision not to block a UN resolution criticizing Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories as "absolutely shameful". Ryan supported President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He stated: "Jerusalem has been, and always will be, the eternal, undivided capital of the State of Israel." Following the 2018 Russia–United States summit, in which Donald Trump stated that he believed Russian government did not interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Ryan confirmed his belief that Russian government interfered and advocated for more economic sanctions against Russia for the interference. Ryan supported U.S. involvement in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen and used his power to block a House vote on the war in Yemen. History with Objectivism At a 2005 Washington, D.C. gathering celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ayn Rand's birth, Ryan credited Rand with having inspired him to get involved in politics. In a speech that same year at the Atlas Society, he said he grew up reading Rand, and that her books taught him about his value system and beliefs. Ryan required staffers and interns in his congressional office to read Rand and gave copies of her novel Atlas Shrugged as gifts to his staff for Christmas. In his Atlas Society speech, he also described Social Security as a "socialist-based system". In 2009, Ryan said, "What's unique about what's happening today in government, in the world, in America, is that it's as if we're living in an Ayn Rand novel right now. I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is under assault." In April 2012, after receiving criticism from Georgetown University faculty members on his budget plan, Ryan rejected Rand's philosophy as atheistic, saying it "reduces human interactions down to mere contracts". He also called the reports of his adherence to Rand's views an "urban legend" and stated that he was deeply influenced by his Roman Catholic faith and by Thomas Aquinas. Electoral history Post-congressional life In March 2019, Ryan joined the board of directors of Fox Corporation, the owner of Fox News Channel and the Fox broadcast network. In August 2019, he joined the board of SHINE Medical Technologies. He has since joined the faculty of the University of Notre Dame as a professor of practice for the 2019–20 academic year as a guest lecturer in political science and economics. In April 2019, Ryan was nominated as the delegation leader to represent President Trump to visit Taipei. With Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, he attended the 40th anniversary ceremony of the Taiwan Relations Act. In October 2019, Ryan launched a non-profit called American Idea Foundation. Personal life In December 2000, Ryan married Janna Christine Little, a tax attorney, a graduate of Wellesley College and George Washington University Law School, and a native of Madill, Oklahoma. The Ryans live in the Courthouse Hill Historic District of Janesville, Wisconsin. They have three children: Elizabeth "Liza" Anne, Charles Wilson, and Samuel Lowery. A Roman Catholic, Ryan is a member of St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Janesville. Janna is a cousin of former Democratic Representative Dan Boren (D-OK). She is also a granddaughter of Reuel Little, who helped found the American Party to support the 1968 presidential campaign of George Wallace. Due to a family history of fatal heart attacks before age 60, Ryan pursues an intense cross-training fitness program called P90X. Ryan has always been a fitness enthusiast and was a personal trainer when he came out of college. About P90X, he said, "It works because it's called muscle confusion. It hits your body in many different ways. Pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, lots of cardio, karate, jump training. It has results, it works. It's a good workout." In a 2010 Politico interview, he said that he weighed 163 pounds and maintained his body fat percentage between 6 and 8%. Tony Horton, creator of P90X, who has personally trained Ryan many times, reiterated the claim saying, "He is very, very, very lean. I know what 6 to 8 percent body fat looks like, and there's no fat anywhere on the man. I'm around 9 percent and he's much leaner than I am. He’s easily 6 to 8 percent body fat. You just have to eat right and exercise every day, and that’s what he does." In a radio interview, Ryan claimed he had once run a marathon in under three hours; he later stated that he forgot his actual time and was just trying to state what he thought was a normal time. His one official marathon time is recorded as slightly over four hours. Awards and honors 2004, 2010 – Guardian of Small Business Award, National Federation of Independent Business 2008 – Defending the American Dream Award, Americans for Prosperity, Wisconsin chapter 2009 – Manufacturing Legislative Excellence Award, National Association of Manufacturers 2009 – Honorary Degree, Miami University 2010 – Legislator of the Year Award, International Franchise Association 2011 – Statesmanship Award, Claremont Institute 2011 – Fiscy Award for responsible financial stewardship and fiscal discipline in government. 2011 – Leadership Award, Jack Kemp Foundation 2011 – Freedom and Prosperity Award, Mason Contractors Association of America 2012 – Chair, Honorary Board of the Archery Trade Association 2014 – Alexander Hamilton Award, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research 2018 – Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service References Further reading Works about Ryan Works by Ryan External links Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Historical Society |- |- |- |- |- |- 1970 births 2012 United States vice-presidential candidates 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Roman Catholics American male non-fiction writers American people of English descent American people of Jewish descent American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American political writers American speechwriters American University alumni Catholics from Wisconsin Living people Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin Miami University alumni Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign Politicians from Janesville, Wisconsin Republican Party (United States) vice presidential nominees Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Speakers of the United States House of Representatives University of Notre Dame faculty Wisconsin Republicans Writers from Wisconsin Joseph A. Craig High School alumni 21st-century American male writers
true
[ "Walter Drumstead (born Dremstadt; September 4, 1898 – May 18, 1946) was an American football guard who played one game in the National Football League (NFL) for the Hammond Pros. He did not attend college, and also played independent ball with the Hammond Scatenas, Boosters, and Colonials.\n\nHe was born Walter Dremstadt on September 4, 1898, in Hammond, Indiana. He did not attend college, and a 1923 article called him, \"from the college of hard knocks.\"\n\nIn 1921, Drumstead started a football career with the independent Hammond Scatenas. He joined the Hammond Boosters in 1924 after three seasons played with the Scatenas, and scored a touchdown in one of his first appearances with the team.\n\nAfter playing most of the 1925 season with the Boosters, Drumstead left the team for one game to play in the National Football League (NFL) with the Hammond Pros. He was a starter in their 0–13 loss against the Chicago Cardinals, and returned to the Boosters afterwards. The Times reported him as a \"fan favorite\". He played for the Boosters again in 1926.\n\nDrumstead played the left guard position for the Hammond Colonials in 1929.\n\nHe died in on May 18, 1946, at the age of 47.\n\nReferences\n\n1898 births\n1946 deaths\nPlayers of American football from Indiana\nPeople from Hammond, Indiana\nAmerican football guards\nHammond Pros players", "Ruben Chebon Mwei (born 4 December 1985 in Kapsabet, Kenya) is a Kenyan half marathoner and marathoner.\n\nBiography\nMwei attended Kemeloi high school and Kamwenja Teacher's College in his native Kenya before moving to the United States to attend Adams State College in 2006, where he majored in psychology.\n\nCareer\n\nMwei redshirted his freshman year at Adams State. His sophomore year, he competed in several cross-country races, including 4- and 5-mile, and 8- and 10-K. He placed second at the NCAA Division II National Championships, with a 30:09 in the 10-K, and earned an All-American award. His junior year, he did not compete in the national championship due to a chest injury.\n\nAfter college, Mwei has continued to run professionally, winning events such as the 2012 Naples Half Marathon and the 2012 Atlanta Marathon (his debut marathon)\n\nReferences\n\n1985 births\nLiving people\nKenyan male long-distance runners\nKenyan male middle-distance runners" ]
[ "Paul Ryan", "Early life and education", "Where was Ryan born?", "Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin,", "Where did Ryan go to school?", "Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team,", "Did he do anything noteworthy in school?", "then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king.", "Where did he attend college?", "Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio," ]
C_3e8539e8237d4b058d107f04ee5e4a39_1
Did he graduate with honors?
5
Did Paul Ryan graduate with honors?
Paul Ryan
Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (nee Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Davis Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English ancestry. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan (1858-1917), founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan (1898-1957), was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother remarried, to Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. He attended the Washington Semester program at American University. Ryan worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. CANNOTANSWER
with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten
Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American retired politician who served as the 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from October 2015 to January 2019. He was the 2012 Republican Party vice presidential nominee running alongside Mitt Romney, losing to incumbent president Barack Obama and then-vice president Joe Biden. Ryan, a native of Janesville, Wisconsin, graduated from Miami University in 1992. He spent five years working for Republicans in Washington, D.C. and returned to Wisconsin in 1997 to work at his family's construction company. Ryan was elected to Congress to represent the following year, replacing an incumbent Republican who ran for U.S. Senate. Ryan would represent the district for 20 years. He chaired the House Budget Committee from 2011 to 2015 and briefly chaired the House Ways and Means Committee in 2015 prior to being elected Speaker of the House in October 2015 following John Boehner's retirement. A self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan was a major proponent of Social Security privatization in the mid-2000s. In the 2010s, two proposals heavily influenced by Ryan—"The Path to Prosperity" and "A Better Way"—advocated for the privatization of Medicare, the conversion of Medicaid into a block grant program, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and significant federal tax cuts. As Speaker, he played a key role in the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act in 2018, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. His other major piece of legislation, the American Health Care Act of 2017, passed the House but failed in the Senate by one vote. Ryan declined to run for re-election in the 2018 midterm elections. With the Democratic Party taking control of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi succeeded Ryan as Speaker of the House. Early life and education Paul Davis Ryan was born on January 29, 1970 in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (née Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Murray Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English descent. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan, founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan, was appointed United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. In 2018, while filming a segment for the PBS series Finding Your Roots, Ryan learned that his DNA results included 3 percent Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Although Ryan's father was not a lifelong heavy drinker, staying sober for nearly twenty years after his first stint in rehabilitation, he had become an alcoholic by the time Ryan was a teenager. Ryan later commented on his relationship with his father, whom he revered as a young child, stating that "[alcohol] made him more distant, irritable and stressed ... whiskey had washed away some of the best parts of the man I knew." When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack, something Ryan later partially attributed to heavy alcohol consumption. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother later married widower Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten, where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. Ryan attended the Washington Semester program at American University. He worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. Early career Betty Ryan reportedly urged her son to accept a congressional position as a legislative aide in Senator Kasten's office, which he did after graduating in 1992. In his early years working on Capitol Hill, Ryan supplemented his income by working as a waiter, as a fitness trainer, and at other jobs. A few months after Kasten lost to Democrat Russ Feingold in the 1992 election, Ryan became a speechwriter for Empower America (now FreedomWorks), a conservative advocacy group founded by Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and William Bennett. Ryan later worked as a speechwriter for Kemp, the Republican vice presidential candidate in the 1996 United States presidential election. Kemp became Ryan's mentor, and Ryan has said he had a "huge influence". In 1995, Ryan became the legislative director for then-U.S. Congressman Sam Brownback of Kansas. In 1997 he returned to Wisconsin, where he worked for a year as a marketing consultant for the construction company Ryan Incorporated Central, owned by his relatives. U.S. House of Representatives Elections Ryan was first elected to the House in 1998, winning the 1st District seat of Republican Mark Neumann, a two-term incumbent who had vacated his seat to make an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate. 28-year-old Ryan won the Republican primary over 29-year-old pianist Michael J. Logan of Twin Lakes, and the general election against Democrat Lydia Spottswood. This made him the second-youngest member of the House. Reelected eight times, Ryan never received less than 55 percent of the vote in a congressional election. He defeated Democratic challenger Jeffrey C. Thomas in the 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 elections. In the 2008 election, Ryan defeated Democrat Marge Krupp. In the 2010 general election, he defeated Democrat John Heckenlively and Libertarian Joseph Kexel. In 2012, under Wisconsin election law, Ryan was allowed to run concurrently for vice president and for Congress and was not allowed to remove his name from the Congressional ballot after being nominated for the vice presidency. He faced Democratic nominee Rob Zerban. As of July 25, 2012, Ryan had over $5.4 million in his congressional campaign account, more than any other House member. He was reelected with 55 percent of his district's vote and 44 percent of the vote in his hometown, Janesville. Zerban again challenged Ryan in the 2014 House election. Ryan won with 63 percent of his district's vote. In the 2016 Republican primary election, Ryan faced businessman Paul Nehlen, who had been endorsed by Sarah Palin. Because of Nehlen's support for Trump, Trump publicly thanked him on Twitter and later told The Washington Post that Nehlen was "running a very good campaign", even though he did not endorse him. On August 5, 2016, Trump endorsed Ryan's re-election after pressure from fellow Republican leaders. In the August 9, 2016 primary election, Ryan overwhelmingly defeated Nehlen, taking over 84 percent of the vote. In the November general election, Ryan faced Democrat Rebecca Solen and won with 65 percent of his district's vote. Committee assignments As Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ryan was not a chair or a member of any committee. Prior to his speakership, Ryan held the following assignments: Committee on Ways and Means (Chairman) Subcommittee on Health Caucus memberships House Republican Caucus Caucus of House Conservatives Republican Study Committee United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus Middle East Economic Partnership Caucus Prayer Caucus Sportsmen's Caucus (Co-Chair) Congressional Western Caucus Pre-Speaker congressional tenure (1999–2015) Ryan became the ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee in 2007 and became chairman of the committee in 2011 after Republicans took control of the House. That same year, he was selected to deliver the Republican response to the State of the Union address. As of August 2012, Ryan had been the primary sponsor of more than 70 bills or amendments, and only two of those bills had become law. One, passed in July 2000, renamed a post office in Ryan's district; the other, passed in December 2008, lowered the excise tax on arrow shafts. As of August 2012, Ryan had also co-sponsored 975 bills, of which 176 had passed; 22% of these bills were originally sponsored by a Democrat. Ryan was a "reliable supporter of the [George W. Bush] administration's foreign policy priorities" who voted for the 2002 Iraq Resolution, authorizing the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2010, Ryan was a member of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Bowles-Simpson Commission), which was tasked with developing a plan to reduce the federal deficit. He voted against the final report of the commission. In 2012, Ryan accused the nation's top military leaders of using "smoke and mirrors" to remain under budget limits passed by Congress. Ryan later said that he misspoke on the issue and called General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to apologize for his comments. Speaker of the House 114th Congress On September 25, 2015, John Boehner formally announced to House Republicans his intention to resign from the speakership and the House. Among those interested in the post, Kevin McCarthy—who had wide support among Republicans, including Boehner, and Ryan, who was set to officially nominate him—was considered the presumptive favorite. His candidacy was opposed by conservative House Republicans of the Freedom Caucus, and when it became clear that caucus members would not support his candidacy, McCarthy withdrew his name from consideration on October 8. This led many Republicans to turn to Ryan as a compromise candidate. The push included a plea from Boehner, who reportedly told Ryan that he was the only person who could unite the House Republicans at a time of turmoil. Ryan released a statement that said, "While I am grateful for the encouragement I've received, I will not be a candidate." The next day however, close aides of Ryan's confirmed that Ryan had re-evaluated the situation, and was considering the possibility of a run. Ryan confirmed on October 22, that he would seek the speakership after receiving the endorsements of two factions of House Republicans, including the conservative Freedom Caucus. Ryan, upon confirming his bid for the speakership, stated, "I never thought I'd be speaker. But I pledged to you that if I could be a unifying figure, then I would serve – I would go all in. After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as one, united team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker." On October 29, Ryan was elected Speaker, receiving 236 votes, an absolute majority of the 435-member chamber. Democrat Nancy Pelosi received 184 votes, with 12 more going to others. After the vote Ryan delivered his first remarks as speaker-elect and was sworn in by John Conyers, the dean of the House, becoming, at age , the youngest person elected as speaker since James G. Blaine (age ) in 1869. Later, he named lobbyist John David Hoppe as his Chief of Staff. As Speaker, Ryan became the leader of the House Republicans. However, by tradition, he largely ceased taking part in debate and almost never voted from the floor. He was also not a member of any committees. 