Kesha

<h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Introduction</div> </h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvMoXKEcXkJxNAo85yyjxLiXyI2uwtGmTHUSTEWr_Mv6vhVOmIcn06tXSLbNb8AitK1kYBVUW2Q7yx0SslFI7KBSJIu_SI5fii4iO1GYpLQMSEdLZKxUPVaF3-coVaVUbCSAjCB4ifiRrK/s1600/kesha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvMoXKEcXkJxNAo85yyjxLiXyI2uwtGmTHUSTEWr_Mv6vhVOmIcn06tXSLbNb8AitK1kYBVUW2Q7yx0SslFI7KBSJIu_SI5fii4iO1GYpLQMSEdLZKxUPVaF3-coVaVUbCSAjCB4ifiRrK/s320/kesha.jpg" width="207" /></a>Kesha was born on March 1, 1987, in Los Angeles, California. Her big break came from an uncredited and unpaid cameo on rapper Flo Rida's 2009 No. 1 hit "Right Round." Soon after, she landed a record contact with RCA and released her first single, "Tik Tok." The party anthem developed quite a following. Her debut album, Animal, reached the top of the charts after its release in January 2010. Her second album, Warrior, was released in 2012. In 2014, Kesha began her legal battle with producer Dr. Luke over charges that he allegedly sexually assaulted and harassed her.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Early Life</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Singer and songwriter Kesha was born Kesha Rose Sebert on March 1, 1987, in Los Angeles, California. She was exposed to music at an early age through her mother Pebe, a songwriter. Her mother's biggest songwriting success was "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You," which was a hit for Joe Sun and Dolly Parton.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The first few years of Kesha's life were a struggle for her family. Her mother had difficulty earning enough to support Kesha and her older brother. "We were on welfare and food stamps," the artist explained on her website. "One of my first memories is my mom telling me, 'If you want something, just take it.'" When she was 4, Kesha moved to Nashville with her family, where her mother had landed a songwriting contract.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Sometimes tagging along with her mother, Kesha spent a lot of time in recording studios during her early adolescence. Her mother encouraged her interest in singing, allowing Kesha to work on some of her song demos. Kesha also went to a music school, where she learned about songwriting. Deep in the heart of the country music scene, she was inspired by the likes of Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Career</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> At 17, Kesha left high school to pursue a music career. She changed her name to Kesha and moved to Los Angeles to work with producer Dr. Luke, who had worked on hit singles for Katy Perry and Kelly Clarkson among others. "I thought her voice was distinctive, and I fell in love with her personality," Dr. Luke explained to Entertainment Weekly. "She had the same sass and irreverence she has now."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Kesha was determined to break into the business. According to one story, she paid off a gardener to get inside music legend Prince's house to leave one of her demos for him. She landed a few gigs as a back-up vocalist as well, performing on songs by Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. But her big break came from an uncredited and unpaid cameo on rapper Flo Rida's 2009 No. 1 hit "Right Round." She told Allure magazine that she wasn't upset about not receiving any payment for the song. "You have to pay your dues," she explained.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Commercial Breakthrough</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Soon after her work with Flo Rida, Kesha landed a record contact with RCA. She released her first single, "Tik Tok," later that year. The party anthem developed quite a following, soon becoming one of the most downloaded songs in America, and then reaching the top of the Billboard pop charts in January 2010.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Because she has attracted many young fans, Kesha has been criticized for some of her lyrics, especially those focused on drinking and alcohol. "I'm not a babysitter," the singer said. "It's their parents' responsibility to take care of them." For Kesha, her life provides much of the inspiration for her songs. "I'll go out with my friends and get rowdy . . . I'm not sorry, and I will write about it."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Her debut album, Animal, reached the top of the charts after its release in January 2010. In addition to "Tik Tok," Kesha scored two more Top 10 hits: "Blah Blah Blah" and "Your Love Is My Drug." She followed up her initial success with 2012's Warrior, which featured the single "Die Young."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Local Battle</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Kesha experienced some personal challenges during 2014. In January, she sought treatment for an eating disorder. Kesha, later that year, filed a lawsuit against producer Dr. Luke, stating that he sexually harassed and assaulted her among other claims. Dr. Luke, in turn, has sued Kesha and her mother for defamation. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> During this difficult time, Kesha has received support from other artists, including Adele and Lady Gaga. Taylor Swift even donated $250,000 to the young singer after a February 2016 court decision that refused to grant Kesha an injunction that would have freed her from her contract to Dr. Luke's label at Sony Music. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> While the court denied Kesha's request, it is apparent that Sony Music has been trying to fix the situation. A lawyer for Sony Music told the New York Times that “Sony has made it possible for Kesha to record without any connection, involvement or interaction with Luke whatsoever, but Sony is not in a position to terminate the contractual relationship between Luke and Kesha.”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> source:<a href="http://www.biography.com/people/kesha-562676#commercial-breakthrough" target="_blank">biography.com</a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div>

Kesha

Eugene 0 9:22 PM

Introduction Kesha was born on March 1, 1987, in Los Angeles, California. Her big break came from an uncredited and unpaid cameo on rapper Flo Rida's 2009 No. 1 hit "Right Round." Soon after, she landed a record contact with RCA and released her fir… Read more »

