Who is the "Best Singer"?(vote)

Avril Lavigne
You already observe in my blog, that exists two places
for voting in "Best Singer" and vote in "Best Band".

For best Singer, you can choose:

Rihanna


50 Cent

Justin Timberlake

Amy Winehouse Nelly Furtado

Spice Girls

The Spice Girls are a British all-female pop group, formed in London in 1994. The Spice Girls, consisting of; Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell, signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe", in 1996. The song went on to spend seven weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart and helped establish the group as an "international phenomenon". They went on to release three studio albums and ten singles, selling in excess of 55 million records worldwide.
Under the guidance of their long time mentor and manager Simon Fuller, the group embraced merchandising and became a regular feature of the British press. Each member of the group was given an alias by Top of the Pops Magazine in 1996, aliases which were adopted by the group and media alike. According to biographer David Sinclair, "Scary, Baby, Ginger, Posh and Sporty were the most widely recognised group of individuals since John, Paul, George and Ringo", and the group was "a social phenomenon that changed the course of popular music and popular culture".
The members went their separate ways at the end of 2000 (although a break-up was never formally announced) to focus on their solo careers. On June 28, 2007 they reformed as a quintet and in November 2007 a Greatest Hits album was released to accompany the group's current World Tour.

Group history(part 1)
Beginning
In early 1990s, father-and-son management team Chris and Bob Herbert set about creating an all female group that could compete with the onslaught of equally popular boy bands that dominated the pop music scene in the early to mid 1990s: "the whole teen-band scene at the time was saturated by boy bands. It was all clones of New Kids on the Block and Take That. That was all a bit of a yawn for me, and only appealed to female audiences...I felt if you could appeal to the boys as well, you'd be laughing". In February 1994, Heart Management – which comprised the Herberts together with financier Chic Murphy – placed an advertisement in The Stage trade magazine asking "R U 18-23 with the ability to sing/dance? R U streetwise, ambitious, outgoing and dedicated?" Hundreds of girls responded and the applicants were whittled down to a final five that included Victoria Adams, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell, and Michelle Stephenson. The group was given the name "Touch" and moved into a house together in Maidenhead, Berkshire, (owned by Murphy) where they were subsidized by Heart Management and each was claiming unemployment benefit.

During the first two months the group worked on demos and dance routines at the Trinity Studios in Working. According to Stephenson, the material the group was given was "very, very young pop" and included the song "We’re Gonna Make It Happen", a record that never came to light. It soon became apparent that Stephenson did not have the drive and belief that the rest of the group had, so the decision was made to fire her from the group. Bob Herbert stated that "she just wasn't fitting in...she would never have gelled with it and I had to tell her to go". However, Stephenson stated it was her decision to leave the group because of the illness of her mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Victoria later dismissed this claim saying she "just couldn't be arsed" to put in the work the rest of the group was doing. The Herberts searched for a replacement and first came across Abigail Kas, who did not impress, and then were led to eighteen-year-old Emma Bunton at the suggestion of vocal coach Pepe Lemer. Bunton instantly impressed the Herberts and was invited to meet the group in July 1994, who welcomed her with open arms: "Straight away I knew she was the one", stated Halliwell.

After Bunton joined the girls there was growing discontent amongst the group with the management team. The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction in which Heart Management was steering them. They persuaded Bob Herbert to set up a showcase performance for the group in front of industry writers, producers and A&R men in December 1994 at the Nomis Studios in Shepherds Bush where they received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction. Due to the large interest in the group, the Herberts quickly set about creating a binding contract for the group. Encouraged by the reaction they had received at the Nomis showcase the five girls delayed signing contracts on the legal advice from, amongst others, Victoria's father Tony Adams. In March 1995, because of the group's frustration at their management's unwillingness to listen to their visions and ideas, they parted from Heart Management. In what biographer David Sinclair calls an "incredibly self-serving and underhand" ploy, the group stole the master recordings of their discography from the management offices in order to ensure they kept control of their own work. That same day the girls tracked down Sheffield-based producer Eliot Kennedy, who had been present at the showcase, and persuaded him to work with the group.

In October 1994, armed with a catalogue of demos and dance routines, the group began touring management agencies. The group was introduced to record producers Absolute, who in turn brought them to the attention of Simon Fuller of 19 Management. The girls began a relationship with Fuller and finally signed with him in March 1995. During the summer of that year the group toured record labels in London and Los Angeles with Fuller and finally signed a deal with Virgin Records in September 1995. From this point up to the summer of 1996 the girls continued to write and record tracks for their debut album while extensively touring the west coast of America, where they had signed a publishing deal with Windswept Pacific.'
Reunion
On June 28, 2007 the group held a press conference at The O2 in London, formally announcing their intention to reunite. The plan to reform had long been speculated by the media, but the group now confirmed their intention to embark upon a world wide concert tour, starting in Vancouver on December 2, 2007. Filmmaker, Bob Smeaton, will direct an official documentary on the reunion. It is entitled Spice Girls: Giving You Everything and will be aired on BBC One.