2016 presidential election After Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election on May 4, 2016, Ryan was hesitant to endorse him, stating on May 5 that he was "not ready". Ryan and Trump met in private on May 12, releasing a joint statement afterward, acknowledging their differences but stating "we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground." On June 2, Ryan announced his support for Trump in an op-ed in The Janesville Gazette. The following day, June 3, amid Trump's criticism of Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, Ryan said Trump's critique "just was out of left field for my mind," and voiced disagreement with him. On June 7, Ryan disavowed Trump's comments about Curiel because he believed they were "the textbook definition of a racist comment". Nevertheless, Ryan continued to endorse Trump, believing that more Republican policies will be enacted under Donald Trump than presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. On June 15, after Kevin McCarthy stated during a conversation among Republicans, "There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump. Swear to God", Ryan interjected, "No leaks. This is how we know we're a real family here." On July 5, after FBI Director James Comey advocated against pressing charges against Clinton for her email scandal, Ryan said Comey's decision "defies explanation" and stated that "[d]eclining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent." In October 2016, following the Donald Trump Access Hollywood controversy, Ryan disinvited Trump from a scheduled campaign rally, and announced that he would no longer defend or support Trump's presidential campaign but would focus instead on Congressional races. He also freed down-ticket congress members to use their own judgment about Trump, saying "you all need to do what's best for you and your district." Trump then went on to attack Ryan, accusing him and other "disloyal" Republicans of deliberately undermining his candidacy as part of "a whole sinister deal". 115th Congress Two months after the 2016 elections, Ryan was re-elected Speaker of the House on January 3, 2017, the opening day of the 115th Congress. He received 239 votes to House Democratic Leader Pelosi's 189 votes (with 5 more going to others). On February 7, 2017, Ryan told reporters a replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be introduced "this year" amid speculation Donald Trump would not act toward doing so until the following year. On March 9, Ryan gave a 30-minute lecture explaining the proposed replacement for the ACA, titled the American Health Care Act (AHCA). On March 30, Ryan said that he did not intend to work with Democrats on repealing and replacing the ACA, reasoning their involvement would lead to "government running health care." On April 4, Ryan confirmed renewed discussions of an ACA replacement, but warned that a replacement was in the "conceptual" stages of its development. On May 4, the House narrowly voted for the AHCA to repeal the ACA. On May 9, Ryan said that "a month or two" would pass before the Senate would pass its own ACA repeal and replacement legislation. The Senate created several of its own versions of the act but was unable to pass any of them. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Ryan suggested that candidate Trump should release his tax returns. In May 2017, Ryan said Congress' goal was "calendared 2017 for tax reform" and reported progress was being made in doing so. In December 2017, both houses of Congress passed a $1.5 trillion tax bill called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which Trump signed into law on December 22. The tax law is projected to add an additional $1.5 trillion to the national debt over a decade, but the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation also estimated that the GDP level on average would be 0.7% higher during the same period. In the weeks leading up to his retirement announcement, Ryan also championed a $1.3 trillion government-wide spending bill that boosted military spending significantly. Politico noted that Ryan "clamored for austerity when he's been in the minority, trashing Democrats as profligate budget-busters, but he's happily busted budgets in the majority." In June 2017, Ryan expressed support for strong sanctions on Russia in response to Russian interference in the 2016 elections and its annexation of the Crimea, saying that Russia's actions were "unacceptable". He urged Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Congressional oversight committees to "do their jobs so that we can get to the bottom of all of this." In July Congress passed a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia and giving Congress the power to overrule White House attempts to roll back sanctions. Both houses passed the bill with veto-proof majorities (98-2 in the Senate, 419-3 in the House), so Trump reluctantly signed it into law on August 2, 2017. Ryan provided political cover for Devin Nunes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, who many characterized as a source of the dysfunction in the committee as it investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election. Nunes accused the Obama administration of improperly “unmasking” the identities of Trump associates (which led Nunes' temporary recusal from the committee's Russia investigation), accused the FBI of misconduct, leaked the text messages of Senator Mark Warner (in an effort to misleadingly suggest impropriety on his behalf), and threatened to impeach FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The House Intelligence Committee was one of few so-called "select" committees in Congress, which meant that it was up to Ryan to decide the chairman of the committee. Despite having favored comprehensive immigration earlier in his congressional career, Speaker Ryan prevented immigration legislation from being advanced in the House. When President Trump ended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) – which granted temporary stay for undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as minors – Ryan said DACA recipients should "rest easy" because Congress would solve the problem for them, but Ryan backed no bills to protect DACA recipients. An article in The Washington Post described Ryan's relationship with President Trump as "friendly, if occasionally uneasy," adding that "Ryan did little to check the president or encourage oversight of his administration." Ryan supported Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, and did not support legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Ryan said that legislation to protect Mueller's investigation was not "necessary". On April 11, 2018, Ryan announced that he would not run for re-election in November, saying, "I like to think I've done my part, my little part in history to set us on a better course." In response, Trump tweeted, "Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question." In May 2018, Ryan led the House in passing the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. It was signed into law by President Trump a few days later. After Republicans lost control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections, Ryan suggested that there were irregularities about the election results in California. Ryan said that California's election system was "bizarre", "defies logic" and that "there are a lot of races there we should have won." After Ryan's remarks were reported on, Ryan's spokesperson said "The Speaker did not and does not dispute the results". Assessment of Speaker tenure Following Ryan's retirement announcement, an article in The Washington Post stated that Ryan was "leav[ing] behind a legacy of dramatically expanded government spending and immense deficits, a GOP president unchecked, a broken immigration system, and a party that's fast abandoning the free-trade principles that he himself championed." According to the Associated Press, Ryan "achieved one of his career goals: rewriting the tax code"; however, "on his other defining aim — balancing the budget and cutting back benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — Ryan has utterly failed". Constituent services In fiscal year 2008, Ryan garnered $5.4 million in congressional earmarks, including $3.28 million for bus service in Wisconsin, $1.38 million for the Ice Age Trail, and $735,000 for the Janesville transit system. In 2009, he successfully advocated with the Department of Energy for stimulus funds for energy initiatives in his district. Other home district projects he has supported include a runway extension at the Rock County Airport, an environmental study of the Kenosha Harbor, firefighting equipment for Janesville, road projects in Wisconsin, and commuter rail and streetcar projects in Kenosha. In 2008, Ryan pledged to stop seeking earmarks. Prior to that he had sought earmarks less often than other representatives. Taxpayers for Common Sense records show no earmarks supported by Ryan for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. In 2012, Ryan supported a request for $3.8 million from the Department of Transportation for a new transit center in Janesville, which city officials received in July. Ryan was an active member of a task force established by Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle that tried unsuccessfully to persuade General Motors to keep its assembly plant in Janesville open. He made personal contact with GM executives to try to convince them to save or retool the plant, offering GM hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded incentives. Following the closure of factories in Janesville and Kenosha, constituents expressed dissatisfaction with Ryan's voting history. During the 2011 Congressional summer break, Ryan held town hall meetings by telephone with constituents. The only public meetings Ryan attended in his district required an admission fee of at least $15. In August 2011, constituents in Kenosha and Racine protested when Ryan would not meet with them about economic and employment issues, after weeks of emailed requests from them. His Kenosha office locked its doors and filed a complaint with the police, who told the protesters that they were not allowed in Ryan's office. Ryan maintained a mobile office to serve constituents in outlying areas. 2012 vice presidential campaign Dan Balz of The Washington Post wrote that Ryan was promoted as a candidate for Vice President "by major elements of the conservative opinion makers, including The Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Weekly Standard and the editor of National Review". On August 11, 2012, the Romney campaign announced Ryan as its choice for Vice President through its "Mitt's VP" mobile app. It was reported that Romney had offered the position to Ryan on August 1, 2012, the day after returning from a foreign policy trip to the United Kingdom, Poland, and Israel. On August 11, 2012, Ryan formally accepted Romney's invitation to join his campaign as his running mate, in front of the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk. Ryan is the first individual from Wisconsin as well as the first member of Generation X to run on a major party's national ticket. Also in August 2012, the Associated Press published a story saying that while the Tea Party movement had wanted a nominee other than Romney, it had gotten "one of its ideological heroes" in the Vice Presidential slot. According to the article, Ryan supports the Tea Party's belief in "individual rights, distrust of big government and an allegorical embrace of the Founding Fathers". According to a statistical-historical analysis conducted by Nate Silver, "Ryan is the most conservative Republican member of Congress to be picked for the vice-presidential slot since at least 1900" and "is also more conservative than any Democratic nominee [for vice president who previously served in the Congress] was liberal, meaning that he is the furthest from the center" of any vice presidential candidate chosen from Congress since the turn of the 20th century. Political scientist Eric Schickler commented that while Ryan "may well be the most conservative vice presidential nominee in decades," the NOMINATE methodology "is not suited to making claims about the relative liberalism or conservatism of politicians" over a long time span. A USA Today/Gallup poll found that 39% thought Ryan was an "excellent" or "pretty good" vice presidential choice, compared to 42% who felt he was a "fair" or "poor" choice. Ryan formally accepted his nomination at the 2012 Republican National Convention on August 29, 2012. In his acceptance speech, he promoted Mitt Romney as the presidential candidate, supported repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), said that he and Romney had a plan to generate 12 million new jobs over the ensuing four years, and promoted founding principles as a solution: "We will not duck the tough issues—we will lead. We will not spend four years blaming others—we will take responsibility. We will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles." The speech was well received by the convention audience and praised for being well-delivered. Some fact-checkers purported that there were important factual omissions and that he presented details out of context. Conservative media (including Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post, the Investor's Business Daily, and Fox News) disputed some of the fact-checkers' findings. Of 33 of Ryan's statements which Politifact.com suspected of being false or misleading, it rated 10.5% as True, 18% as Mostly True, 21% as Half True, 36% as Mostly False, 9% as False, and 6% as Pants on Fire. On October 11, 2012, Ryan debated his Democratic counterpart, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, in the only vice presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle. Romney and Ryan lost the 2012 presidential election, but Ryan retained his seat in the House of Representatives. Congressional Leadership Fund The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a Super PAC, has been closely linked and aligned with Ryan. Ryan has directed major GOP donors towards the CLF. Political positions Ryan's political positions were generally conservative, with a focus on fiscal policy. Ryan "played a central role in nearly all" the policy debates of the period 2010–2012. In 2012, Ryan voted against the Simpson-Bowles commission proposal to reduce the deficit, because the proposal raised taxes and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. While he was a self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan's tenure of Speaker of the House saw a major expansion in government spending and a ballooning of deficits despite unified Republican control of Congress and the White House, no recession and no new foreign conflict. Ryan subscribed to supply-side economics and supported tax cuts including eliminating the capital gains tax, the corporate income tax, the estate tax, and the Alternative Minimum Tax. Ryan supports deregulation, including the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999, which repealed some financial regulation of banks from the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. During the economic recovery from the Great Recession of the late 2000s, Ryan supported the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which authorized the Treasury to purchase toxic assets from banks and other financial institutions, and the auto industry bailout; Ryan opposed the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which expanded consumer protections regarding credit card plans, and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which strengthened financial regulation. In 2018 as House Speaker, Ryan helped pass the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act that repealed large parts of Dodd-Frank. In 2016, Ryan rolled out a set of anti-poverty proposals that "seek to expand work requirements for those receiving federal benefits, to give states and local jurisdictions a greater role in administering those benefits, to better measure the results of federal programs for the poor, and