Michael Jackson Biography ( 1958 – 2009 )

QUICK FACTS
Born: August 29, 1958 (Gary, Indiana)
Died: June 25, 2009 (Los Angeles, California)
Zodiac Sign: Virgo
Height: 5 feet 10 inches
Weight: 112 pounds
Spouses:
Lisa Marie Presley (1994 – 1996)
Debbie Rowe (1996 – 1999)
Children:
–Prince Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr (1997)
–Paris Michael Katherine Jackson (1998)
–Prince Michael Jackson II (2002)
Parents:
–Joseph Jackson
–Katherine Jackson
Siblings:
–Rebbie Jackson
–Jackie Jackson
–Tito Jackson
–Jermaine Jackson
–La Toya Jackson
–Marlon Jackson
–Randy Jackson
–Janet Jackson
–Brandon (deceased)
Famous Pets:
–Ben (rat)
–Bubbles (chimp)
–Thriller and Sabu (tigers)
–Rikki (parrot)
–Louie (llama)
–Muscles and Crusher (snakes)
–Gypsy (elephant)
–Bubba (lion)
–Jabbar and Rambo (giraffes)


Singer, songwriter. Jackson was born August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, to an African-American working-class family. His father, Joseph Jackson, had been a guitarist but had put aside his musical aspirations to provide for his family as a crane operator. Believing his sons had talent, he molded them into a musical group in the early 1960s. At first, the Jackson Family performers consisted of Michael's older brothers Tito, Jermaine, and Jackie. Michael joined his siblings when he was five, and emerged as the group's lead vocalist. He showed remarkable range and depth for such a young performer, impressing audiences with his ability to convey complex emotions. Older brother Marlonalso became a member of the group, which evolved into the The Jackson 5.

Behind the scenes, Joseph Jackson pushed his sons to succeed. He was also reportedly known to become violent with them. Michael and his brothers spent endless hours rehearsing and polishing up their act. At first, the Jackson 5 played local gigs and built a strong following. They recorded one single on their own, "Big Boy" with the b-side "You've Changed," but it failed to generate much interest.

The Jackson 5 moved on to working an opening act for such R&B artists as Gladys Knight and the Pips, James Brown, and Sam and Dave. Many of these performers were signed to the legendary Motown record label, and it has been reported that Gladys Knight may have been the one to tell Motown founder Berry Gordy about the Jackson 5. Impressed by the group, Gordy signed them to his label in 1968.

Relocating to Los Angeles, Michael and his brothers started work on their music and dancing with their father as their manager. They lived with Gordy and also with Supremes singer Diana Ross when they first arrived there. In August 1969, the Jackson 5 was introduced to the music industry at a special event, and later served as the opening act for the Supremes. Their first album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, hit the charts in December of that year. It's first single, "I Want You Back," hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1970.

More chart-topping singles quickly followed, such as "ABC," "The Love You Save," and "I'll Be There." At the age of 13, Jackson launched a solo career in addition to his work with the Jackson 5. He made the charts in 1971 with "Got to Be There" from the album of the same name. His 1972 album, Ben, featured the eponymous ballad about a rat. The song became Jackson's first solo No. 1 single.

For several years, Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 maintained a busy tour and recording schedule, under the supervision of Berry Gordy and his Motown staff. Gordy wrote many of the songs recorded by the group and by Michael Jackson as a solo artist. The group became so popular that they even had their own self-titled cartoon show, which ran from 1971 to 1973.

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Zooey Deschanel Biography

Date of Birth
17 January 1980, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name
Zooey Claire Deschanel

Nickname
Zo

Height
5' 6" (1.68 m)

Mini Biography
Zooey Deschanel was born in 1980 into a showbiz family. Her father, Caleb Deschanel is an Academy Award-nominated cinematographer (perhaps most notably for The Passion of the Christ (2004)) and her mother, Mary Jo Deschanel (née Weir) is an actress who starred in "Twin Peaks" (1990). Driven from an early age to become a successful actress, Zooey got her big break aged 17 playing a model in TV sitcom "Veronica's Closet" (1997). She got her first film role the following year in Mumford (1999), which prompted her to quit university to pursue acting full-time. Mostly thanks to a role in Cameron Crowe's popular biopic, Almost Famous (2000), Zooey's rise to fame has been steadily increasing as the 21st century wears on. Her distinctive acting style found her critical acclaim in 2003 when she was voted Best Actress at the Mar Del Plata Film Festival for her role in David Gordon Green's All the Real Girls (2003). She also gained a Best Female Lead nomination (for All the Real Girls (2003)) at the following year's Independent Spirit Awards, but lost out to Charlize Theron.