Ticket sales for the first London date of "The Return of the Spice Girls" World Tour sold out in 38 seconds. It was reported that over one million people signed up in the UK alone and over five million worldwide for the ticket ballot on the band's official website. Sixteen additional dates in London had been added and have since sold out. In America, the Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Jose shows also sold out, prompting additional dates to be added. It was announced that the Spice Girls would be playing dates in Chicago and Detroit (Auburn Hills) and Boston, as well as additional dates in New York to keep up with the demand. On the very first concert in Canada, they performed to an audience of 15,000 people, singing twenty songs and changing a total of eight times.
Along with the current tour sell-out, the Spice Girls have licensed their name and image to Tesco's UK supermarket chain. The band have reportedly been paid £5 million for their appearances in Tesco advertisements.The group's comeback single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)", was announced as the official Children in Need charity single for 2007 and was released 5 November. The first public appearance on stage by the Spice Girls was made at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, where the group performed at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. They performed two songs, 1998 single "Stop" and the lead single off their greatest hits album, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The show was filmed by CBS on November 15, 2007 for broadcast on December 4, 2007. They also performed the song live for the BBC Children in Need telethon on November 16, 2007 from Los Angeles, in elegant Roberto Cavalli gowns. The release peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the groups lowest charting British single to date. However the album faired better, peaking at number two on the UK Albums Chart behind Leona Lewis' record breaking debut. Australia was the only country for the album to debut and reach number 1. This is the first Spice Girls album to reach number 1 in Australia. To date, their Greatest Hits album has been declared platinum in Australia and the UK, and Gold in New Zealand and Brasil.

Cultural impact
The British music scene
After being shut out by the Brit Pop revolution that occurred in the early 1990s when bands like Oasis, Pulp and Blur dominated the charts, pop music found a voice again. The image of the Spice Girls was deliberately aimed at young girls, an audience of formidable size and potential; reinforcing the range of appeal within the target demographic were the bandmates' five distinctive personalities, which encouraged fans to identify with one member or another. This marketing was helped in no small way by the aliases assigned to each member of the group. Shortly after Wannabe’s release, the group appeared in "Top Of The Pops" magazine where each member was given a nickname based upon their image: Victoria became "Posh Spice", Emma became "Baby Spice," Melanie B was named "Scary Spice", Geri was named "Sexy Spice" (quickly changed to "Ginger Spice" due to issues with the word "sexy" on children's television), and Melanie C became "Sporty Spice". These nicknames quickly caught the imagination of the tabloids and they stuck with the girls throughout their careers.

"Girl Power"
The "Girl Power" slogan was met with varied reactions, both positive and negative. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. This concept was by no means original in the pop world; both Madonna and Bananarama had employed similar outlooks, and the phrase was most likely first coined by Welsh indie band Helen Love in 1993 and made famous by British pop duo Shampoo in 1995. However, the Spice Girls' version was distinctive. Its message of empowerment appealed to young girls, adolescents and adult women, and it emphasized the importance of strong, loyal friendship among females. In all, the focused, consistent presentation of "girl power" formed the centrepiece of their appeal as a band. Some critics dismissed it as no more than a shallow marketing tactic, while others took issue with the emphasis on physical appearance, concerned about the potential impact on self-conscious and/or impressionable youngsters. Regardless, the phrase became a cultural phenomenon, adopted as the mantra for millions of girls and even making it into the Oxford English Dictionary. In summation of the concept, author Ryan Dawson said, "The Spice Girls changed British culture enough for Girl Power to now seem completely unremarkable."

"Cool Britannia"
The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and Tony Blair. Coming out of a period of 18 years of Conservative government, Tony Blair and New Labour were seen as young, cool and very appealing, a main driving force in making Britain look fashionable again. Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than U.S., pop music. This fact was underlined at the BRIT Awards in 1997. The group won two awards but it was Geri Halliwell's Union Jack dress that appeared in media coverage the world over and eventually became a symbol of "Cool Britannia".

Icons of the 1990s
The Union Jack dress Geri wore has acquired something of an iconic status, and sold at a cancer charity auction for for £36,000 after interest from a frenzy of bidders. The dress was one of many items of Spice Girls memorabilia sold at the auction, where total sales reached £146,511 for charity.
The Spice Girls are revered as Gay Icons, especially in the UK[citation needed]. Geri joked at the Video Music Awards in 1998 about her appearance as Ginger Spice: "As you have noted, I am no longer dressed like a drag queen". Emma Bunton, during an interview, explained why the Spice Girls have so many gay fans: "We were really flattered with having such a huge gay fan base because they know about fashion and they know about songs...I'm so flattered that we've got such a huge gay following, it's amazing."
Ten years after the release of their debut single The Spice Girls were voted the biggest cultural icons of the 1990s by 80% in a UK poll of 1,000 people carried out for the board game Trivial Pursuit, stating that "Girl Power" defined the decade.

-Group history;

-Career records and achievements;

-Spice Girls discography;

-Tours;

Thanks to Wikipedia for this information

I WOULD VERY THANKFUL FOR YOUR OPINION!!

What you think about the Spice Girls?

They are Cool, "more or less" or "dulls"?

Comment please.

