Sia Kate Isobelle Furler (born 18 December 1975), is an Australian singer and songwriter. She started her career as a singer in the local Adelaide acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she released her debut studio album titled OnlySee on Flavoured Records in Australia. Following the event, she moved to London, England and provided lead vocals for British duo Zero 7.
In 2000, Sia signed to Sony Music's sub-label Dance Pool and released her second studio album, Healing Is Difficult, the following year. Displeased with the promotion of the record, she signed to Go! Beat and released her third studio album, Colour the Small One, in 2004. Dissatisfied with the project's struggling to connect with a mainstream audience, Sia relocated to New York City in 2005 and began touring across the United States. Sia released her fourth and fifth studio releases, Some People Have Real Problems and We Are Born, in 2008 and 2010, respectively. In 2014, Sia released her sixth studio album, 1000 Forms of Fear, which debuted atop the U.S. Billboard 200 and generated the top-ten single "Chandelier". On 29 January 2016, she released her seventh studio album This Is Acting, which spawned the single "Cheap Thrills". Her collaborations with other artists include "Titanium" (with David Guetta) and "Wild Ones" (with Flo Rida).
Sia's music incorporates hip hop, funk and soul as a base for her vocal styling. In 2014, she was ranked the 97th richest Australian person under the age of 40 by BRW magazine, with a reported net worth of AU$20 million.Her music has received an array of accolades, including ARIA Awards and MTV Music Awards.
Following the disbandment of Crisp in 1997, Sia decided to move to London to follow her first relationship with boyfriend Dan Pontifex. Several weeks later, while on a stopover in Thailand, she received the news that Dan had died after being in a car accident in London. Sia returned to Australia, but soon after returning she received a call from one of Dan's former housemates, who invited her to stay in London.Her 2001 album Healing Is Difficult lyrically deals with the death of Dan: "I was pretty fucked up after Dan died. I couldn't really feel anything. I could intellectualise a lot of stuff; that I had a purpose, that I was loved, but I couldn't actually feel anything." Sia recalled the effect of Dan's death in a 2007 interview for The Sunday Times: "We were all devastated, so we got shit-faced on drugs and Special Brew. Unfortunately, that bender lasted six years for me."
In 2008, Sia discussed her sexual orientation in interviews with Scotland on Sunday and AfterEllen.com, and announced her relationship with JD Samson; they later broke up in 2011. She was included on a list of gay entertainers in the June–July 2009 issue of The Advocate. In both 2009 and 2010, Sia was nominated by readers of SameSame.com.au as one of the 25 most influential lesbian and gay Australians. When asked about her sexuality, she said, "Before I was actually successful I'd always said I've always dated boys and girls and anything in between. I don't care what gender you are, it's about people. I didn't just recently open up, I just recently got famous! I've always been... well, flexible is the word I would use."
Sia has suffered from depression. She has said that she suffered from addiction to painkillers and alcohol, and had also contemplated suicide before, going as far as writing a suicide note.[
In June 2010, Sia's official website announced that all scheduled promotional events and shows had been cancelled due to her poor health. She cited extreme lethargy and panic attacks and considered retiring permanently from performing and touring. According to her Twitter account, she was diagnosed with Graves' disease – an autoimmune disorder characterized by an over-active thyroid. Four months later, in an ARIA Awards interview, Sia said her health was improving after rest and thyroid hormone replacement therapy.
On 6 June 2014, Sia's engagement to documentary filmmaker Erik Anders Lang was announced by her mother. They were married at her home in Palm Springs, California on 2 August 2014.
During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Sia was asked if she was religious, to which she responded, "I believe in a higher power and it's called 'Whatever Dude' and he's a queer, surfing Santa that's a bit like my grandpa, so yes."[109] In the same interview, Sia stated that she is a feminist and that Whatever Dude divinely inspired the lyrics she wrote for Rihanna's song "Diamonds".
Sia is a cousin of popular Australian Christian rock musician Peter Furler.
Sia, who is a vegan, participated in an advertisement for PETA Asia-Pacific, with her dog, Pantera, to encourage pet neutering. Sia has also joined other publicly known figures for the "Oscar's Law" campaign, in protest against large-scale pet breeding. Other advocates include singers Jon Stevens, Paul Dempsey, Rachael Leahcar, and Missy Higgins. She is also a supporter of the Beagle Freedom Project, performing "I'm in Here" live at the Beagle Freedom Project Gala on 9 September 2013.
"Chandelier" is a song by Australian singer Sia from her sixth studio album, 1000 Forms of Fear (2014). Written by Sia and Jesse Shatkin and produced by Shatkin and Greg Kurstin, the song was released on 17 March 2014 as the lead single from the album. It is an electropop song, featuring electronica, R&B and reggae influences. Lyrically, the song has a melancholic theme, detailing the demoralisation and rationalisation of alcoholism through the typical thought process of a "party girl".
"Chandelier" received mainly favourable reviews from music critics, who praised Sia's songwriting and vocals. Commercially, the single attained widespread success, charting within the top five on record charts in 20 countries including France, Italy, Poland, Norway, Australia and New Zealand. In the United States, the single peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Sia's first single as a lead artist to appear on the Hot 100, as well as her first top ten single as a lead artist on the chart, and has sold over 2 million copies in the country. The song received nominations at the 57th Grammy Awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, with its video receiving a nomination for Best Music Video.
A music video for the song, directed by Sia and Daniel Askill, and choreographed by Ryan Heffington, features dancer Maddie Ziegler. It was well received and has been viewed on YouTube more than 1.3 billion times, becoming one of the most viewed YouTube videos ever posted. In support of the single and 1000 Forms of Fear, Sia, often with Ziegler, performed "Chandelier" on a number of television shows, including The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Saturday Night Live, and at the Hollywood Bowl.
Sia performed "Chandelier" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on 19 May 2014, with Ziegler recreating the choreography in the music video. Sia also performed the song on Late Night with Seth Meyers on 9 June 2014, with Girls star Lena Dunham performing new choreography.[68] In July 2014, Sia performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Ziegler taught host Jimmy Kimmel and his sidekick Guillermo some of the dance moves from the music video. In July 2014, Sia performed the song on the VH1's show "SoundClash", along with her songs "Elastic Heart" and "Big Girls Cry" from the album. Sia and Ziegler also performed the song on Dancing with the Stars and at the 2014 We Can Survive Concert at the Hollywood Bowl. In February 2015, Sia and Ziegler, together with actress Kristen Wiig, performed the song in a cluttered apartment set on the 2015 Grammy Awards telecast. For all of these performances, Sia sang the track with her back to the camera. She performed the song on Saturday Night Live in January 2015, veiled, with a sad-looking mime who performed the lyrics in American sign language.