Zooey is often compared to golden era Hollywood starlets and is also a talented singer. She has said in interviews that she believes her singing ability was pivotal in gaining the role of Jovie in Elf (2003). She also sang (and acted) in the Disney-produced musical, Once Upon a Mattress (2005) (TV).

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John Mayer Biography

Date of Birth
16 October 1977, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA

Birth Name
John Clayton Mayer

Height
6' 3" (1.91 m)

Trade Mark
Fender Stratocaster


Trivia
Attended Berklee School of Music in Boston

He decided to call the album "Room for Squares", a characteristically wry take on jazz sax player "Hank Mobley" 's 1963 LP, "No Room for Squares".

He is the second of three children

Was lead guitarist of a band called Villanova Junction when he was in high-school.

Has an older brother named Carl and a younger brother named Ben. Ben is 18 months younger than John.

His favorite condiment is A1 Sauce because you can put it "on anything."

Tried out for acting in 6th grade, but never got a manager.

Used to play clarinet.

His favorite song of his own is 3x5 from the album Room for Squares

His favorite foods are sushi, kobe beef and other Japanese food, as well as veal.

His favorite movie is Good Will Hunting (1997).

Drives a steel-blue BMW

His first job was in a supermarket in Fairfield, Connecticut. Later he worked in a gas station.

His parent's ages are 19 years apart

Played flute in elementary school

Started playing guitar at 13

Used to play violin

Wrote his Grammy award winning song "Daughters" in the shower

The movie Back to the Future (1985) inspired him to play guitar.

Drives a silver Porsche Cayenne.

His parents are Richard and Margaret Mayer

Is a big fan of Opie & Anthony and also Ron & Fez on XM Satellite Radio. He debuted the single "Waiting On the World to Change" when he dropped by unannounced at their New York studio on June 14, 2006. Since then, he has regularly checked in with both shows, either calling in to contribute to the topic or just stopping by to hang out.

When he was seventeen, he was suddenly stricken with a cardiac arrhythmia that sent him to the hospital for a weekend. The trauma of the incident sparked his songwriting, and he penned his first lyrics the night he got home. Shortly thereafter, he began suffering from crippling panic attacks that only subsided when he was twenty-six, and even now, he keeps a Xanax (an anti-anxiety drug) with him, just in case.

Grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut with James Blake.

Divides his time between New York City and Los Angeles.

Former boyfriend of Jennifer Aniston, they met at a party [2008].

Good friends with singer Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake and Kanye West.

Broke up with Jennifer Aniston again [March, 2009].

Frequents Los Angeles bar The Roger Room along with Jason Sarayba, Chris Pine, and Samantha Ronson.


Personal Quotes
It's almost charity work, what people have done, turning other people on to my music.

Connecticut's where I built the parts, Boston's where I assembled them, and Atlanta is where I sold them to people.

I love coconut, because when you think you're done eating coconut, 25 minutes later, a little piece of coconut comes out of the back of your mouth, and then you say, "Hey! It's more coconut!" I think any food with that kind of determination needs a little respect.

I am beginning to know what it feels like to be a woman. To have people looking at you all the time. And I'm sorry ladies, I had no idea! But people are looking at me all the time. It's like I have musical boobies!

[crowd cheers] "That was a good response and I'm not going to ask you to do it again. There's nothing I hate more than going to a concert and the guy says 'You having a good time?' and you scream your head off and then the guy says 'I can't hear you!' and I'm like 'The fuck you can't!' I absolutely hate it when guys do that. So I promise you I'll never make you do that. If you scream respectably the first time anyway."

So we've got one more song to play for you tonight...[crowd grumbles]...what, you know there's an encore too. The encore is sort of like the condom in the pocket: everybody knows it's there but nobody talks about it.

I've always said I've got the coolest fans, and I brag about you like grandchildren when I talk to other artists

I've realized you can use a fork as a spoon if you use it rapidly enough.

Ladies, if you want to know the way to my heart...good spelling and good grammar, good punctuation, capitalize only where you are supposed to capitalize, it's done.

About the xBox game 'Halo': "I'm good. I'm fierce. And I'm not some gaming overachiever. I just have a skill. I was born to kill bionically augmented men."

