title: Great Depression in the United States

text: Between the 1920s and 1930s, The United States began to try the tight money policy to promote economic growth. In terms of the fiscal policy, the US government failed to reach a consensus on the fiscal issue. President Hoover began to expand federal spending, setting up the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to provide emergency assistance to banks and financial institutions that were on the verge of bankruptcy. Hoover's fiscal policy had accelerated the recession. In December 1929, as means of showing government confidence in the economy, Hoover reduced all income tax rates by 1% in 1929 due to the continuing budget surplus. By 1930, the surplus had turned into a fast-growing deficit of economic contraction. In 1931, the US federal fiscal revenue and expenditure changed from the financial surplus to a deficit for the first time (the deficit was less than 2.8% of GDP).


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: By the end of 1931, Hoover had decided to recommend a large increase in taxes to balance the budget; in addition, Congress approved the tax increase in 1932, a substantial reduction in personal immunity to increase the number of taxpayers, and the interest rates had risen sharply, the lowest marginal rate rose from 25% on taxable income in excess of $100,000 to 63% on taxable income in excess of $1 million as the rates were made much more progressive.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: Hoover changed his approach to fighting the Depression. He justified his call for more federal assistance by noting that "We used such emergency powers to win the war; we can use them to fight the Depression, the misery, and suffering from which are equally great." This new approach embraced a number of initiatives. Unfortunately for the President, none proved especially effective. Just as important, with the presidential election approaching, the political heat generated by the Great Depression and the failure of Hoover's policies grew only more withering.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: In terms of the financial reform, since the recession, Hoover had been trying to repair the economy. He founded government agencies to encourage labor harmony and support local public works aid which promoted cooperation of government and business, stabilize prices, and strive to balance the budget. His work focused on indirect relief from state governments and the private sector, which was reflected in the letter emphasizing "more effective supporting for each national committee" and volunteer service -" appealing for funding" from outside the government.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: The commitment to maintain the gold standard system prevented the Federal Reserve expanded its money supply operations in 1930 and 1931, and it promoted Hoover's destructive balancing budgetary action to avoid the gold standard system overwhelming the dollar. As the Great Depression became worse, the call raised for increasing in federal intervention and spending. But Hoover refused to allow the federal government to force fixed prices, control the value of the business or manipulate the currency, in contrast, he started to control the dollar price. For official dollar prices, he expanded the credit base through free market operations in federal reserve system to ensure the domestic value of the dollar. He also tended to provide indirect aid to banks or local public works projects, refused to use federal funds to give aid to citizens directly, which he believed would lower public morale. Instead, he focused on volunteer fundraising to raise money for relief of the needy.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: At the beginning of 1933, during the last few weeks of Hoover's term, the American financial system was paralyzed. The Great Depression had been extended by the interventionist policy for four years. The bank crisis caused serious deflationary pressures. In fact, the worst period of 1932 – the Great Depression had passed, but the recovery was slow and weak. Roosevelt understood that traditional political and financial policy was not an adequate response to the crisis, and his administration chose to pursue the more radical measures of the New Deal.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: During the financial crisis of 1933 culminating in the banking holiday of March 1933, gold had flowed out from the Fed in large quantities, to individuals and companies in the United States worried about bank failures, and to foreign entities worried about the depreciation of the dollar.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: In the spring and summer of 1933, the Roosevelt administration and the Congress took several actions that effectively suspended the gold standard.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: Roosevelt took office on March 4, 1933, and thirty-six hours later, he declared a nationwide bank moratorium in order to prevent a run on the banks by consumers lacking confidence in the economy. He also forbade banks to pay out gold or to export it.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: On March 9, Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act, giving the President the power to control international and domestic gold exports. It also gave the treasury secretary the power to surrender of gold coins and certificates.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: On April 5, Roosevelt ordered all gold coins and gold certificates in denominations of more than $100 turned in for other money. It required all persons to deliver all gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates owned by them to the Federal Reserve by May 1 for the set price of $20.67 per ounce. By May 10, the government had taken in $300 million of gold coin and $470 million of gold certificates.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: On April 20, President Roosevelt issued a formal proclamation prohibiting gold exports and prohibiting the conversion of money and deposits into gold coins and ingots.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: On May 12, the United States weakened the monetary connection with gold further when FDR signed the Agricultural Adjustment Act. Title III of this act, also known as the Thomas amendment, gave the President power to reduce the dollar's gold content by as much as 50%. President Roosevelt also used the silver standard instead of gold to exchange dollars, it determined by the price of the bank.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: On June 5, Congress enacted a joint resolution nullifying the clauses in many public and private obligations that permitted creditors to demand repayment in gold.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: In 1934, the government price of gold was increased to $35 per ounce, effectively increasing the gold on the Federal Reserve's balance sheets by 69 percent. This increase in assets allowed the Federal Reserve to further inflate the money supply.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: The abandonment of the gold standard made the Wall Street stock prices quickly increase; Wall Street's stock trading was exceptionally active.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: The Hoover Administration attempted to correct the economic situation quickly, but was unsuccessful. Throughout Hoover's presidency, businesses were encouraged to keep wage rates high. President Hoover and many academics believed that high wage rates would maintain a steady level of purchasing power, keeping the economy turning. In December 1929, after the beginning phases of the depression had begun, President Hoover continued to promote high wages. It wasn't until 1931 that business owners began reducing wages in order to stay afloat. Later that year, The Hoover Administration created the Check Tax to generate extra government funding. The tax added a two-cent tax to the purchase of all bank checks, directly affecting the common man. This additional cost pushed people away from using checks, so instead, the majority of the population increased their usage of cash. Banks had already closed due to cash shortage, but this reaction to the Check Tax rapidly increased the pace.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: In the "First New Deal" of 1933–34, a wide variety of programs were targeted toward the depression and agriculture in rural areas, in the banking industry, and for the economy as a whole. Relief programs were set up for the long-term unemployed who are routinely passed over whenever new jobs did open up. The most popular program was the Civilian Conservation Corps that put young men to work in construction jobs, especially in rural areas. Prohibition was repealed, fulfilling a campaign pledge and generating new tax revenues for local and state governments. A series of relief programs were designed to provide jobs, in cooperation with local governments.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: The National Recovery Administration (NRA) sought to stimulate demand and provide work and relief through increased government spending. To end deflation the gold standard was suspended and a series of panels comprising business leaders in each industry set regulations that ended what was called "cut-throat competition," believed to be responsible for forcing down prices and profits nationwide. Several Hoover agencies were continued, most notably the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which provided large-scale financial aid to banks, railroads, and other agencies. Reforms that had never been enacted in the 1920s now took center stage, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) designed to electrify and modernize a very poor, mountainous region in Appalachia.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: In 1934–36 came the much more controversial "Second New Deal." It featured Social Security; the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a very large relief agency for the unemployed run by the federal government; and the National Labor Relations Board, which operated as a strong stimulus to the growth of labor unions. Unemployment fell by ⅔ in Roosevelt's first term (from 25% to 9%, 1933–1937). The second set of reforms launched by the Roosevelt Administration during the same period included the Social Security Act of 1935. Insurance and poor relief ("public assistance" or "welfare") are constituent parts of the legislation, which provided pensions to the aged, benefit payments to dependent mothers, crippled children and blind people, and unemployment insurance. The Social Security Act still plays a significant role of the American health and human service system so far. Much of the economy had recovered by 1936, but persistent, long-term unemployment lasted until rearmament began for World War II in 1940.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: The New Deal was, and still is, sharply debated. The business community, with considerable support from such conservative Democrats as Al Smith, launched a crusade against the New Deal, warning that a dangerous man had seized control of the economy and threatened America's conservative traditions. Scholars remain divided as well. When asked whether "as a whole, government policies of the New Deal served to lengthen and deepen the Great Depression," 74% of American university professors specializing in economic history disagreed, 21% agreed with provisos, and 6% fully agreed. Among respondents who taught or studied economic theory, 51% disagreed, 22% agreed with provisos, and 22% fully agreed.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: By 1936, all the main economic indicators had regained the levels of the late 1920s, except for unemployment, which remained high. In 1937, the American economy unexpectedly fell, lasting through most of 1938. Production declined sharply, as did profits and employment. Unemployment jumped from 14.3% in 1937 to 19.0% in 1938. A contributing factor to the Recession of 1937 was a tightening of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve doubled reserve requirements between August 1936 and May 1937 leading to a contraction in the money supply.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: The Roosevelt Administration reacted by launching a rhetorical campaign against monopoly power, which was cast as the cause of the depression, and appointing Thurman Arnold to break up large trusts; Arnold was not effective, and the campaign ended once World War II began and corporate energies had to be directed to winning the war. By 1939, the effects of the 1937 recession had disappeared. Employment in the private sector recovered to the level of the 1936 and continued to increase until the war came and manufacturing employment leaped from 11 million in 1940 to 18 million in 1943.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: Another response to the 1937 deepening of the Great Depression had more tangible results. Ignoring the pleas of the Treasury Department, Roosevelt embarked on an antidote to the depression, reluctantly abandoning his efforts to balance the budget and launching a $5 billion spending program in the spring of 1938 in an effort to increase mass purchasing power.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: Business-oriented observers explained the recession and recovery in very different terms from the Keynesian economists. They argued the New Deal had been very hostile to business expansion in 1935–37. They said it had encouraged massive strikes which had a negative impact on major industries and had threatened anti-trust attacks on big corporations. But all those threats diminished sharply after 1938. For example, the antitrust efforts fizzled out without major cases. The CIO and AFL unions started battling each other more than corporations, and tax policy became more favorable to long-term growth.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: On the other hand, according to economist Robert Higgs, when looking only at the supply of consumer goods, significant GDP growth only resumed in 1946. (Higgs does not estimate the value to consumers of collective goods like victory in war.) To Keynesians, the war economy showed just how large the fiscal stimulus required to end the downturn of the Depression was, and it led, at the time, to fears that as soon as America demobilized, it would return to Depression conditions and industrial output would fall to its pre-war levels. The incorrect prediction by Alvin Hansen and other Keynesians that a new depression would start after the war failed to take account of pent-up consumer demand as a result of the Depression and World War.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: The government began heavy military spending in 1940, and started drafting millions of young men that year. By 1945, 17 million had entered service to their country, but that was not enough to absorb all the unemployed. During the war, the government subsidized wages through cost-plus contracts. Government contractors were paid in full for their costs, plus a certain percentage profit margin. That meant the more wages a person was paid the higher the company profits since the government would cover them plus a percentage.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: Using these cost-plus contracts in 1941–1943, factories hired hundreds of thousands of unskilled workers and trained them, at government expense. The military's own training programs concentrated on teaching technical skills involving machinery, engines, electronics and radio, preparing soldiers and sailors for the post-war economy.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: Structural walls were lowered dramatically during the war, especially informal policies against hiring women, minorities, and workers over 45 or under 18. In 1941, Executive Order 8802 banned racial discrimination in war-related employment, and set up the Fair Employment Practices Commission to enforce this. Strikes (except in coal mining) were sharply reduced as unions pushed their members to work harder. Tens of thousands of new factories and shipyards were built, with new bus services and nursery care for children making them more accessible. Wages soared for workers, making it quite expensive to sit at home. Employers retooled so that unskilled new workers could handle jobs that previously required skills that were now in short supply. The combination of all these factors drove unemployment below 2% in 1943.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: Roosevelt's declining popularity in 1938 was evident throughout the US in the business community, the press, and the Senate and House. Many were labeling the recession the "Roosevelt Recession". In late December 1938, Roosevelt looked to gain popularity with the American people, and try to regain the nation's confidence in the economy. His decision that December to name Harry Hopkins as Secretary of Commerce was an attempt to achieve the confidence he so badly needed. The appointment came as a surprise to most because of Hopkins' lack of business experience, but proved to be vastly important in shaping the years following the recession.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: Hopkins made it his mission to strengthen ties between the Roosevelt administration and the business community. While Roosevelt believed in complete reform through the New Deal, Hopkins took a more administrative position; he felt that recovery was imperative and that The New Deal would continue to hinder recovery. With support from Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace and Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr, popular support for recovery, rather than reform, swept the nation. By the end of 1938 reform had been struck down, as no new reform laws were passed.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: The economy in America was now beginning to show signs of recovery and the unemployment rate was lowering following the abysmal year of 1938. The biggest shift towards recovery, however, came with the decision of Germany to invade France in May 1940. After France had been defeated in June, the U.S. economy would skyrocket in the months following. France's defeat meant that Britain and other allies would look to the U.S. for large supplies of materials for the war.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: The need for these war materials created a huge spurt in production, thus leading to a promising level of employment in America. Moreover, Britain chose to pay for their materials in gold. This stimulated the gold inflow and raised the monetary base, which in turn, stimulated the American economy to its highest point since the summer of 1929 when the depression began.