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Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode are an electronic music group formed in 1980, in Basildon, Essex, England. The group's original lineup was Dave Gahan (lead vocals), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, vocals, chief songwriter after 1981), Andrew Fletcher (keyboards) and Vince Clarke (keyboards, chief songwriter 1980–81). Vince Clarke left the band after the release of their 1981 debut album, and was replaced by Alan Wilder (production, lead keyboards) who was a band member from 1982 to 1995. Following Wilder's departure, Gahan, Gore, and Fletcher continued as a trio.
Depeche Mode are one of the longest-lived, most successful and influential bands to have emerged from the New Romantic and New Wave era. They have had forty-four songs in the UK Singles Chart (giving them more charting singles without a #1 hit than any other artist), as well as one US and two UK #1 albums. It is estimated that they have sold over 91 million records (56 million albums, 35 million singles) worldwide as of 2006

1977–1980: Formation
Depeche Mode's origins can be traced back to 1977, when Vince Clarke and Andrew Fletcher formed a band called No Romance in China, with Clarke on vocals/guitar and Fletcher on bass. In 1979, Clarke played guitar in an "Ultravox rip-off band", The Plan, with school friends Robert Marlow (vocals), Paul Langwith (drums) and Clarke on guitar/keyboards.[1] In 1978–79, Gore played in an acoustic duo, Norman and the Worms, with school friend Philip Burdett (who now sings on the folk circuit) on vocals and Gore on guitar. In 1979, Marlow, Gore, Clarke and friend Paul Redmond formed a band called The French Look, Marlow on vocals/keyboards, Gore on guitar, Clarke and Redmond on keyboards. In March 1980, Clarke, Gore and Fletcher formed a band called Composition of Sound, with Clarke on vocals/guitar, Gore on keyboards and Fletcher on bass. The French Look and Composition of Sound once played live together in June 1980 at St. Nicholas School Youth Club in Southend-on-sea, Essex.

Soon after the formation of Composition of Sound, Clarke and Fletcher switched to synthesizers, working odd jobs, including carpentry, to buy them, or borrowing them from friends. Gahan joined the band in 1980 after Clarke heard him perform at a local scout-hut jam session, crooning to a rendition of David Bowie's "Heroes", and Depeche Mode were born. When explaining the choice for the new name (taken from a French fashion magazine, Dépêche mode) Martin Gore has said, "It means hurried fashion or fashion dispatch. I like the sound of that."

Depeche Mode in the 2000s
2001–2004: Exciter
In 2001, Depeche Mode released Exciter, which was produced by Mark Bell (formerly of the pioneering techno group LFO). Bell introduced a minimalist, digital sound to much of the album, influenced by IDM and glitch. The album failed to achieve the same levels of sales as the band's previous three releases, and was the first studio album by Depeche Mode to chart higher in the US than the UK, although it reached the Top 10 in both countries. The critical response to the album was mixed. Whilst it received reasonably positive reviews from some magazines (NME, Rolling Stone and L.A. Weekly), others (including Q, PopMatters, and Pitchfork Media) derided it as sounding underproduced, dull and lacklustre.
2003 saw the release of Gahan's solo album, Paper Monsters, followed by a worldwide tour and an accompanying DVD, titled Live Monsters; Martin Gore continued his solo career with the release of Counterfeit² (a follow-up to his 1989 release Counterfeit); and Fletcher launched his own label, Toast Hawaii, which has no bands signed to it (the only outcome so far was the synth-pop group, Client, who have now left the label).
In August that year, Mute released the DVD version of Devotional, filmed during their 1993 world tour, as well as a new remix compilation album Remixes 81 - 04 that compiled new and unreleased promo mixes of the band's singles from 1981 to 2004, including a reinterpreted version of "Enjoy the Silence" by Mike Shinoda entitled "Enjoy the Silence 04", which was released as a single, and reached #7 on the UK charts.

2005–present: Playing the Angel and current events
On October 17, 2005, the band released their 11th studio album Playing the Angel. Produced by Ben Hillier, this Top 10 hit (peaking at #1 in 17 countries) featured the hit single "Precious", peaking at #4 in the UK charts. The album was backed by the band's first in-store signing since 1990, on the day of release in New York City. This is the first Depeche Mode album to feature lyrics written by Gahan and, consequently, the first album since 1984's Some Great Reward featuring songs not written by Gore.
With a prototypical version having been leaked onto the Internet some months earlier, the official video for "Precious" was released on September 12 on the Depeche Mode website, www.depechemode.com. The second single from the album, "A Pain That I'm Used To," was released on December 12, and the third single from the album was "Suffer Well," the first ever post-Clarke Depeche Mode single not to be written by Gore (lyrics by Gahan, music by Philpott/Eigner). On March 2, 2006, they released a video version of single "Suffer Well" sung in Simlish as it is featured on The Sims 2: Open for Business PC game soundtrack along with accompanying video (the group featured as Sims). They join 1980s pop bands, Kajagoogoo and Howard Jones in the PC game as musical contributors with their performances in Simlish.
To promote Playing the Angel, the band launched the worldwide Touring the Angel in November 2005, taking them to North America and Europe. The tour continued through the first half of 2006. Depeche Mode also headlined both the 2006 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, in California, and the O2 Wireless Festival, which took place on the last weekend of June 2006 in London's Hyde Park. Some of the gigs were their first ever shows in certain countries like Romania and Bulgaria. In March 2006, the website announced two dates in Mexico (a country they had not visited for twelve years). More than 55,000 tickets for a stadium in Mexico City were sold immediately, causing the band to schedule another date for the same venue. Recordings of 50 shows were officially released on CDs. These limited edition Depeche Mode live albums published under the scheme title Recording the Angel were much sought after by collectors.
On April 3, 2006, remastered editions of Speak & Spell, Music for the Masses, and Violator were released, featuring remastered audio in two-channel stereo and 5.1 multichannel on Super Audio CD and DVD, extra tracks and B-sides. In addition, each album comes with its own documentary charting the history of the band and the production of each album. The second installment of remastered albums were A Broken Frame, Some Great Reward and Songs of Faith and Devotion, all of which were released on October 2, 2006. Construction Time Again and Black Celebration were released on March 26, 2007. Both Ultra and Exciter were released on October 1, 2007. On September 25, 2006 Depeche Mode released their live DVD-CD set Touring the Angel: Live in Milan, directed by Blue Leach and recorded at Milan's Fila Forum on February 18, and February 19, 2006. The DVD has a full concert on disc 1, bonus live songs "A Question of Lust" and "Damaged People" along with a 20-minute documentary featuring Anton Corbijn, official tour announcement from Germany in the summer of 2005, and the Playing the Angel electronic press kit on disc 2, and disc 3 is a CD with live versions of tracks from Playing the Angel.