Anthony Santos (born July 21, 1981), known professionally as Romeo Santos, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, featured composer and former lead singer of the Bachata group Aventura. Due to his quick and recent rise to stardom, and his worldwide commercial success both as a member of Aventura and as a solo artist, he is considered by many to be The King of Bachata Music. As a member of Aventura, Santos was a key figure in popularizing Bachata, with hits reaching near the top of the Billboard Latin charts and the top of charts in Europe. In 2002, the band's song "Obsesión" was number one in Italy for sixteen consecutive weeks. After releasing several albums with Aventura, the group went its separate ways. Since then, Romeo has embarked on a solo career which in three years has spawned seven number one songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart and eight number ones on the Tropical Songs chart.
In 2012, he sold out New York City’s famous Madison Square Garden three nights in a row. The performance was then turned into a CD/DVD package and subsequently released as a live album, The King Stays King: Sold Out at Madison Square Garden.
In 2013, Formula, Vol. 1 received a Grammy nomination for Best Tropical Latin Album.
In 2014, he conquered another New York landmark, Yankee Stadium, selling out an entire double-header show. Those concerts made history for Santos, becoming the first Latin artist to headline at the Stadium. The Fania All-Stars last did so, one block south at the old Yankee Stadium on August 24, 1973.
His sophomore album Formula, Vol. 2 was released February 25, 2014. Featuring collaborations with Drake, Nicki Minaj, Marc Anthony, Carlos Santana, Tego Calderón, and Kevin Hart. “Formula Vol.2” became the best selling Latin album of 2014.
Santos was one of the most frequently played artists on jukeboxes across New York City neighborhoods, second only to The Rolling Stones. The analysis, by digital jukebox company TouchTunes and the Wall Street Journal, covered listening patterns in from March 2014 to February 2015.
Santos made his Hollywood debut in the film Furious 7, released April 2015, alongside Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, and Paul Walker.He was nervous about acting in Furious 7 but the cast made him feel welcome.
Santos was born on July 21, 1981, in The Bronx, New York City, to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother. He had a humble upbringing, with his father working construction and his mother staying at home to take care of the family. He joined his church’s choir at age 12. At the same time, he developed a great passion for bachata music, long before it became popular around the world, when he was 15.
Before the success of Aventura, Santos founded a group called “Los Tinellers” ("The Teenagers" written phonetically in a Dominican pronunciation), with his cousin Henry and two friends in the early 1990s. The group released an album called Trampa De Amor, and by the end of the decade, they changed the name of the band to Aventura.
The group, for which Romeo was the main songwriter and producer, released 5 studio albums in a decade, spawning many top 10 hits like "Un Beso", “Los Infieles”, “El Perdedor”, “Por Un Segundo”, “Dile Al Amor” and probably their most popular song, “Obsesión”.
Edward Christopher "Ed" Sheeran (born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, and occasional actor. He was born in Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk. He dropped out of school at 16, and moved to London the following year, in 2008, to pursue a career in music. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project, which caught the attention of Elton John and Jamie Foxx. After signing with Asylum Records, his debut album, + (read as "plus"), was released on 9 September 2011 and has since been certified six-times platinum in the UK. The album contains the single, "The A Team", which earned him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act.
Sheeran's popularity abroad began in 2012. In the US, he made a guest appearance on Taylor Swift's fourth studio album, Red."The A Team" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he performed the song with Elton John. He spent much of 2013 opening for Swift's The Red Tour in North America dates. In late 2013, he performed three sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden as a headline act.
His second studio album, x (read as "multiply"), was released worldwide on 23 June 2014. It peaked at number one in the UK and the US. In 2015, x won the Brit Award for Album of the Year, and he received the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year.His single from x, "Thinking Out Loud", earned him two Grammy Awards at the 2016 ceremony: Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. As part of his world tour, Sheeran played three sold-out concerts at London's Wembley Stadium in July 2015, his biggest solo shows to date.
Sheeran performed a gig in Bristol, which raised £40,000 for a charity that reaches out to street sex workers. "It's good to show insight that these people are real people with real emotions and they deserve the same charity work as anyone else," Sheeran said. "There's a lot more popular charities that get a lot of attention. And with certain subjects like this they're often washed over and people don't necessarily give them the attention they deserve." Tickets were available to those taking part in the charity's Give it up for One25 campaign by giving something up for 125 hours and hitting the £40,000 fundraising mark.
Sheeran frequently gives away his clothes to charity shops around his home county Suffolk.[106] An ambassador for East Anglia's Children's Hospice, he has donated clothes to the St Elizabeth Hospice charity shop in Framlingham, including eight bags of clothes to the shop in February 2014, and eight items of clothing he wore at the 2015 Grammy Awards.
On 15 November 2014, Sheeran joined the charity supergroup Band Aid 30 along with other British and Irish pop acts, recording the latest version of the track "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, to raise money for the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa.
In November 2015, Sheeran supported the No Cold Homes campaign by the UK charity, Turn2us. Sheeran was one of nearly thirty celebrities, which included Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons and Hugh Laurie, to donate items of winter clothing to the campaign, with the proceeds used to help people in the UK struggling to keep their home warm in winter.
Personal life
In early 2011, after securing recording and publishing deals, Sheeran purchased a farm near Framlingham, Suffolk, and had it renovated. He has stated that he hopes to raise a family there. He also bought a house in south London in early 2014. Sheeran lived between Hendersonville, Tennessee and Los Angeles for the duration of 2013.Sheeran is the second cousin of broadcaster Gordon Burns, who hosted the British game show The Krypton Factor.
Sheeran was in a relationship with Scottish singer-songwriter, Nina Nesbitt (who was in his music video for "Drunk") in 2012, before breaking up. Nesbitt is the subject of Sheeran's songs, "Nina" and "Photograph", while most of Nesbitt's album, Peroxide, is about Sheeran. In January 2014, Sheeran started dating Athina Andrelos, who works for British celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver. She is the inspiration of Sheeran's song, "Thinking Out Loud".They broke up in February 2015.As of September 2015, Sheeran is dating his former high school friend, Cherry Seaborn.
In June 2015, Forbes listed his earnings at $57 million for the previous 12 months, and ranked him the 27th-highest-earning celebrity in the world. On 19 October 2015, Sheeran received an honorary degree from the University Campus Suffolk in Ipswich for his "outstanding contribution to music". Sheeran comments, "Suffolk is very much where I call home. Receiving this recognition is a real privilege."
Sheeran was born in Hebden Bridge, a market town in Calderdale near Halifax, West Yorkshire. His family moved to Framlingham in Suffolk when he was a child. He has an older brother named Matthew, who was born on 17 March 1989. Matthew studied music at university and is now a classical composer. Their parents, John and Imogen, are London-born. His paternal grandparents were Irish; according to Sheeran, his father hailed from "a very large" Catholic family. His paternal grandfather, Bill, was a Protestant and his wife, Ann, was Catholic.Bill and Ann retired in Gorey, County Wexford.
John is an art curator and lecturer, and Imogen is a culture publicist turned jewellery designer. His parents ran Sheeran Lock, an independent art consultancy, from 1990 to 2010.Their work usually took them to London, and they spent their weekends travelling with their children, while playing music. Sheeran's early childhood memories include listening to the records of Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton. According to Sheeran, the album that first introduced him to music was Van Morrison's Irish Heartbeat.
