Wham! was a British pop duo formed in 1981 by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! U.K. due to a naming conflict with another band.
George and Andrew met at school in Watford, England, and performed in a band called Executive before changing their name and signing to Innervision records. George took on the majority of roles and tasks within the band - composer, singer and occasional instrumentalist - but the contribution of Andrew as George's confidante, audience, inspiration and spokesman was crucial to the band's initial success. Still teenagers, they promoted themselves as hedonistic youngsters, proud to live a carefree life without work or commitment. This was reflective in their earliest singles.
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band from San Francisco, a pioneer of the LSD-influenced psychedelic rock movement. The band's August, 1969 performance at Woodstock is widely considered one of rock's most memorable moments.
Various successor incarnations of the band have performed under different names, reflecting changing times and performer lineups, known as Jefferson Starship, and later simply Starship.
Tiffany Renee Darwish (born October 2, 1971 in Norwalk, California; sometimes mistakenly reported as being born in Oklahoma, where she has some relatives), better known in the music world as Tiffany, is an American singer who had a number of teen pop hits during the late 1980s.
Tiffany grew up in Norwalk with parents James Robert Darwish (of part Lebanese/Syrian descent) and Janie Wilson (of mostly Irish and some distant Cherokee descent). Her parents divorced when she was very young. When Tiffany was four years old, she learned the words to the song Delta Dawn, and she started singing it often.
Deborah Ann Gibson (usually called Debbie Gibson early in her career, and born August 31, 1970), is an American singer who was initially a teen idol appearing repeatedly on the cover of such teen magazines as Tiger Beat.
In contrast to the prevalence of the name "Debbie" in her teen-idol phase, she showed a preference for "Deborah" even then, and her fans had, before the release of Naked, signalled a departure from that image by using this name to refer to her.
The Bangles was one of the new generation of independent all-women bands that followed The Go-Go's in the early 1980s. The band was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 as The Supersonic Bangs, later shortened to The Bangs. They were forced to change their name to The Bangles when a band from New Jersey, also named The Bangs, threatened to sue.
The original lineup was Susanna Hoffs (guitar, vocals), Debbi Peterson (drums, vocals, bass), and Vicki Peterson (guitar, vocals, bass); this lineup made one 45, "Getting out of Hand" b/w "Call on Me". Annette Zilinskas took over bass duties in 1982 and also played harmonica. This lineup put out an extended play disc titled The Bangles that same year. Zilinskas left in 1983 and was replaced with Michael Steele, formerly of The Runaways.
André Rieu (born October 1, 1949, in Maastricht, Netherlands) is a Dutch violinist and conductor. He is famous for creating an international revival in waltz music and for his many top selling recordings with his "Johann Strauss Orchestra."
Early life and career
Rieu began studying violin at age five. He was raised in a large musical family and his father was a conductor. From an early age he developed a fascination with the orchestra. He studied violin at the "Conservatoire royal" in Liège and in the Conservatorium Maastricht, (1968–1973). His teachers included Jo Juda and Herman Krebbers. From 1974 to 1977, he attended the music academy in Brussels, studying with André Gertler. At the academy, he won the Premier Prix.
Rieu was exposed to nothing but classical orchestral music until university where he performed the "Gold And Silver" waltz by Franz Lehár. He was impressed by the audience reaction to the waltz music and decided to pursue the waltz form. He formed the Maastricht Salon Orchestra and performed as a violinist with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra. In 1987, he created the "Johann Strauss Orchestra" and his own production company. Since then, his melodramatic stage performances, rock-star-style demeanor, and long, wavy hair have helped reinvigorate the waltz-music category.
[edit] Johann Strauss Orchestra
The orchestra began in 1987 with twelve members but now performs with over forty and up to fifty musicians. At the same time that the orchestra first toured Europe, there emerged a renewed interest in waltz music. This revival was mostly in the Netherlands and was ignited by their recording of the "Second Waltz" from Shostakovich's Jazz Suites. As a result, Rieu became known as "The King Of Waltz."
Rieu and the "Johann Strauss Orchestra" have performed throughout Europe, in North America, and Japan. They have won a number of awards including two World Music Awards and have recordings that have gone gold and platinum in many countries around the world, including 8-times platinum in the Netherlands. Rieu records from his own recording studio a wide range of classical music as well as popular and folk music plus music from famous motion picture sound tracks and theater musicals. His lively and colorful orchestral presentations have been able to attract audiences that may not initially be drawn to classical music.
Rieu worked together with his brother, Jean Philippe, for several years, but Jean Philippe has now started his own production company. Rieu's son, Pierre, still works with him. André Rieu plays a 1667 Stradivarius violin.[1] Some of his orchestra's performances have been broadcast in the United Kingdom and the United States on the PBS television network such as the 2003 airing of Andre Rieu Live in Dublin, filmed in Dublin, Ireland, and 2005's André Rieu Live in Tuscany filmed in the Piazza Della Republica in the village of Cortona in Tuscany, Italy.
[edit] Personal life
He has a wife, Marjorie, and two sons: Marc and Pierre. He speaks Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Limburgish.
[edit] Selected discography
* Live in Dublin (2007) * Auf Schönbrunn (2006) * New York Memories (2006) * Songs from My Heart (2005) * Christmas Around the World (2005) * Live in Tuscany (2004) * The Flying Dutchman (2004) * New Year's Eve in Vienna (2003) * André Rieu at the Movies (2003) * Live in Dublin (2003) * Romantic Paradise (2003) * Maastricht Salon Orkest - Serenata (2003) * Love Around the World (2002) * Dreaming (2002) * Live at the Royal Albert Hall (2001) * Musik Zum Träumen (2001) * La Vie Est Belle (2000) * Fiesta! (1999) * Romantic Moments (1998) * The Christmas I Love (1997) * In Concert (1996)