In addition, a "best-of" compilation was released in November of 2006, entitled The Best Of, Volume 1 featuring a new single "Martyr", an outtake from the Playing the Angel sessions.

On 2 November, Depeche Mode received the MTV Europe Music Award in the Best Group category. During that same period Fletcher confirmed that the band was on a long break after the massive "Touring the Angel" tour and that they soon would decide whether to go on hiatus or if they should start to write a new album.In December 2006, Depeche Mode were nominated for a Grammy Award, for Best Dance Recording, for "Suffer Well." This is their third Grammy Award nomination. The first being a Best Long Form Music Video award in 1995 for Devotional and the second being for Best Dance Recording for "I Feel Loved".

In mid-December 2006, iTunes released The Complete Depeche Mode as its fourth ever digital box-set (following The Complete U2 in 2004, The Complete Stevie Wonder in 2005, and Bob Dylan: The Collection earlier in 2006).

In August 2007, during promotion for Dave Gahan's second solo album, Hourglass, it was announced that Depeche Mode could be heading back in studio in early 2008 to work on their upcoming twelfth studio album. Depeche Mode were nominated for The MTV European Music Awards Interact Category in 2007.

Legacy and influence
Depeche Mode influenced many of today's popular recording artists, in part due to their recording techniques and innovative use of sampling. For example, Pet Shop Boys cited Violator (and "Enjoy the Silence" in particular) as one of the main sources of inspiration during recording of their critically acclaimed album Behaviour. Neil Tennant, “We were listening to Violator by Depeche Mode, which was a very good album and we were deeply jealous of it.” Chris Lowe agrees, “They had raised the stakes.”
Techno pioneers Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins regularly quoted Depeche Mode as an influence on the development of techno music during the Detroit Techno explosion in the mid 1980s. Appreciation of Depeche Mode within today's electronic music scene is shown by the numerous Depeche Mode remixes by contemporary DJs such as Ricardo Villalobos' remix of "The Sinner in Me" or Kruder & Dorfmeister's remix of "Useless".

According to Matt Smith, the former music director of the modern-rock radio station KROQ, "The Killers, The Bravery, Franz Ferdinand — that whole wave of music owes a tremendous amount to Depeche Mode."
Chester Bennington, vocalist of Linkin Park, was inspired by the band. Another Linkin Park member Mike Shinoda has said, "Depeche Mode is one of the most influential groups of our time. Their music is an inspiration to me..."

The band's influence is spread throughout different genres of music. Raymond Herrera, the drummer of the metal band Fear Factory, "A lot of different music influenced the way I play now. Like the band Depeche Mode. If I could sound like Depeche Mode, but be fast like Slayer, I think I might be onto something".According to Darren Smith, the guitarist of the post-hardcore band Funeral for a Friend, "dark, moodier stuff" in his band's music was "Depeche Mode-influenced.

Live supporting musicians
Peter Gordeno – keyboards, occasional electric bass and electric guitar (1998—Present)
Christian Eigner – occasional songwriting, drums (1997—Present)
Jordan Bailey – backing vocals (1998–2001)
Hildia Campbell – backing vocals (1993–1994)
Samantha Smith – backing vocals (1993–1994)
Daryl Bamonte – keyboards (1994)
Dave Clayton – keyboards (1997)
Janet Ramus – backing vocals (1998)
Georgia Lewis – backing vocals (2001)
Between 1998 and 2006, both Gordeno and Eigner were present on three consecutive tours; with Eigner on drums (and contributing to some of the songwriting on Playing the Angel with Gahan and Andrew Philpott) and Gordeno on keyboards

-Early history;
-Middle history;
-Depeche Mode discography;

Thanks to Wikipedia for this information

I would very thankful for your comment!!
What you think about the Depeche Mode?? (be honest)
They are Cool, "more or less" or "dulls"?
Comment please.

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Nelly Furtado(Loose)

Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and instrumentalist, who also holds Portuguese citizenship.
Furtado came to fame in 2000 with the release of her debut album Whoa, Nelly!, which featured her breakthrough Grammy Award-winning single "I'm like a Bird". After becoming a mother and releasing the less commercially successful Folklore (2003), she returned to prominence in 2006 with the release of Loose and its hit singles "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Say It Right", "All Good Things (Come to an End)", and "Do It." She was sold more than 17.5 millions of copies worldwide to now.
Furtado is known for experimenting with different instruments, sounds, genres, languages, and vocal styles. This diversity has been influenced by her wide-ranging musical taste and her interest in different cultures.

Ethnic background
Nelly Furtado was born in the Canadian city of Victoria, British Columbia to Portuguese immigrants from the Azores, Maria Manuela and António José Furtado. Her parents were born in the São Miguel Island and immigrated to Canada in the late 1960s. Furtado has a strong connection with Portugal. At age four she started performing, singing in Portuguese.