title: Great Depression in the United States

text: By the end of 1941, before American entry into the war, defense spending and military mobilization had started one of the greatest booms in American history thus ending the last traces of unemployment.


title: Mr. Snuffleupagus

text: Aloysius Snuffleupagus (), more commonly known as Mr. Snuffleupagus or Snuffy for short, is one of the characters on "Sesame Street", a long-running PBS/HBO educational television program for young children. He is a giant anteater-like elephant-creature, without tusks or (visible) ears, and has a long thick pointed tail, similar in shape to that of a dinosaur (like a sauropod; in particular, a "Brontosaurus") or other reptile. He has long thick brown, feathery hair and a trunk, or "snuffle", that sometimes drags along the ground. He is Big Bird's best friend and has a younger sister named Alice. He also attends "Snufflegarden".


title: Mr. Snuffleupagus

text: For many years, only Big Bird would see Snuffy because he would always leave while Big Bird went to get the others, leading everyone else to believe Snuffy was simply an imaginary friend, but after "", Big Bird finally succeeded in revealing Snuffy to his friends on Sesame Street. Before that, the main adult characters teased Big Bird when he said he had seen him, because they did not believe there was such an animal, often despite evidence to the contrary (such as an oversized teddy bear that Snuffy had left behind, or segments in which Snuffy interacted with other characters, such as a street scene where Snuffy was seen playing London Bridge with some of the neighborhood kids). This was meant to echo the imaginary friends some young children have.


title: Mr. Snuffleupagus

text: Snuffy's original puppet was skinny and sunken, with an almond-shaped head and bulging green-and-yellow eyes. He also originally was perpetually depressed, speaking in a sad and echoey voice. This appearance was deemed to be somewhat frightening for younger children, so his eyes were made round and white, and his personality friendlier.


title: Mr. Snuffleupagus

text: By the late 1970s, the storylines had the adult characters becoming increasingly frustrated with Big Bird using Snuffy as a scapegoat whenever something went wrong while they were out of the room. In one episode, newspapers on "Sesame Street" carried the front-page headline, "Snuffy's Got To Go!". Some adults gradually began to believe Big Bird, the first being folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie, who sang Big Bird a song about her belief in Snuffy. After Buffy's departure from the show, Linda (Linda Bove), Maria (Sonia Manzano), and Gordon (Roscoe Orman) became believers in Snuffy's existence.


title: Mr. Snuffleupagus

text: In September 2014 Mr Snuffleupagus appeared on "Good Morning America" where he met his hero and purported relative George Stephanopoulos. Stephanopoulos thanked Snuffy for helping a generation of Americans learn to pronounce his name.