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Bob Dylan

<h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Introduction </h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzvKbRdR3ga5-qPI2pnMZQ2Jti97m-Tlz_YIf3sg2cOybcfFpaEL6qQL_NoCCMm3zb9vLv1-huUhVToxEZQOXgook-fvYkdo29GHuRWeW9B5ys7_9Cd_O88WAGPS2tKetrWz5PmbDtjs17/s1600/dylan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzvKbRdR3ga5-qPI2pnMZQ2Jti97m-Tlz_YIf3sg2cOybcfFpaEL6qQL_NoCCMm3zb9vLv1-huUhVToxEZQOXgook-fvYkdo29GHuRWeW9B5ys7_9Cd_O88WAGPS2tKetrWz5PmbDtjs17/s320/dylan.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Folk rock singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota. While attending college, he began performing folk and country songs, taking the name "Bob Dylan." In 1961 Dylan signed his first recording contract and emerged as one of the most original and influential voices in the history of American popular music. Showing no signs of slowing down, Dylan has continued to tour in recent years, and released studio albums including Together Through Life (2009), Tempest (2012), Shadows in the Night (2015) and Fallen Angels (2016). The legendary singer-songwriter has received Grammy, Academy and Golden Globe awards, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Nobel Prize for Literature.</div> <br /> <h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Early Life</div> </h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Folk rock singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota, to parents Abram and Beatrice Zimmerman. He and his younger brother David were raised in the community of Hibbing, where he graduated from Hibbing High School in 1959. Driven by the influences of early rock stars like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard (whom he used to imitate on the piano at high school dances), the young Dylan formed his own bands, including the Golden Chords, as well as a group he fronted under the pseudonym Elston Gunn. While attending the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, he began performing folk and country songs at local cafés, taking the name "Bob Dillon." (Despite a popular myth to the contrary, the pseudonym was not inspired by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas—who he later professed to dislike—but by the main character from the popular Western television series Gunsmoke.)</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Folk Singing</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In 1960, Bob dropped out of college and moved to New York, where his idol, the legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie was hospitalized with a rare hereditary disease of the nervous system. He visited with Guthrie regularly in his hospital room; became a regular in the folk clubs and coffeehouses of Greenwich Village; met a host of other musicians; and began writing songs at an astonishing pace, including "Song to Woody," a tribute to his ailing hero. In the fall of 1961, after one of his performances received a rave review in The New York Times, he signed a recording contract with Columbia Records, at which point he legally changed his surname to Dylan. Released early in 1962, Bob Dylan contained only two original songs, but showcased Dylan's gravelly-voiced singing style in a number of traditional folk songs and covers of blues songs.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The 1963 release of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan marked Dylan's emergence as one of the most original and poetic voices in the history of American popular music. The album included two of the most memorable 1960s folk songs, "Blowin' in the Wind" (which later became a huge hit for the folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary) and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." His next album, The Times They Are A-Changin', firmly established Dylan as the definitive songwriter of the 60s protest movement, a reputation that only increased after he became involved with one of the movement's established icons, Joan Baez, in 1963. While his romantic relationship with Baez lasted only two years, it benefited both performers immensely in terms of their music careers—Dylan wrote some of Baez's best-known material, and Baez introduced him to thousands of fans through her concerts. By 1964 Dylan was playing 200 concerts annually, but had become tired of his role as "the" folk singer-songwriter of the protest movement. Another Side of Bob Dylan, recorded in 1964, was a much more personal, introspective collection of songs, far less politically charged than Dylan's previous efforts.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Reinventing His Image</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In 1965, Dylan scandalized many of his folkie fans by recording the half-acoustic, half-electric album Bringing It All Back Home, backed by a nine-piece band. On July 25, 1965, he was famously booed at the Newport Folk Festival when he performed electrically for the first time. The albums that followed, Highway 61 Revisited (1965)—which included the seminal rock song "Like a Rolling Stone"—and the two-record set Blonde on Blonde (1966) represented Dylan at his most innovative. With his unmistakable voice and unforgettable lyrics, Dylan brought the worlds of music and literature together as no one else had.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Over the course of the next three decades, Dylan continued to reinvent himself. Following a near-fatal motorcycle accident in July 1966, Dylan spent almost a year recovering in seclusion. His next two albums, John Wesley Harding (1968)—including "All Along the Watchtower," later recorded by guitar great Jimi Hendrix—and the unabashedly country-ish Nashville Skyline (1969) were far more mellow than his earlier works. Critics blasted the two-record set Self-Portrait (1970) and Tarantula, a long-awaited collection of writings Dylan published in 1971, also met with a poor reception. In 1973, Dylan appeared in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, a feature film directed by Sam Peckinpah. He also wrote the film's soundtrack, which became a hit and included the now-classic song, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Touring and Religion</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In 1974, Dylan began his first full-scale tour since his accident, embarking on a sold-out nationwide tour with his longtime backup band, the Band. An album he recorded with the Band, Planet Waves, became his first No. 1 album ever. He followed these successes with the celebrated 1975 album Blood on the Tracks and Desire (1976), each of which hit No. 1 as well. Desire included the song "Hurricane," written by Dylan about the boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, then serving life in prison after what many felt was an wrongful conviction of triple homicide in 1967. Dylan was one of many prominent public figures who helped popularize Carter's cause, leading to a retrial in 1976, when he was again convicted.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> After a painful split with his wife, Sara Lowndes—the song "Sara" on Desire was Dylan's plaintive but unsuccessful attempt to win Lowndes back—Dylan again reinvented himself, declaring in 1979 that he was a born-again Christian. The evangelical Slow Train Coming was a commercial hit, and won Dylan his first Grammy Award. The tour and albums that followed were less successful, however, and Dylan's religious leanings soon became less overt in his music. In 1982, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Rock Star Status</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Beginning in the 1980s, Dylan began touring full time, sometimes with fellow legends Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the Grateful Dead. Notable albums during this period included Infidels (1983); the five-disc retrospective Biograph (1985); Knocked Out Loaded (1986); and Oh Mercy (1989), which became his best-received album in years. He recorded two albums with the all-star band the Traveling Wilburys, also featuring George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. In 1994, Dylan returned to his folk roots, winning the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album for World Gone Wrong.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In 1989, when Dylan was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Bruce Springsteen spoke at the ceremony, declaring that "Bob freed the mind the way Elvis freed the body ... He invented a new way a pop singer could sound, broke through the limitations of what a recording artist could achieve, and changed the face of rock and roll forever." In 1997, Dylan became the first rock star ever to receive Kennedy Center Honors, considered the nation's highest award for artistic excellence.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Dylan's 1997 album Time Out of Mind re-established this one-time folk icon as one of the preeminent of rock's wise men, winning three Grammy Awards. He continued his vigorous touring schedule, including a memorable performance in 1997 for Pope John Paul II in which he played "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," and a 1999 tour with Paul Simon. In 2000, he recorded the single "Things Have Changed" for the soundtrack of the film Wonder Boys, starring Michael Douglas. The song won Dylan a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Original Song.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Dylan then took time out from his music to tell the story of his life. The singer released Chronicles: Volume One, the first in a three-book memoir series, in the Fall of 2004. Dylan gave his first full interview in 20 years for a documentary released in 2005. Entitled No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, the film was directed by Martin Scorsese.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> source:<a href="http://www.biography.com/people/bob-dylan-9283052#rock-star-status" target="_blank">biography.com</a></div>