Elena Jane "Ellie" Goulding, born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. Her career began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who later became her manager and A&R. After signing to Polydor Records in July 2009, Goulding released her debut extended play, An Introduction to Ellie Goulding, later that year.
In 2010, she became the second artist to top the BBC's annual Sound of... poll and win the Critics' Choice Award at the Brit Awards in the same year. She released her debut studio album, Lights, in 2010; it debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and has sold over 850,000 copies in the UK. Her cover of Elton John's "Your Song" reached number two in the UK in December 2010 and on 29 April 2011 she performed the song at the wedding reception of Prince William and Catherine Middleton at Buckingham Palace. The album's title track, "Lights", was released in the US in March 2011, and peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Goulding's second studio album, Halcyon, was released in October 2012. "Anything Could Happen" preceded the album as the lead single. Halcyon debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and after 65 weeks reached number one. Halcyon debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200. Halcyon Days, a repackaged edition of Halcyon, was released on 23 August 2013; it included new singles including "Burn", which became her first UK number-one single. At the 2014 Brit Awards she received the award for British Female Solo Artist. Goulding released her third studio album, titled Delirium, on 6 November 2015, with "On My Mind" as the album's lead single. In December 2015, she received her first Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Solo Performance for her single "Love Me like You Do".
Goulding is a keen runner, aiming to run six miles every day and in 2010 announced plans to run a marathon. In support of her second EP, Run into the Light, she invited a small number of fans through her Facebook pages to run with her in seven different cities on her UK tour, and said that she would be doing the same across Europe and the US. Goulding ran the inaugural Nike Women Half Marathon in Washington, D.C. on 28 April 2013, earning a time of 1:41:35. She also follows a vegan diet.
Goulding is close friends with American folk singer Lissie. The two toured the United Kingdom together in 2010. She is also good friends with New Zealand indie pop singer Lorde and American pop singers Katy Perry and Taylor Swift; she appeared in the music video for the latter's song "Bad Blood," which was released in May 2015.
In 2010, Goulding participated in the Bupa Great North Run for the British Heart Foundation. In 2011, Goulding ran the She Runs LA event for charity Students Run LA, which aims to increase access to sport for less privileged children across the Los Angeles Unified School District.
In 2012, she partnered with Pandora Radio, one dollar for each sale of her mixtape was donated to the Free the Children charity. On 1 June 2013, Goulding performed at Gucci's global concert event in London whose campaign "Chime for Change" aims to raise awareness of women's issues in terms of education, health and justice.
On 15 November 2014, Goulding joined the charity group Band Aid 30 along with other British and Irish pop acts, recording the latest version of the track "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, to raise money for the 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa.
Although Ellie Goulding signed to Polydor Records in July 2009, her debut single, "Under the Sheets", was released through the independent label Neon Gold Records as a deliberately low-key debut, appearing digitally in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2009. The single peaked at number fifty-three on the UK Singles Chart following a successful appearance on Later... with Jools Holland (performing "Under the Sheets" and "Guns and Horses") and a UK tour supporting Little Boots. "Wish I Stayed" was available as a free download as Single of the Week on iTunes Store UK from 22–28 December 2009.
Before the release of her debut album, Goulding won the BBC Sound of 2010 poll, which showcases the music industry's top choices for rising stars. She also won the Critics' Choice Award at the 2010 Brit Awards, making her the second artist to win both in the same year. Goulding co-wrote "Love Me 'Cause You Want To" for Gabriella Cilmi's second album, Ten, and three songs ("Remake Me + You", "Notice", "Jumping into Rivers") for Diana Vickers's debut album, Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree.Her song "Not Following" was used by German singer Lena on her debut album My Cassette Player. Goulding was featured on rapper Tinie Tempah's single "Wonderman" from his debut studio album Disc-Overy (2010).
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band that originated in Los Angeles, California. Before the current group was established, the original four members, Adam Levine (lead vocals, lead guitar), Jesse Carmichael (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) Mickey Madden (bass guitar) and Ryan Dusick (drums), formed a band known as Kara's Flowers in 1994, while they were still in high school. The band, which self-released an album called We Like Digging?, then signed to Reprise Records and released the album The Fourth World in 1997. After the album garnered a tepid response, the band parted ways with the record label and the members attended college.
In 2001, the band changed its image by adding guitarist James Valentine and pursuing a new direction under the name Maroon 5. At this point, Carmichael switched to playing keyboards, which has since become his main instrument in the band. After these changes, Maroon 5 signed with a subsidiary of J Records, Octone Records, and released their debut album, Songs About Jane, in June 2002. The album's lead single, "Harder to Breathe", received heavy airplay, which helped the album to debut at number six on the Billboard 200 chart. In 2004, the album went platinum and has been dubbed "the sleeper hit of the millennium". The band won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2005. For the next few years, Maroon 5 toured extensively worldwide in support of Songs About Jane and produced two live recordings: 2004's 1.22.03.Acoustic and 2005's Live – Friday the 13th. In 2006, Dusick officially left Maroon 5 after suffering from serious wrist and shoulder injuries and was replaced by Matt Flynn. The band then recorded their second album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long and released it in May 2007. The album reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart and the lead single, "Makes Me Wonder", became the band's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100.
In September 2010, Maroon 5 released their third studio album Hands All Over, which was re-released in 2011 to include the single "Moves like Jagger" featuring Christina Aguilera. While the original version of the album received mixed reviews, "Moves like Jagger" reached the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100. The band released their fourth album, Overexposed, on June 26, 2012. All four singles of the album were highly successful on the Billboard Hot 100, including second single "One More Night", which reached number one for 4 weeks straight. Keyboardist PJ Morton became an official member of the band in 2012, after gaining little success with his previous albums as an R&B vocalist. The addition of PJ Morton meant that for the first time, Maroon 5 had six official members. The same year, the bass player of Phantom Planet, Sam Farrar, became an official touring member, playing many different instruments (including guitars, percussion and additional keyboards), singing backing vocals and also providing samples on other popular bands. In 2014, the band signed with Interscope Records and released their fifth studio album, V. Maroon 5 has sold more than 20 million albums and 70 million singles worldwide.
The band has cited Elita 5, Michael Jackson, The Police, the Bee Gees, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Tonic, Prince, Tupac Shakur and Marvin Gaye as influences. Adam Levine has also cited Billy Joel as an influence. Furthermore, guitarist James Valentine said he was influenced by guitarists like Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell and John Scofield, as well as the rock band Queens of the Stone Age. The band's songs tend to be very guitar-heavy, often accompanied by piano or synthesizer. The theme in most of their songs is love, frequently lost love; songs like "This Love", "Makes Me Wonder" and "Misery" have a very cynical tone, often expressing dissatisfaction with a relationship, while their more heartfelt and emotional songs such as "She Will Be Loved" and "Never Gonna Leave This Bed" express a longing for a romantic relationship. "Makes Me Wonder" has a secondary theme, in which Levine expresses his disillusionment and frustration with the state of American politics and the Iraq War.
