Paula Julie Abdul born June 19, 1962) is a Grammy Award-winning American pop singer, dancer, Emmy Award-winning choreographer, and television personality. Married to Emilio Estevez between 1992-1994, she is the former daughter-in-law of actor Martin Sheen.
In the 1980s, Abdul rose from being a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball team to being a sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video era, then to being a Pop-R&B singer with a string of hits in the late-1980s and early-1990s. According to Abdul, she has sold over 53 million records to date. After her initial period of success, she suffered a series of setbacks in her professional and personal life, until she found renewed fame and success in the 2000s as a judge on the television series, American Idol. Abdul was most recently featured in the seventh season of American Idol.
Abdul is working on a new album with her first single set to be released in mid-2008, and she hopes to have the album out by the end of 2008. Her voice range is mezzo-soprano.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Randy Jackson
Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is a Grammy Award-winning bassist; singer, record producer, music manager, A&R executive and Emmy Award-nominated television and radio personality, now best known as a judge on American Idol. Jackson was most recently featured in the seventh season of American Idol.
Jackson is the manager of Papertongues, a Charlotte, NC based band.
Jackson also hosts a radio top 40 countdown known as "Randy Jackson's Hit List", which is syndicated by Westwood One. Every week Jackson counts down his top 30 Urban AC and Mainstream AC hits, and gives behind-the-scenes information on American Idol with American Idol Underground.
The qualification round for America's Best Dance Crew, a new dance contest produced by Jackson, was broadcast live on MTV on 26 January as a teaser to the elimination dance off battles which premiered on 7 February. On March 11, 2008, Jackson released an album produced entirely by himself, titled Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1. The album was preceded with the single "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow", performed by fellow American Idol judge Paula Abdul.
Jackson had performed with the Rock band Journey on their 1986 album Raised on Radio.
Jackson is the manager of Papertongues, a Charlotte, NC based band.
Jackson also hosts a radio top 40 countdown known as "Randy Jackson's Hit List", which is syndicated by Westwood One. Every week Jackson counts down his top 30 Urban AC and Mainstream AC hits, and gives behind-the-scenes information on American Idol with American Idol Underground.
The qualification round for America's Best Dance Crew, a new dance contest produced by Jackson, was broadcast live on MTV on 26 January as a teaser to the elimination dance off battles which premiered on 7 February. On March 11, 2008, Jackson released an album produced entirely by himself, titled Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1. The album was preceded with the single "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow", performed by fellow American Idol judge Paula Abdul.
Jackson had performed with the Rock band Journey on their 1986 album Raised on Radio.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell (born October 7, 1959) is an English artist-and-repertoire ("A&R") executive and television personality/producer, best known as a judge on such TV shows as Pop Idol, American Idol, The X Factor, and Britain's Got Talent. He is also the owner of the television production and music publishing house Syco.
Cowell is notorious as a judge for his unsparingly blunt and often controversial criticisms, insults and wisecracks about contestants and their singing abilities, or lack thereof. He is often parodied in pop culture. He is known for combining activities in the television and music industries, having promoted singles and records for various artists, including television personalities. Having most recently featured in the seventh season of American Idol and the second series of Britain's Got Talent, Cowell is now working on the fifth series of The X Factor.
In 2004, with Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh, Cowell was a judge on the first series of the British talent show The X Factor, which he created using his production company, Syco. The X Factor was an instant success with the viewers and returned three more times to its fourth series in 2007. In 2006, he was voted the tenth most terrifying celebrity on television in a Radio Times poll consisting of 3,000 people.
The winner of The X Factor third series, Leona Lewis, is signed to Cowell's label Syco and has gone on to become an international star, with number one singles and album sales around the world.
Cowell returned for a fourth series on August 18, 2007, alongside Osbourne, Walsh and new judge, Dannii Minogue. Walsh had previously been sacked from the judging panel by Cowell for the fourth series, and was subsequently replaced by Brian Friedman who was a judge on Grease Is The Word. Walsh was later brought back a week into the auditions by Cowell when he and Sharon Osbourne realised they missed Walsh and that without him, there was no chemistry between the judges.
Cowell is notorious as a judge for his unsparingly blunt and often controversial criticisms, insults and wisecracks about contestants and their singing abilities, or lack thereof. He is often parodied in pop culture. He is known for combining activities in the television and music industries, having promoted singles and records for various artists, including television personalities. Having most recently featured in the seventh season of American Idol and the second series of Britain's Got Talent, Cowell is now working on the fifth series of The X Factor.
In 2004, with Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh, Cowell was a judge on the first series of the British talent show The X Factor, which he created using his production company, Syco. The X Factor was an instant success with the viewers and returned three more times to its fourth series in 2007. In 2006, he was voted the tenth most terrifying celebrity on television in a Radio Times poll consisting of 3,000 people.