Bob Dylan

Eugene 0 8:01 PM

Introduction  Folk rock singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota. While attending college, he began performing folk and country songs, taking the name "Bob Dylan." In 1961 Dylan signed his fir… Read more »

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Adam Lavine Biography

<h2> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Adam Lavine</div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIDulnJEce-h1iEtbAJLG5P5GyjKNXsCN4csje0J_hGp3E-5vAe5TaUao21X1sLBYHMxCIncsZ9OOIeXzy7Hvzeklg28zmC78jdoLBQ82fK_Y_vmNvQsAOF9CfagOEAsKY1brSmx-XQ6dy/s1600/adam+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIDulnJEce-h1iEtbAJLG5P5GyjKNXsCN4csje0J_hGp3E-5vAe5TaUao21X1sLBYHMxCIncsZ9OOIeXzy7Hvzeklg28zmC78jdoLBQ82fK_Y_vmNvQsAOF9CfagOEAsKY1brSmx-XQ6dy/s320/adam+.jpg" width="235" /></a></div> </h2> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Introduction</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Born in 1979 in Los Angeles, California, Adam Levine is the Grammy Award-winning lead singer of the band Maroon 5, whose success includes several chart-topping hits and gold and platinum albums. In 2011, he branched out to television as a judge/coach on the reality singing show The Voice. In 2012, Maroon 5 returned to the charts with its fourth studio album, Overexposed, featuring hits like "One More Night" and "Payphone." In 2014, Levine and his bandmates hit the charts with V, which included "Maps" and "Animals."  Levine has been a coach on The Voice since 2011.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Early Days</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Adam Noah Levine was born on March 18, 1979, in Los Angeles, California. He formed his first band, Kara's Flowers, while attending the private Brentwood School with friends and fellow students Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden and Ryan Dusick. The band released its first album, The Fourth World, in 1997, as high school seniors. Kara's Flowers released one single, "Soap Disco," and appeared on an episode of Beverly Hills 90210, before finding success elusive and breaking up.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Levine and Carmichael left Los Angeles for Long Island, New York, to attend Five Towns College, a music and performing arts school. Living in New York exposed the pair to an entirely different music scene, involving large doses of R&B and hip-hop, and Levine would later say that living in New York had a large impact on his musical point-of-view.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Maroon 5</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Levine and Carmichael dropped out of Five Towns and returned to Los Angeles in 2000. There, they reunited with the other members of Kara's Flowers and added a new member, guitarist James Valentine (Carmichael moved to keyboards). The band then changed its name to Maroon 5 and released its debut album, Songs About Jane, in 2002. Two years later, after slowly climbing the charts, the album went platinum, and the song's music video turned Adam Levine into an instant sex symbol.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Maroon 5 earned their first Grammy Award (best new artist) in 2004. The band would go on to win Grammys for best pop performance in 2005 and 2007.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Songs About Jane was followed by It Won't Be Soon Before Long (2007) and Hands All Over (2010), the latter of which featured the smash hit "Moves Like Jagger," which peaked at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, on the Billboard chart. Levine has also found success along the way by appearing on other musicians' albums, working with such superstars as Kanye West, Alicia Keys and Natasha Bedingfield.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In 2012, Maroon 5 returned to the charts with its fourth studio album, Overexposed, featuring hits like "One More Night" and "Payphone" with Wiz Khalifa. Levine and his bandmates went on an international tour to promote the recording. The band continued to enjoy great popularity with its next effort, V (2014). The album contained hits "Maps" and "Animals."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Personal Life</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Levine began dating model Anne Vyalitsyna in 2010, after the two were introduced at that year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue release party. The couple split in May 2012. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In 2013, Levine proposed to Victoria's Secret model Behati Prinsloo. The couple married on July 19, 2014, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Two years later, they welcomed their first child, a baby girl they named Dusty Rose.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Beyond Music</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Adam Levine began branching out into television in 2007, when he made a comedic appearance on Saturday Night Live. He also appeared on Comedy Central's A Night of Too Many Stars and had a cameo on Jimmy Kimmel Live. In 2011, Levine made the jump to a full-time TV gig as a judge/coach on the reality series The Voice, and in 2012, he landed a role on the series American Horror Story.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In 2013, Levine entered his fourth season on The Voice, appearing alongside Blake Shelton as well as newcomers Shakira and Usher, who replaced Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green as judges for that season. That same year, Levine debuted his first perfume line, which features products for both men and women. He also signed a development deal with NBC for possible new series and specials for the television network.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Outside of singing and appearing on TV, Adam Levine has devoted his time to the advancement of various causes, including awareness for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, testicular cancer (for which he posed nude for Cosmopolitan magazine) and gay rights.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In November 2013, Levine was named "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine. Carson Daly, host of The Voice, made the announcement live on the show. In his interview with the magazine, Levine stated that he uses yoga and spinning to keep his stamina and physique intact.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> source:<a href="http://www.biography.com/people/adam-levine-20830773#beyond-music" target="_blank">biography.com</a></div>