title: Mr. Snuffleupagus

text: This running gag ended with the Season 17 premiere of "Sesame Street", episode 2096 (first aired November 18, 1985, following the release of the "Sesame Street" film ""). Big Bird is sick of the grownups not believing him about Snuffy, so he decides to arrange for them to come to his nest and meet Snuffy when he yells the signaling word, "Food!" He chooses this word because he knows the grown-ups will not believe him if he tells them his real reason for inviting them to his nest, and "food" is a more credible lure. When Big Bird calls out the word, Snuffy runs off to tell his mother about the meeting, so once again the grown-ups just miss him. Gordon, wanting to help, suggests to Big Bird that he needs someone to help him keep Snuffy in his nest, and Elmo offers to be the one. Snuffy returns, then tells Elmo he had better go home and brush his fur to prepare for the grown-ups' arrival, but Elmo holds on to his snuffle so he cannot go. Big Bird yells, "Food!" and one by one the adults come and see Snuffy for the first time ever. They are stunned, then cautiously approach, and Big Bird does an "I told you so" routine. Susan (Loretta Long) apologizes on behalf of the group for disbelieving Big Bird for so long. Bob (Bob McGrath) then tells him, "From now on, we'll believe you whenever you tell us something." (Snuffy tells Big Bird they should get what Bob said in writing.) Linda (Linda Bove) then suggests that Big Bird introduce Snuffy to everyone one by one. Then-popular talk show host Phil Donahue, appearing as himself on the episode, was also introduced to Snuffy. The entire "Sesame Street" cast henceforth sees Snuffy regularly on the show.


title: Mr. Snuffleupagus

text: In an interview on the show "Still Gaming", Snuffy's performer, Martin P. Robinson, revealed that Snuffy was finally introduced to the main human cast mainly due to a string of high-profile and sometimes graphic stories of pedophilia and sexual abuse of children that aired on "60 Minutes". According to Carol-Lynn Parente, the writers felt that by having the adults refuse to believe Big Bird, they were scaring children into thinking that their parents would not believe them if they had been abused and that they would just be better off remaining silent. On the same telethon, during Robinson's explanation, Loretta Long uttered the words "Bronx daycare", a reference to reports on New York TV station WNBC-TV of alleged sexual abuse at a Bronx daycare center. This was seen in the documentary "Sesame Street Unpaved".


title: Mr. Snuffleupagus

text: According to sources such as the Sesame Workshop website and "Sesame Street Unpaved", the character's name is spelled "Snuffleupagus". From the '70s up until the late '80s, it was frequently hyphened, resulting in "Snuffle-upagus". Many licensors, closed-captioners, and fans (including websites) misspell the word. Even The Jim Henson Company website errs, spelling the character's name "Snuffulupagus".


title: Mr. Snuffleupagus

text: The 1985 Warner Brothers movie "" depicts his name properly spelled on his mailbox. At the time he was still considered by others as Big Bird's "imaginary" friend. The fact that he was shown with his own real place, as well as him sending Big Bird a very real postcard, set up his revelation to the rest of Sesame Street later that year.


title: Mr. Snuffleupagus

text: Snuffy was first performed by Jerry Nelson, then Michael Earl, and currently Martin P. Robinson. His back end has been performed by Richard Hunt, Brian Meehl, Frank Kane, and currently Bryant Young.


title: 613 commandments

text: The Jewish tradition that there are 613 commandments () or mitzvot in the Torah (also known as the Law of Moses) is first recorded in the 3rd century AD, when Rabbi Simlai mentioned it in a sermon that is recorded in Talmud Makkot 23b.


title: 613 commandments

text: The 613 commandments include "positive commandments", to perform an act (), and "negative commandments", to abstain from certain acts (). The negative commandments number 365, which coincides with the number of days in the solar year, and the positive commandments number 248, a number ascribed to the number of bones and main organs in the human body.


title: 613 commandments

text: Although the number 613 is mentioned in the Talmud, its real significance increased in later medieval rabbinic literature, including many works listing or arranged by the . The most famous of these was an enumeration of the 613 commandments by Maimonides.


title: 613 commandments

text: Many of the cannot be currently observed, following the destruction of the Second Temple, though they still retain religious significance. According to one standard reckoning, there are 77 positive and 194 negative commandments that can be observed today, of which there are 26 commands that apply only within the Land of Israel. Furthermore, there are some time-related commandments from which women are exempt (examples include "shofar", "sukkah", "lulav", "tzitzit" and "tefillin"). Some depend on the special status of a person in Judaism (such as "kohanim"), while others apply only to men or only to women.


title: 613 commandments

text: According to the Talmud, is to be interpreted to mean that Moses transmitted the Torah from God to the Israelites: "Moses commanded us the Torah as an inheritance for the community of Jacob".


title: 613 commandments

text: The Talmud notes that the Hebrew numerical value ("gematria") of the word "Torah" is 611, and combining Moses's 611 commandments with the first two of the Ten Commandments which were the only ones heard directly from God, adds up to 613. The Talmud attributes the number 613 to Rabbi Simlai, but other classical sages who hold this view include Rabbi Simeon ben Azzai and Rabbi Eleazar ben Yose the Galilean. It is quoted in Midrash Shemot Rabbah 33:7, Bamidbar Rabbah 13:15–16; 18:21 and Talmud Yevamot 47b.


title: 613 commandments

text: Many Jewish philosophical and mystical works (e.g. by Baal HaTurim, the Maharal of Prague and leaders of Hasidic Judaism) find allusions and inspirational calculations relating to the number of commandments.


title: 613 commandments

text: The "tzitzit" ("knotted fringes") of the "tallit" ("[prayer] shawl") are connected to the 613 commandments by interpretation: principal Torah commentator Rashi bases the number of knots on a : the word (Hebrew: ציצת (Biblical), ציצית, in its Mishnaic spelling) has the value 600. Each tassel has eight threads (when doubled over) and five sets of knots, totalling 13. The sum of all numbers is 613. This reflects the concept that donning a garment with reminds its wearer of all Torah commandments.


title: 613 commandments

text: Rabbinic support for the number of commandments being 613 is not without dissent. For example, Ben Azzai held that there exist 300 positive . Also, even as the number gained acceptance, difficulties arose in elucidating the list. Some rabbis declared that this count was not an authentic tradition, or that it was not logically possible to come up with a systematic count. No early work of Jewish law or Biblical commentary depended on the 613 system, and no early systems of Jewish principles of faith made acceptance of this Aggadah (non-legal Talmudic statement) normative. A number of classical authorities denied that it was normative:


title: 613 commandments

text: Even when rabbis attempted to compile a list of the 613 commandments, they were faced with a number of difficulties:


title: 613 commandments

text: Ultimately, though, the concept of 613 commandments has become accepted as normative amongst practicing Jews and today it is still common practice to refer to the total system of commandments within the Torah as the "613 commandments", even among those who do not literally accept this count as accurate.


title: 613 commandments

text: However, the 613 do not constitute a formal code of present-day halakha. Later codes of law such as the Shulkhan Arukh and Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh do not refer to it. However, Maimonides' Mishneh Torah is prefaced by a count of the 613 mitzvot.


title: 613 commandments

text: There is no single definitive list that explicates the 613 commandments. Lists differ, for example, in how they interpret passages in the Torah that may be read as dealing with several cases under a single law or several separate laws. Other "commandments" in the Torah are restricted as one-time acts, and would not be considered as "" binding on other persons. In rabbinic literature, Rishonim and later scholars composed to articulate and justify their enumeration of the commandments:


title: 613 commandments

text: The following are the 613 commandments and the source of their derivation from the Hebrew Bible as enumerated by Maimonides:


title: Grouse

text: Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes, in the family Phasianidae. Grouse are presently assigned to the tribe Tetraonini (formerly the subfamily Tetraoninae and the family Tetraonidae), a classification supported by mitochondrial DNA sequence studies, and applied by the American Ornithologists' Union, ITIS, International Ornithological Congress, and others. Grouse inhabit temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, from pine forests to moorland and mountainside, from 83°N (rock ptarmigan in northern Greenland) to 28°N (Attwater's prairie chicken in Texas). Turkeys are closely related to grouse and are also classified in the tribe Tetraonini. The koklass pheasant is also closely allied with them.