2006–present: Loose
Furtado's third album was released in June 2006. She named it Loose after the spontaneous, creative decisions she made while creating the album.
Some have labeled her a "sellout" for seemingly abandoning her folk and rock roots in favor of hip hop and R&B,while others have criticized her for attempting to "sex up" her music and appearance to sell more records. In this album, primarily produced by Timbaland, Furtado experiments with sounds from R&B, hip hop, and 80s music. She categorized the album's sound as punk-hop, described as "modern, poppy, spooky" and as having "a mysterious, after-midnight vibe... extremely visceral". She attributed the youthful sound of the album to the presence of her two-year old daughter. Four lead singles were released in different regions of the world: the Spanish reggaeton-influenced "No Hay Igual" (featuring Calle 13), the hip-hop "Promiscuous" (featuring Timbaland), for which she won a 2006 Billboard Music Award for Pop Single of the Year, the Latin "Te Busqué" (featuring Juanes), and the dark pop single "Maneater". Loose has become the most successful album of Furtado's career so far. It reached number-one in several countries including the United States and Canada, and it included the hit singles "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Te Busqué", "Say It Right", and "All Good Things (Come to an End)". The album received generally positive reviews from critics, with some citing the "revitalising" effect of Timbaland on Furtado's music, and others calling it "slick, smart and surprising."Nonetheless, the album has fared well on the mainstream market, especially in Canada, where the album was certified 4x platinum in May 2007. In 2007, Furtado and Justin Timberlake were featured on Timbaland's single "Give It to Me", which became her third number-one single in the U.S. and second in the UK. On February 16, 2007, Furtado embarked on the Get Loose Tour. She returned in March 2007 to her hometown of Victoria, British Columbia to perform a concert at the Save-On Foods Memorial Centre. In honor of her visit, local leaders officially proclaimed March 21, 2007, the first day of spring, as Nelly Furtado Day. On April 1, 2007, Furtado was a performer at and host of the 2007 Juno Awards in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She won all five awards for which she was nominated, including "Album of the Year" and "Single of the Year". Furtado appeared on stage at the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium in London on July 1, 2007, where she performed "Say It Right", "Maneater", and "I'm like a Bird". In 2007, Furtado, Timbaland and Justin Timberlake were featured on Lil Wayne's upcoming album Tha Carter III. Furtado also appeared in the video for Nickelback's Rockstar. In September, 2007, MTV:Buzzworthy chose Furtado as the Artist of the Week, and gave an exclusive freestyle performance of "Going Away" with the Somalian-Canadian rapper K'naan. On September 9, 2007, Furtado performed at the MTV Video Music Awards awards with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, where she sang Do It mixed with The Way I Are, LoveStoned and Give It to Me. In October 2007 Furtado was nominated for three MTV Europe Music Awards, and she won the "Album of the Year" award. After Furtado's success in her third album, Loose, she is planning to release her first live DVD under the name Loose the Concert which will include her greatest hits of 2007 and 2006 as a live videos such as "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Say It Right" and "All Good Things (Come to an End)" . Loose has been used to advertise the newly released iPod classic appearing in commercials and even on the box.

Personal life
On September 20, 2003 in Toronto, Furtado gave birth to a daughter, Nevis, whose father is DJ Jasper Gahunia. Furtado and Gahunia, who had been good friends for several years, remained together for four years until their breakup in 2005. Furtado told Blender magazine that they continue to be good friends and jointly share responsibility of raising Nevis.
In June 2006, in an interview with Genre magazine, when asked if she had "ever felt an attraction to women", Furtado replied "Absolutely. Women are beautiful and sexy." Some considered this an announcement of bisexuality, but in August 2006, she confirmed that she was "straight, but very open-minded". In November 2006, Furtado revealed that she once turned down US$500,000 to pose fully clothed in Playboy.
In July 2007, it was reported that Furtado is engaged to Cuban sound engineer, Demacio "Demo" Castellon, who worked with her on Loose.

Influences
During her teenage years, Furtado embraced many musical genres, listening heavily to mainstream R&B, hip hop, alternative hip hop, drum and bass, trip hop, world music (including Portuguese fado, Brazilian bossa nova, and Indian music), and a variety of others.Her influences have included Jeff Buckley, Janet Jackson, Oasis, Caetano Veloso, Esthero, Amalia Rodrigues, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Cornershop, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Radiohead, Madonna, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Verve, U2, Enya, and Beck.
Furtado's music has also been influenced by her current residence, Toronto, which she calls "the most multicultural city in the entire world" and a place where she "can be any culture". Regarding Toronto's cultural diversity, she has said that she did not have to wait for the Internet revolution to learn about world music; she began listening to it at the age of five and continues to discover new genres.

“ I always know there's a new genre left to discover. For me, it's like a metaphor for life. I feel like if you can get down with any style of music, you can get down with any style of person. So it's fun for me—I get to expose my fans to different vibes and they, in turn, open their minds too. I'm always undergoing mind-opening."

Acting career
Furtado began acting in school plays in middle school. She appeared on the episode "Some Buried Bones" of CSI: NY as Ava Brandt, a master-thief and victim of domestic abuse. She also guest starred on an episode of the day time soap opera One Life to Live, on which she performed some of her songs in a local club with Saukrates. Furtado participated in the hit Portuguese soap opera Floribella.

-Life and music career;

-Nelly Furtado discography;

-Filmography;

-Awards;

Thanks to Wikipedia for this information

I would very thankful for your comment!!
What you think about Nelly furtado?? (be honest)
She is Cool, gorgeous, "more or less" or "dull"?
Comment please.