The band's style changes from album to album. Songs About Jane consists of songs about Levine's ex-girlfriend Jane. On It Won't Be Soon Before Long, however, the songs are less personal and are more electric with more use of synthesizers, creating a retro feel. Hands All Over continues the band's lost love theme, along with songs about infatuation and was re-released in 2011, with the hit single "Moves like Jagger", an electropop song which represents a drastic change in the band's sound, with more of a dance feel to it. "It was one of those songs that was definitely a risk," Levine said. "It's a bold statement. We've never really released a song like that. But it's exciting to do something different, do something new. I'm just glad that everyone likes it." James Valentine called Overexposed "our most 'pop' record ever and we weren’t shy about really going for it." They also have experimented with new wave and disco sounds on several albums.
Meghan Elizabeth Trainor (born December 22, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Born and raised in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Trainor wrote, recorded, performed, and produced three independently-released albums between ages 15 and 17. In 2011, she signed a publishing deal with Big Yellow Dog Music, and pursued a career in songwriting.
After signing a record deal with Epic Records in 2014, Trainor rose to fame with the release of her major-label debut studio album, Title (2015). The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, went on to sell over one million copies domestically, and produced three top 10 singles: "All About That Bass", "Lips Are Movin" and "Like I'm Gonna Lose You". Her second major release Thank You was released in 2016, preceded by its lead single "No" which became a top three hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Prominently influenced by the 1950s and 1960s eras in music, Trainor's music has been noted for its retro style aesthetic. Common themes in her lyrics include subjects of modern womanhood, body image, and empowerment. Trainor's work has been recognized with several awards and nominations, including a Grammy Award, Music Business Association's Breakthrough Artist of the Year accolade and two Billboard Music Awards.
Trainor is identified as a singer-songwriter. Her sound is predominantly what is referred to as "Neo-Retro", a "mix-mash" of R&B, pop, doo-wop and blue-eyed soul. Trainor's debut EP Title comprises throwback style sound, and 1950s doo wop-inspired songs that straddle the line between modern R&B and melodic pop. Her work is reminiscent of the famous Brill building composers, such as Goffin-King, Greenwich-Barry, etc.; comparisons also to that of American singer-songwriters Neil Sedaka, Jenny Lewis, Neko Case, and to 1960s singers such as Connie Francis, Brenda Lee, Betty Everett, Lesley Gore, and Eydie Gormé. Trainor plays a variety of musical instruments: bass, guitar, ukulele, keyboard, trumpet, percussion, and piano. She feels that a song's melody is more important than its lyrics. She composes in a variety of genres, including country, hip hop, reggae and soca, but prefers doo-wop and reggae.
Trainor's vocals have been described as "soulful" and "highly resonant", and "a reedy cross" between Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. Chris DeVille of Stereogum opined that she is "a very capable singer", and wrote that Trainor "projects lots of character and emotion within a relatively limited range". When singing, Trainor uses a Southern American English patois. The harmonies in her music have been likened to those of 1960s girl groups. Trainor's lyrics are recognized to contemplate 21st-century womanhood. She has said that she aims to "break the chains" of the "absurd standards of thinness" promoted by the beauty industry with her lyrics.
In 2014, Rolling Stone deemed Trainor the year's "Most Unlikely Pop Star". While promoting her first album, she was noted for serving as an inspiration to youth who struggle with body image and bullying.The Guardian called her "the poster girl for the larger woman" and "pop's emblem for self-acceptance", while Fashion Times wrote that Trainor "inspired many women to embrace their curves". Online magazine Mic, however, has described Trainor as anti-feminist suggesting she seeks self-worth based on the opinions of men, but in an interview in 2016, Trainor clarified that she is a feminist after learning more about it.Trainor's fanbase is collectively identified as Megatrons. In March 2015, Trainor partnered with FullBeauty Brands to relaunch their website fullbeauty.com, and to help create clothing for women of different body types.
See also: List of awards and nominations received by Meghan Trainor
During her career, Trainor has won three ASCAP Pop Music Awards, two Billboard Music Awards, a People's Choice Award, and received one Grammy Award.She was named the "Breakthrough Artist of the Year" by the Music Business Association in 2014. Among her achievements, Trainor became the 21st woman to land her debut single at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, and the fifth female artist to follow up her chart-topping debut single with another top 5 release. On the Billboard Year-End charts for 2015, Trainor was listed seventh on Top Artists and second on Top Female Artists.
Meghan Elizabeth Trainor was born on December 22, 1993 in Nantucket, Massachusetts, the daughter of Kelly Anne "Kelli" (Jekanowski) and Gary Trainor, both jewellers. Trainor has two brothers: Ryan (born 1992) and younger brother Justin. Trainor began singing at age six, initially singing with her father at church. She began writing music at age 11, starting with her own arrangement of the song "Heart and Soul" (1938).Trainor attributes her early career progress to being born into a musical family. Trainor's father was a music teacher and musician, and plays organ in a Methodist church. Her great-uncle Bob LaPalm was in a prior band with Al Anderson of the rock band NRBQ, and Trainor's aunt and Trinidadian uncle, Lisa and Burton Toney, are soca music performers and songwriters.
At age 11, Trainor told her father that she wanted to become a recording artist and began writing songs, recording them using GarageBand from her MacBook. "She did a lot by ear," her mother recalls. Her father encouraged her to explore various musical genres. At age 12, Trainor began performing as part of Island Fusion, an "all-purpose party band" which performed covers, soca music, and Trainor's compositions. The band included her aunt, her younger brother, and her father.Trainor played piano, guitar, and bongo drum, and sang with the band for four years. By age 13, Trainor had written her first original song, "Give Me a Chance".When she was in the eighth grade, the family left Nantucket. They temporarily relocated to Orleans, Massachusetts before moving to North Eastham, Massachusetts, where the children attended Nauset Regional High School. At Nauset Regional High, Trainor studied guitar and was a substitute cheerleader.Additionally, Trainor sang and played trumpet in a jazz band for three years.
Major Lazer is an American electronic music group composed of producers Diplo, Jillionaire, and Walshy Fire. It was founded by Diplo and Switch, but Switch left in 2011. Its music spans numerous genres, mixing EDM with reggae, dancehall, reggaeton, house, and moombahton.
Major Lazer has released three full-length albums: Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do in 2009, Free the Universe in 2013, and Peace Is the Mission in 2015. It also released an EP entitled Apocalypse Soon in March 2014, which featured vocal contributions from Pharrell Williams and Sean Paul. In addition, Major Lazer has also produced Reincarnated, the debut reggae album by Snoop Dogg under his "Snoop Lion" persona.