High school is like a spork: its a crappy spoon AND a crappy fork, so in the end, its just plain useless.

Love is a hot shower where your skin never prunes.

I get recognized somewhere in between like local meteorologist and national meteorologist

I love you all so much. We really need to come up with a new name for 'fans'. How about really good friends who can't come over my house.

I don't mind making sissy rock... I'll rock your ass sensitive-style

I'm not really good at keeping my own secrets. I can keep other people's secrets pretty well. Unless they're really good and people deserve to hear them. And I'll disseminate the information accordingly.

[As he ties his shoe onstage] "It's very difficult to tie one shoe with the same tension as the other one, because if one should be a little tighter than the other, the show's gonna suck. I'm a man of symmetry."

If I look a little heavier these days it's because I'm bulking up for a role. I'm playing a musician on tour who eats everything in sight while hardly exercising.

" He's my favorite singer ever "

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Justin Bieber Biography

Musician. Born March 1, 1994, in Ontario, Canada, Justin Bieber was raised by a single mom in the small town of Stratford. Bieber, whose debut album My World hit stores in November 2009, is a true overnight success, having gone from an unknown, untrained singer whose mother posted YouTube clips of her boy performing, to a budding superstar with a big-time record deal, all in just two years.

Bieber always had an interest in music. His mother gave him a drum kit for his second birthday and, as he tells it, he was "basically banging on everything I could get my hands on."

But it was an obscure talent contest in his hometown, in which the 12-year-old Bieber finished second that put him on the road to superstardom. As a way to share his singing with family, Justin and his mom began posting clips of Bieber performing covers of Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and Ne-Yo on YouTube.

Within months, Justin was an Internet sensation, with a large following of fans, and an eager manager arranging for the teenager to fly to Atlanta to consider a record deal. There, Bieber had a chance meeting with Usher, who eventually signed the young singer to a contract.

Bieber's first single, One Time, went certified platinum in his native Canada shortly after its release. His album matched that success, selling more than 137,000 copies within a week of hitting stores.

Bieber now lives and works in Atlanta.

Newest Video :

That Should Be Me 

Next to you 

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Katy Perry Biography

Singer, songwriter, and musician. Born Katheryn Hudson on October 25, 1984, in Santa Barbara, California. Known for her over-the-top fashions, quirky stage props, and catchy songs, Katy Perry has become a pop music sensation.

Fans might be surprised to learn that the singer who writes about sexual exploration in "I Kissed a Girl" grew up in a very conservative family. Both of her parents are pastors, and they refused to let her listen to any rock or popular music. "The only things I was allowed to listen to were the Sister Act 1 and 2 soundtracks," Perry told Entertainment Weekly. She and her two siblings were also not permitted to watch such cable channels as MTV and VH1.

Perry started taking singing lessons around the age of 9 and learned to play guitar when she was 13. Around this time, she began rebelling against her strict upbringing by piercing her own nose. She soon became interested in pursuing a career in music. With her mother, Perry made several trips to Nashville to record a gospel album, Katy Hudson, which was released in 2001. "It reached literally maybe 100 people, and then the label went bankrupt," Perry explained to Entertainment Weekly.

As a teenager, Perry was exposed to other musical influences. One friend introduced her to the music of Queen, which remains one of her favorite groups. "I'm very inspired by Freddie Mercury and how flamboyant and theatrical he was," she told fashion magazine WWD. In high school, she strove to be her own person, choosing not to limit herself to one social group. "I was a hop-around. I hung out with the rockabilly crew, the guys who were trying to be rappers, the funny kids," she told Seventeen magazine.

Focused on her music, Perry got her GED and moved to Los Angeles to work with producer and songwriter Glen Ballard, who had worked with such artists as Christina Aguilera and Alanis Morissette. She was only 17 years old at time, and being on her own proved tough. "It was five years of living in L.A. with no money, writing bad checks, selling my clothes to make rent, [and] borrowing money," she told Seventeen magazine. Perry also experienced a string of disappointments before getting her big break. She and Ballard were unable to find a record company willing to take them on, and her 2004 collaboration with music producers-turned-performers The Matrix was scrapped shortly before the project was to be released. After having three record deals fall apart, Perry finally signed with Capitol in 2007.