to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse." Ryan believes federal poverty reduction programs are ineffective and he supports cuts to welfare, child care, Pell Grants, food stamps, and other federal assistance programs. Ryan supports block granting Medicaid to the states and the privatization of social security and Medicare. Ryan supported the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit and opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as "Obamacare." Ryan supported the American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA), the 2017 House Republican plan to repeal and replace the ACA. In 2012, The New York Times said Ryan was "his party's most forceful spokesman for cutting entitlement spending." Ryan's non-fiscal policy positions were subject to additional national attention with his 2012 candidacy for Vice President. Ryan is pro-life and opposes abortion rights. Ryan opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which provides that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. In 2012, Ryan supported civil unions and opposed same-sex marriage. Ryan supported school vouchers, and supported the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and its repeal the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015. Ryan is unsure, and believes climate scientists are unsure, of the impact of human activity on climate change. Ryan supported tax incentives for the petroleum industry and opposed them for renewable energy. Ryan supported gun rights and opposed stricter gun control. Ryan supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ryan condemned Barack Obama's decision not to block a UN resolution criticizing Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories as "absolutely shameful". Ryan supported President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He stated: "Jerusalem has been, and always will be, the eternal, undivided capital of the State of Israel." Following the 2018 Russia–United States summit, in which Donald Trump stated that he believed Russian government did not interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Ryan confirmed his belief that Russian government interfered and advocated for more economic sanctions against Russia for the interference. Ryan supported U.S. involvement in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen and used his power to block a House vote on the war in Yemen. History with Objectivism At a 2005 Washington, D.C. gathering celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ayn Rand's birth, Ryan credited Rand with having inspired him to get involved in politics. In a speech that same year at the Atlas Society, he said he grew up reading Rand, and that her books taught him about his value system and beliefs. Ryan required staffers and interns in his congressional office to read Rand and gave copies of her novel Atlas Shrugged as gifts to his staff for Christmas. In his Atlas Society speech, he also described Social Security as a "socialist-based system". In 2009, Ryan said, "What's unique about what's happening today in government, in the world, in America, is that it's as if we're living in an Ayn Rand novel right now. I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is under assault." In April 2012, after receiving criticism from Georgetown University faculty members on his budget plan, Ryan rejected Rand's philosophy as atheistic, saying it "reduces human interactions down to mere contracts". He also called the reports of his adherence to Rand's views an "urban legend" and stated that he was deeply influenced by his Roman Catholic faith and by Thomas Aquinas. Electoral history Post-congressional life In March 2019, Ryan joined the board of directors of Fox Corporation, the owner of Fox News Channel and the Fox broadcast network. In August 2019, he joined the board of SHINE Medical Technologies. He has since joined the faculty of the University of Notre Dame as a professor of practice for the 2019–20 academic year as a guest lecturer in political science and economics. In April 2019, Ryan was nominated as the delegation leader to represent President Trump to visit Taipei. With Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, he attended the 40th anniversary ceremony of the Taiwan Relations Act. In October 2019, Ryan launched a non-profit called American Idea Foundation. Personal life In December 2000, Ryan married Janna Christine Little, a tax attorney, a graduate of Wellesley College and George Washington University Law School, and a native of Madill, Oklahoma. The Ryans live in the Courthouse Hill Historic District of Janesville, Wisconsin. They have three children: Elizabeth "Liza" Anne, Charles Wilson, and Samuel Lowery. A Roman Catholic, Ryan is a member of St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Janesville. Janna is a cousin of former Democratic Representative Dan Boren (D-OK). She is also a granddaughter of Reuel Little, who helped found the American Party to support the 1968 presidential campaign of George Wallace. Due to a family history of fatal heart attacks before age 60, Ryan pursues an intense cross-training fitness program called P90X. Ryan has always been a fitness enthusiast and was a personal trainer when he came out of college. About P90X, he said, "It works because it's called muscle confusion. It hits your body in many different ways. Pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, lots of cardio, karate, jump training. It has results, it works. It's a good workout." In a 2010 Politico interview, he said that he weighed 163 pounds and maintained his body fat percentage between 6 and 8%. Tony Horton, creator of P90X, who has personally trained Ryan many times, reiterated the claim saying, "He is very, very, very lean. I know what 6 to 8 percent body fat looks like, and there's no fat anywhere on the man. I'm around 9 percent and he's much leaner than I am. He’s easily 6 to 8 percent body fat. You just have to eat right and exercise every day, and that’s what he does." In a radio interview, Ryan claimed he had once run a marathon in under three hours; he later stated that he forgot his actual time and was just trying to state what he thought was a normal time. His one official marathon time is recorded as slightly over four hours. Awards and honors 2004, 2010 – Guardian of Small Business Award, National Federation of Independent Business 2008 – Defending the American Dream Award, Americans for Prosperity, Wisconsin chapter 2009 – Manufacturing Legislative Excellence Award, National Association of Manufacturers 2009 – Honorary Degree, Miami University 2010 – Legislator of the Year Award, International Franchise Association 2011 – Statesmanship Award, Claremont Institute 2011 – Fiscy Award for responsible financial stewardship and fiscal discipline in government. 2011 – Leadership Award, Jack Kemp Foundation 2011 – Freedom and Prosperity Award, Mason Contractors Association of America 2012 – Chair, Honorary Board of the Archery Trade Association 2014 – Alexander Hamilton Award, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research 2018 – Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service References Further reading Works about Ryan Works by Ryan External links Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Historical Society |- |- |- |- |- |- 1970 births 2012 United States vice-presidential candidates 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Roman Catholics American male non-fiction writers American people of English descent American people of Jewish descent American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American political writers American speechwriters American University alumni Catholics from Wisconsin Living people Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin Miami University alumni Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign Politicians from Janesville, Wisconsin Republican Party (United States) vice presidential nominees Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Speakers of the United States House of Representatives University of Notre Dame faculty Wisconsin Republicans Writers from Wisconsin Joseph A. Craig High School alumni 21st-century American male writers
true
[ "The Schreyer Honors College (or SHC) is the honors program of the Pennsylvania State University. Founded in 1980 as the University Scholars Program, it was expanded and renamed in 1997 in response to a $30 million gift by William and Joan Schreyer. Schreyer was one of three honors colleges, along with those at Arizona State and Mississippi, to be listed by Reader's Digest in its \"America's 100 Best\" list published in May, 2005. On November 17, 2006, the Schreyers pledged an additional gift of $25 million to the Schreyer Honors College. Having contributed more than $58 million to Penn State, they were the largest family donors in the school's history, prior to the recent donation of $88 million from Terry and Kim Pegula for a new arena.\n\nAfter a decade of service, Dean Christian Brady announced in May 2016 that he was stepping down, effective May 31. Kathleen J. Bieschke was named interim dean on May 25, 2016.\n\nPatrick Mather became the dean on August 16, 2021.\n\nOverview\nDetails regarding the Schreyer Honors College can be found in their Annual Report.\n\nEnrollment in the Schreyer Honors College is typically around 2,000 students, with 300 incoming students per year. Typically, about 80% of the Honors students are from Pennsylvania.\n\nIncoming student application requirements include excellent high school grades, strong extracurricular activities, and positive teacher references. The average high school GPA is typically 4.00/4.00. Typically, the average SAT score for incoming students is 2150/2400, although SAT scores are not used in the admissions decision process at the Honors College.\n\nFirst year students admitted to the Honors College earn a $5,000-per-year academic scholarship which is renewable for four years.\n\nCurrent Penn State students with strong academic and volunteer credentials can apply to the Honors College as sophomores or juniors. These students are not eligible for the $5,000-per-year academic scholarship.\n\nTo graduate as a Schreyer Scholar, students in the Honors College are required to maintain a 3.4 GPA, take a selection of Honors classes and complete an Honors Senior Thesis.\n\nOpportunities\n\nMembership in the SHC has unique benefits. Most underclassmen Scholars live in a \"Living and Learning Community\" honors dormitories, including both Atherton Hall and Simmons Hall. The College's Travel Ambassador program provides funding for honors student travel around the world, with gifts often matching the cost of airfare for longer trips with a service or academic focus. Academically, honors students have the benefit of early registration for classes, allowing for competitive placement. Students are offered over 220 honors classes, which are typically smaller and taught by more senior faculty than comparable courses. Additionally, the college offers an opportunity called the Integrated Undergraduate Graduate (IUG) program, which allows exceptional students to pursue their undergraduate and master's degrees concurrently. The IUG program permits students to combine the required honors thesis and graduate thesis into a single thesis for both undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as allowing students to use some courses towards both degrees in order to graduate in a shorter period of time.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n Penn State faculty member named new Schreyer Honors College dean\n\nPennsylvania State University\nPublic honors colleges\nEducational institutions established in 1980\n1980 establishments in Pennsylvania", "Since the founding of the Honors Program at Drexel in 1991, Honors has been a vital presence on campus, developing into the self-standing Pennoni Honors College in 2002. The College sponsors initiatives that serve Honors Program students and the Drexel community at large. The College five distinct units that overlap in significant ways: the Honors Program serves selected high-achieving students with coursework and special programming; the Office of Undergraduate Research supports student research across the university and matches students with faculty mentors; the Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry offers a changing series of cross-disciplinary courses as well as a program where qualified students can craft their own field of study; the Fellowships Office helps students prepare and apply for competitive grants and scholarships; and the Cultural Media Center offers students involvement with a nationally recognized online journal, The Smart Set, and a nationally distributed television talk show, The Drexel Interview. We also oversee an App Development Lab, made possible by the Chair of our Honors Advisory Board, Greg Bentley.\n\nHonors Program \nThe Honors Program, a department within the Pennoni Honors College, enhances the education of the top-achieving students at Drexel University by providing Honors students from every School and College with intellectual challenges inside and outside of the classroom. Students learn through interdisciplinary academic work and activities, and participate in Honors coursework, social and cultural activities, guest speaker and faculty events, and travel opportunities. Activities and leadership opportunities available to Honors students include: the Honors Student Advisory Committee, Honors Mentors, Orientation Leaders, Cluster Coordinators, the Honors Living Learning community, the annual Honors Alternative Spring Break trip.\n\nGraduation with Honors\nMost Honors students who complete the minimum requirements for membership are invited to graduate with Honors from the Pennoni Honors College. This achievement is noted as such on your official University transcript. Additionally, your name will be listed in the University Commencement Program as a Pennoni Honors College graduate.\n\nIn order to qualify for Graduation with Honors, you must successfully do the following: complete a minimum of 16 Honors Credits, complete one Honors Colloquia (a 3 credit, 300 level course) and maintain an overall GPA of 3.2 or higher. Any extra classes used for Honors credits must be completed with a B or higher. All Honors credits must be completed and confirmed prior to the June Honors Graduation date.\n\nHonors Graduation with Distinction\nGraduation with Distinction is the highest honor awarded by the Honors Program and the Pennoni Honors College to its most accomplished students. This achievement is noted as such on your official University transcript and your name will be listed in the University Commencement Program as a Pennoni Honors College Graduate with Distinction. \n\nIn order to qualify for Graduation with Honors with Distinction, you must successfully do the following: complete a minimum of 24 Honors Credits, complere three Honors Colloquia, maintain an overall GPA of 3.5 or higher, and complete a senior capstone project with an A- or better.\n\nOffice of Undergraduate Research\nThe Office of Undergraduate Research supports faculty and students who participate in undergraduate research. The purpose of the Office is to facilitate the collaboration of faculty and students in research, scholarly work, or creative projects through the expansion and development of existing programs, the creation of innovative opportunities for such collaboration both at and beyond the University, and the integration of a culture of research into the educational experience provided by the University.\n\nFellowships Office \nThe Drexel Fellowships Office supports students across the University in their applications for competitive national and international fellowships. The Office raises campus-wide awareness of opportunities and directly help students create strong applications through intensive individual advising and support.\n\nCenter for Interdisciplinary Inquiry \nThe Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry (CII) at Drexel University offers students several different opportunities to develop the “big-picture” thinking and analytical skills associated with cutting-edge interdisciplinary teaching and research. Located in the Pennoni Honors College, the CII comprises three programs: the Custom-Designed Major, The Symposium, and Travel-Integrated Courses.\n\nCultural Media Center \nThe Cultural Media Center's mission is to create innovative publishing initiatives and develop new forms of cultural engagement both for students and audiences beyond Drexel. The Center provides various opportunities for professional writers, faculty and qualified student writers to employ critical thinking and creative expression. It also provide opportunities for student writers to engage in experiential learning, often resulting in publication. The Center produces the television show The Drexel InterView.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nPennoni Honors College\nDrexel University\nwith Distinction\n\nDrexel University\nEducational institutions established in 1991\n1991 establishments in Pennsylvania" ]
[ "Paul Ryan", "Early life and education", "Where was Ryan born?", "Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin,", "Where did Ryan go to school?", "Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team,", "Did he do anything noteworthy in school?", "then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king.", "Where did he attend college?", "Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio,", "Did he graduate with honors?", "with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten" ]
C_3e8539e8237d4b058d107f04ee5e4a39_1
What jobs did he have before becoming involved in politics?
6
What jobs did Paul Ryan have before becoming involved in politics?
Paul Ryan
Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (nee Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Davis Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English ancestry. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan (1858-1917), founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan (1898-1957), was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother remarried, to Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. He attended the Washington Semester program at American University. Ryan worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. CANNOTANSWER
Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's.
Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American retired politician who served as the 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from October 2015 to January 2019. He was the 2012 Republican Party vice presidential nominee running alongside Mitt Romney, losing to incumbent president Barack Obama and then-vice president Joe Biden. Ryan, a native of Janesville, Wisconsin, graduated from Miami University in 1992. He spent five years working for Republicans in Washington, D.C. and returned to Wisconsin in 1997 to work at his family's construction company. Ryan was elected to Congress to represent the following year, replacing an incumbent Republican who ran for U.S. Senate. Ryan would represent the district for 20 years. He chaired the House Budget Committee from 2011 to 2015 and briefly chaired the House Ways and Means Committee in 2015 prior to being elected Speaker of the House in October 2015 following John Boehner's retirement. A self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan was a major proponent of Social Security privatization in the mid-2000s. In the 2010s, two proposals heavily influenced by Ryan—"The Path to Prosperity" and "A Better Way"—advocated for the privatization of Medicare, the conversion of Medicaid into a block grant program, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and significant federal tax cuts. As Speaker, he played a key role in the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act in 2018, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. His other major piece of legislation, the American Health Care Act of 2017, passed the House but failed in the Senate by one vote. Ryan declined to run for re-election in the 2018 midterm elections. With the Democratic Party taking control of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi succeeded Ryan as Speaker of the House. Early life and education Paul Davis Ryan was born on January 29, 1970 in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (née Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Murray Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English descent. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan, founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan, was appointed United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. In 2018, while filming a segment for the PBS series Finding Your Roots, Ryan learned that his DNA results included 3 percent Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Although Ryan's father was not a lifelong heavy drinker, staying sober for nearly twenty years after his first stint in rehabilitation, he had become an alcoholic by the time Ryan was a teenager. Ryan later commented on his relationship with his father, whom he revered as a young child, stating that "[alcohol] made him more distant, irritable and stressed ... whiskey had washed away some of the best parts of the man I knew." When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack, something Ryan later partially attributed to heavy alcohol consumption. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother later married widower Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten, where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. Ryan attended the Washington Semester program at American University. He worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. Early career Betty Ryan reportedly urged her son to accept a congressional position as a legislative aide in Senator Kasten's office, which he did after graduating in 1992. In his early years working on Capitol Hill, Ryan supplemented his income by working as a waiter, as a fitness trainer, and at other jobs. A few months after Kasten lost to Democrat Russ Feingold in the 1992 election, Ryan became a speechwriter for Empower America (now FreedomWorks), a conservative advocacy group founded by Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and William Bennett. Ryan later worked as a speechwriter for Kemp, the Republican vice presidential candidate in the 1996 United States presidential election. Kemp became Ryan's mentor, and Ryan has said he had a "huge influence". In 1995, Ryan became the legislative director for then-U.S. Congressman Sam Brownback of Kansas. In 1997 he returned to Wisconsin, where he worked for a year as a marketing consultant for the construction company Ryan Incorporated Central, owned by his relatives. U.S. House of Representatives Elections Ryan was first elected to the House in 1998, winning the 1st District seat of Republican Mark Neumann, a two-term incumbent who had vacated his seat to make an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate. 28-year-old Ryan won the Republican primary over 29-year-old pianist Michael J. Logan of Twin Lakes, and the general election against Democrat Lydia Spottswood. This made him the second-youngest member of the House. Reelected eight times, Ryan never received less than 55 percent of the vote in a congressional election. He defeated Democratic challenger Jeffrey C. Thomas in the 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 elections. In the 2008 election, Ryan defeated Democrat Marge Krupp. In the 2010 general election, he defeated Democrat John Heckenlively and Libertarian Joseph Kexel. In 2012, under Wisconsin election law, Ryan was allowed to run concurrently for vice president and for Congress and was not allowed to remove his name from the Congressional ballot after being nominated for the vice presidency. He faced Democratic nominee Rob Zerban. As of July 25, 2012, Ryan had over $5.4 million in his congressional campaign account, more than any other House member. He was reelected with 55 percent of his district's vote and 44 percent of the vote in his hometown, Janesville. Zerban again challenged Ryan in the 2014 House election. Ryan won with 63 percent of his district's vote. In the 2016 Republican primary election, Ryan faced businessman Paul Nehlen, who had been endorsed by Sarah Palin. Because of Nehlen's support for Trump, Trump publicly thanked him on Twitter and later told The Washington Post that Nehlen was "running a very good campaign", even though he did not endorse him. On August 5, 2016, Trump endorsed Ryan's re-election after pressure from fellow Republican leaders. In the August 9, 2016 primary election, Ryan overwhelmingly defeated Nehlen, taking over 84 percent of the vote. In the November general election, Ryan faced Democrat Rebecca Solen and won with 65 percent of his district's vote. Committee assignments As Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ryan was not a chair or a member of any committee. Prior to his speakership, Ryan held the following assignments: Committee on Ways and Means (Chairman) Subcommittee on Health Caucus memberships House Republican Caucus Caucus of House Conservatives Republican Study Committee United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus Middle East Economic Partnership Caucus Prayer Caucus Sportsmen's Caucus (Co-Chair) Congressional Western Caucus Pre-Speaker congressional tenure (1999–2015) Ryan became the ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee in 2007 and became chairman of the committee in 2011 after Republicans took control of the House. That same year, he was selected to deliver the Republican response to the State of the Union address. As of August 2012, Ryan had been the primary sponsor of more than 70 bills or amendments, and only two of those bills had become law. One, passed in July 2000, renamed a post office in Ryan's district; the other, passed in December 2008, lowered the excise tax on arrow shafts. As of August 2012, Ryan had also co-sponsored 975 bills, of which 176 had passed; 22% of these bills were originally sponsored by a Democrat. Ryan was a "reliable supporter of the [George W. Bush] administration's foreign policy priorities" who voted for the 2002 Iraq Resolution, authorizing the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2010, Ryan was a member of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Bowles-Simpson Commission), which was tasked with developing a plan to reduce the federal deficit. He voted against the final report of the commission. In 2012, Ryan accused the nation's top military leaders of using "smoke and mirrors" to remain under budget limits passed by Congress. Ryan later said that he misspoke on the issue and called General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to apologize for his comments. Speaker of the House 114th Congress On September 25, 2015, John Boehner formally announced to House Republicans his intention to resign from the speakership and the House. Among those interested in the post, Kevin McCarthy—who had wide support among Republicans, including Boehner, and Ryan, who was set to officially nominate him—was considered the presumptive favorite. His candidacy was opposed by conservative House Republicans of the Freedom Caucus, and when it became clear that caucus members would not support his candidacy, McCarthy withdrew his name from consideration on October 8. This led many Republicans to turn to Ryan as a compromise candidate. The push included a plea from Boehner, who reportedly told Ryan that he was the only person who could unite the House Republicans at a time of turmoil. Ryan released a statement that said, "While I am grateful for the encouragement I've received, I will not be a candidate." The next day however, close aides of Ryan's confirmed that Ryan had re-evaluated the situation, and was considering the possibility of a run. Ryan confirmed on October 22, that he would seek the speakership after receiving the endorsements of two factions of House Republicans, including the conservative Freedom Caucus. Ryan, upon confirming his bid for the speakership, stated, "I never thought I'd be speaker. But I pledged to you that if I could be a unifying figure, then I would serve – I would go all in. After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as one, united team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker." On October 29, Ryan was elected Speaker, receiving 236 votes, an absolute majority of the 435-member chamber. Democrat Nancy Pelosi received 184 votes, with 12 more going to others. After the vote Ryan delivered his first remarks as speaker-elect and was sworn in by John Conyers, the dean of the House, becoming, at age , the youngest person elected as speaker since James G. Blaine (age ) in 1869. Later, he named lobbyist John David Hoppe as his Chief of Staff. As Speaker, Ryan became the leader of the House Republicans. However, by tradition, he largely ceased taking part in debate and almost never voted from the floor. He was also not a member of any committees. 2016 presidential election After Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election on May 4, 2016, Ryan was hesitant to endorse him, stating on May 5 that he was "not ready". Ryan and Trump met in private on May 12, releasing a joint statement afterward, acknowledging their differences but stating "we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground." On June 2, Ryan announced his support for Trump in an op-ed in The Janesville Gazette. The following day, June 3, amid Trump's criticism of Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, Ryan said Trump's critique "just was out of left field for my mind," and voiced disagreement with him. On June 7, Ryan disavowed Trump's comments about Curiel because he believed they were "the textbook definition of a racist comment". Nevertheless, Ryan continued to endorse Trump, believing that more Republican policies will be enacted under Donald Trump than presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. On June 15, after Kevin McCarthy stated during a conversation among Republicans, "There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump. Swear to God", Ryan interjected, "No leaks. This is how we know we're a real family here." On July 5, after FBI Director James Comey advocated against pressing charges against Clinton for her email scandal, Ryan said Comey's decision "defies explanation" and stated that "[d]eclining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent." In October 2016, following the Donald Trump Access Hollywood controversy, Ryan disinvited Trump from a scheduled campaign rally, and announced that he would no longer defend or support Trump's presidential campaign but would focus instead on Congressional races. He also freed down-ticket congress members to use their own judgment about Trump, saying "you all need to do what's best for you and your district." Trump then went on to attack Ryan, accusing him and other "disloyal" Republicans of deliberately undermining his candidacy as part of "a whole sinister deal". 115th Congress Two months after the 2016 elections, Ryan was re-elected Speaker of the House on January 3, 2017, the opening day of the 115th Congress. He received 239 votes to House Democratic Leader Pelosi's 189 votes (with 5 more going to others). On February 7, 2017, Ryan told reporters a replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be introduced "this year" amid speculation Donald Trump would not act toward doing so until the following year. On March 9, Ryan gave a 30-minute lecture explaining the proposed replacement for the ACA, titled the American Health Care Act (AHCA). On March 30, Ryan said that he did not intend to work with Democrats on repealing and replacing the ACA, reasoning their involvement would lead to "government running health care." On April 4, Ryan confirmed renewed discussions of an ACA replacement, but warned that a replacement was in the "conceptual" stages of its development. On May 4, the House narrowly voted for the AHCA to repeal the ACA. On May 9, Ryan said that "a month or two" would pass before the Senate would pass its own ACA repeal and replacement legislation. The Senate created several of its own versions of the act but was unable to pass any of them. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Ryan suggested that candidate Trump should release his tax returns. In May 2017, Ryan said Congress' goal was "calendared 2017 for tax reform" and reported progress was being made in doing so. In December 2017, both houses of Congress passed a $1.5 trillion tax bill called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which Trump signed into law on December 22. The tax law is projected to add an additional $1.5 trillion to the national debt over a decade, but the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation also estimated that the GDP level on average would be 0.7% higher during the same period. In the weeks leading up to his retirement announcement, Ryan also championed a $1.3 trillion government-wide spending bill that boosted military spending significantly. Politico noted that Ryan "clamored for austerity when he's been in the minority, trashing Democrats as profligate budget-busters, but he's happily busted budgets in the majority." In June 2017, Ryan expressed support for strong sanctions on Russia in response to Russian interference in the 2016 elections and its annexation of the Crimea, saying that Russia's actions were "unacceptable". He urged Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Congressional oversight committees to "do their jobs so that we can get to the bottom of all of this." In July Congress passed a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia and giving Congress the power to overrule White House attempts to roll back sanctions. Both houses passed the bill with veto-proof majorities (98-2 in the Senate, 419-3 in the House), so Trump reluctantly signed it into law on August 2, 2017. Ryan provided political cover for Devin Nunes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, who many characterized as a source of the dysfunction in the committee as it investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election. Nunes accused the Obama administration of improperly “unmasking” the identities of Trump associates (which led Nunes' temporary recusal from the committee's Russia investigation), accused the FBI of misconduct, leaked the text messages of Senator Mark Warner (in an effort to misleadingly suggest impropriety on his behalf), and threatened to impeach FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The House Intelligence Committee was one of few so-called "select" committees in Congress, which meant that it was up to Ryan to decide the chairman of the committee. Despite having favored comprehensive immigration earlier in his congressional career, Speaker Ryan prevented immigration legislation from being advanced in the House. When President Trump ended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) – which granted temporary stay for undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as minors – Ryan said DACA recipients should "rest easy" because Congress would solve the problem for them, but Ryan backed no bills to protect DACA recipients. An article in The Washington Post described Ryan's relationship with President Trump as "friendly, if occasionally uneasy," adding that "Ryan did little to check the president or encourage oversight of his administration." Ryan supported Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, and did not support legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Ryan said that legislation to protect Mueller's investigation was not "necessary". On April 11, 2018, Ryan announced that he would not run for re-election in November, saying, "I like to think I've done my part, my little part in history to set us on a better course." In response, Trump tweeted, "Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question." In May 2018, Ryan led the House in passing the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. It was signed into law by President Trump a few days later. After Republicans lost control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections, Ryan suggested that there were irregularities about the election results in California. Ryan said that