title: Grouse

text: Grouse are heavily built like other Galliformes, such as chickens. They range in length from , and in weight from . Males are larger than females—twice as heavy in the western capercaillie, the largest member of the family. Grouse have feathered nostrils. Their legs are covered in feathers down to the toes, and in winter the toes, too, have feathers or small scales on the sides, an adaptation for walking on snow and burrowing into it for shelter. Unlike other Galliformes, they have no spurs.


title: Grouse

text: These birds feed mainly on vegetation—buds, catkins, leaves, and twigs—which typically accounts for over 95% of adults' food by weight. Thus, their diets vary greatly with the seasons. Hatchlings eat mostly insects and other invertebrates, gradually reducing their proportion of animal food to adult levels. Several of the forest-living species are notable for eating large quantities of conifer needles, which most other vertebrates refuse. To digest vegetable food, grouse have big crops and gizzards, eat grit to break up food, and have long intestines with well-developed caeca in which symbiotic bacteria digest cellulose.


title: Grouse

text: Forest species flock only in autumn and winter, though individuals tolerate each other when they meet. Prairie species are more social, and tundra species (ptarmigans, "Lagopus") are the most social, forming flocks of up to 100 in winter. All grouse spend most of their time on the ground, though when alarmed, they may take off in a flurry and go into a long glide.


title: Grouse

text: Most species stay within their breeding range all year, but make short seasonal movements; many individuals of the ptarmigan (called rock ptarmigan in the US) and willow grouse (called willow ptarmigan in the US) migrate hundreds of kilometers.


title: Grouse

text: In all but one species (the willow ptarmigan), males are polygamous. Many species have elaborate courtship displays on the ground at dawn and dusk, which in some are given in leks. The displays feature males' brightly colored combs and in some species, brightly colored inflatable sacs on the sides of their necks. The males display their plumage, give vocalizations that vary widely between species, and may engage in other activities, such as drumming or fluttering their wings, rattling their tails, and making display flights. Occasionally, males fight.


title: Grouse

text: The nest is a shallow depression or scrape on the ground—often in cover—with a scanty lining of plant material. The female lays one clutch, but may replace it if the eggs are lost. She begins to lay about a week after mating and lays one egg every day or two; the clutch comprises five to 12 eggs. The eggs have the shape of hen's eggs and are pale yellow, sparsely spotted with brown. On laying the second-last or last egg, the female starts 21 to 28 days of incubation. Chicks hatch in dense, yellow-brown down and leave the nest immediately. They soon develop feathers and can fly shortly before they are two weeks old. The female (and the male in the willow grouse) stays with them and protects them until their first autumn, when they reach their mature weights (except in the male capercaillies). They are sexually mature the following spring, but often do not mate until later years.


title: Grouse

text: Grouse make up a considerable part of the vertebrate biomass in the Arctic and Subarctic. Their numbers may fall sharply in years of bad weather or high predator populations—significant grouse populations are a major food source for lynx, foxes, martens, and birds of prey. However, because of their large clutches, they can recover quickly.


title: Grouse

text: The three tundra species have maintained their former numbers. The prairie and forest species have declined greatly because of habitat loss, though popular game birds such as the red grouse and the ruffed grouse have benefited from habitat management. Most grouse species are listed by the IUCN as "least concern" or "near threatened", but the greater and lesser prairie chicken are listed as "vulnerable" and the Gunnison grouse is listed as "endangered". Some subspecies, such as Attwater's prairie chicken and the Cantabrian capercaillie, and some national and regional populations are also in danger. The wild turkey suffered a precipitous decline in the past, but has since become abundant, even in developed areas.


title: Grouse

text: The phenotypic difference between males and females is called sexual dimorphism. Male grouse tend to be larger than female grouse, which seems to hold true across all the species of grouse, with some difference within each species in terms of how drastic the size difference is. The hypothesis with the most supporting evidence for the evolution of sexual dimorphism in grouse is sexual selection. Sexual selection favors large males; stronger selection for larger size in males leads to greater size dimorphism. Female size will increase correspondingly as male size increases, and this is due to heredity (but not to the extent of the male size). This is because females that are smaller will still be able to reproduce without a substantial disadvantage, but this is not the case with males. The largest among the male grouse (commonly dubbed 'Biggrouse') attract the greatest numbers of females during their mating seasons.


title: Grouse

text: Male grouse display lekking behavior, which is when many males come together in one area and put on displays to attract females. Females selectively choose among the males present for traits they find more appealing. Male grouse exhibit two types: typical lekking and exploded lekking. In typical lekking, males display in small areas defending a limited territory, and in exploded lekking, displaying males are covered over an expansive land area and share larger territories. Male grouse can also compete with one another for access to female grouse through territoriality, in which a male defends a territory which has resources that females need, like food and nest sites. These differences in male behavior in mating systems account for the evolution of body size in grouse. Males of territorial species were smaller than those of exploded lekking species, and males of typical lekking species were the largest overall. The male birds that exhibit lekking behavior, and have to compete with other males for females to choose them, have greater sexual dimorphism in size. This suggests the hypothesis of sexual selection affecting male body size and also gives an explanation for why some species of grouse have a more drastic difference between male and female body size than others.


title: Grouse

text: Sexual size dimorphism can manifest itself differently between grouse and other birds. In some cases, the female is dominant over the male in breeding behavior, which can result in females that are larger than the males.


title: Grouse

text: Grouse are game, and hunters kill millions each year for food, sport, and other uses. In the United Kingdom, this takes the form of driven grouse shooting. The male black grouse's tail feathers are a traditional ornament for hats in areas such as Scotland and the Alps. Folk dances from the Alps to the North American prairies imitate the displays of lekking males.


title: Mani Sharma

text: Mani Sharma (born Yanamandra Venkata Subrahmanya Sharma; 11 July 1964) is an Indian composer, multi-instrumentalist, and music producer known for his works primarily in the Telugu and Tamil cinema along with Kannada and Hindi films. He is a recipient of two state Nandi Awards, three Filmfare Awards South, and three Mirchi Music Awards South for Best Music Direction. His works are noted for integrating Indian classical music with electronic music, world music and traditional orchestra. He is often referred to as "Melody Brahma" and "Swara Bramha" for his melodious tunes.


title: Mani Sharma

text: Mani Sharma was born as Yanamandra Venkata Subrahmanya Sharma on 11 July 1964 in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh.


title: Mani Sharma

text: He has recorded several albums in his frequent collaborations with Chiranjeevi, Nandamuri Bala Krishna, Nagarjuna, Daggubati Venkatesh, Jr NTR, Mahesh Babu, Pawan Kalyan, Vijay, Allu Arjun, Prabhas and Ram Charan.


title: Mani Sharma

text: In his early days he worked as a programmer under many music composers namely S. Rajeswara Rao, Chakravarti, Ramesh Naidu, Ilaiyaraja, Raj–Koti, M. M. Keeravani.


title: Mani Sharma

text: Ram Gopal Varma recognised his talent and gave hime the opportunity to work in his films, "Raathri" and "Antham", in which he composed the entire background score of the films, apart from composing 1 song in "Antham". "Choodalani Vundi" is the first film, where he composed all the songs. Producer Ashwini Dutt introduced him as a full-time music composer and later went on to work with him for many films.


title: Mani Sharma

text: Many music composers such as S. Thaman, Devi Sri Prasad, Harris Jayaraj worked under him in their early days.


title: Château de Chambord

text: The Château de Chambord () in Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France, is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Renaissance structures. The building, which was never completed, was constructed by the king of France, Francis I.