On February 8, 2015, during the Grammy Award ceremony, Diplo revealed details of the third Major Lazer album. He confirmed that the album would incorporate artists such as Ariana Grande, Ellie Goulding and Pusha T. It is called Peace Is the Mission. The first single, "Lean On", is a collaboration with French producer DJ Snake and features vocals from Danish recording artist MØ. The album was released on June 1, 2015.
In an interview with inthemix on May 22, 2015, Walshy Fire announced that their fourth studio album is called Music Is the Weapon and that it would be released late 2015 or early 2016. Diplo revealed on the 27th of April 2015 during an interview with Belgian radio station Studio Brussel that they have been working on a track with Belgian singer Selah Sue. He added that it might appear on their next album. Selah Sue herself confirmed this during an interview with Studio Brussels on May 4, 2015.
On November 27, 2015, Major Lazer released a re-issue of their third studio album Peace is the Mission, re-titled as "Peace is the Mission: Extended" which features five additional songs.
Major Lazer had over 27 Million Shazams in 2015. As an artist, Diplo along with his other collaboration Jack Ü, had the greatest number of Shazams in 2015.
Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysle, born 8 May 1975), known professionally as Enrique Iglesias, is a Spanish singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is widely regarded as the King of Latin Pop. Iglesias started his career in the mid-1990s on an American Spanish Language record label Fonovisa Records under the name Enrique Martinez, before switching to the stage name Enrique Iglesias and becoming one of the biggest stars in Latin America and the Hispanic market in the United States. By the turn of the millennium, he had made a successful crossover into the mainstream market and signed a multi-album deal with Universal Music Group for US $68,000,000 with Universal Music Latino to release his Spanish albums and Interscope Records to release English albums. In 2010, he parted with Interscope Records and signed with another Universal Music Group label Republic Records to release bilingual albums. In 2015, Enrique parted ways with Universal Music Group after a decade. He signed with Sony Music; his upcoming albums will be by Sony Music Latin in Spanish and RCA Records in English.
Iglesias has sold over 137 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling Spanish artists ever.Iglesias has scored over 150 number-one hits across all of the Billboard charts. He has had five Billboard Hot 100 top five singles, including two number-ones, and holds the record for producing 27 number-one Spanish-language singles on the Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks. He also holds the record for most number-one hits and the longest-running number-one hit on that chart. Iglesias also has 13 number-ones on Billboard's Dance charts, more than any other male artist. He is the best-selling Latin artist in the UK and the best-selling international artist in India.
Iglesias received surgery in 2003 to remove a circular mole from the right side of his face, citing possible concerns that over time it could become cancerous.
In late 2001, he started dating tennis player Anna Kournikova. They reportedly split in October 2013 after almost 12 years together. However, media outlets reported in early 2014 the couple was either still together, or back together. Enrique Iglesias built a new mansion for himself on the beaches of Miami, estimated to be worth approximately $26 million.
In 2010, Iglesias was included in the project Download to Donate started by an organization Music for Relief started by American rock band Linkin Park. He was co-producer of the album Download to Donate for Haiti, a charity album for the 2010 Haiti earthquake, with the co-vocalist of the band Mike Shinoda. Both of them promoted the album at various venues, one of them is Larry King Live, where he and Shinoda explained the project.
In 2013, Iglesias has urged his followers to donate money through the American Red Cross to help the victims of the deadly Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. The typhoon struck one month after the Philippines was hit by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake which destroyed the homes and livelihoods of around 350,000 people. Iglesias was heartbroken by the devastation and loss suffered by the people from his mother's homeland. The cause was also promoted by rockers from American band Journey, rapper The Game and pop singer Justin Bieber.
Iglesias has supported City of Hope, Habitat For Humanity, Help for Heroes, Live Earth, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Music for Relief, Special Olympics, The Salvation Army, and charitable causes like Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation and hunger relief.
Little Baby Bum (also known as LBB and LittleBabyBum) is the number one educational channel on YouTube (by both number of views and subscribers, of all time), with more than 6.7 million subscribers and over 8.2 billion views, making it the second most viewed UK channel of all time, and the 11th most viewed channel of all time (worldwide).
Little Baby Bum specialises in 3D animation videos of both traditional nursery rhymes and their own original children's songs. London based Derek Holder teamed up with his wife to design videos that reflected classic nursery rhymes, with a modern aesthetic. Little Baby Bum is also available in four additional languages; Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian and German.
LBB Junior, a spin-off from LittleBabyBum, aimed at older children (4 to 6 years) was launched on 3rd June 2016
Little Baby Bum uploaded their first video, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, to YouTube on 29 August 2011. This was followed up, four months later, with their second upload, Baa Baa Black Sheep, a more complex and slightly longer video.
Little Baby Bum's popularity increased after the release of their 2nd compilation videos of approximately one hour of duration, simply by stringing individual videos into long form videos. The initial thinking was so that “parents wouldn't have to keep pressing the play button after each video had finished”.
In 2014, the OpenSlate company published a list with YouTube’s 10 most profitable channels of 2014, including Little Baby Bum in 4th position.
With over 1.45 billion views, Little Baby Bum's “Wheels On The Bus | Plus Lots More Nursery Rhymes | 54 Minutes Compilation” is the eighth most viewed video of all time and the most viewed non-music video of all time. This video has the highest watch time of any video on YouTube, surpassing Psy's "Gangnam Style", is the first non-music video to reach 1 billion views and is the 10th fastest video to get to 1 billion views.
LittleBabyBum signed a licensing deal to launch a set of plush toys of its main characters, extracted from the traditional English nursery rhymes, like Incy Wincy Spider or Baa Baa Black Sheep. This deal has been signed with Commonwealth Toy, the same company that makes plush versions of Angry Birds, and also distributes products for Care Bears and SpongeBob. This is the first time that a children's YouTube channel makes the move to physical toys.
The plush toys went on general release on 18th May 2016.
A deal with Parragon Books has also been signed with the initial books available in Q4 2016.
Held just a short distance across the causeway, Malaysia’s Goodvibes Festival is making waves for all the good reasons. The two-day event will feature the likes of indie-rock heartthrobs The 1975, indie-dance band Two Door Cinema Club, Australian indie stalwarts The Temper Trap, brilliant Laneway Festival alumnus Purity Ring, ambient beatsmith Ta-Ku, electronic indie DJ Ryan Hemsworth and see them performing at new venue The Ranch @ Gohtong Jaya, Genting Highlands on August 12 & 13!
Yesterday, in an announcement on Facebook, Goodvibes Festival added UK house stalwarts Disclosure, post-punk revival outfit Tokyo Police Club, “Uptown Funk” producer Mark Ronson, and indie folk duo Angus & Julia Stone to the already very hectic line-up.
As listed on the Goodvibes website, Singaporeans can travel to Gohtong Jaya in various ways by coach, ranging from Transtar Coach Solitaire, WTS Travel, The One Travel, 707 INC, KKKL Express, and Konsortium express.
Alternatively, Singaporeans can take the Aerobus from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KILA), the KILA Express Rail Link to Resorts World Genting, or by taxi.