Adam Lavine Biography

Eugene 0 7:55 PM

Adam Lavine Introduction Born in 1979 in Los Angeles, California, Adam Levine is the Grammy Award-winning lead singer of the band Maroon 5, whose success includes several chart-topping hits and gold and platinum albums. In 2011, he branched out to t… Read more »

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Enrique Iglesias

<h2 style="text-align: justify;"> Enrique Iglesias</h2> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Early Days</h3> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxgM80jRS6ZIGpsIOPSD-0txMK2rYkTcwX8obTZw1T49vpDvqqlvoGnbrRpbfWCQadtfEC_jhHqhPB2FgpIB4aMELj-XzDijMStA6dsajGNeXjxFSU7y8107YIXcD94I-yTlzUZiPjGCy3/s1600/enrique.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxgM80jRS6ZIGpsIOPSD-0txMK2rYkTcwX8obTZw1T49vpDvqqlvoGnbrRpbfWCQadtfEC_jhHqhPB2FgpIB4aMELj-XzDijMStA6dsajGNeXjxFSU7y8107YIXcD94I-yTlzUZiPjGCy3/s320/enrique.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A son of Latin pop veteran Julio Iglesias, Enrique Iglesias followed the footsteps of his father as a singer. When his father moved from Madrid to Miami after getting divorce from his mother Isabel Preysler in 1978, he stayed in Spain with his brother Julio Iglesias, Jr. In 1985 however, he and his brother were sent to live with his father for their own safety following the kidnapping of their uncle by ETA. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Despite being a son of a big singer, Enrique who was born on May 8, 1975 didn't want to take the advantage of his father's famous name. Without telling his father, he borrowed money from his nanny and recorded a demo which was later handed to his father's former publicist Fernan Martinez. Together, they then promoted the songs under the stage name Enrique Martinez with the backstory of being an unknown singer from Guatemala. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> After securing a record deal with a label called Fonovisa, he decided to focus more in music. He was hard at work on his debut album and dropped a self-titled effort "Enrique Iglesias" in 1995 when he was just 20. He indeed got the talent and proved it by selling half a million copies in its first week despite the fact that the album was recorded in non-English language, Spanish. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Two years in the making, a sophomore set "Vivir" finally made its way out in 1997. It led him to compete against his father and other acclaimed Latin musicians such as Luis Miguel for Favorite Latin Artist at 2008 American Music Awards. He also received a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Pop Album in the next year. Although he lost the first coveted prize to his father and the latter to Luis, he managed to snatch one trophy for Pop Album of the Year at Premio Lo Nuestro Awards. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Career</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Enrique apparently worked on his next album while he was traveling across the globe for his first tour to support his second album for in 1998 he already had a bunch of new songs, enough to fill one full-length record. Without waiting any longer, he released the album "Cosas Del Amor" in September the same year. Through this effort, he won the award he lost the previous year, Favorite Latin Artist at AMAs, beating Ricky Martin. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> It took him four albums before he finally cracked the Top 10 of Billboard Hot 200. In 1999, he made it to the tenth position on the U.S. albums chart with a record called "Enrique" which boasted a duet with Whitney Houston. Due to the success of this album, Interscope exec Jimmy Iovine signed him for multi-album deal and asked him to record his first English set. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Enrique answered the challenge by spending the next three years crafting materials for his first English album. Teaming with Kara DioGuardi and Steve Morales among others, he wrote such hit singles as "Hero" and "Escape". When dropping the album in 2002, he claimed a worldwide fame as it ruled various charts around the globe. Stateside, it soared straight to the second place. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Just a month after releasing "Escape", he came out with another Spanish record "Quizas". After three years writing songs, he apparently had enough tracks to fill more than one album. Although it could only peak at No. 12 on Hot 200, it managed to rule Billboard Latin Albums chart. On top of that, all his hard work was paid off as he won a Latin Grammy prize for Best Male Pop Vocal Album in 2003. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Enrique didn't slow down even a bit. In November 2003, just few months after taking the podium to receive his first Grammy, he treated his devotees with "7" which is promised to have "lifetime" songs. Even he had taken "special care" on the songwriting however, the album was not as successful as its two predecessors. It became his album under Interscope with the worst chart performance by reaching only at No. 34 on Hot 200. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Knowing no creative boundaries and wanting to give something different, he crossed genres in his next effort. He embraced Hip-Hop music by hooking up with rap mogul Lil Wayne. The result of incorporating a more contemporary pop style with R&B elements is "Insomniac", an album which was raved on by favorable reviews. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> On July 13, 2010, two years after compiling his hit singles for a greatest hits album, he dropped his first bilingual album "Euphoria". Pitbull, Akon, Nicole Scherzinger, Usher and Wisin y Yandel were lined up for featured guests. The lead single, fist-pumping "I Like It", was picked up as an official anthem for MTV's hit reality show "Jersey Shore". </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> source:<a href="http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/enrique_iglesias/biography_2.html" target="_blank">aceshowbiz.com</a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div>