title: Château de Chambord

text: Chambord is the largest château in the Loire Valley; it was built to serve as a hunting lodge for Francis I, who maintained his royal residences at the Château de Blois and Amboise. The original design of the Château de Chambord is attributed to Italian architect Domenico da Cortona; Leonardo da Vinci may also have been involved or influenced the design.


title: Château de Chambord

text: Chambord was altered considerably during the twenty-eight years of its construction (1519–1547), during which it was overseen on-site by Pierre Neveu. With the château nearing completion, Francis showed off his enormous symbol of wealth and power by hosting his old archrival, Emperor Charles V, at Chambord.


title: Château de Chambord

text: In 1792, in the wake of the French Revolution, some of the furnishings were sold and timber removed. For a time the building was left abandoned, though in the 19th century some attempts were made at restoration. During the Second World War, art works from the collections of the Louvre and the Château de Compiègne were moved to the Château de Chambord. The château is now open to the public, receiving 700,000 visitors in 2007. Flooding in June 2016 damaged the grounds but not the château itself.


title: Château de Chambord

text: Châteaux in the 16th century departed from castle architecture; . Indeed, while they were off-shoots of castles, with features commonly associated with them, they did not have serious defences. Extensive gardens and water features, such as a moat, were common amongst châteaux from this period. Chambord is no exception to this pattern. The layout is reminiscent of a typical castle with a keep, corner towers, and defended by a moat. Built in Renaissance style, the internal layout is an early example of the French and Italian style of grouping rooms into self-contained suites, a departure from the medieval style of corridor rooms. The massive château is composed of a central keep with four immense bastion towers at the corners. The keep also forms part of the front wall of a larger compound with two larger towers. Bases for a possible further two towers are found at the rear, but these were never developed, and remain the same height as the wall. The château features 440 rooms, 282 fireplaces, and 84 staircases. Four rectangular vaulted hallways on each floor form a cross-shape.


title: Château de Chambord

text: The château was never intended to provide any form of defence from enemies; consequently the walls, towers and partial moat are decorative, and even at the time were an anachronism. Some elements of architecture—open windows, loggias, and a vast outdoor area at the top—borrowed from the Italian Renaissance architecture—are less practical in cold and damp northern France.


title: Château de Chambord

text: The roofscape of Chambord contrasts with the masses of its masonry and has often been compared with the skyline of a town: it shows eleven kinds of towers and three types of chimneys, without symmetry, framed at the corners by the massive towers. The design parallels are north Italian and Leonardesque. Writer Henry James remarked, "the towers, cupolas, the gables, the lanterns, the chimneys, look more like the spires of a city than the salient points of a single building."


title: Château de Chambord

text: One of the architectural highlights is the spectacular open double-spiral staircase that is the centrepiece of the château. The two spirals ascend the three floors without ever meeting, illuminated from above by a sort of light house at the highest point of the château. There are suggestions that Leonardo da Vinci may have designed the staircase, but this has not been confirmed. Writer John Evelyn said of the staircase, "it is devised with four [sic] entries or ascents, which cross one another, so that though four persons meet, they never come in sight, but by small loopholes, till they land. It consists of 274 steps (as I remember), and is an extraordinary work, but of far greater expense than use or beauty."


title: Château de Chambord

text: The château also features 128 metres of facade, more than 800 sculpted columns and an elaborately decorated roof. When Francis I commissioned the construction of Chambord, he wanted it to look like the skyline of Constantinople.


title: Château de Chambord

text: The château is surrounded by a wooded park and game reserve maintained with red deer, enclosed by a wall. The king's plan to divert the Loire to surround the château came about only in a novel; "Amadis of Gaul", which Francis had translated. In the novel the château is referred to as the "Palace of Firm Isle".


title: Château de Chambord

text: Chambord's towers are atypical of French contemporary design in that they lack turrets and spires. In the opinion of author Tanaka, who suggests Leonardo da Vinci influenced the château's design, they are closer in design to minarets of 15th-century Milan.


title: Château de Chambord

text: Who designed the Château de Chambord is a matter of controversy. The original design is attributed, though with several doubts, to Domenico da Cortona, whose wooden model for the design survived long enough to be drawn by André Félibien in the 17th century. In the drawings of the model, the main staircase of the keep is shown with two straight, parallel flights of steps separated by a passage and is located in one of the arms of the cross. According to Jean-Guillaume, this Italian design was later replaced with the centrally located spiral staircase, which is similar to that at Blois, and a design more compatible with the French preference for spectacular grand staircases. However, "at the same time the result was also a triumph of the centralised layout—itself a wholly Italian element." In 1913 Marcel Reymond suggested that Leonardo da Vinci, a guest of Francis at Clos Lucé near Amboise, was responsible for the original design, which reflects Leonardo's plans for a château at Romorantin for the King's mother, and his interests in central planning and double-spiral staircases; the discussion has not yet concluded, although many scholars now agree that Leonardo was at least responsible for the design of the central staircase.


title: Château de Chambord

text: Archaeological findings by Jean-Sylvain Caillou & Dominic Hofbauer have established that the lack of symmetry of some façades derives from an original design, abandoned shortly after the construction began, and which ground plan was organised around the central staircase following a central gyratory symmetry. Such a rotative design has no equivalent in architecture at this period of history, and appears reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci's works on hydraulic turbines or the helicopter. Had it been respected, it is believed that this unique building could have featured the quadruple-spiral open staircase, strangely described by John Evelyn and Andrea Palladio, although it was never built.


title: Château de Chambord

text: Regardless of who designed the château, on 6 September 1519 Francis de Pontbriand was ordered to begin construction of the Château de Chambord. The work was interrupted by the Italian War of 1521–1526, and work was slowed by dwindling royal funds and difficulties in laying the structure's foundations. By 1524, the walls were barely above ground level. Building resumed in September 1526, at which point 1,800 workers were employed in building the château. At the time of the death of King Francis I in 1547, the work had cost 444,070 "livres".


title: Château de Chambord

text: The château was built to act as a hunting lodge for King Francis I; however, the king spent barely seven weeks there in total, that time consisting of short hunting visits. As the château had been constructed with the purpose of short stays, it was not practical to live in on a longer-term basis. The massive rooms, open windows and high ceilings meant heating was impractical. Similarly, as the château was not surrounded by a village or estate, there was no immediate source of food other than game. This meant that all food had to be brought with the group, typically numbering up to 2,000 people at a time.


title: Château de Chambord

text: As a result of all the above, the château was completely unfurnished during this period. All furniture, wall coverings, eating implements and so forth were brought specifically for each hunting trip, a major logistical exercise. It is for this reason that much furniture from the era was built to be disassembled to facilitate transportation. After Francis died of a heart attack in 1547, the château was not used for almost a century.


title: Château de Chambord

text: For more than 80 years after the death of King Francis I, French kings abandoned the château, allowing it to fall into decay. Finally, in 1639 King Louis XIII gave it to his brother, Gaston d'Orléans, who saved the château from ruin by carrying out much restoration work.


title: Château de Chambord

text: King Louis XIV had the great keep restored and furnished the royal apartments. The king then added a 1,200-horse stable, enabling him to use the château as a hunting lodge and a place to entertain a few weeks each year, for example Molière presented the premiere of his celebrated comedy, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme here. Nonetheless, Louis XIV abandoned the château in 1685.


title: Château de Chambord

text: From 1725 to 1733, Stanislas Leszczyński (Stanislas I), the deposed King of Poland and the father-in-law of King Louis XV, lived at Chambord. In 1745, as a reward for valour, the king gave the château to Maurice de Saxe, Marshal of France who installed his military regiment there. Maurice de Saxe died in 1750, and once again the colossal château sat empty for many years.