Tickets are priced at RM 955 (SGD $317) for two-day passes for two people (Inclusive of two nights stay at Hotel PKG), and RM 350 (SGD $116.50) for two-day passes.
Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is an English musician, DJ, singer, songwriter and record producer. Although his debut album Here Comes the Fuzz failed to make an impact on the charts, his second album Version reached number two in the UK and included three top 10 singles. This success won him a Brit Award for Best British Male Solo Artist in 2008 His third studio album, Record Collection, was released on 27 September 2010, peaking at number two in the UK.
In 2014, Ronson achieved his first UK and US number one single with "Uptown Funk," which featured vocals from Bruno Mars. The song earned Ronson the 2015 Brit Award for British Single of the Year, and the 2016 Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. His fourth studio album, Uptown Special, was released in January 2015, and became his first UK number one album.
Ronson produced Adele's first album, 19. He received acclaim for producing Amy Winehouse's album Back to Black, for which he won the Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, Best Pop Vocal Album and Record of the Year for the single "Rehab".
In 2015, Ronson starred in the documentary film Amy about his late friend Amy Winehouse. His voice features in the film where he talks about his career and relationship with Winehouse and there is footage of Ronson from the recording session of the hit single "Back to Black" from March 2006 and also at Winehouse's funeral in London in July 2011. On 16 October 2015, Ronson became a patron of the Amy Winehouse Foundation. In January 2016, Ronson was nominated for two Brit Awards; Best British Male Solo Artist, and British Producer of the Year, at the 2016 Brit Awards.
At the 2016 Grammy Awards Ronson won two awards for "Uptown Funk", including Record Of The Year. Jason Iley, the head of Sony Music UK and Ronson's UK label Columbia Records, hailed Ronson as “a true gentleman” and "one of the most considerate, kind and humble artists in our industry.” He added "the monumental success of Uptown Funk is so thoroughly deserved, and has established itself as, not only one of the Records Of The Year, but of our lifetime."
Ronson created a video, along with Directors Gary Breslin and Jordan Galland: Circuit Breaker, which is an homage to video game The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
In 2001, Ronson appeared in the Aaliyah music video "More Than A Woman" as a DJ.
2003, with Ronson proposing by creating a crossword puzzle with the message "Will you marry me." Their relationship ended approximately one year later.
Ronson married French actress and singer Joséphine de La Baume, who had previously appeared in the music video for "The Bike Song." They married in Aix-en-Provence, in the South of France, on 5 September 2011.
In 2009 he participated in PETA's "Please Don't Wear Any Fur" campaign. In 2009 Ronson was voted the most stylish man in the UK by GQ magazine. In 2015 he was named one of the magazine's 50 best dressed British men.
In 2011, a portrait of Ronson was painted by British artist Joe Simpson; the painting was exhibited around the UK, including a solo exhibition at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Ronson divides his time between London and New York. Since childhood, he has been a fan of English Premier League football club Chelsea F.C., and has also been a fan of the New York Knicks basketball team.
The slow-burning "More and More" showcases Khalifa singing throughout his latest weed-loving, laid-back tune. "I wish it was legal to get high," he yearningly laments on the chorus over a low-key, loping beat. The accompanying artwork features the rapper photoshopped into a photo of Warriors' Steph Curry, while model Roni Rose appears to be giving him a flirtatious look.
Khalifa will be featured on the forthcoming Suicide Squad soundtrack, which will be released on Friday. The album's "Sucker for Pain" features Khalifa alongside Lil Wayne, Imagine Dragons, Logic, Ty Dolla $ign and X Ambassadors. Last month, the rapper released Rude Awakening with supergroup TGOD Mafia, which features Khalifa, Juicy J and TM88 and he also unveiled the video for "Celebrate" with Rico Love, which hails from Khalifa. The rapper recently filed a lawsuit against his manager seeking to terminate the 360 contract he signed in 2005.
Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, songwriter, and actor. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. His Eurodance-influenced single, "Say Yeah", received urban radio airplay, charting on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot Rap Tracks charts in 2008.
Khalifa parted with Warner Bros. and released his second album, Deal or No Deal, in November 2009. He released the mixtape Kush and Orange Juice as a free download in April 2010; he then signed with Atlantic Records. He is also well known for his debut single for Atlantic, "Black and Yellow", which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album for the label, Rolling Papers, was released on March 29, 2011. He followed that album with O.N.I.F.C. on December 4, 2012, which was backed by the singles "Work Hard, Play Hard" and "Remember You". Wiz released his fourth album Blacc Hollywood on August 18, 2014, backed by the lead single We Dem Boyz. In March 2015, he released "See You Again" for the soundtrack of the film Furious 7 and the song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Khalifa was born Cameron Jibril Thomaz on September 8, 1987 in Minot, North Dakota, to parents serving in the military. His parents divorced when Khalifa was about three years old. His parents' military service caused him to move regularly. Khalifa lived in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan before settling in Pittsburgh where he attended Taylor Allderdice High School.
His stage name is derived from Khalifa, an Arabic word meaning "successor", and wisdom, which was shortened to Wiz when Khalifa was a young boy.Khalifa stated to spinner.com that the name also came from being called "young Wiz 'cause I was good at everything I did, and my granddad is Muslim, so he gave me that name; he felt like that's what I was doing with my music." He got a tattoo of his stage name on his 17th birthday.He cites Jimi Hendrix, Camp Lo, The Notorious B.I.G. and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony as musical influences.
Khalifa began dating model Amber Rose in early 2011. The couple became engaged on March 1, 2012, and married on July 8, 2013. They have one son.
On September 24, 2014, it was announced that Rose would be filing for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences". As of 2015, Khalifa and Rose have joint custody of their son.
Pittsburgh City Council declared 12-12-12 (December 12, 2012) to be Wiz Khalifa Day in the city. Khalifa graduated from Pittsburgh's Taylor Allderdice High School and in January 2012, purchased a home in nearby Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
Khalifa is open about his use of cannabis, and he has claimed in many interviews that he spends $10,000 a month on cannabis, and also smokes daily. As of early 2014, Khalifa no longer pays for cannabis and is sponsored by "The Cookie Company", a medical marijuana dispenser which sells his "Khalifa Kush" (KK) strain.
On May 31, 2016, Khalifa sued former manager Benjy Grinberg and Rostrum Records because of a "360 deal" that he signed which he claimed was unfair. Khalifa is seeking $1 million in compensation as well as punitive damages and attorney fees. He and Grinberg split after 10 years of partnership.
After Lakers star Nick Young said that the wedding plans for his nuptials to Iggy Azalea are "a nightmare in its own," the rapper has taken to her Instagram to seemingly reveal one little piece of the puzzle: her gown designer.
Azalea’s Instagram, true to form, had no caption, so we can only make assumptions. But she shared a snap of an ivory fabric swatch and the top of a drawing on Giorgio Armani Prive boards, leading us to assume she’s working with the Italian atelier on a customized creation for her big day. The Aussie singer previously said she would do something "very glamorous and big…maybe a big, long train."