Enrique Iglesias

Eugene 0 7:51 PM

Enrique Iglesias Early Days A son of Latin pop veteran Julio Iglesias, Enrique Iglesias followed the footsteps of his father as a singer. When his father moved from Madrid to Miami after getting divorce from his mother Isabel Preysler in 1978, he st… Read more »

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Whitney Houston

<h2 style="text-align: justify;"> Whitney Houston </h2> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> </h3> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Introduction</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDv19PAJkfX__tnSY4ddKt03B8K6e8W33CenC9e4sKna3djd07AM_kGCfV5eGBSDWaknuw35uj56WSs8LgwID8Sfe7pW-GrRkrblMT2mv5FfTFAFQo8s_poPnOFIwKyt-Fq6VuogaqcHzm/s1600/housten.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDv19PAJkfX__tnSY4ddKt03B8K6e8W33CenC9e4sKna3djd07AM_kGCfV5eGBSDWaknuw35uj56WSs8LgwID8Sfe7pW-GrRkrblMT2mv5FfTFAFQo8s_poPnOFIwKyt-Fq6VuogaqcHzm/s320/housten.jpg" width="320" /></a>Born on August 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey, Whitney Houston released her debut album at age 22 and scored three No. 1 singles. Whitney (1987) delivered four more No. 1s and earned Houston her first Grammy, with later albums including I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990) and My Love Is Your Love (1998) as well as soundtracks to The Bodyguard (1992) and Waiting to Exhale (1995). With her marriage to singer Bobby Brown in 1992 and ensuing drug use, Houston's career got off track. She eventually made a comeback with 2009's I Look to You and also co-starred in the the film remake Sparkle. Houston died from accidental drowning in a hotel on February 11, 2012.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Early Days</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Born on August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey, Whitney Houston almost seemed destined from birth to become a singer. Her mother Cissy Houston, cousin Dionne Warwick and godmother Aretha Franklin were all legendary figures in American gospel, soul and pop music. Cissy Houston was the choir minister at New Hope Baptist Church, and it was there that a young Whitney got her start. Even as a child, Whitney was able to wow audiences; she later told interviewer Diane Sawyer that a rapturous response from the congregation at New Hope had a powerful effect upon her: "I think I knew then that [my singing ability] was an infectious thing that God had given me."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> By the time she turned 15, Whitney was performing often with her mother and trying to get a record deal of her own. Around the same time, she was discovered by a photographer who was awed by her natural beauty. She soon became an extremely sought-after teenage model, one of the first African-American women to appear on the cover of Seventeen magazine. But music remained her true love.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> When she was 19, Whitney Houston was discovered in a nightclub by the renowned Clive Davis of Arista Records, who signed her immediately and took the helm of her career as she navigated from gospel to pop stardom. In 1983, Houston made her debut on national television, appearing on The Merv Griffin Show to sing "Home" from the musical The Wiz. She and Davis spent the next two years working on her debut album, finding the best producers and songwriters available to showcase her amazing vocal talent.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Pop Stardom</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In 1985, she released her debut album Whitney Houston and almost immediately became a smash pop sensation. Over the next year, her hit singles "Saving All My Love for You" and "How Will I Know" helped the album reach the top of the charts, where it stayed for 14 non-consecutive weeks. Houston won a Grammy in 1986 for "Saving All My Love for You"; the award was presented to the singer by her cousin Dionne Warwick. Houston followed the monumental success of her first album with a second release, Whitney, in 1987. That record, too, went platinum many times over and won a Grammy for the single "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," with a successful world tour following. During this time, the singer also appeared at a concert for Nelson Mandela's birthday and founded the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, a nonprofit organization that funds projects to help needy children over the world.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> By 1992, Whitney Houston was on top of the world, but her life was about to get very complicated very quickly. That year she married the R&B singer Bobby Brown, formerly of New Edition, after a three-year engagement. At first the marriage was passionate and loving, but things turned sour as the decade progressed and both Brown and Houston battled substance abuse and increasingly erratic behavior, with Houston later alluding to emotional abuse from Brown and domestic violence.