California's election system was "bizarre", "defies logic" and that "there are a lot of races there we should have won." After Ryan's remarks were reported on, Ryan's spokesperson said "The Speaker did not and does not dispute the results". Assessment of Speaker tenure Following Ryan's retirement announcement, an article in The Washington Post stated that Ryan was "leav[ing] behind a legacy of dramatically expanded government spending and immense deficits, a GOP president unchecked, a broken immigration system, and a party that's fast abandoning the free-trade principles that he himself championed." According to the Associated Press, Ryan "achieved one of his career goals: rewriting the tax code"; however, "on his other defining aim — balancing the budget and cutting back benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — Ryan has utterly failed". Constituent services In fiscal year 2008, Ryan garnered $5.4 million in congressional earmarks, including $3.28 million for bus service in Wisconsin, $1.38 million for the Ice Age Trail, and $735,000 for the Janesville transit system. In 2009, he successfully advocated with the Department of Energy for stimulus funds for energy initiatives in his district. Other home district projects he has supported include a runway extension at the Rock County Airport, an environmental study of the Kenosha Harbor, firefighting equipment for Janesville, road projects in Wisconsin, and commuter rail and streetcar projects in Kenosha. In 2008, Ryan pledged to stop seeking earmarks. Prior to that he had sought earmarks less often than other representatives. Taxpayers for Common Sense records show no earmarks supported by Ryan for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. In 2012, Ryan supported a request for $3.8 million from the Department of Transportation for a new transit center in Janesville, which city officials received in July. Ryan was an active member of a task force established by Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle that tried unsuccessfully to persuade General Motors to keep its assembly plant in Janesville open. He made personal contact with GM executives to try to convince them to save or retool the plant, offering GM hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded incentives. Following the closure of factories in Janesville and Kenosha, constituents expressed dissatisfaction with Ryan's voting history. During the 2011 Congressional summer break, Ryan held town hall meetings by telephone with constituents. The only public meetings Ryan attended in his district required an admission fee of at least $15. In August 2011, constituents in Kenosha and Racine protested when Ryan would not meet with them about economic and employment issues, after weeks of emailed requests from them. His Kenosha office locked its doors and filed a complaint with the police, who told the protesters that they were not allowed in Ryan's office. Ryan maintained a mobile office to serve constituents in outlying areas. 2012 vice presidential campaign Dan Balz of The Washington Post wrote that Ryan was promoted as a candidate for Vice President "by major elements of the conservative opinion makers, including The Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Weekly Standard and the editor of National Review". On August 11, 2012, the Romney campaign announced Ryan as its choice for Vice President through its "Mitt's VP" mobile app. It was reported that Romney had offered the position to Ryan on August 1, 2012, the day after returning from a foreign policy trip to the United Kingdom, Poland, and Israel. On August 11, 2012, Ryan formally accepted Romney's invitation to join his campaign as his running mate, in front of the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk. Ryan is the first individual from Wisconsin as well as the first member of Generation X to run on a major party's national ticket. Also in August 2012, the Associated Press published a story saying that while the Tea Party movement had wanted a nominee other than Romney, it had gotten "one of its ideological heroes" in the Vice Presidential slot. According to the article, Ryan supports the Tea Party's belief in "individual rights, distrust of big government and an allegorical embrace of the Founding Fathers". According to a statistical-historical analysis conducted by Nate Silver, "Ryan is the most conservative Republican member of Congress to be picked for the vice-presidential slot since at least 1900" and "is also more conservative than any Democratic nominee [for vice president who previously served in the Congress] was liberal, meaning that he is the furthest from the center" of any vice presidential candidate chosen from Congress since the turn of the 20th century. Political scientist Eric Schickler commented that while Ryan "may well be the most conservative vice presidential nominee in decades," the NOMINATE methodology "is not suited to making claims about the relative liberalism or conservatism of politicians" over a long time span. A USA Today/Gallup poll found that 39% thought Ryan was an "excellent" or "pretty good" vice presidential choice, compared to 42% who felt he was a "fair" or "poor" choice. Ryan formally accepted his nomination at the 2012 Republican National Convention on August 29, 2012. In his acceptance speech, he promoted Mitt Romney as the presidential candidate, supported repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), said that he and Romney had a plan to generate 12 million new jobs over the ensuing four years, and promoted founding principles as a solution: "We will not duck the tough issues—we will lead. We will not spend four years blaming others—we will take responsibility. We will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles." The speech was well received by the convention audience and praised for being well-delivered. Some fact-checkers purported that there were important factual omissions and that he presented details out of context. Conservative media (including Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post, the Investor's Business Daily, and Fox News) disputed some of the fact-checkers' findings. Of 33 of Ryan's statements which Politifact.com suspected of being false or misleading, it rated 10.5% as True, 18% as Mostly True, 21% as Half True, 36% as Mostly False, 9% as False, and 6% as Pants on Fire. On October 11, 2012, Ryan debated his Democratic counterpart, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, in the only vice presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle. Romney and Ryan lost the 2012 presidential election, but Ryan retained his seat in the House of Representatives. Congressional Leadership Fund The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a Super PAC, has been closely linked and aligned with Ryan. Ryan has directed major GOP donors towards the CLF. Political positions Ryan's political positions were generally conservative, with a focus on fiscal policy. Ryan "played a central role in nearly all" the policy debates of the period 2010–2012. In 2012, Ryan voted against the Simpson-Bowles commission proposal to reduce the deficit, because the proposal raised taxes and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. While he was a self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan's tenure of Speaker of the House saw a major expansion in government spending and a ballooning of deficits despite unified Republican control of Congress and the White House, no recession and no new foreign conflict. Ryan subscribed to supply-side economics and supported tax cuts including eliminating the capital gains tax, the corporate income tax, the estate tax, and the Alternative Minimum Tax. Ryan supports deregulation, including the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999, which repealed some financial regulation of banks from the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. During the economic recovery from the Great Recession of the late 2000s, Ryan supported the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which authorized the Treasury to purchase toxic assets from banks and other financial institutions, and the auto industry bailout; Ryan opposed the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which expanded consumer protections regarding credit card plans, and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which strengthened financial regulation. In 2018 as House Speaker, Ryan helped pass the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act that repealed large parts of Dodd-Frank. In 2016, Ryan rolled out a set of anti-poverty proposals that "seek to expand work requirements for those receiving federal benefits, to give states and local jurisdictions a greater role in administering those benefits, to better measure the results of federal programs for the poor, and to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse." Ryan believes federal poverty reduction programs are ineffective and he supports cuts to welfare, child care, Pell Grants, food stamps, and other federal assistance programs. Ryan supports block granting Medicaid to the states and the privatization of social security and Medicare. Ryan supported the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit and opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as "Obamacare." Ryan supported the American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA), the 2017 House Republican plan to repeal and replace the ACA. In 2012, The New York Times said Ryan was "his party's most forceful spokesman for cutting entitlement spending." Ryan's non-fiscal policy positions were subject to additional national attention with his 2012 candidacy for Vice President. Ryan is pro-life and opposes abortion rights. Ryan opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which provides that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. In 2012, Ryan supported civil unions and opposed same-sex marriage. Ryan supported school vouchers, and supported the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and its repeal the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015. Ryan is unsure, and believes climate scientists are unsure, of the impact of human activity on climate change. Ryan supported tax incentives for the petroleum industry and opposed them for renewable energy. Ryan supported gun rights and opposed stricter gun control. Ryan supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ryan condemned Barack Obama's decision not to block a UN resolution criticizing Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories as "absolutely shameful". Ryan supported President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He stated: "Jerusalem has been, and always will be, the eternal, undivided capital of the State of Israel." Following the 2018 Russia–United States summit, in which Donald Trump stated that he believed Russian government did not interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Ryan confirmed his belief that Russian government interfered and advocated for more economic sanctions against Russia for the interference. Ryan supported U.S. involvement in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen and used his power to block a House vote on the war in Yemen. History with Objectivism At a 2005 Washington, D.C. gathering celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ayn Rand's birth, Ryan credited Rand with having inspired him to get involved in politics. In a speech that same year at the Atlas Society, he said he grew up reading Rand, and that her books taught him about his value system and beliefs. Ryan required staffers and interns in his congressional office to read Rand and gave copies of her novel Atlas Shrugged as gifts to his staff for Christmas. In his Atlas Society speech, he also described Social Security as a "socialist-based system". In 2009, Ryan said, "What's unique about what's happening today in government, in the world, in America, is that it's as if we're living in an Ayn Rand novel right now. I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is under assault." In April 2012, after receiving criticism from Georgetown University faculty members on his budget plan, Ryan rejected Rand's philosophy as atheistic, saying it "reduces human interactions down to mere contracts". He also called the reports of his adherence to Rand's views an "urban legend" and stated that he was deeply influenced by his Roman Catholic faith and by Thomas Aquinas. Electoral history Post-congressional life In March 2019, Ryan joined the board of directors of Fox Corporation, the owner of Fox News Channel and the Fox broadcast network. In August 2019, he joined the board of SHINE Medical Technologies. He has since joined the faculty of the University of Notre Dame as a professor of practice for the 2019–20 academic year as a guest lecturer in political science and economics. In April 2019, Ryan was nominated as the delegation leader to represent President Trump to visit Taipei. With Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, he attended the 40th anniversary ceremony of the Taiwan Relations Act. In October 2019, Ryan launched a non-profit called American Idea Foundation. Personal life In December 2000, Ryan married Janna Christine Little, a tax attorney, a graduate of Wellesley College and George Washington University Law School, and a native of Madill, Oklahoma. The Ryans live in the Courthouse Hill Historic District of Janesville, Wisconsin. They have three children: Elizabeth "Liza" Anne, Charles Wilson, and Samuel Lowery. A Roman Catholic, Ryan is a member of St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Janesville. Janna is a cousin of former Democratic Representative Dan Boren (D-OK). She is also a granddaughter of Reuel Little, who helped found the American Party to support the 1968 presidential campaign of George Wallace. Due to a family history of fatal heart attacks before age 60, Ryan pursues an intense cross-training fitness program called P90X. Ryan has always been a fitness enthusiast and was a personal trainer when he came out of college. About P90X, he said, "It works because it's called muscle confusion. It hits your body in many different ways. Pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, lots of cardio, karate, jump training. It has results, it works. It's a good workout." In a 2010 Politico interview, he said that he weighed 163 pounds and maintained his body fat percentage between 6 and 8%. Tony Horton, creator of P90X, who has personally trained Ryan many times, reiterated the claim saying, "He is very, very, very lean. I know what 6 to 8 percent body fat looks like, and there's no fat anywhere on the man. I'm around 9 percent and he's much leaner than I am. He’s easily 6 to 8 percent body fat. You just have to eat right and exercise every day, and that’s what he does." In a radio interview, Ryan claimed he had once run a marathon in under three hours; he later stated that he forgot his actual time and was just trying to state what he thought was a normal time. His one official marathon time is recorded as slightly over four hours. Awards and honors 2004, 2010 – Guardian of Small Business Award, National Federation of Independent Business 2008 – Defending the American Dream Award, Americans for Prosperity, Wisconsin chapter 2009 – Manufacturing Legislative Excellence Award, National Association of Manufacturers 2009 – Honorary Degree, Miami University 2010 – Legislator of the Year Award, International Franchise Association 2011 – Statesmanship Award, Claremont Institute 2011 – Fiscy Award for responsible financial stewardship and fiscal discipline in government. 2011 – Leadership Award, Jack Kemp Foundation 2011 – Freedom and Prosperity Award, Mason Contractors Association of America 2012 – Chair, Honorary Board of the Archery Trade Association 2014 – Alexander Hamilton Award, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research 2018 – Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service References Further reading Works about Ryan Works by Ryan External links Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Historical Society |- |- |- |- |- |- 1970 births 2012 United States vice-presidential candidates 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Roman Catholics American male non-fiction writers American people of English descent American people of Jewish descent American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American political writers American speechwriters American University alumni Catholics from Wisconsin Living people Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin Miami University alumni Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign Politicians from Janesville, Wisconsin Republican Party (United States) vice presidential nominees Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Speakers of the United States House of Representatives University of Notre Dame faculty Wisconsin Republicans Writers from Wisconsin Joseph A. Craig High School alumni 21st-century American male writers
true