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Owen Wilson

Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor and writer. Wilson was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on the screenplay of The Royal Tenenbaums, but he is perhaps best known for his successful comedic roles such as John Beckwith in Wedding Crashers and as Hansel in Zoolander.

Early life
Wilson was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Laura Wilson (née Cunningham), a photographer, and Robert Andrew Wilson, an advertising executive and operator of a public television station. His family is Irish American and Roman Catholic. While living in Dallas, Wilson attended The Lamplighter School, which he revisited in 2005; and St. Mark's School of Texas, when in the tenth grade after stealing his teacher's textbook in an attempt to help him finish his math homework quicker, he was expelled. Owen Wilson also attended his senior year in high school at the New Mexico Military Institute.
In 1991, Wilson moved to Los Angeles with brothers Luke and Andrew to pursue acting careers.
Career
-Initial success
While Wilson found some initial success as a film actor after his turn as Dignan in Bottle Rocket, he also remained a key creative collaborator in Wes Anderson's next two directorial efforts. Rushmore was the two writers' second script collaboration. Although Wilson didn't appear in the film, he and Anderson acknowledged on the Criterion Collection DVD audio commentary that Wilson has a sort of quasi-cameo as Rosemary Cross's dead husband, Edward Appleby. When Max Fischer visits Miss Cross in Appleby's boyhood bedroom, photographs of a young Owen Wilson are incorporated in the set for the scene.
Wilson quickly landed roles in big-budget movies such as The Cable Guy, directed by Ben Stiller, an early admirer of Bottle Rocket. After minor appearances in action films like Anaconda, Armageddon and The Haunting, Wilson appeared in two dramatic roles: supporting actor in Permanent Midnight, which starred Stiller as a drug-addicted TV writer; and a role as a serial killer in The Minus Man.
Owen is considered a part of the Frat Pack, a group of actors including Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Vince Vaughn, and brother Luke Wilson.

Movie star
Wilson got his big break with the 2000 comedy action hit Shanghai Noon, starring opposite Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan. The film grossed nearly US$100 million worldwide. His fame continued to rise after starring alongside Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell in the 2001 film Zoolander.
Gene Hackman took notice of Wilson's performance in Shanghai Noon and recommended Wilson to play opposite himself in the 2001 action film Behind Enemy Lines, Wilson's last dramatic starring role to date. Also in 2001, Wilson and Anderson collaborated on their third film, The Royal Tenenbaums, which was a financial and critical success. The comedy featured an all-star cast, including Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Danny Glover, Seymour Cassel and brother Luke. Owen Wilson had a memorable supporting role in the film as Eli Cash, a wigged-out, drug-addled bon vivant who becomes a literary celebrity. It earned the writing team an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay; Owen is the only "Frat Pack" member to receive an Academy Award nomination.
Wilson returned to the buddy comedy genre in 2002 with the action comedy I Spy, co-starring Eddie Murphy. This big-screen remake of the television series flopped at the box office. He then reunited with Chan to make Shanghai Knights (2003) and the movie remake of the television series Starsky & Hutch (2004). Due to his busy schedule as an actor and his ongoing sinus malady, Wilson was unable to collaborate on the script for Wes Anderson's fourth feature, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The 2004 film was ultimately co-written by filmmaker Noah Baumbach. However, Wilson did star in the film as Bill Murray's would-be son, Ned Plimpton—a role written specifically for Wilson.
Wilson partnered with Vince Vaughn in the 2005 Wedding Crashers which grossed over $200 million in the US alone. Also in 2005, Owen collaborated with his brothers by appearing in The Wendell Baker Story, written by brother Luke, directed by Luke and brother Andrew. In 2006, Wilson provided the voice of Lightning McQueen in the Disney/Pixar film Cars, starred in You, Me, and Dupree with Kate Hudson, and appeared with Stiller in Night at the Museum.
Wilson has appeared in eight movies with Stiller (a long-time friend) to date: The Cable Guy (1996), Permanent Midnight (1998), Meet the Parents (2000), Zoolander (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Starsky & Hutch (2004), Meet the Fockers (2004) and Night at the Museum (2006)

Personal life

Relationships
Wilson was previously linked with actress Demi Moore, singer Sheryl Crow and, most recently, with actress Kate Hudson. Their relationship ended in May 2007.

Suicide attempt and hospitalization
Wilson was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica on August 26, 2007 after a reported suicide attempt at his Santa Monica home. According to a Santa Monica Police Department log , Wilson allegedly slashed his wrists and took an overdose of pills. Once stabilized at St. John's, Wilson was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where his condition was initially described as serious, then later upgraded to good and stable condition.

On August 27, 2007, Wilson issued a statement: "I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time."On August 29, 2007, Wilson dropped out of filming a cameo appearance in Tropic Thunder (replaced by Matthew McConaughey) being produced by and starring Wilson's friend and frequent collaborator, Ben Stiller. Wilson was brought home and is now under constant observation.
On October 4th 2007, Wilson made a public appearance at the Los Angeles premiere of The Darjeeling Limited.

Upcoming projects
Acted in another Wes Anderson film, The Darjeeling Limited, screening at the 45th annual New York Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, opened September 30, 2007, co-starring Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody, in which three brothers take a train trip through India.;
In Post-production on Judd Apatow's comedy, Drillbit Taylor, scheduled for release March 2008.
Acted in Kyle Gulutzan and Sean Casey's production of Roundabout, scheduled for release December 2008.
In Pre-production, film adaptation of John Grogan's best-selling memoir, Marley & Me, co-starring Jennifer Aniston.