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In spite of these growing personal troubles, Houston continued to progress in her career, crossing over successfully into acting in 1992 by starring opposite Kevin Costner in the wildly popular The Bodyguard. With this project, she set a trend for her films to follow: For each movie she also released hit singles, creating sensational record sales for the soundtracks. Her smash single from The Bodyguard, a cover of Dolly Parton's 1974 "I Will Always Love You," proved to be Houston's biggest hit ever, spending a record-breaking 14 weeks atop the U.S. charts. The soundtrack album went on to win Houston three Grammys, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year. Later in the 1990s, Houston also starred in Waiting to Exhale and The Preacher's Wife, both accompanied by hit soundtracks as well.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Troubled Times</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In 1998, Houston released My Love Is Your Love, her first non-soundtrack studio album in many years, and it earned her another Grammy for the single "It's Not Right But It's Okay." But the album could not top the chart performance of her previous full-length releases. However, her collaboration with Mariah Carey in the animated film The Prince of Egypt produced a hit single, "When You Believe," which won an Academy Award.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Houston's increasingly rocky marriage, struggles with drugs and health problems threatened to derail her career. Several concert cancellations and a notorious TV interview with Diane Sawyer in 2002 in which Houston appeared far too thin and in poor health led many to speculate that she was on the verge of a breakdown.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In 2004, Bobby Brown began filming a reality show for Bravo entitled Being Bobby Brown; Houston received substantial airtime. The show aired during the worst years of the couple's crumbling marriage; drug use, lifestyle excess and bad behavior were all caught on tape and Houston's reputation sunk to new lows. Houston tried to ignore the controversy, charging ahead with her music by releasing Just Whitney… to combat her detractors, but it did not match the success of her earlier works. In spite of her troubled relationship, Houston was still celebrated as a singer, being named the most-awarded female artist of all time by Guinness World Records in 2006.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Over the next few years, Houston attempted to repair her marriage and to break her drug habit, but after several relapses her mother Cissy had to step in. As Houston explained to Oprah Winfrey in 2009: "[My mother] walks in with the sheriff and she says: 'I have a court injunction here. You do it my way or we're not going to do this at all. You're going to go on TV, and you're going to retire. And say you're going to give this up because it's not worth it.'" Whitney took a break from her career, divorced Bobby Brown in 2007 and won sole custody of their child, Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> After almost a decade of struggling with her personal life, Houston seemed to be pulling herself together. She released a new album, I Look To You, in 2009. "The songs themselves will speak to you and you'll understand where I am and some of the changes I've gone through for the better," Houston told Entertainment Tonight. The recording received a warm welcome from music fans, making it to the top of album charts. Her live shows, however, garnered mixed reviews, with some complaining about the quality of her voice. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Death and Legacy</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In early 2012, Houston was rumored to be experiencing financial trouble, but she denied this claim. She, in fact, seemed to be poised for a career upswing. Houston worked on a new musical film Sparkle with Jordin Sparks, a remake of the 1976 movie about an all-girl musical group similar to The Supremes. She had reportedly been approached to join the singing competition The X Factor as a judge. Unfortunately, Houston did not live long enough to see the latest comeback reach fruition.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Whitney Houston died at the age of 48 on February 11, 2012, in Los Angeles at a Beverly Hilton hotel where a Grammy party was being held by Clive Davis. Houston had been seen out in the days before her death, including at one of the pre-Grammy parties. According to a report released by the Los Angeles County coroner's office on March 22, 2012, the official cause of her death was accidental drowning. The effects of heart disease and cocaine found in her system were contributing factors as well. With her passing, the music world lost one of its most legendary stars. Davis once said that Houston "is in the great tradition of great, great singers, whether it's Lena Horne or Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughn or Gladys Knight."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> source:<a href="http://www.biography.com/people/whitney-houston-9344818#death-and-legacy" target="_blank">biography.com</a></div>

Whitney Houston

Eugene 0 7:46 PM

Whitney Houston  Introduction Born on August 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey, Whitney Houston released her debut album at age 22 and scored three No. 1 singles. Whitney (1987) delivered four more No. 1s and earned Houston her first Grammy, with later… Read more »