[ "The Christian Democratic Party (CDP) is a Christian social conservative party in South Africa. The party was registered on 9 September 1999 and was formally launched a year later.\n\nThe CDP's support was mainly in Gauteng, and its alliance partner in Mpumalanga was the Christen Party/Christian Party.\n\nLeadership structure \nThe party's leadership structure is the Federal Leadership Council, which consisted of the party leader, two co-leaders, and provincial leaders.\n\nParty leader \nThe leader of the CDP is Theunis Botha, who had been a Christian cleric since 1970. He is the founder of the Christian Drama Workshop (CDW) and the Christian Fellowship of Ministries (CFM). He had been involved in politics since 1994, as councillor in the Pretoria City Council and member of the provincial legislator (MPL) for Gauteng. Botha was opposed to what he sees as secular/humanist and socialist/liberal factions within the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance.\n\nCo-Federal Leader \nThe CDP's co-Federal Leader is Richard Botha. He had been involved in politics since 2000 when he joined the CDP. He served on various structures and became the regional Chairperson before becoming co-Federal Leader. He has served as a councillor on the Tshwane Metro Council in 2009. He serves on the Finance, City Planning and Corporate Shared Services committees.\n\nElection results\n\nNational elections \n\n|-\n! Election\n! Total votes\n! Share of vote\n! Seats \n! +/–\n! Government\n|-\n! 2004\n| 17,619\n| 0.11\n| \n| –\n| \n|}\n\nIt did not contest the 2009 election, instead supporting the formation of a new party, the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA), along with a number of other parties. The CDA failed to win a seat.\n\nIt did not contest the 2014 election.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nChristian Democratic Party official web site\nFlag of the Christian Democratic Party\n\n1999 establishments in South Africa\nChristian democratic parties in South Africa\nConservative parties in South Africa\nPolitical parties established in 1999\nPolitical parties in South Africa\nSocial conservative parties", "Chrisann Brennan (born September 29, 1954) is an American painter and memoirist. She is the author of The Bite in the Apple, an autobiography about her relationship with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. They had one child, Lisa Brennan-Jobs.\n\nEarly life\nBrennan was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1954, one of four daughters of James Richard Brennan and Virginia Lavern Rickey. Chrisann was named after the flower chrysanthemum. Brennan notes in her memoir that she is \"dyslexic, which has had the effect of making me differently wired, creative, and a voracious problem solver— bright, but more than slightly clueless to convention.\"\n\nHer father worked for Sylvania and the family lived in a number of places including Colorado Springs and Nebraska. They eventually settled in Sunnyvale, California. Her parents divorced after their move to Buffalo, New York. Brennan attended Homestead High School in Cupertino, California, where she met Steve Jobs during the early months of 1972.\n\nRelationship with Steve Jobs\nBrennan and Jobs's relationship began in 1972 while they were students in high school together. Brennan remained involved with Jobs while he was at Reed College. Brennan (who was now a senior at Homestead High School) did not have plans to attend college, and was supportive of Jobs when he told her he planned to drop out of Reed. He continued to attend by auditing classes, but Brennan stopped visiting him. Jobs later asked her to come and live with him in a house he rented near the Reed campus, but she refused. He had started seeing other women, and she was interested in someone she met in her art class. Brennan speculates that the house was Jobs' attempt to make their relationship monogamous again.\n\nIn mid-1973, Jobs moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area. Brennan states by this point that their \"relationship was complicated. I couldn't break the connection and I couldn't commit. Steve couldn't either.\" Jobs hitchhiked and worked around the West Coast and Brennan would occasionally join him. At the same time, Brennan notes, \"little by little, Steve and I separated. But we were never able to fully let go. We never talked about breaking up or going our separate ways and we didn't have that conversation where one person says it's over.\" They continued to grow apart, but Jobs would still seek her out and visit her. They remained involved with each other while continuing to see other people.\n\nBy early 1974, Jobs was living what Brennan describes as a \"simple life\" in a Los Gatos cabin, working at Atari, and saving money for his impending trip to India. Brennan visited him twice at the cabin. Brennan's memories of this cabin consist of Jobs reading Be Here Now (and giving her a copy), listening to South Indian music, and using a Japanese meditation pillow. Brennan felt that he was more distant and negative towards her. Brennan states in her memoir that she met with Jobs right before he left for India and that he tried to give her $100 that he had earned at Atari. She initially refused to accept it but eventually accepted the money.\n\nAfter Brennan graduated from high school Jobs invited her to come and see him at the All One Farm, a commune in Oregon. While she did not spend much time with Jobs (who was recovering from an illness), Brennan was deeply influenced by the experience of meeting and working with the people that she met there.\n\nIn early 1975, Brennan became involved with a Zen Buddhist community in Los Altos, where she accidentally bumped into Jobs (whom she had not seen since the All One Farm). It was through this community that they would both meet and work with the Zen master Kobun. Jobs and Brennan began to spend more time together, although she noted that his behavior with her was more aloof than in the past. Brennan notes their lives were on different paths as she was deeply involved in her art program at Foothill College where she studied under Gordon Holler while Jobs was working with \"Kobun and Woz.\" She also fell in love with Greg Calhoun (Jobs' former Reed classmate) who had come to visit from the All One Farm. Brennan moved to the All One Farm and lived for a while with Calhoun in a renovated chicken coop. They eventually moved back to the Bay Area to earn money for a trek to India. Jobs helped them find a home to rent, though he was opposed to their traveling together to India. After Brennan and Calhoun had earned enough money to go, Jobs drove them to the airport and gave them advice about how to survive in India. Brennan traveled for a year through India with Calhoun, though their relationship ended by the time she returned to the United States.\n\nApple (1977)\nAfter her return from India, Brennan visited Jobs, whom she now considered just a friend, at his parents' home, where he was still living. It was during this period that Jobs and Brennan fell in love again, as Brennan noted changes in him that she attributes to Kōbun Chino Otogawa, whom she was also still following. It was also at this time that Jobs displayed a prototype Apple computer for Brennan and his parents in their living room. Brennan notes a shift in this time period, where the two main influences on Jobs were Apple and Kobun. By the early 1977, she and Jobs would spend time together at her home at Duveneck Ranch in Los Altos, which served as a hostel and environmental education center. Brennan also worked there as a teacher for inner city children who came to learn about the farm.\n\nAs Jobs and Apple became more successful, his relationship with Brennan grew more complex. In 1977 Brennan, Daniel Kottke, and Jobs moved into a house near the Apple office in Cupertino. Brennan notes that Jobs wanted the three of them to live together because, \"Steve told me that he didn't want to get a house with just the two of us because it felt insufficient to him. Steve wanted his buddy Daniel to live with him because he believed it would break up the intensity of what wasn't working between us. Our relationship was running hot and cold. We were completely crazy about each other and utterly bored in turns. I had suggested to Steve that we separate, but he told me that he just couldn't bring himself to say good-bye.\" In addition, Jobs initially suggested that all three of them each have separate rooms. They were still involved with each other, but even then Brennan states that in her memory of the time, \"I recalled how awful he was becoming and how I was starting to flounder.\" When she moved into the house, she had initially planned to commit to becoming an artist. However, she also needed to find work and eventually took a position at Apple in the Shipping Department (where she was part of a team that tested, assembled, and shipped Apple IIs with Mark Johnson and Bob Martinengo whom she enjoyed working with). She also took art classes at nearby De Anza College.\n\nBrennan's relationship with Jobs was deteriorating as his position with Apple grew and she began to consider ending the relationship. In October 1977, Brennan was approached by Apple employee #5, Rod Holt, who asked her to take \"a paid apprenticeship designing blueprints for the Apples.\" Both Holt and Jobs felt that it would be a good position for her, given her artistic abilities. Brennan's decision, however, was overshadowed by the fact that she realized she was pregnant and that Jobs was the father. It took her a few days to tell Jobs, whose face, according to Brennan \"turned ugly\" at the news. According to Brennan, at the beginning of her third trimester, Jobs said to her: \"I never wanted to ask that you get an abortion. I just didn't want to do that.\" He also refused to discuss the pregnancy with her. Brennan, herself, felt confused about what to do. She was estranged from her mother and afraid to discuss the matter with her father. She also did not feel comfortable with the idea of having an abortion. She chose instead to discuss the matter with Kobun, who encouraged her to have and keep the baby as he would lend his support. Meanwhile, Holt was waiting for her decision on the internship. Brennan states that Jobs continued to encourage her to take the internship, stating that she could \"be pregnant and work at Apple, you can take the job. I don't get what the problem is.\" Brennan however notes that she \"felt so ashamed: the thought of my growing belly in the professional environment at Apple, with the child being his, while he was unpredictable, in turn being punishing and sentimentally ridiculous. I could not have endured it.\" Brennan thus turned down the internship and decided to leave Apple. She states that Jobs told her \"If you give up this baby for adoption, you will be sorry\" and \"I am never going to help you.\"\n\nLisa Brennan-Jobs\nNow alone, Brennan was on welfare and cleaning houses to earn money. She would sometimes ask Jobs for money but he always refused. Brennan hid her pregnancy for as long as she could, living in a variety of homes, and continuing her work with Zen meditation. At the same time, according to Brennan, Jobs \"started to seed people with the notion that I slept around and he was infertile, which meant that this could not be his child.\" A few weeks before she was due, Brennan was invited to have her baby at the All One Farm in Oregon and Brennan accepted the offer.\n\nAt the age of 23, Brennan gave birth to her daughter, Lisa Brennan, on May 17, 1978. Jobs did not attend the birth. He eventually visited after he was contacted by Robert Friedland, their mutual friend and owner of the All One Farm. While distant, Jobs worked with Brennan on a name for the baby. She suggested the name \"Lisa\" and says that Jobs was very attached to the name \"Lisa\" while he \"was also publicly denying paternity.\" She would discover later that Jobs was preparing to unveil a new kind of computer that he wanted to give a female name. She states that she never gave him permission to use the baby's name for a computer and he hid the plans from her. Jobs also worked with his team to come up with the phrase, \"Local Integrated System Architecture\" as an alternative explanation for the Apple Lisa (decades later, however, Jobs admitted to his biographer Walter Isaacson that \"obviously, it was named for my daughter\").\n\nBrennan explored adoption both before and after Lisa's birth but ultimately decided to become a single parent. Once, while staying with friends in the Bay Area, Jobs stopped by to see her. Brennan states that they went for a walk when Jobs said to her, \"I am really sorry. I'll be back, this thing with Apple will be over when I'm about thirty. I am really, really sorry.\" Around the same time, she met with Kobun who distanced himself from her and did not fulfill his promise to help her once the baby was born.\n\nBrennan would come under intense criticism from Jobs, who claimed that \"she doesn't want money, she just wants me.\" According to Brennan, Apple's Mike Scott wanted Jobs to give her money, while other Apple executives \"advised him to ignore me or fight if I tried to go after a paternity settlement.\" Brennan also notes that later, after Jobs was forced out of Apple, \"he apologized many times over for this behavior. He said that he never took responsibility when he should have and that he was sorry.\" By this time, Jobs had developed a strong relationship with Lisa, who wanted her name changed and Jobs agreed. So he had her name on her birth certificate changed from Lisa Brennan to Lisa Brennan-Jobs.\n\nWhen Lisa was a baby and Jobs continued to deny paternity, a DNA paternity test was given that established him as Lisa's father. He was required to give Brennan $385 a month and return the money she had received from welfare. Jobs gave her $500 a month at the time when Apple went public, and Jobs became a millionaire. Brennan worked as a waitress in Palo Alto. Later, Brennan agreed to give an interview with Michael Moritz for Time magazine. It would be for its 1982 Person of the Year special (released on January 3, 1983). She decided to be honest about her relationship with Jobs. The Time magazine issue had a lifelong impact on Brennan. Rather than give Jobs the \"Person of the Year\" award, Time offered the award of \"Machine of the Year: The Computer Moves In\". In the issue, Jobs questioned the reliability of the paternity test (which stated that the \"probability of paternity for Jobs, Steven ... is 94.1%\"). Jobs responded by arguing that \"28% of the male population of the United States could be the father.\" Time also noted that \"the baby girl and the machine on which Apple has placed so much hope for the future share the same name: Lisa.\" After this issue, Brennan \"didn't pay much attention to Steve's career again.\"\n\nOver the years, however, Brennan and Jobs developed a working relationship to co-parent Lisa, particularly after he was forced out of Apple. Brennan credits the change in him to the influence of his newly found biological sister, Mona Simpson, who worked to repair the relationship between Lisa and Jobs.\n\nAccording to Fortune, Brennan wrote a letter to Jobs in 2005, and another in 2009, in which she said she would abandon writing her memoirs if Jobs would supply her with financial compensation of US$28 million for the suffering she went through as a single mother.\n\nPainter\nDuring the late 1980s, Brennan decided to finish her formal education and began to study at the California College of Arts and Crafts (where she was able to transfer her units from Foothill College). She asked Jobs to pay her tuition. He agreed to this request and according to Brennan was quite happy to do so, as part of his developing relationship with Lisa. In 1989, she transferred to the San Francisco Art Institute.\n\nBrennan has lived in Monterey, California, while working as a professional painter. She describes her art as \"light encoded paintings\" and works mostly on commission for either private or corporate parties. She has also created murals for the Ronald McDonald House, Los Angeles County Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and Packard Children's Hospital. Brennan stated that painting is \"a language for me. Letters are form, and paintings are documents for information. When I mix those two, I'm happy. It gets me out of the normal way, which is what I want to do.\"\n\nWorks\n Brennan, Chrisann. The Bite in the Apple. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2013.\n The Brennan piece is a sidebar (Scroll down the page) of the main article: \"The Steve Jobs Nobody Knew\"\n\nPortrayals\nBrennan was portrayed by Gema Zamprogna in Pirates of Silicon Valley, by Ahna O'Reilly in Jobs and by Katherine Waterston in Steve Jobs.\n\nReferences\n\n1954 births\n20th-century American women artists\n21st-century American women artists\nAmerican essayists\nAmerican women essayists\nAmerican women painters\nAmerican Zen Buddhists\nApple Inc. employees\nArtists from the San Francisco Bay Area\nCalifornia College of the Arts alumni\nCulture of the Pacific Northwest\nDyslexic writers\nFamily of Steve Jobs\nFoothill College alumni\nLiving people\nPeople from Sunnyvale, California\nSan Francisco Art Institute alumni" ]
[ "Paul Ryan", "Early life and education", "Where was Ryan born?", "Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin,", "Where did Ryan go to school?", "Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team,", "Did he do anything noteworthy in school?", "then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king.", "Where did he attend college?", "Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio,", "Did he graduate with honors?", "with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten", "What jobs did he have before becoming involved in politics?", "Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's." ]
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What else did he do for employment?
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What else did Paul Ryan do for employment in addition to becoming involved in politics?
Paul Ryan
Paul Davis Ryan Jr. was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (nee Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Davis Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English ancestry. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan (1858-1917), founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan (1898-1957), was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, where he played on the seventh-grade basketball team, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother remarried, to Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. He attended the Washington Semester program at American University. Ryan worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. CANNOTANSWER
Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser.
Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American retired politician who served as the 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from October 2015 to January 2019. He was the 2012 Republican Party vice presidential nominee running alongside Mitt Romney, losing to incumbent president Barack Obama and then-vice president Joe Biden. Ryan, a native of Janesville, Wisconsin, graduated from Miami University in 1992. He spent five years working for Republicans in Washington, D.C. and returned to Wisconsin in 1997 to work at his family's construction company. Ryan was elected to Congress to represent the following year, replacing an incumbent Republican who ran for U.S. Senate. Ryan would represent the district for 20 years. He chaired the House Budget Committee from 2011 to 2015 and briefly chaired the House Ways and Means Committee in 2015 prior to being elected Speaker of the House in October 2015 following John Boehner's retirement. A self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan was a major proponent of Social Security privatization in the mid-2000s. In the 2010s, two proposals heavily influenced by Ryan—"The Path to Prosperity" and "A Better Way"—advocated for the privatization of Medicare, the conversion of Medicaid into a block grant program, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and significant federal tax cuts. As Speaker, he played a key role in the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act in 2018, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. His other major piece of legislation, the American Health Care Act of 2017, passed the House but failed in the Senate by one vote. Ryan declined to run for re-election in the 2018 midterm elections. With the Democratic Party taking control of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi succeeded Ryan as Speaker of the House. Early life and education Paul Davis Ryan was born on January 29, 1970 in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann (née Hutter), who later became an interior designer, and Paul Murray Ryan, a lawyer. He is a fifth-generation Wisconsinite. His father was of Irish ancestry and his mother of German and English descent. One of Ryan's paternal ancestors settled in Wisconsin prior to the Civil War. His great-grandfather, Patrick William Ryan, founded an earthmoving company in 1884, which later became P. W. Ryan and Sons and is now known as Ryan Incorporated Central. Ryan's grandfather, Stanley M. Ryan, was appointed United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin. In 2018, while filming a segment for the PBS series Finding Your Roots, Ryan learned that his DNA results included 3 percent Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. Ryan attended St. Mary's Catholic School in Janesville, then attended Joseph A. Craig High School, where he was elected president of his junior class, and thus became prom king. As class president Ryan was a representative of the student body on the school board. Following his second year, Ryan took a job working the grill at McDonald's. He was on his high school's ski, track, and varsity soccer teams and played basketball in a Catholic recreational league. He participated in several academic and social clubs including the Model United Nations. Ryan and his family often went on hiking and skiing trips to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Although Ryan's father was not a lifelong heavy drinker, staying sober for nearly twenty years after his first stint in rehabilitation, he had become an alcoholic by the time Ryan was a teenager. Ryan later commented on his relationship with his father, whom he revered as a young child, stating that "[alcohol] made him more distant, irritable and stressed ... whiskey had washed away some of the best parts of the man I knew." When he was 16, Ryan found his 55-year-old father lying dead in bed of a heart attack, something Ryan later partially attributed to heavy alcohol consumption. Following the death of his father, Ryan's grandmother moved in with the family. As she had Alzheimer's, Ryan helped care for her while his mother commuted to college in Madison, Wisconsin. From the time of his father's death until his 18th birthday, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits, which were saved for his college education. His mother later married widower Bruce Douglas. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Bob Kasten, where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser. Ryan attended the Washington Semester program at American University. He worked summers as a salesman for Oscar Mayer and once got to drive the Wienermobile. Ryan was a member of the College Republicans, and volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. Early career Betty Ryan reportedly urged her son to accept a congressional position as a legislative aide in Senator Kasten's office, which he did after graduating in 1992. In his early years working on Capitol Hill, Ryan supplemented his income by working as a waiter, as a fitness trainer, and at other jobs. A few months after Kasten lost to Democrat Russ Feingold in the 1992 election, Ryan became a speechwriter for Empower America (now FreedomWorks), a conservative advocacy group founded by Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and William Bennett. Ryan later worked as a speechwriter for Kemp, the Republican vice presidential candidate in the 1996 United States presidential election. Kemp became Ryan's mentor, and Ryan has said he had a "huge influence". In 1995, Ryan became the legislative director for then-U.S. Congressman Sam Brownback of Kansas. In 1997 he returned to Wisconsin, where he worked for a year as a marketing consultant for the construction company Ryan Incorporated Central, owned by his relatives. U.S. House of Representatives Elections Ryan was first elected to the House in 1998, winning the 1st District seat of Republican Mark Neumann, a two-term incumbent who had vacated his seat to make an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate. 28-year-old Ryan won the Republican primary over 29-year-old pianist Michael J. Logan of Twin Lakes, and the general election against Democrat Lydia Spottswood. This made him the second-youngest member of the House. Reelected eight times, Ryan never received less than 55 percent of the vote in a congressional election. He defeated Democratic challenger Jeffrey C. Thomas in the 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 elections. In the 2008 election, Ryan defeated Democrat Marge Krupp. In the 2010 general election, he defeated Democrat John Heckenlively and Libertarian Joseph Kexel. In 2012, under Wisconsin election law, Ryan was allowed to run concurrently for vice president and for Congress and was not allowed to remove his name from the Congressional ballot after being nominated for the vice presidency. He faced Democratic nominee Rob Zerban. As of July 25, 2012, Ryan had over $5.4 million in his congressional campaign account, more than any other House member. He was reelected with 55 percent of his district's vote and 44 percent of the vote in his hometown, Janesville. Zerban again challenged Ryan in the 2014 House election. Ryan won with 63 percent of his district's vote. In the 2016 Republican primary election, Ryan faced businessman Paul Nehlen, who had been endorsed by Sarah Palin. Because of Nehlen's support for Trump, Trump publicly thanked him on Twitter and later told The Washington Post that Nehlen was "running a very good campaign", even though he did not endorse him. On August 5, 2016, Trump endorsed Ryan's re-election after pressure from fellow Republican leaders. In the August 9, 2016 primary election, Ryan overwhelmingly defeated Nehlen, taking over 84 percent of the vote. In the November general election, Ryan faced Democrat Rebecca Solen and won with 65 percent of his district's vote. Committee assignments As Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ryan was not a chair or a member of any committee. Prior to his speakership, Ryan held the following assignments: Committee on Ways and Means (Chairman) Subcommittee on Health Caucus memberships House Republican Caucus Caucus of House Conservatives Republican Study Committee United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus Middle East Economic Partnership Caucus Prayer Caucus Sportsmen's Caucus (Co-Chair) Congressional Western Caucus Pre-Speaker congressional tenure (1999–2015) Ryan became the ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee in 2007 and became chairman of the committee in 2011 after Republicans took control of the House. That same year, he was selected to deliver the Republican response to the State of the Union address. As of August 2012, Ryan had been the primary sponsor of more than 70 bills or amendments, and only two of those bills had become law. One, passed in July 2000, renamed a post office in Ryan's district; the other, passed in December 2008, lowered the excise tax on arrow shafts. As of August 2012, Ryan had also co-sponsored 975 bills, of which 176 had passed; 22% of these bills were originally sponsored by a Democrat. Ryan was a "reliable supporter of the [George W. Bush] administration's foreign policy priorities" who voted for the 2002 Iraq Resolution, authorizing the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2010, Ryan was a member of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Bowles-Simpson Commission), which was tasked with developing a plan to reduce the federal deficit. He voted against the final report of the commission. In 2012, Ryan accused the nation's top military leaders of using "smoke and mirrors" to remain under budget limits passed by Congress. Ryan later said that he misspoke on the issue and called General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to apologize for his comments. Speaker of the House 114th Congress On September 25, 2015, John Boehner formally announced to House Republicans his intention to resign from the speakership and the House. Among those interested in the post, Kevin McCarthy—who had wide support among Republicans, including Boehner, and Ryan, who was set to officially nominate him—was considered the presumptive favorite. His candidacy was opposed by conservative House Republicans of the Freedom Caucus, and when it became clear that caucus members would not support his candidacy, McCarthy withdrew his name from consideration on October 8. This led many Republicans to turn to Ryan as a compromise candidate. The push included a plea from Boehner, who reportedly told Ryan that he was the only person who could unite the House Republicans at a time of turmoil. Ryan released a statement that said, "While I am grateful for the encouragement I've received, I will not be a candidate." The next day however, close aides of Ryan's confirmed that Ryan had re-evaluated the situation, and was considering the possibility of a run. Ryan confirmed on October 22, that he would seek the speakership after receiving the endorsements of two factions of House Republicans, including the conservative Freedom Caucus. Ryan, upon confirming his bid for the speakership, stated, "I never thought I'd be speaker. But I pledged to you that if I could be a unifying figure, then I would serve – I would go all in. After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as one, united team. And I am ready and eager to be our speaker." On October 29, Ryan was elected Speaker, receiving 236 votes, an absolute majority of the 435-member chamber. Democrat Nancy Pelosi received 184 votes, with 12 more going to others. After the vote Ryan delivered his first remarks as speaker-elect and was sworn in by John Conyers, the dean of the House, becoming, at age , the youngest person elected as speaker since James G. Blaine (age ) in 1869. Later, he named lobbyist John David Hoppe as his Chief of Staff. As Speaker, Ryan became the leader of the House Republicans. However, by tradition, he largely ceased taking part in debate and almost never voted from the floor. He was also not a member of any committees. 2016 presidential election After Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election on May 4, 2016, Ryan was hesitant to endorse him, stating on May 5 that he was "not ready". Ryan and Trump met in private on May 12, releasing a joint statement afterward, acknowledging their differences but stating "we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground." On June 2, Ryan announced his support for Trump in an op-ed in The Janesville Gazette. The following day, June 3, amid Trump's criticism of Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, Ryan said Trump's critique "just was out of left field for my mind," and voiced disagreement with him. On June 7, Ryan disavowed Trump's comments about Curiel because he believed they were "the textbook definition of a racist comment". Nevertheless, Ryan continued to endorse Trump, believing that more Republican policies will be enacted under Donald Trump than presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. On June 15, after Kevin McCarthy stated during a conversation among Republicans, "There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump. Swear to God", Ryan interjected, "No leaks. This is how we know we're a real family here." On July 5, after FBI Director James Comey advocated against pressing charges against Clinton for her email scandal, Ryan said Comey's decision "defies explanation" and stated that "[d]eclining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent." In October 2016, following the Donald Trump Access Hollywood controversy, Ryan disinvited Trump from a scheduled campaign rally, and announced that he would no longer defend or support Trump's presidential campaign but would focus instead on Congressional races. He also freed down-ticket congress members to use their own judgment about Trump, saying "you all need to do what's best for you and your district." Trump then went on to attack Ryan, accusing him and other "disloyal" Republicans of deliberately undermining his candidacy as part of "a whole sinister deal". 115th Congress Two months after the 2016 elections, Ryan was re-elected Speaker of the House on January 3, 2017, the opening day of the 115th Congress. He received 239 votes to House Democratic Leader Pelosi's 189 votes (with 5 more going to others). On February 7, 2017, Ryan told reporters a replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be introduced "this year" amid speculation Donald Trump would not act toward doing so until the following year. On March 9, Ryan gave a 30-minute lecture explaining the proposed replacement for the ACA, titled the American Health Care Act (AHCA). On March 30, Ryan said that he did not intend to work with Democrats on repealing and replacing the ACA, reasoning their involvement would lead to "government running health care." On April 4, Ryan confirmed renewed discussions of an ACA replacement, but warned that a replacement was in the "conceptual" stages of its development. On May 4, the House narrowly voted for the AHCA to repeal the ACA. On May 9, Ryan said that "a month or two" would pass before the Senate would pass its own ACA repeal and replacement legislation. The Senate created several of its own versions of the act but was unable to pass any of them. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Ryan suggested that candidate Trump should release his tax returns. In May 2017, Ryan said Congress' goal was "calendared 2017 for tax reform" and reported progress was being made in doing so. In December 2017, both houses of Congress passed a $1.5 trillion tax bill called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which Trump signed into law on December 22. The tax law is projected to add an additional $1.5 trillion to the national debt over a decade, but the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation also estimated that the GDP level on average would be 0.7% higher during the same period. In the weeks leading up to his retirement announcement, Ryan also championed a $1.3 trillion government-wide spending bill that boosted military spending significantly. Politico noted that Ryan "clamored for austerity when he's been in the minority, trashing Democrats as profligate budget-busters, but he's happily busted budgets in the majority." In June 2017, Ryan expressed support for strong sanctions on Russia in response to Russian interference in the 2016 elections and its annexation of the Crimea, saying that Russia's actions were "unacceptable". He urged Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Congressional oversight committees to "do their jobs so that we can get to the bottom of all of this." In July Congress passed a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia and giving Congress the power to overrule White House attempts to roll back sanctions. Both houses passed the bill with veto-proof majorities (98-2 in the Senate, 419-3 in the House), so Trump reluctantly signed it into law on August 2, 2017. Ryan provided political cover for Devin Nunes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, who many characterized as a source of the dysfunction in the committee as it investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election. Nunes accused the Obama administration of improperly “unmasking” the identities of Trump associates (which led Nunes' temporary recusal from the committee's Russia investigation), accused the FBI of misconduct, leaked the text messages of Senator Mark Warner (in an effort to misleadingly suggest impropriety on his behalf), and threatened to impeach FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The House Intelligence Committee was one of few so-called "select" committees in Congress, which meant that it was up to Ryan to decide the chairman of the committee. Despite having favored comprehensive immigration earlier in his congressional career, Speaker Ryan prevented immigration legislation from being advanced in the House. When President Trump ended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) – which granted temporary stay for undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as minors – Ryan said DACA recipients should "rest easy" because Congress would solve the problem for them, but Ryan backed no bills to protect DACA recipients. An article in The Washington Post described Ryan's relationship with President Trump as "friendly, if occasionally uneasy," adding that "Ryan did little to check the president or encourage oversight of his administration." Ryan supported Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, and did not support legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Ryan said that legislation to protect Mueller's investigation was not "necessary". On April 11, 2018, Ryan announced that he would not run for re-election in November, saying, "I like to think I've done my part, my little part in history to set us on a better course." In response, Trump tweeted, "Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question." In May 2018, Ryan led the House in passing the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, which partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. It was signed into law by President Trump a few days later. After Republicans lost control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections, Ryan suggested that there were irregularities about the election results in California. Ryan said that California's election system was "bizarre", "defies logic" and that "there are a lot of races there we should have won." After Ryan's remarks were reported on, Ryan's spokesperson said "The Speaker did not and does not dispute the results". Assessment of Speaker tenure Following Ryan's retirement announcement, an article in The Washington Post stated that Ryan was "leav[ing] behind a legacy of dramatically expanded government spending and immense deficits, a GOP president unchecked, a broken immigration system, and a party that's fast abandoning the free-trade principles that he himself championed." According to the Associated Press, Ryan "achieved one of his career goals: rewriting the tax code"; however, "on his other defining aim — balancing the budget and cutting back benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — Ryan has utterly failed". Constituent services In fiscal year 2008, Ryan garnered $5.4 million in congressional earmarks, including $3.28 million for bus service in Wisconsin, $1.38 million for the Ice Age Trail, and $735,000 for the Janesville transit system. In 2009, he successfully advocated with the Department of Energy for stimulus funds for energy initiatives in his district. Other home district projects he has supported include a runway extension at the Rock County Airport, an environmental study of the Kenosha Harbor, firefighting equipment for Janesville, road projects in Wisconsin, and commuter rail and streetcar projects in Kenosha. In 2008, Ryan pledged to stop seeking earmarks. Prior to that he had sought earmarks less often than other representatives. Taxpayers for Common Sense records show no earmarks supported by Ryan for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. In 2012, Ryan supported a request for $3.8 million from the Department of Transportation for a new transit center in Janesville, which city officials received in July. Ryan was an active member of a task force established by Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle that tried unsuccessfully to persuade General Motors to keep its assembly plant in Janesville open. He made personal contact with GM executives to try to convince them to save or retool the plant, offering GM hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded incentives. Following the closure of factories in Janesville and Kenosha, constituents expressed dissatisfaction with Ryan's voting history. During the 2011 Congressional summer break, Ryan held town hall meetings by telephone with constituents. The only public meetings Ryan attended in his district required an admission fee of at least $15. In August 2011, constituents in Kenosha and Racine protested when Ryan would not meet with them about economic and employment issues, after weeks of emailed requests from them. His Kenosha office locked its doors and filed a complaint with the police, who told the protesters that they were not allowed in Ryan's office. Ryan maintained a mobile office to serve constituents in outlying areas. 