Movie salaries
Shanghai Noon (2000) $4,000,000
Behind Enemy Lines (2001) $3,000,000
Zoolander (2001) $2,000,000
Starsky & Hutch (2004) $10,000,000
Wedding Crashers (2005) $10,000,000
You, Me and Dupree (2006) $20,000,000
Cars (2006) $4,000,000

-Filmography;

-References;

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John Cena

John Felix Anthony Cena (born April 23, 1977) is an American professional wrestler, hip hop musician and actor. He currently works for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a member of the Raw brand, though is currently inactive due to a legitimate torn pectoral muscle. He was in his third reign as WWE Champion, a reign that lasted 380 days—the sixth longest reign in the title's history—before he was stripped of the title due to injury. He is also a three-time United States Champion and a one-time World Tag Team Champion.

Before being promoted to the main WWE roster, Cena trained in and wrestled for Ultimate Pro Wrestling and Ohio Valley Wrestling, holding the top titles of both promotions.
Aside from professional wrestling, Cena has released the rap album You Can't See Me, which debuted at #15 on the US Billboard 200 chart, and starred in the movie The Marine. He has also made appearances in television shows including Manhunt, Deal or No Deal, MADtv, and Punk'd. Most recently, he was a contestant on Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, where he made it to the final round before being eliminated, placing third in the overall competition.

Biography
-Before professional wrestling
Cena was born on April 23, 1977, in West Newbury, Massachusetts the second eldest of five brothers – Dan, Matt, Steve and Sean. He graduated from Cushing Academy before attending Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. In college he was a Division III All-American center on the football team, wearing the number 54, which is still used on some of his WWE merchandise. He graduated from Springfield in 1998 with a degree in exercise physiologypursuing a career as a bodybuilder, as well as working as a chauffeur for a limousine company

Wrestling training
Cena first started training to become a wrestler in 2000 at the California-based "Ultimate University" operated by Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW). Once he was placed into an in-ring role, he began using a semi-robotic character known as the The Prototype. Some of this period of his career was documented in the Discovery Channel program Wrestling School. While in UPW, Cena held the Heavyweight Championship for just shy of a month in April 2000.[10] In 2001, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) signed him away from UPW, placing him under a developmental contract and assigning him to their "farm territory" Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he continued his training.[25] During his time there, he wrestled as both The Prototype and Mr. P, and he held the Heavyweight Championship for three months and the Tag Team Championships (with Rico Constantino) for two

Acting
-Film
WWE Films, a division of World Wrestling Entertainment which produces and finances motion pictures, produced Cena's first movie — The Marine, which was distributed theatrically by 20th Century Fox America beginning on October 13, 2006. In The Marine, John Cena stars as John Triton, a Marine who returns from the war in Iraq to find his wife has been kidnapped. In its first week, the film made approximately $7 million at the United States box office. After a total of ten weeks in theaters, the film grossed $18.7 million. However, once the film was released on DVD, it fared better by making $30 million in rentals in the first twelve weeks

Personal life
Cena writes left-handed,but throws right-handed and favors his right arm in the ring.
Cena is a known fan of cartoons and has mentioned on "Five Questions" that his favorite animated movie is Fist of the North Star. He has also said that he is a huge fan of the video game series Command & Conquer and names it his favorite game of all time. He's also a fan of the Boston Red Sox.

-World Wrestling Entertainment;
-In wrestling;
-Championships and accomplishments;
-Outside of wrestling;
-Media;



Thanks to Wikipedia for this information

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Cena...Stay cool!
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Akon

Akon (born Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam on April 30, 1973 is a Senegalese-American hip hop and R&B singer, songwriter, occasional rapper and record producer. Akon rose to fame in 2004 following the release of his single "Locked Up" from his debut album Trouble. His second album, Konvicted, earned him a Grammy Award nomination for the single "Smack That". He is the founder of Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution. He is well known for singing hooks and has over 130 guest appearances and 21 Billboard Hot 100 songs to his credit. He is the only artist to ever accomplish the feat of holding both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice.

Name and age
Akon often goes by the shorter, Aliaune Thiam, though other sources have said his name is Alioune Badara Thiam, and About.com says the long form of his name, "Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam," has not been independently verified. His age has also been under scrutiny recently. Some media institutions reported that he was born in 1981. However the AP has since reported he was born in 1973 and is 34 years old. Akon says he doesn't know his exact age nor does he understand the importance in releasing his age, but claims he has been "blessed to look young for a long time"[citation needed]. In a September 2007 interview for an Israeli magazine Akon hinted that he was around 25 or 26.

Background
He is the son of jazz percussionist, Mor Thiam. He was born in St. Louis, Senegal, but grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey. He recorded his first song, "Operations of Nature," at the age of fifteen. He was then subsequently jailed for armed robbery and drug distribution charges, and used his time in prison to work on his music. Upon release, Akon began writing and recording tracks in his home studio. The tapes found their way to SRC/Universal, which released Akon's debut LP Trouble in June 2004. The album is a hybrid of Akon's silky, West African-styled vocals mixed with East Coast and Southern beats. Most of Akon's songs begin with the sound of the clank of a jail cell with him uttering the word "Konvict."