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Jennifer Lopez

<h2> Jennifer Lopez<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_THMfuV0ToySSGCZniQZfC7ESQs466Lk6REhpJ6CJ42yk3h5kDEL-JwpQLnIdafDkrL6fD0Lx0gF0fr1zEnZ5wtH2FKz5SfOrg_HGoMYO3KXSOzi4S9RMZDhrwxk3DVtwcmVz2I_Y4ry/s1600/jennifer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_THMfuV0ToySSGCZniQZfC7ESQs466Lk6REhpJ6CJ42yk3h5kDEL-JwpQLnIdafDkrL6fD0Lx0gF0fr1zEnZ5wtH2FKz5SfOrg_HGoMYO3KXSOzi4S9RMZDhrwxk3DVtwcmVz2I_Y4ry/s320/jennifer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> </h2> <h3> Early Life</h3> Jennifer Lynn Lopez a.k.a. Jennifer Lopez, born on July 24, 1970 in the Soundview section of Bronx, New York City, New York, is known for being an Puerto Rican-American actress, singer, designer, dancer and fashion icon. She was born to David Lopez, a computer specialist at Guardian Insurance in NYC, and Guadalupe who used to teach kindergarten in Westchester County, New York. J. Lo, that's how people call her, is the middle of three daughters. Her elder sister, Leslie is a housewife and opera singer, and her younger sister Lynda is a DJ on New York's WKTU, a VH1 VJ and a morning news show correspondent on New York's Channel 11.<br /> <br /> Before attending a formal education institute, 5-year-old she took singing and dancing lessons and spent her following eight years at an all-girls Catholic high school named Holy Family, located in the Bronx. After that, she studied at Preston High School for four years long, where she was popular as an amazing athlete actively participating in track, field and tennis. Her friends there called her "La Guitarra" because of her guitar-curved body.<br /> <br /> <h3> Career</h3> Right after she graduated from high school at age 18 J.Lo moved out from her parent's home and worked at a law firm while taking dancing jobs at night. J.Lo's breakthrough came in 1990 when she was offered a job as a fly girl on Fox's hit comedy "In Living Color." In the next two years, she went on to dance for the famous singer and actress Janet Jackson.<br /> <br /> Starting her acting career early in the 1990s playing in such movies as "Mi Familia", "Money Train" (1995), and "U-Turn" (1997), Lopez was known for the role she played in Gregory Nava's film entitled "My Family" (1995) and for the role of Selena Quintanilla in the movie "Selena" (1997). The latter pic is a biographical depiction of the life and career of Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla Perez, whose burgeoning career was cut short when she was murdered at the age of 23.<br /> <br /> After that, J.Lo got her next role in "Out of Sight" (1998) where she played along with George Clooney. She later on also appeared in "Anaconda" (1997), "The Cell" (2000), "Angel Eyes" (2001), "The Wedding Planner" (2001), "Enough" (2002), "Maid in Manhattan" (2002), "Gigli" (2003), "Jersey Girl" (2004), "Shall We Dance?" (2004), "Monster-In-Law" (2005) and in several other movies and television shows.<br /> <br /> <h3> Personal Life</h3> Not only Lopez was good at acting, but singing as well. Enjoying a variety of music genres, she focused her music mostly on pop and was inspired by the local "6" train she took from the Castle Hill section of the Bronx where she grew up to get to her auditions in Manhattan to name her 1st album released in 1999 "On the 6." This album includes Spanish language, Latin-flavored duet "No me ames" with Marc Anthony which became very booming. The set's first single "If You Had My Love" was #1 for more than 9 weeks.<br /> <br /> Later in the fall of 1999, Lopez released the album's second American single, "Waiting for Tonight". Neear the end of 2000, Lopez released "Love Don't Cost a Thing", her first single from her second album, "J.Lo", which soon rocketed to the top of 2001 charts. This album's two other singles, "I'm Real" and "Ain't It Funny", had favorably become the singer's biggest-ever hits. Both spendt many weeks on top of the Billboard charts, making Lopez's 2nd album nine times platinum.<br /> <br /> In mid-2002 Lopez released a remix album called "J to Tha L-O!: The Remixes" which includes popular rap remixes of "I'm Real", "I'm Gonna Be Alright", "Ain't It Funny" and the dance remix of "Waiting for Tonight". Also included in this album was Lopez's new ballad song called "Alive" that was the soundtrack of her movie, "Enough". Moreover, in the fall the same year the already famous Lopez released "This Is Me... Then" that featured hits including "Jenny From the Block", "All I Have" and "I'm Glad".<br /> <br /> Later on, she worked on "Baby I Love You", the fourth single of her remix album that becomes the musical theme for "Gigli", before releasing the fifth single "The One." One year later, on November 18, 2003, Lopez produced her fifth album, "Real Me", which includes a DVD featuring all her music videos from her first video "If You Had My Love" to her last one "Baby I Love You."<br /> <br /> So in love with fashion and beauty stuff, Lopez, without ignoring her music career, launched her "Glow" perfume which rocked the perfume industry during 2001 by being number 1 perfume in more than 9 countries for more than 4 months. Furthermore, her passion for fashion has also led her to launch her own clothing line, dubbed "J.Lo By Jennifer Lopez", which, like her perfume, has also become successful on the industry.<br /> <br /> source:<a href="http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/jennifer_lopez/biography_2.html" target="_blank">aceshowbiz.com</a><br /> <div> <br /></div>

Jennifer Lopez

Eugene 0 7:42 PM

Jennifer Lopez Early Life Jennifer Lynn Lopez a.k.a. Jennifer Lopez, born on July 24, 1970 in the Soundview section of Bronx, New York City, New York, is known for being an Puerto Rican-American actress, singer, designer, dancer and fashion icon. Sh… Read more »