But while we're on the topic of celebrity gossip, it's (not) important to note that pop star Iggy Azalea -- who I actually thought was that skinny old dude with the veiny forearms until like an hour ago -- broke up with boyfriend and current NBA star Nick Young, who I also never heard of.
Bad news for the 31-year-old Laker, great news for the reigning UFC bantamweight champion.
"Man, Iggy Azalea ...you're beautiful, you can do whatever you want," Dominick Cruz told TMZ. "The only thing is, I'm not seven feet tall, but I'll stand on these steps or whatever, let me know. Hit me up."
Cruz is fresh off his unanimous decision win over longtime rival Uriah Faber at UFC 199 and is expected to return to the cage later this fall. Whether or not he walks out to a rap song from his favorite lady, remains to be seen.
Amethyst Amelia Kelly (born 7 June 1990), is an Australian rapper, songwriter, and model. Born in Sydney and raised in Mullumbimby, Azalea moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a career in hip hop music, residing in the southern part of the country. She earned public recognition after releasing YouTube music videos for her songs "Pu$$y" and "Two Times". She signed a record contract with T.I.'s imprint Grand Hustle Records in 2012, after gaining attention from her debut mixtape Ignorant Art.
Azalea's debut studio album, The New Classic (2014), peaked among the top five of several charts worldwide and received generally mixed reviews. It topped the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums making Azalea the first non-American female rapper to reach the summit of the chart. The album was preceded by her debut single "Work", and generated the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping single "Fancy", which made Azalea the fourth female rapper in the history of the chart to reach number one, claiming the longest-leading reign with seven consecutive weeks. Additionally, she was featured on Ariana Grande's single "Problem", which peaked at number two while "Fancy" was number one; Azalea joined The Beatles as the only acts to rank at numbers one and two simultaneously with their first two Hot 100 entries. She also went on to achieve three top ten hits simultaneously on the Hot 100 with the aforementioned songs along with the fifth single from the album, "Black Widow", later that year. Azalea's second studio album Digital Distortion is due in June 2016. Its lead single, "Team", was released on 18 March 2016.
On the 12th June 2016, Azalea was confirmed as a replacement for Dannii Minogue on The X Factor Australia.
Amethyst Amelia Kelly was born in Sydney and brought up in Mullumbimby, New South Wales. Her father, Brendan Kelly, was a painter and comic artist, while her mother, Tanya,cleaned holiday houses and hotels. Azalea lived in a house that her father built by hand from mud-bricks, surrounded by 5 hectares (12 acres) of land. According to Azalea, she has some Aboriginal (Indigenous Australian) ancestry: "My family came to Australia on the First Fleet. My family's been in that country for a long time, over 100 years. If your family's lived in Australia for a long time, everyone has a little bit of Aborigine blood. I know my family does because we have an eye condition that only Aboriginal people have." Azalea has also said that her father "made her look at art]as a teenager", which has always influenced her life and work. She began rapping at age 14. Before embarking on a solo career, Azalea formed a group with two other girls from her neighbourhood: "I was like, I could be the rapper. This could be like TLC. I'll be Left Eye."Azalea eventually decided to disband the group because the other girls weren't taking it seriously: "I take everything I do serious sic. I'm too competitive."
In late 2011, Azalea began dating American rapper ASAP Rocky, whom she met through American record producer Chase N. Cashe. She confirmed that they were dating in a January 2012 interview with Vibe. It was around this time that she got the title of Rocky's breakout mixtape Live. Love. A$AP, tattooed on her fingers. She had claimed she was not the only one with tattoos dedicated to the relationship, just Rocky's were not visible. In July 2012, Rocky stated they were no longer dating. In March 2013, Azalea revealed she had crossed out the "A$AP" part of the tattoo months previously.
She began a relationship with Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Nick Young in November 2013. Azalea and Young were featured in the March 2014 issue of GQ magazine. They resided together in Tarzana, California. On 1 June 2015, they announced their engagement. On 19 June 2016, Azalea announced that she and Young had split.
In March 2015, while talking about her body shape with Vogue, Azalea revealed she had undergone breast augmentation, saying, "I did change something: Four months ago, I got bigger boobs! I'd thought about it my entire life," adding she was sick of having to sew padding into her stage costumes and wanting to be able to wear lingerie without wiring. After initially resolving never to discuss it publicly as she didn't want other girls to feel bad about their own bodies, she concluded, "But then, I decided I wasn't into secret-keeping." In August 2015, she talked about having a nose job with Seventeen magazine, adding, "Your perception of yourself can change a lot over time, so I think it's important to wait and make sure it's the right choice. Plastic surgery is an emotional journey. (...) There are things that I didn't like about myself that I changed through surgery. There are other things I dislike but I've learned to accept. It's important to remember you can't change everything. You can never be perfect."
Iggy Azalea has been nominated for numerous major music awards. Azalea was the first female, and first non-American rapper to be featured on XXL's "Top 10 Freshman List". In 2014, she received two American Music Awards in the Rap/Hip-Hop categories, along with four more nominations, and one MTV Video Music Award for her collaboration with Ariana Grande, along with seven more nominations, making her the most nominated artist at these respective award show editions. She has also won three Teen Choice Awards and one MTV Europe Music Award. Azalea won the 2014 ARIA Award for Breakthrough Artist and the 2015 People's Choice Award for Favorite Hip-Hop Artist.
In November 2014, she was placed at number-one on the Maxim Hot 100 list in Australia because "few Aussies, female or otherwise, have had a bigger 2014 than Iggy." Azalea also ranked at number 46 on the 2014 edition of the AMID (Australasian Music Industry Directory) Power 50, a list that compiles the most influential figures in the Australasian music world. Azalea received four nominations at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Fancy" and Best Rap Album for The New Classic.Azalea joined the list of the 9th Annual Billboard Women in Music honorees as a chart-topper. In late 2014, it was announced she was placed at number-one on Billboard Year-End's Top New Artists chart. In 2015, Azalea also led the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Awards nominations with five. She received twelve nominations at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards.
He's one of the most talked-about celebrities in Hollywood right now, but it's already clear Liam Hemsworth is keen to keep his private life private.
Speaking with NovaFM's Kent 'Smallzy' Small on-air on Wednesday, the 26-year-old hunk jokingly revealed how he keeps tour buses away from driving past his house.
Many companies in Los Angeles offer tours to fans who want to see where their favourite celebrity lives, and the Hunger Games star said they've been 'warned' to say away from his Malibu abode.
But the actor is now defending his young engagement with Miley in a recent interview with Australia's News Corp — even though he doesn't have anything to defend! "I don’t think that was impulsive. That was a well thought-out idea," he said of their first go-around.
Though Miley has been spotted wearing a massive ring while out in public with Liam, the two haven't confirmed whether their relationship is back on just yet. She's also posted photos with his dogs and even wore a Hemsworth t-shirt on Instagram. Whether they're back on or not, they both seem happy...and that's what counts most.