2004–2005: Trouble
Akon's solo debut album, Trouble was released on June 29, 2004. It spawned the hit singles "Locked Up" and "Lonely," as well as "Belly Dancer (Bananza)," "Pot Of Gold," and "Ghetto". Akon served a three-year jail sentence for grand theft auto, an experience that inspired his "Locked Up". "Locked Up" reached the top 10 in the U.S. and the top five in the UK. His manager Robert Montanez was shot to death following a dispute in New Jersey in December 2005. "Ghetto" became a radio hit when it was remixed by Green Lantern to include verses from legendary rappers 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. In 2005, he released the single "Lonely" (which samples Bobby Vinton's "Mr. Lonely"). The song reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the charts in Australia, the UK and Germany. His album also climbed to number one in the UK in April, 2005. When music channel The Box had a top ten weekly chart, which was calculated by the amount of video requests, Akon's "Lonely" became the longest running single on the top of the chart, spanning over fifteen weeks. Akon then released another single featuring with a New Zealand rapper, Savage with the single Moonshine, which had become a success in both New Zealand and Australia, becoming number one in the New Zealand charts. In 2005, Akon gained more popularity after being featured on Young Jeezy's debut album, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, on the song "Soul Survivor" which became a top five hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

2006–2007: Konvicted
In 2006-2007 Akon has had one of the most successful spans any singer has ever enjoyed with eleven songs in the Billboard Hot 100. Akon's second album, entitled Konvicted, was released on November 14, 2006. Konvicted included collaborations with Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Styles P. Late August 2006, Akon released the single "Smack That" featuring Eminem, from the album. This single peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks. The music video for "Smack That" was directed by Raymond Garced. "I Wanna Love You", the second single off Konvicted, was released in September 2006. It is a collaboration between Akon and Snoop Dogg. This single earned Akon his first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, and Snoop's second. "I Wanna Love You" topped the U.S. charts for two consecutive weeks. In January 2007, Akon released his third single "Don't Matter" which earned him his first solo number one and second consecutive Hot 100 chart topper. "Mama Africa" was released as a European single in July 2007, making it the fourth single. It debuted in the UK at number 47. "Sorry, Blame It on Me" is the album's fifth single which debuted in August 2007, on the Hot 100 at number seven, which also happened to be a career best. The song is not available on the original album, but instead part of the Deluxe Edition of Konvicted, which came out August 28, 2007. The sixth and final single was confirmed in an interview by Akon to be "Never Took the Time". Konvicted debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 286,000 copies in its first week. After only six weeks, Konvicted sold more than one million records in the U.S. and more than 1.3 million worldwide. The album was certified platinum after seven weeks, and after sixteen weeks it was certified double platinum. Konvicted was able to stay in the top twenty of the Billboard 200 for 28 consecutive weeks, where it peaked at number two on four different occasions. Currently it has sold more than 2.4 million records in the U.S. and 3.8 million worldwide in 30 weeks.

Akon performing at a 2007 Live Earth concert in New Jersey.On October 5, 2006, Akon broke a record on the Hot 100, as he achieved the largest climb in the chart's 48-year-history with "Smack That" jumping from number 95 to 7. The leap is fueled by its number six debut on Hot Digital Songs with 67,000 downloads. The record was broken on April 7, 2007 by Beyoncé and Shakira's Beautiful Liar when it jumped from 94 to 3 on the Hot 100, because of their 150,000 digital downloads on the Hot Digital Songs. In December 2006, Akon's "Smack That" was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, but lost to Justin Timberlake and T.I.'s My Love.
On July 7, 2007 Akon performed at the American leg of Live Earth.
From April to July Akon performed in The Sweet Escape Tour with Gwen Stefani. From July to September he will embark on his worldwide Konvicted Tour. In September, Akon will start on the Canadian leg of the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour with Rihanna.

On August 2, 2007, Akon was scheduled to perform at the Rock tha Block Tour in Australia but had trouble obtaining a visa due to his criminal past. The tour was postponed until late August and his visa was eventually processed but Akon was quoted as saying "Australia is the home of the convicts so it's the last place I would have ever thought it would be a problem".

Akon will release a Platinum Edition of his album Konvicted in UK on October 1.

2008 New Album
It has been reported on Shade 45 that Akon will release a 2008 solo album.
Personal life
Akon was born in St. Louis, Senegal. He has spent a total of five years in prison and states that his time in jail has made him what he is today. He currently splits time residing between Atlanta, Georgia and Dakar, Senegal. In late 2005, his long time friend and manager Robert Montanez, who Akon referred to as a brother, was killed in a drive-by shooting; the album Konvicted is dedicated to him. Akon was also in the car and was shot in the shoulder, however he made a full recovery. Akon is of the Muslim faith, it has been reported that he is both a believer and practitioner of polygamy, though such reports are unconfirmed, as Akon has not given a straight answer to questions about the matter. Akon has recently said in an interview with an Israeli magazine that he only has one main wife whose name is Tomeka[citation needed] and claims to have five children with three different women in an interview with Blender.
He also has his own charity for underprivileged children in Africa called Konfidence Foundation.Akon owns a diamond mine in South Africa and denies the existence of conflict diamonds saying, "I don't even believe in conflict diamonds. That's just a movie. Think about it. Ain't nobody thought about nothing about no conflict diamonds until the movie came out." He also had a previous occupation as a drug dealer but states that he has never used drugs. Despite his criminal history, he proclaims that he has turned his life around.

In 2006, he ventured to Africa to play a concert in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

-Other ventures;

-Controversy;

-Akon discography;

Thanks to Wikipedia for this information

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What you think about Akon?? (be honest)
He is Cool, handsome, nice, cute, if he sings well or "more or less" or "dull"?
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