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History of Harp

<h2 style="text-align: justify;"> Harp</h2> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Introduction</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtUuRxCDLLP3EeYmoH_lQ2kXGBg9m4aNratirvpKpkNHoVc46NgHXYlwuHQygEpxsW1RX-lD4DuUN5GYGK7-i_GDrZGXb9b3UXN5gDqnD6krfhW2NqAEljVTWdr38dGGo0N1K_SNZI8nAl/s1600/harp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtUuRxCDLLP3EeYmoH_lQ2kXGBg9m4aNratirvpKpkNHoVc46NgHXYlwuHQygEpxsW1RX-lD4DuUN5GYGK7-i_GDrZGXb9b3UXN5gDqnD6krfhW2NqAEljVTWdr38dGGo0N1K_SNZI8nAl/s320/harp.jpg" width="250" /></a>The harp is one of the oldest musical instruments in the world. The earliest harps were developed from the hunting bow. The wall paintings of ancient Egyptian tombs dating from as early as 3000 B.C. show an instrument that closely resembles the hunter's bow, without the pillar that we find in modern harps.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The angled harp came to Egypt from Asia in about 1500 B.C. It was built from a hollow sound-box joined to a straight string-arm at an angle. The strings, possibly made of hair or plant fibre, were attached to the sound-box at one end and tied to the string-arm at the other. The strings were tuned by rotating the knots that held them.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> During the Middle Ages the pillar was added to support the tension of extra strings. Stiffer string materials like copper and brass were used and these changes enabled the instrument to produce greater volume and a longer-sustaining tone. Paintings of these harps appear in many early manuscripts and their shapes hardly differ from those of the Celtic harps that are still played today.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> As the early harps had no mechanical devices for providing the player with different keys, harpists found it necessary to retune those strings they required for each piece. Eventually, in the latter half of the seventeenth century a row of metal hooks was placed along the left side of the harp. When the player manually turned a hook against an individual string, the string's pitch was raised a half step. Modern non-pedal harps are built with greatly advanced sharping levers installed for each string which produce a very good tonal quality when engaged. Levers are generally moved with the left hand and skilled players can achieve changes very quickly.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The earliest known depiction of a frame harp in the British Isles is on an eighth century stone cross. Music was an important part of life in ancient Ireland and the harp was an aristocratic instrument, played in the courts of kings and before the chiefs of clans. Harpers were required to be able to evoke three different emotions in their audience by their music: Laughter, tears and sleep. With the Anglicisation of the Irish nobility, the traditional harpers became minstrels and street musicians reciting poetry and singing folk songs to the accompaniment of their harps.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Sometime before 1720 a mechanism was developed in order to meet the growing demands from harpists for an instrument that was capable of a broader range of pitch. Seven pedals built into the base of the harp could raise the pitch by half a step. For instance, if the harp were tuned to C-flat, then depressing the pedal would raise the C strings to C-natural. The single action harp was born.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The pedals were connected to metal rods, which passed through the forepillar to the top where the chromatic action was housed inside the curved neck. The action pulled the string onto a fret by means of an adjustable crochet, or hook mechanism which, when engaged, shortened the length of the string and raised the pitch one half step. When tuned in the key of E-flat, the instrument could be played in eight major keys and five minor keys.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> Types of Harp</h3> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The single action harp achieved great popularity throughout the rest of the 18th century as was evidenced in the French Court by Marie Antoinette; perhaps, the most famous player of this instrument. The harps of this period were magnificently decorated with relief carving, lavishly gilded and hand painted. Besides being musical instruments they were undoubtedly prized as object d'art when displayed in the gilded salons of the era.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> As music evolved it was also necessary for the harp, if it was to maintain its popularity, to move with the times. Instead of only being limited to eight major keys and five minor keys, it had become vitally important for the harp to be able to played in all keys. As a result of this need, Sebastian Erard obtained a patent in 1810 for the Double Action pedal harp.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Erard redesigned the single action mechanism, replacing the crochets with two rotating pronged discs. The strings, now each equipped with two discs, were able to produce a flat, natural and a sharp depending on the position of the corresponding pedal, allowing the harpist to play in every key.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> This ingenious invention revolutionized the harp and is still in use today. The harp has since continued to evolve and has had many significant improvements made to it over the past two centuries. In the late 1800's Lyon and Healy, a Chicago based company which is still building harps today, began building harps in America with greatly strengthened frames and many important improvements to Erard's double action mechanism.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Due to the continued popularity of the harp into the 20th century, many other harp makers arrived on the scene each bringing their own improvements and inventions without which the instrument would not have been able to maintain its foothold in modern society. In America, besides Lyon and Healy, some other pedal harp makers include Wurlitzer, Venus and Swanson. Some additional makers in Europe include Salvi, Camac, Horngacher, David and Thurau as well as Aoyama in Japan.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The 21st century holds great promise for continued popularity of the harp as is evidenced by the myriad festivals, conventions, societies, harp builders, music, performances and career opportunities available to harpists.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> From Medieval to Modern, from Classical to Jazz, from Acoustic to Electric. The harp is an instrument steeped in tradition yet open to change and for many it is more than a mere instrument, it is a calling.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> source:<a href="http://www.internationalharpmuseum.org/visit/history.html" target="_blank">internationalharpmuseum.org</a></div>

History of Harp

Eugene 0 7:34 PM

Harp Introduction The harp is one of the oldest musical instruments in the world. The earliest harps were developed from the hunting bow. The wall paintings of ancient Egyptian tombs dating from as early as 3000 B.C. show an instrument that closely … Read more »

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