2012 vice presidential campaign Dan Balz of The Washington Post wrote that Ryan was promoted as a candidate for Vice President "by major elements of the conservative opinion makers, including The Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Weekly Standard and the editor of National Review". On August 11, 2012, the Romney campaign announced Ryan as its choice for Vice President through its "Mitt's VP" mobile app. It was reported that Romney had offered the position to Ryan on August 1, 2012, the day after returning from a foreign policy trip to the United Kingdom, Poland, and Israel. On August 11, 2012, Ryan formally accepted Romney's invitation to join his campaign as his running mate, in front of the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk. Ryan is the first individual from Wisconsin as well as the first member of Generation X to run on a major party's national ticket. Also in August 2012, the Associated Press published a story saying that while the Tea Party movement had wanted a nominee other than Romney, it had gotten "one of its ideological heroes" in the Vice Presidential slot. According to the article, Ryan supports the Tea Party's belief in "individual rights, distrust of big government and an allegorical embrace of the Founding Fathers". According to a statistical-historical analysis conducted by Nate Silver, "Ryan is the most conservative Republican member of Congress to be picked for the vice-presidential slot since at least 1900" and "is also more conservative than any Democratic nominee [for vice president who previously served in the Congress] was liberal, meaning that he is the furthest from the center" of any vice presidential candidate chosen from Congress since the turn of the 20th century. Political scientist Eric Schickler commented that while Ryan "may well be the most conservative vice presidential nominee in decades," the NOMINATE methodology "is not suited to making claims about the relative liberalism or conservatism of politicians" over a long time span. A USA Today/Gallup poll found that 39% thought Ryan was an "excellent" or "pretty good" vice presidential choice, compared to 42% who felt he was a "fair" or "poor" choice. Ryan formally accepted his nomination at the 2012 Republican National Convention on August 29, 2012. In his acceptance speech, he promoted Mitt Romney as the presidential candidate, supported repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), said that he and Romney had a plan to generate 12 million new jobs over the ensuing four years, and promoted founding principles as a solution: "We will not duck the tough issues—we will lead. We will not spend four years blaming others—we will take responsibility. We will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles." The speech was well received by the convention audience and praised for being well-delivered. Some fact-checkers purported that there were important factual omissions and that he presented details out of context. Conservative media (including Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post, the Investor's Business Daily, and Fox News) disputed some of the fact-checkers' findings. Of 33 of Ryan's statements which Politifact.com suspected of being false or misleading, it rated 10.5% as True, 18% as Mostly True, 21% as Half True, 36% as Mostly False, 9% as False, and 6% as Pants on Fire. On October 11, 2012, Ryan debated his Democratic counterpart, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, in the only vice presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle. Romney and Ryan lost the 2012 presidential election, but Ryan retained his seat in the House of Representatives. Congressional Leadership Fund The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a Super PAC, has been closely linked and aligned with Ryan. Ryan has directed major GOP donors towards the CLF. Political positions Ryan's political positions were generally conservative, with a focus on fiscal policy. Ryan "played a central role in nearly all" the policy debates of the period 2010–2012. In 2012, Ryan voted against the Simpson-Bowles commission proposal to reduce the deficit, because the proposal raised taxes and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. While he was a self-proclaimed deficit hawk, Ryan's tenure of Speaker of the House saw a major expansion in government spending and a ballooning of deficits despite unified Republican control of Congress and the White House, no recession and no new foreign conflict. Ryan subscribed to supply-side economics and supported tax cuts including eliminating the capital gains tax, the corporate income tax, the estate tax, and the Alternative Minimum Tax. Ryan supports deregulation, including the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999, which repealed some financial regulation of banks from the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. During the economic recovery from the Great Recession of the late 2000s, Ryan supported the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which authorized the Treasury to purchase toxic assets from banks and other financial institutions, and the auto industry bailout; Ryan opposed the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which expanded consumer protections regarding credit card plans, and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which strengthened financial regulation. In 2018 as House Speaker, Ryan helped pass the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act that repealed large parts of Dodd-Frank. In 2016, Ryan rolled out a set of anti-poverty proposals that "seek to expand work requirements for those receiving federal benefits, to give states and local jurisdictions a greater role in administering those benefits, to better measure the results of federal programs for the poor, and to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse." Ryan believes federal poverty reduction programs are ineffective and he supports cuts to welfare, child care, Pell Grants, food stamps, and other federal assistance programs. Ryan supports block granting Medicaid to the states and the privatization of social security and Medicare. Ryan supported the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit and opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as "Obamacare." Ryan supported the American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA), the 2017 House Republican plan to repeal and replace the ACA. In 2012, The New York Times said Ryan was "his party's most forceful spokesman for cutting entitlement spending." Ryan's non-fiscal policy positions were subject to additional national attention with his 2012 candidacy for Vice President. Ryan is pro-life and opposes abortion rights. Ryan opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which provides that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. In 2012, Ryan supported civil unions and opposed same-sex marriage. Ryan supported school vouchers, and supported the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and its repeal the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015. Ryan is unsure, and believes climate scientists are unsure, of the impact of human activity on climate change. Ryan supported tax incentives for the petroleum industry and opposed them for renewable energy. Ryan supported gun rights and opposed stricter gun control. Ryan supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ryan condemned Barack Obama's decision not to block a UN resolution criticizing Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories as "absolutely shameful". Ryan supported President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He stated: "Jerusalem has been, and always will be, the eternal, undivided capital of the State of Israel." Following the 2018 Russia–United States summit, in which Donald Trump stated that he believed Russian government did not interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Ryan confirmed his belief that Russian government interfered and advocated for more economic sanctions against Russia for the interference. Ryan supported U.S. involvement in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen and used his power to block a House vote on the war in Yemen. History with Objectivism At a 2005 Washington, D.C. gathering celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ayn Rand's birth, Ryan credited Rand with having inspired him to get involved in politics. In a speech that same year at the Atlas Society, he said he grew up reading Rand, and that her books taught him about his value system and beliefs. Ryan required staffers and interns in his congressional office to read Rand and gave copies of her novel Atlas Shrugged as gifts to his staff for Christmas. In his Atlas Society speech, he also described Social Security as a "socialist-based system". In 2009, Ryan said, "What's unique about what's happening today in government, in the world, in America, is that it's as if we're living in an Ayn Rand novel right now. I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build a moral case of capitalism, and that morality of capitalism is under assault." In April 2012, after receiving criticism from Georgetown University faculty members on his budget plan, Ryan rejected Rand's philosophy as atheistic, saying it "reduces human interactions down to mere contracts". He also called the reports of his adherence to Rand's views an "urban legend" and stated that he was deeply influenced by his Roman Catholic faith and by Thomas Aquinas. Electoral history Post-congressional life In March 2019, Ryan joined the board of directors of Fox Corporation, the owner of Fox News Channel and the Fox broadcast network. In August 2019, he joined the board of SHINE Medical Technologies. He has since joined the faculty of the University of Notre Dame as a professor of practice for the 2019–20 academic year as a guest lecturer in political science and economics. In April 2019, Ryan was nominated as the delegation leader to represent President Trump to visit Taipei. With Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, he attended the 40th anniversary ceremony of the Taiwan Relations Act. In October 2019, Ryan launched a non-profit called American Idea Foundation. Personal life In December 2000, Ryan married Janna Christine Little, a tax attorney, a graduate of Wellesley College and George Washington University Law School, and a native of Madill, Oklahoma. The Ryans live in the Courthouse Hill Historic District of Janesville, Wisconsin. They have three children: Elizabeth "Liza" Anne, Charles Wilson, and Samuel Lowery. A Roman Catholic, Ryan is a member of St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Janesville. Janna is a cousin of former Democratic Representative Dan Boren (D-OK). She is also a granddaughter of Reuel Little, who helped found the American Party to support the 1968 presidential campaign of George Wallace. Due to a family history of fatal heart attacks before age 60, Ryan pursues an intense cross-training fitness program called P90X. Ryan has always been a fitness enthusiast and was a personal trainer when he came out of college. About P90X, he said, "It works because it's called muscle confusion. It hits your body in many different ways. Pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, lots of cardio, karate, jump training. It has results, it works. It's a good workout." In a 2010 Politico interview, he said that he weighed 163 pounds and maintained his body fat percentage between 6 and 8%. Tony Horton, creator of P90X, who has personally trained Ryan many times, reiterated the claim saying, "He is very, very, very lean. I know what 6 to 8 percent body fat looks like, and there's no fat anywhere on the man. I'm around 9 percent and he's much leaner than I am. He’s easily 6 to 8 percent body fat. You just have to eat right and exercise every day, and that’s what he does." In a radio interview, Ryan claimed he had once run a marathon in under three hours; he later stated that he forgot his actual time and was just trying to state what he thought was a normal time. His one official marathon time is recorded as slightly over four hours. Awards and honors 2004, 2010 – Guardian of Small Business Award, National Federation of Independent Business 2008 – Defending the American Dream Award, Americans for Prosperity, Wisconsin chapter 2009 – Manufacturing Legislative Excellence Award, National Association of Manufacturers 2009 – Honorary Degree, Miami University 2010 – Legislator of the Year Award, International Franchise Association 2011 – Statesmanship Award, Claremont Institute 2011 – Fiscy Award for responsible financial stewardship and fiscal discipline in government. 2011 – Leadership Award, Jack Kemp Foundation 2011 – Freedom and Prosperity Award, Mason Contractors Association of America 2012 – Chair, Honorary Board of the Archery Trade Association 2014 – Alexander Hamilton Award, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research 2018 – Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service References Further reading Works about Ryan Works by Ryan External links Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Historical Society |- |- |- |- |- |- 1970 births 2012 United States vice-presidential candidates 20th-century American politicians 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Roman Catholics American male non-fiction writers American people of English descent American people of Jewish descent American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American political writers American speechwriters American University alumni Catholics from Wisconsin Living people Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Members of the United States House of Representatives from Wisconsin Miami University alumni Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign Politicians from Janesville, Wisconsin Republican Party (United States) vice presidential nominees Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Speakers of the United States House of Representatives University of Notre Dame faculty Wisconsin Republicans Writers from Wisconsin Joseph A. Craig High School alumni 21st-century American male writers
false
[ "This is the discography of R&B/Hip hop soul trio, Total.\n\nAlbums\n\nStudio albums\n\nSingles\n\n Notes\n Did not chart on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart (Billboard rules at the time prevented album cuts from charting). Chart peak listed represents the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart.\n\nFeatured singles\n\nGuest appearances\n\nSoundtracks\n\nVideography\n From Total (1996)\n No One Else\n No One Else (Puff Daddy Remix)\n Kissin' You\n Kissin' You / Oh Honey\n Can't You See\n Can't You See (Bad Boy Remix)\n Do You Think About Us\n From Kima, Keisha, and Pam (1998)\n Trippin'\n Sitting Home\n From Soul Food (soundtrack) (1997)\n What About Us? (1997)\n As Guest Artists\n LL Cool J - Loungin' (Who Do U Love?) (1995)\nNotorious B.I.G. \"Hypnotize\" (Pam)\nNotorious B.I.G \"Juicy\" (Keisha & Kima)\n Mase - What You Want (1997)\n Foxy Brown - I Can't (1998)\n Tony Touch - I Wonder Why (He's The Greatest DJ) (2000)\n Cameos\n Craig Mack - Flava In Ya Ear (Remix) (Keisha from Total) (1994)\n The Notorious B.I.G. - One More Chance/Stay With Me (1994)\nSoul For Real - Every Little Thing I Do (1995)\n 112 - Only You - Bad Boy Remix (Keisha from Total) (1996)\n Missy Elliott - The Rain (Supa Supa Fly) (1997)\n Jerome - Too Old For Me (Keisha from Total) (1997)\nLil' Kim - Not Tonight (Remix) (1997)\nThe Lox - We'll Always Love Big Poppa (1998)\nThe Bad Boy Family - You (2001) [Featuring Pam & Keisha]\n\nReferences\n\nTotal discography\nHip hop discographies\nRhythm and blues discographies", "Casual employment or contract employment is an employment classification under employment law.\n\nAustralia\nIn Australian workplace law whereby an employee is paid at a higher hourly rate (usually 25%) in lieu of having their employment guaranteed, and lacking other usual full-time employment conditions such as sick leave. 28% of all Australian workers were employed on a casual basis in 2003.\n\nEmployers often contact casual employees regularly from week to week to supplement their normal workforce as needed. As there is no expectation in a casual work contract between employee and employer of ongoing work, employees can legally refuse any specific work opportunity. The government defines Casual employees as those from whom regular work is not expected, they are not bounded by any legal body and can at their convenience switch places they work at.\n\nUnder various workplace awards, employment classification can change if a certain number of hours is worked in a particular time frame.\n\nNew Zealand\nIn New Zealand, casual employees are guaranteed either annual leave pro-rata, or 8% holiday pay on top of earnings. Casual employment contracts lack sick leave and guaranteed work hours.\n\nIn Jinkinson v Oceana Gold (NZ) Ltd, the Employment Court of New Zealand ruled that:\n\nThe distinction between casual employment and ongoing employment lies in the extent to which the parties have mutual employment related obligations between periods of work. If those obligations only exist during periods of work, the employment will be regarded as casual. If there are mutual obligations which continue between periods of work, there will be an ongoing employment relationship\"\n\nUnder Lee v Minor Developments Ltd t/a Before Six Childcare Centre (2008), the Employment Court outlined the following characteristics as those the courts use to assess whether employment is casual:\n\nEngagement for short periods of time for specific purposes;\nA lack of regular work pattern or expectation of ongoing employment;\nEmployment is dependent on the availability of work demands;\nNo guarantee of work from one week to the next;\nEmployment as and when needed;\nThe lack of an obligation on the employer to offer employment, or on the employee to accept any other engagement; and\nEmployees are only engaged for the specific term of each period of employment.\n\nIn 2008, the Fourth Labour Government proposed the strengthening of casual employment rights. However, they were voted out of office later during the year.\n\nUnited Kingdom\nThe UK Government defines casual employment as the following:\nEmployees occasionally do work for a specific business\nThe business does not have to offer employees work and employees do not have to accept it - employees only work when they want to\nThe contract with the business uses terms like ‘casual’, ‘freelance’, ‘zero hours’, ‘as required’ or something similar\nEmployees had to agree with the business’s terms and conditions to get work - either verbally or in writing\nEmployees are under the supervision or control of a manager or director\nEmployees cannot send someone else to do their work\nThe business deducts tax and National Insurance contributions from their wages\nThe business provides materials, tools or equipment they need to do the work\n\nSee also \nAustralian Fair Pay and Conditions Standard\nContingent Workforce\nContingent work\nEmployment\nInformal sector\nZero-hour contract\n\nReferences \n\nEmployment classifications\nEmployment in Australia" ]