Liam Hemsworth (born 13 January 1990) is an Australian actor. He played the role of Josh Taylor in the soap opera Neighbours and as Marcus on the children's television series The Elephant Princess. In 2010, he starred in the American film The Last Song and in 2012, he starred as Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games film series, based on an adaptation of Suzanne Collins' best-selling novel series. Hemsworth's older brothers, Luke and Chris, are also actors.
Hemsworth was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Leonie (née van Os), a teacher of English, and Craig Hemsworth, a social-services counsellor. His two older brothers are Chris and Luke Hemsworth, who also work as actors. His maternal grandfather is a Dutch immigrant, and his other ancestry is English, Irish, Scottish, and German. Hemsworth has said that though there is competition for jobs among them, it is friendly: "We are brothers and we are always competitive, but it is a good thing, it pushes us and we are always happy whenever someone books something."
On 4 April 2011, Lionsgate announced Hemsworth to be one of the leads, Gale Hawthorne, in The Hunger Games, which was released in 2012. In June 2011, he became attached to war drama Love and Honor which also stars Aimee Teegarden and Teresa Palmer.
In 2013, Hemsworth appeared in Empire State, with Emma Roberts, and Paranoia, co-starring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman and Amber Heard.
He reprised his role, Gale Hawthorne, in three sequels to The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, released in November 2013, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, released in November 2014, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, released in November 2015.
On 11 June 2012, Los Angeles-based non-profit organization Australians in Film announced that Hemsworth would be honoured at an exclusive benefit dinner on 27 June 2012 in Hollywood. Hemsworth attended the invitation only event, held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City, with his then fiancée Miley Cyrus. It was their first public appearance together as an engaged couple. In March 2015, Hemsworth was announced by director Roland Emmerich as a cast member for the upcoming Independence Day sequel.
While filming The Last Song in June 2009, Hemsworth began a relationship with his co-star Miley Cyrus. After three years of having an on-again, off-again relationship, the couple announced their engagement in June 2012. They lived together in Los Angeles but ended their engagement in September 2013. In July 2014, Hemsworth noted that he and Cyrus would "always be best friends" and they had "an instantaneous and powerful connection." Despite rumors in early 2016, stemming primarily from sightings of the couple together at his Malibu home and the reappearance of the engagement ring on Cyrus, Hemsworth confirmed in an interview with TV Week in April 2016 that he was not engaged.
Hemsworth is the ambassador of the Australian Childhood Foundation. Hemsworth talked about his association with the foundation, "I have the best parents you can have. They have worked in child protection for twenty years and have only ever given me encouragement and support. The world is a scary enough place as it is for children. It is important that home should always be a safe place for them." When asked if he believed he was a hero to children, Liam said he did not know, but that he would like to be a good role model.
Hemsworth is vegan and told Men's Fitness that he found "no negatives to eating like this. I feel nothing but positive, mentally and physically."
Mike Rawlings (born August 25, 1954) is the 61st and current Mayor of Dallas after winning the 2011 Dallas mayoral election defeating former Dallas Police Chief, David Kunkle. He is also the former CEO of Pizza Hut and a former chief executive of the Tracy-Locke ad agency. In addition to his work in the city, Rawlings is also a prominent opponent of domestic violence, speaking at many events, including a Ring The Bell event at the United Nations alongside actor Patrick Stewart.
The Borger, Texas, native worked his way up from an entry-level position at TracyLocke, then the largest advertising agency in the South, to become the CEO. Later, he took the helm of the world's largest pizza company, Pizza Hut, and grew it to record sales. Rawlings then served as chairman and managing partner of private equity firm CIC Partners, where he is currently the vice chairman. He provides business counsel and capital, helping to grow small and mid-sized businesses in Dallas and across the country.
Public service has long been important to the 1976 Boston College graduate. He previously served as chair of the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, the city's homeless czar and park board president and he currently sits on the Jesuit College Preparatory Board of Trustees.
Rawlings decided in early 2011 to run for Dallas mayor on a platform that highlighted southern Dallas as the city's greatest untapped resource. Following his June 2011 election, he launched GrowSouth, his signature initiative to spur economic development south of the Trinity River. He's also fought to improve public education, combat poverty, revitalize Fair Park, develop the Trinity River corridor, elevate the city's international profile and turn our city into a top destination for artists all over the world. He's drawn headlines across the country for his bold campaign against domestic violence, Dallas Men Against Abuse. He has presided over the passage of $600 million in new city bonds to fund streets, flood protection and economic development initiatives and he led the City Council through the hiring process for a new city manager and city attorney.
During Rawlings' time in office, Dallas has experienced impressive economic growth. Unemployment as of June 2015 had dropped to 4.1 percent, as compared to 5.5 percent one year earlier. Taxable sales continue to rise and property tax values increased in 2015 by 7.7 percent over the prior year.
Rawlings was re-elected to a second four-year term in May 2015, beating his challenger in all but one of 14 City Council districts. He continues to put Dallas in the national spotlight, in part through his post as an executive committee member for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Rawlings and his wife, Micki, live in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of North Dallas. Their two children, Gunnar, an educator, and Michelle, an artist, also live in the city.
Dallas
Dallas, is a major city in the state of Texas and is the largest urban center of the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the United States. The city proper ranks ninth in the U.S. and third in Texas after Houston and San Antonio. The city's prominence arose from its historical importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries, and its position along numerous railroad lines. The bulk of the city is in Dallas County, of which it is the county seat; however, sections of the city are located in Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties. According to the 2010 United States Census, the city had a population of 1,197,816. The United States Census Bureau's estimate for the city's population increased to 1,300,092 as of July 1, 2015.
The city is the largest economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area (commonly referred to as DFW), which had a population of 7,102,796 as of July 1, 2015, representing growth in excess of 676,000 people since the 2010 census. In 2014, the metropolitan economy surpassed Washington, DC to become the fifth largest in the United States, with a 2014 real GDP over $504 billion. In 2013, the metropolitan area led the nation with the largest year-over-year increase in employment and advanced to become the fourth-largest employment center in the nation (behind New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago) with more than three million non-farm jobs. As of April 2016, the metropolitan job count has increased to 3,498,200 jobs. The city's economy is primarily based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, and transportation and logistics. The city is home to the third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation (behind New York City and Houston). In the latest rankings released in 2013, Dallas was rated as a "beta plus" world city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network, and was 14th in world rankings of GDP by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Located in North Texas, Dallas is the main core of the largest metropolitan area in the South and the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States that lacks any navigable link to the sea. Dallas and nearby Fort Worth were developed due to the construction of major railroad lines through the area allowing access to cotton, cattle, and later oil in North and East Texas. The construction of the Interstate Highway System reinforced Dallas' prominence as a transportation hub with four major interstate highways converging in the city, and a fifth interstate loop around it. Dallas developed as a strong industrial and financial center, and a major inland port, due to the convergence of major railroad lines, interstate highways, and the construction of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, one of the largest and busiest airports in the world.
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