Later that year, Perry released her first single, "Ur So Gay." Pop superstar Madonna became a fan of the song, calling it one of her favorites of the moment. The song drew comparisons to the likes of Lily Allen, another singer known for her quirky, cheeky lyrics. Perry said the single was inspired by the emo scene, and the "guys with guy-liner who use flatirons." Still, her career did not fully take off until the release of her next single, "I Kissed a Girl," which reached the top of the charts during the summer of 2008. With that song's success, her debut album, One of the Boys, made it into the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song also earned Perry a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Source : www.biography.com/articles/Katy-Perry-562678


Oh man, this is my favorite female singer right now !!!

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Emma Watson Biography

BORN IN PARIS, FRANCE

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born to Jacqueline and Chris at 6.00pm on 15th April, 1990 in Paris, France. Jacqueline and Chris both work as lawyers. Emma, her parents and her brother Alex (three years Emma’s junior) moved back to England when Emma was five years old. Emma grew up in Oxfordshire but now lives in London during her university holidays.

EMMA DISCOVERS AN INTEREST IN PERFORMING ARTS

In September 1995, at the age of five, Emma attended Lynams School, the nursery school for the prestigious Dragon School in Oxford. Emma first demonstrated her talent for acting at Lynams School when, at the age of seven, she won the Daisy Pratt poetry competition for her recital of The Sea by James Reeves.

THE BIG AUDITION

In September 1998 at the age of eight, Emma moved to the main Dragon School where she would spend a very happy five years between films. In 1999 at the age of nine, Emma was given the opportunity to audition for a role in the upcoming Harry Potter film. The rest, as they say, is history.

FIRST TIME FILMING

In 2000 when she was ten, Emma began filming for the first time with 11 year old Daniel Radcliffe and 12 year old Rupert Grint. She was extremely nervous! But, she had no reason to fear as, on its opening day, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone broke records all over the world and Emma won great critical acclaim for her performance as Hermione Granger. 

THE HARRY POTTER YEARS

Ten years and six films later, Emma continues to play the role she has made her own and is currently filming the last two films in the series Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2. During this time Emma’s global popularity has won her many awards such as the AOL Moviegoer’s Award for Best Actress (won on two occasions and runner-up on another) and countless magazine covers. She was the youngest actress to grace both the covers of Teen Vogue (2005) and the UK’s Tatler magazine (2007) and has since appeared on covers and in magazines such as V, Italian Vogue and Elle. 

OTHER ROLES

In 2007 Emma accepted her first role outside of the Harry Potter films playing Pauline Fossil in the BBC’s drama Ballet Shoes. The drama was incredibly well received and was viewed by a staggering 5.2 million people. The following year, Emma voiced her first animated character (playing  opposite Dustin Hoffman, Sigourney Weaver and Matthew Broderick) with the role of Princess Pea in Universal Pictures' The Tale of Despereaux. 

EDUCATION

Her education remains a passion equally close to Emma’s heart and she has continued to excel in all aspects of school life particularly exams! Aged 13 years old she joined Headington School in Oxfordshire and went on to achieve eight A* and two A Grades in her GCSE Examinations at the age of 16. In 2009 Emma achieved three A levels in English Lit, Art and Geography, and an AS level in History of Art.

BROWN UNIVERSITY, UNITED STATES

She is of course now studying for a Liberal Arts degree in Ivy League Brown University in the United States and she is about to complete her first year which she describes as “the most fantastic experience”. Emma has fully immersed herself in all aspects of university life and in March of this year she appeared in the role of Irina in the University production of Chekhov’s Three Sisters. 

AN EYE FOR FASHION

Emma is also widely respected for her knowledge and interest in fashion, and for the support she has given the British Fashion Industry. She has twice been chosen by Christopher Bailey to feature as the face of Burberry in their Autumn/Winter campaign in 2009 and Spring/Summer campaign in 2010. As well as appearing on the cover of numerous magazines she has been photographed by the world’s top fashion photographers including Karl Lagerfeld, Mario Testino, Nick Knight and Patrick Demarchelier. 

CREATIVE PROJECTS

Emma has also worked closely with organic and fair trade pioneer People Tree, helping founder Safia Minney develop a teenage range for Spring/Summer 2010. As well as promoting fair trade and organic fashion, Emma has been heavily involved in the design and look of the company’s Spring/Summer range 2010 and is credited as Creative Adviser.  Her relationship with People Tree continues as she collaborates with the company on their Spring/Summer collection for 2011.

" I love EMMA WATSON" hehe 

Source : http://www.emmawatson.com/en/Emma/About/

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