The winner of The X Factor third series, Leona Lewis, is signed to Cowell's label Syco and has gone on to become an international star, with number one singles and album sales around the world.
Cowell returned for a fourth series on August 18, 2007, alongside Osbourne, Walsh and new judge, Dannii Minogue. Walsh had previously been sacked from the judging panel by Cowell for the fourth series, and was subsequently replaced by Brian Friedman who was a judge on Grease Is The Word. Walsh was later brought back a week into the auditions by Cowell when he and Sharon Osbourne realised they missed Walsh and that without him, there was no chemistry between the judges.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American pop rock singer, songwriter, and occasional actress. Clarkson made her debut under RCA Records after she won the highly-publicized first season of the television series American Idol in 2002. She was originally marketed as a pop musician with her debut album Thankful (2003). With the release of her multi-platinum second album Breakaway (2004), Clarkson moved to a more pop rock-oriented style of music. Clarkson's third album, entitled My December, was released on June 26, 2007. Her fourth album is due in fall 2008. Clarkson has sold over 20 million albums worldwide. Clarkson is the most successful American Idol alumnus. Eight of Clarkson's singles have become Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2008, she joined Vh1's list of 10 sexiest women. She also hit #28 on Vh1's Top 30 Front Women.
Clarkson won the first season competition of American Idol on September 4, 2002, earning 58% of the audience vote over Justin Guarini. Choking back tears, Clarkson performed the ballad "A Moment Like This", the song written for the winner of American Idol, which would subsequently appear on her debut album Thankful. The song's music video was filmed at Pantages Theater in Hollywood, and incorporated short scenes of Clarkson performing on Idol. When released as a single in October 2002, it set a then record on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart when it rose from number fifty-two to number one. This achievement was largely due to the impact from Idol as the CD single managed to sell 236,000 copies in its first week of sales in the U.S.; it spent five weeks at number one in Canada.
Clarkson won the first season competition of American Idol on September 4, 2002, earning 58% of the audience vote over Justin Guarini. Choking back tears, Clarkson performed the ballad "A Moment Like This", the song written for the winner of American Idol, which would subsequently appear on her debut album Thankful. The song's music video was filmed at Pantages Theater in Hollywood, and incorporated short scenes of Clarkson performing on Idol. When released as a single in October 2002, it set a then record on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart when it rose from number fifty-two to number one. This achievement was largely due to the impact from Idol as the CD single managed to sell 236,000 copies in its first week of sales in the U.S.; it spent five weeks at number one in Canada.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Ruben Studdard
Christopher Ruben Studdard (born September 12, 1978) is an American Idol, an American pop, R&B, and gospel singer who rose to fame as winner of the second season of the American Idol television program.
When auditioning, Studdard sang Stevie Wonder's "Ribbon in the Sky." This guided him to being one of the local finalists. On American Idol, he impressed viewers with his performances of the Leon Russell/Bonnie Bramlett song "Superstar" (originally a hit for The Carpenters and Luther Vandross) and the Peabo Bryson/Regina Belle duet "A Whole New World"; during his time on the show, Studdard received praise from music legends such as Lionel Richie, Neil Sedaka, Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, Luther Vandross, and Gladys Knight.
During the televised competition, Studdard gained the nickname "Velvet Teddy Bear" and was noted for his shirts printed with "205", the telephone area code of his hometown of Birmingham. Studdard also did a cover version of "For All We Know", originally recorded by Donny Hathaway, whose music he grew up with.
He won the contest over runner-up Clay Aiken by only 134,000 votes out of 24,000,000 cast in the May 2003 finale, becoming the second American Idol winner and the first and only male (as well as the oldest winner) to hold that title until 2006, when fellow Birmingham native Taylor Hicks won Idol's season five.
Alabama Governor Bob Riley declared 11 March 2002 as "Ruben Studdard Day".
When auditioning, Studdard sang Stevie Wonder's "Ribbon in the Sky." This guided him to being one of the local finalists. On American Idol, he impressed viewers with his performances of the Leon Russell/Bonnie Bramlett song "Superstar" (originally a hit for The Carpenters and Luther Vandross) and the Peabo Bryson/Regina Belle duet "A Whole New World"; during his time on the show, Studdard received praise from music legends such as Lionel Richie, Neil Sedaka, Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, Luther Vandross, and Gladys Knight.
During the televised competition, Studdard gained the nickname "Velvet Teddy Bear" and was noted for his shirts printed with "205", the telephone area code of his hometown of Birmingham. Studdard also did a cover version of "For All We Know", originally recorded by Donny Hathaway, whose music he grew up with.
He won the contest over runner-up Clay Aiken by only 134,000 votes out of 24,000,000 cast in the May 2003 finale, becoming the second American Idol winner and the first and only male (as well as the oldest winner) to hold that title until 2006, when fellow Birmingham native Taylor Hicks won Idol's season five.
Alabama Governor Bob Riley declared 11 March 2002 as "Ruben Studdard Day".
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