title: Château de Chambord

text: In 1792, the Revolutionary government ordered the sale of the furnishings; the wall panellings were removed and even floors were taken up and sold for the value of their timber, and, according to M de la Saussaye, the panelled doors were burned to keep the rooms warm during the sales; the empty château was left abandoned until Napoleon Bonaparte gave it to his subordinate, Louis Alexandre Berthier. The château was subsequently purchased from his widow for the infant Duke of Bordeaux, Henri Charles Dieudonné (1820–1883) who took the title Comte de Chambord. A brief attempt at restoration and occupation was made by his grandfather King Charles X (1824–1830) but in 1830 both were exiled. In "Outre-Mer: A Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea", published in the 1830s, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow remarked on the dilapidation that had set in: "all is mournful and deserted. The grass has overgrown the pavement of the courtyard, and the rude sculpture upon the walls is broken and defaced". During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) the château was used as a field hospital.


title: Château de Chambord

text: The final attempt to make use of the colossus came from the Comte de Chambord, but after the Comte died in 1883, the château was left to his sister's heirs, the titular Dukes of Parma, then resident in Austria. First left to Robert, Duke of Parma, who died in 1907 and after him, Elias, Prince of Parma. Any attempts at restoration ended with the onset of World War I in 1914. The Château de Chambord was confiscated as enemy property in 1915, but the family of the Duke of Parma sued to recover it, and that suit was not settled until 1932; restoration work was not begun until a few years after World War II ended in 1945. The Château and surrounding areas, some , have belonged to the French state since 1930.


title: Château de Chambord

text: In 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the art collections of the Louvre and Compiègne museums (including the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo) were stored at the Château de Chambord. An American B-24 Liberator bomber crashed onto the château lawn on 22 June 1944. The image of the château has been widely used to sell commodities from chocolate to alcohol and from porcelain to alarm clocks; combined with the various written accounts of visitors, this made Chambord one of the best known examples of France's architectural history. Today, Chambord is a major tourist attraction, and in 2007 around 700,000 people visited the château.


title: Château de Chambord

text: After unusually heavy rainfall, Chambord was closed to the public from 1 to 6 June 2016. The river Cosson, a tributary of the Loire, flooded its banks and the château's moat. Drone photography documented some of the peak flooding. The described effects of the flooding on Chambord's 13,000-acre property. The 20-mile wall around the château was breached at several points, metal gates were torn from their framing, and roads were damaged. Also, trees were uprooted and certain electrical and fire protection systems were put out of order. However, the château itself and its collections reportedly were undamaged. The foundation observed that paradoxically the natural disaster affected Francis I's vision that Chambord appears to rise from the waters as if it were diverting the Loire. Repairs are expected to cost upwards of a quarter-million dollars.


title: Château de Chambord

text: The Château de Chambord has further influenced a number of architectural and decorative elements across Europe. Château de Chambord was the model for the reconstruction and new construction of the original Schwerin Palace between 1845 and 1857.


title: Château de Chambord

text: Yet in the later half of the nineteenth century, the château's style is seen proliferating across the United Kingdom, influencing the Founder's Building at Royal Holloway, University of London, designed by William Henry Crossland and the main building of Fettes College in Edinburgh, designed by David Bryce in 1870. Between 1874 and 1889, the country house in Buckinghamshire, Waddesdon Manor, was built with similar architectural frameworks as the Château de Chambord, disseminated via the architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur. For instance, the twin staircase towers, on the north facade, were inspired by the staircase tower at the Château. However, following the theme of unparalleled luxury at Waddesdon, the windows of the towers at Waddesdon were glazed, unlike those of the staircase at Chambord, and were far more ornate.


title: Last Christmas

text: "Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, originally released in December 1984 on CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side on Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in the UK. Described as a "high watermark of mid-80s British synthpop songcraft", it was written and produced by George Michael, and has been covered by many artists since its original release.


title: Last Christmas

text: Upon its initial release in 1984, "Last Christmas" spent five consecutive weeks at number two in the UK Singles Chart—it was held off the top spot at Christmas by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (on which Michael also performed). After many chart runs in subsequent years, which included three more weeks at number two, and which saw the recording become part of RCA Records' catalogue, the song finally reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on New Year's Day 2021 (chart week ending date 7 January 2021), more than 36 years after its initial release. In doing so, it became the fifth UK number one single for the duo. Prior to it reaching number one, "Last Christmas" had for many years held the record as the highest-selling single never to top the charts by the Official Charts Company (OCC) with 1.9 million copies sold (not including streams). This record is now held by "Moves like Jagger" by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera. The tune reached number one in the UK after it was streamed 9.2 million times in the last week of 2020 and sold 1,555 downloads, resulting in a total of 40,149 combined sales.


title: Last Christmas

text: Outside the United Kingdom, the song topped the charts in Denmark, Germany, Slovenia, and Sweden and peaked within the top ten of the charts in several countries including Australia, Ireland and the United States. Wham! donated all of their royalties to relief efforts for the Ethiopian famine. In a UK-wide poll in December 2012, it was voted eighth on the ITV television special "The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song" and was voted most popular song of the 1980s in Channel 5's Christmas 2020 countdown "Britain's Favourite 80's Songs". It was the most-played Christmas song of the 21st century in the UK until it was overtaken by "Fairytale of New York" in 2015.


title: Last Christmas

text: "Last Christmas" had its beginnings in 1983, while George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley were visiting Michael's parents. It was written by Michael in his childhood bedroom. Michael played Ridgeley the introduction and chorus melody to "Last Christmas", which Ridgeley later called "a moment of wonder".


title: Last Christmas

text: The song was recorded in August 1984, at Advision Studios, London, England. George Michael wrote, performed, produced and played every single instrument on the track. With a LinnDrum drum machine, a Roland Juno-60 synth and sleigh bells, they began recording the song in the summer, Michael having "plastered [the studio] in Christmas decorations to set the mood". The only other people in the studio were engineer Chris Porter and two assistants. According to Porter, lyrically "you've got the happiness of the rhythm track, but against that you've got the sadness of the unrequited love".


title: Last Christmas

text: Wham! already had two number one singles on the UK Singles Chart during 1984, and news that they were planning a Christmas single meant that a battle for the coveted Christmas number one spot in Britain seemed set to be between Wham! and the year's other big act, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who had achieved a third No. 1 in early December with "The Power of Love". However, the Band Aid single written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, produced the No. 1 single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", while Wham!'s offering peaked at No. 2 for much of the period. Wham! donated all "Last Christmas/Everything She Wants" royalties to the Ethiopian famine.


title: Last Christmas

text: In subsequent years, the song entered the UK top 40 on 15 occasions, reaching the top 10 no less than 6 times (including a run of 5 consecutive years between 2016 and 2020). In 1985 and 2017 it equalled its best ever chart position of number two, before finally topping the charts on 1 January 2021, 36 years after its original 1984 release. In the process, "Last Christmas" achieved the chart record for the longest time taken for a single to peak at the top of the UK Singles Chart after its first release, a feat that had previously been held by "(Is This The Way To) Amarillo? by Tony Christie, which topped the chart in March 2005, 33 years and 4 months after its initial release in November 1971. The record has since been surpassed in June 2022 by Kate Bush with "Running Up That Hill", which took 37 years.


title: Last Christmas

text: Coincidentally with the sudden death of George Michael on December 25, 2016, "Last Christmas" reach number 7 on the UK Singles Chart for 5 weeks (8 December 2016 – 5 January 2017). On January 8, 2021, "Last Christmas" became the very first record to disappear completely from number one spot, exiting the Official Charts Company Top 100 chart with no placing on the chart (week ending 14 January 2021). As "Last Christmas" replaced "Don't Stop Me Eatin'" by LadBaby, which had dropped down the singles chart to number 78 on January 1, it was the first time in chart history that two back-to-back number ones had disappeared not only from the BBC Radio 1 Top 40, but the Top 75 as well


title: Last Christmas

text: In December 2019, it peaked at No. 1 on both the UK Official Vinyl Singles Chart and on the Official Video Streaming Chart. The following week, the song set a new UK chart record and was streamed 17.1 million times, the most number of plays in a week. It became the UK's best-selling vinyl single release in 2019.


title: Last Christmas

text: In Germany, the song is the most successful Christmas single of all time, having spent 153 weeks on the German Singles Chart and attained a peak position of number one on 24 December 2021. It has charted every year since 1997. In January 2008, the song fell from No. 4 to No. 64 there, also making it the biggest fall out of the top 10 on the singles chart.


title: Last Christmas

text: The single was originally released in two different formats in Japan with different cover art, a 7-inch and 12-inch vinyl (Long version) both with "Credit Card Baby" as their B-side. The former entered the top 20 of the Oricon Singles Chart peaking at No. 15, while the latter reached No. 47. The single was released in 1993 on CD single in the country and peaked at No. 17, selling nearly 40,000 copies that week. It was reissued in November 2001 and 2004 as a 2-track CD with the single edit and the "Pudding Mix".


title: Last Christmas

text: As a result of the success, "Last Christmas" is the eighth best-selling single of all time in Japan released by a non-Japanese act, with total physical sales of 683,000 units.


title: Last Christmas

text: In the Netherlands, the song never reached No. 1, peaking at No. 2 in January 1985 (behind Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?"). In the Dutch Singles Top 100 (one of three charts in the Netherlands that claims to be the "official" chart, but it is the only one that is not broadcast and remains unpublished except on its own official web page), the song has now entered on 16 different occasions, including every year since 2006. Its highest position after 1984 was No. 4 (during the 2016 and 2018 Christmas season). In the Dutch Mega Top 50 (which was first published in 1993), the song re-appeared in 1997, 2000, 2007, 2008, and 2013.


title: Last Christmas

text: "Last Christmas" was not released commercially as a single in the United States until November 2014, when it was made available on 12" vinyl as a Record Store Day exclusive. Since then, the song has re-entered the "Billboard" Holiday Songs Chart on a regular basis, peaking at No. 3 on 7 December 2019.


title: Last Christmas

text: As of 25 November 2016, total US sales of the digital track stand at 751,000 downloads according to Nielsen SoundScan, placing it 10th on the list of all-time best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles in US SoundScan history. The song debuted at number 50 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in the chart dated 7 January 2017, after George Michael died.


title: Last Christmas

text: In December 2018, the song re-entered the Hot 100, reaching No. 25 in January 2019, and then a new peak of No. 11 in the first issue of 2020. On the issue dated 2 January 2021, "Last Christmas" reached number nine on the Hot 100, its first foray into the top 10 and returning Wham! to the top 10 after a 35-year break. The following year, on the issue dated 1 January 2022, the song reached number seven. On the issue dated 24 December 2022, the song reached a new peak of number six on the Hot 100. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), it was certified double platinum in December 2019 and has sold 2 million digital units.


title: Last Christmas

text: In December 2017, 28 December 2018, December 2019 and December 2021 "Last Christmas" reached No. 1 in the Swedish singles chart.


title: Last Christmas

text: The video to "Last Christmas" directed by Andrew Morahan, shows Wham! members George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley accompanying girlfriends to see friends at an unspecified ski resort cottage: the cable-car that can be seen in two shots is from Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where the video was filmed. It becomes clear early on that the character of Ridgeley's girlfriend (played by model Kathy Hill) was previously in a relationship with Michael and that the song is aimed at her. She can be spotted throughout the video by the fact that she is usually wearing red, but everyone else is wearing more muted colors.


title: Last Christmas

text: There is a brief flashback to a prior Christmas, showing Michael's character presenting Kathy Hill's character with a jewelled brooch. In the present time, Ridgeley is wearing the brooch, suggesting that Hill gave the same gift (perhaps by regifting it) to her new love after she and Michael parted ways. When Hill wears the brooch after receiving it from Michael's character, it is "right side up", and when Ridgeley's character wears it, he wears it "upside down". On numerous occasions, Michael presents a thoughtful expression, suggesting his conflicting emotions. As Michael is decorating the Christmas tree some decoration falls to the floor where Michael's ex-girlfriend is sitting and the ex-couple shares a few seconds of a knowing look at each other.


title: Last Christmas

text: Her seeming indifference to Ridgeley's open displays of affection makes the viewer wonder if Ridgeley's heart is the next to be broken. At the end of the video, everyone leaves the cottage and when the group get out of the cable-car, they are all properly "paired off" with Michael and his new girlfriend looking happy.


title: Last Christmas

text: It has since been rescanned in 4K definition from the original 35mm film. The music video, originally shot on film, was released on 13 December 2019 in 4K Ultra HD resolution. The music video's original film director Andy Morahan found the original 35mm rushes and worked closely with teams at Cinelab London and VFX artist Russ Shaw at Nice Biscuits post production to recreate the video using the higher-resolution film.


title: Last Christmas

text: Note: When released in 1984 "Last Christmas" and "Everything She Wants" were a double A-side. In some countries, the longer edit (4:34) of "Last Christmas" from 1984 was used on side two of the second 12-inch.


title: Last Christmas

text: The only difference between the 1988 and 1989 reissues is the text (Christmas '88" and Christmas '89") on the back of the record.


title: Last Christmas

text: The film "Last Christmas" (2019) prominently features the music of George Michael, including this song and a previously unreleased track.


title: Last Christmas

text: The song is featured in the video game "Just Dance 2017" as a duet between two dancers, one of whom is dressed as Santa Claus.


title: Last Christmas

text: On behalf of the writers of the song "Can't Smile Without You", made popular by Barry Manilow, publishing company Dick James Music sued Michael for plagiarism in the mid-1980s, claiming that "Last Christmas" lifted its melody from the former. The case was dismissed when a musicologist presented 60-odd songs from the past century that had a comparable chord sequence and melody.


title: Last Christmas

text: In the UK, the following single planned after "Close to You" was "Big Time"; however, it was suggested that Whigfield should record a version of "Last Christmas" to go with the release of "Big Time", as a double A-side single. The single was also released as a double A-side single in Germany with "Close to You". In other countries, "Last Christmas" was released on its own with various remixes. The single reached number 21 in the UK, which was Whigfield's final release on Systematic Records. It also features on various Special Edition versions of her debut album "Whigfield" and also on "Whigfield II". The EP was released on 10 November 1995 in Australia. A UK single was released on 3 December 1995.


title: Last Christmas

text: Whigfield's cover of "Last Christmas" was a moderate success in Europe. It managed to climb into the Top 10 in both Denmark and Spain, peaking at number


title: Last Christmas

text: 6 and 5. Additionally, it was a Top 20 hit in Finland and a Top 30 hit in Ireland, Scotland and the United Kingdom. In the latter, the single was released as a double single with "Big Time". It peaked at number 21 in its first week at the UK Singles Chart, on 10 December 1995. It was also a Top 40 hit in Belgium, as well as on the European Hot 100 Singles, where the song reached number 38.


title: Last Christmas

text: The music video for Whigfield's cover was directed by Italian director Giacomo De Simone. It features Whigfield performing the song in a winter landscape.


title: Last Christmas

text: "Last Christmas" was recorded in 2006 for Warner Bros. Records by Ashley Tisdale. The song was released to US radios on 11 November 2006 and as a digital download on 21 November 2006. This song was the first single released by Ashley Tisdale in her deal with Warner Bros. Records and became her official first holiday single. Tisdale performed the single in 2007 on "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" and "Christmas in Rockefeller Center", and in 2009 in the Citadel Outlets of Los Angeles, California. The song was one of the B-sides on the European CD singles of Tisdale's first single "Be Good to Me" and Tisdale's second single "He Said She Said", from the album "Headstrong". The song has been included on several compilation albums, including "Disney Channel Holiday" and "A Very Special Christmas 7".


title: Last Christmas

text: "Last Christmas" was covered in 2006 by Crazy Frog and released as a Christmas single. In Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and France, "Last Christmas" was released 12 months before in other countries.


title: Last Christmas

text: "Last Christmas" was recorded in 2007 by Cascada. It was released on iTunes in November 2007. The single had only a digital release but six days later, it was released on the single "What Hurts the Most" which was the first single from their second album. It was also released as part of their Christmas album, "It's Christmas Time". In the UK, despite it being a B-side track, the song is regularly played throughout music channels during the festive season.


title: Last Christmas

text: The song was covered by the cast of Glee, led by Lea Michele, Cory Monteith with Amber Riley, and was released in 2009 exclusively on iTunes as a charity single, then in 2010 on "". The song entered the "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming the first time a cover version of the song appeared on the chart.


title: Last Christmas

text: British singer Joe McElderry covered the song in 2011. This version was released as a single on 19 December 2011, an EP was also released digitally in Ireland on 4 November 2011, and in the UK on 7 November 2011. Joe McElderry's version is taken from his third studio album, "Classic Christmas", released 28 November 2011. 7th Heaven Remix & Production have done a remix for the song.


title: Last Christmas

text: A short music video was made using footage which was filmed for the "Classic Christmas"s album advertising, it features McElderry outside in the snow, collecting logs and taking them to a large house preparing for a Christmas party, a similar video was made for McElderry's version of "O Come All Ye Faithful". The advert and both videos were directed by Steve Lucker.


title: Last Christmas

text: "Last Christmas" is a song by American singer Ariana Grande. The song serves as the lead single from Grande's "Christmas Kisses". It was released on 19 November 2013 in the iTunes Store.


title: Last Christmas

text: Grande's cover draws primarily from pop music, contemporary R&B and soul and also includes newly written lyrics in place of some of the originals. The verses have been described as "bouncier" than the original melody.


title: Last Christmas

text: "Last Christmas" was covered by Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen in 2015 and was released to digital retailers on 20 November 2015 through 604 Records (in Canada) and Interscope Records and School Boy Records (internationally). Jepsen's rendition was praised by critics for combining stylistic elements similar to the original with modern production. She performed the song live at the annual NBC television special Christmas in Rockefeller Center airing on 2 December 2015, and on the episode of "The Late Late Show with James Corden" airing on 16 December 2015.


title: Last Christmas

text: Bianca Gracie of Idolator described the song as "quintessential Carly" for highlighting Jepsen's unique vocals and synth production and wrote that her cover will "charm your... socks off". Nolan Feeney of "Time" echoed those sentiments, noting that "Last Christmas" is "the kind of brokenhearted yet warm and sweet song [Jepsen] excels at". Jackson McHenry of "Vulture" applauded Jepsen for her straightforward approach to the song and avoiding the "vocal gymnastics" that bog down some Christmas covers.


title: Last Christmas

text: A more critical review came from music blog "Popcrush", who deemed the cover overproduced, saying "The slick production is a disservice to both Carly's vocals and the original's emotional heft.".


title: IndiaMART

text: IndiaMART InterMESH Ltd is an Indian e-commerce company that provides B2B and customer to customer sales services via its web portal. The group began in 1996 when Dinesh Agarwal and Brijesh Agrawal founded the website IndiaMART.com, a business-to-business portal to connect Indian manufacturers with buyers. The company is headquartered in Noida. As of 2019, IndiaMART was the largest Indian e-commerce platform for businesses with about 60% market share, according to KPMG.


title: IndiaMART

text: IndiaMART was launched in 1996 as a directory of the websites for customers in the Delhi-NCR region by two cousins Dinesh Agarwal and Brijesh Agrawal. At that time India had only 15,000 internet users. By 1999, the directory had more than 1000 listings.


title: IndiaMART

text: After overcoming the dot-com bust, in 2008–09 when the recession hit the US, the company decided to pivot the focus from export oriented business to India-focused B2B market and raised $10 million in Series A round funding from Intel Capital, a part of which was invested in IndiaMART, One97 Communications and Global Talent Track.


title: IndiaMART

text: In November 2014, IndiaMART started promotional campaigns featuring Indian film actor Irrfan Khan as its brand ambassador.


title: IndiaMART

text: In March 2016, it raised Series C Funding from Amadeus Capital Partners and Quona Capital to scale up the activities of IndiaMART and Tolexo.


title: IndiaMART

text: In June 2018, IndiaMART filled draft papers with SEBI to raise ₹600 crore through IPO and list on NSE and BSE. In June 2019, IndiaMART went public via an IPO of ₹474 crore. The issue was oversubscribed by 36 times by the end of the final day of the bidding. IndiaMART became the first online B2B marketplace to go public in India, and the first company launch its IPO in the second tenure of Modi government.


title: IndiaMART

text: IndiaMart's revenue registered a 29% CAGR over FY19 to ₹507 crore while it reported a net profit of ₹20 crore in FY19, according to a note from Angel Broking. It has zero debt and sizeable cash balance. As of 31 March 2019, the company had 8.27 crore (82.70 million) registered buyers and had 55.5 lakh (5.55 million) supplier storefronts in India and expect to maintain a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29 per cent for the next two years.


title: IndiaMART

text: It handles 97,000 product categories — ranging from machine parts, medical equipment and textile products to cranes, from thousands of towns and cities of India. Agfa HealthCare India, Case New Holland Construction Equipment (India), Hilti India, JCB India and Nobel Hygiene are a few big suppliers on the company's marketplace.


title: IndiaMART

text: IndiaMART had an aggregate of 32.5 crore (325.8 million), 55.2 crore (552.6 million) and 72.3 crore (723.5 million) visits in fiscals 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively, of which 20.4 crore (204.8 million), 39.6 crore (396.9 million) and 55 crore (550.3 million) were mobile traffic, which is 63%, 72% and 76% of total traffic, respectively. The IndiaMART app has more than 1 crore (10 million) downloads with a 4.7 App rating on Android.


title: IndiaMART

text: In November 2020, IndiaMART filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Justdial before the Delhi High Court on allegations of copying website compilations for the proposed JD Mart business-to-business marketplace.


title: Tony Visconti

text: Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's "Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of many hits in collaboration with Marc Bolan. Visconti's lengthiest involvement was with David Bowie: intermittently from the production and arrangement of Bowie's 1968 single "In the Heat of the Morning" / "London Bye Ta-Ta" to his final album "Blackstar" in 2016, Visconti produced and occasionally performed on many of Bowie's albums. Visconti's work on "Blackstar" was cited in its Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and his production of Angelique Kidjo's "Djin Djin" was cited in its Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album.


title: Tony Visconti

text: Visconti was born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents of Italian descent. He started to play the ukulele when he was five years old, and then learned guitar. He attended New Utrecht High School. Throughout his teenage years Visconti was involved with both a classical brass band (playing tuba) and a traditional orchestra (playing double bass), as well as playing rock 'n' roll-oriented guitar, valuable experience which served him well in later years. By the age of 15 he focused his efforts playing in local Brooklyn bands.


title: Tony Visconti

text: After leaving school he played guitar in a band called Ricardo & the Latineers in the Catskills; the band also included Artie Butler, later a leading arranger. In 1960 he played his first recording session, and over the next few years became one of the leading guitarists in New York nightclubs. He played in lounge acts including the Ned Harvey band, and the Speedy Garfin Band, before joining a touring version of The Crew-Cuts, where he met his future wife. As Tony and Siegrid, the pair released two singles; the first, "Long Hair", was a regional hit in New York in 1966, but they could not maintain its success.


title: Tony Visconti

text: Visconti then became in-house producer for his publisher, the Richmond Organization. Through this, he met British producer Denny Cordell in 1968 while he was working as Richmond's in-house music producer. Cordell asked him to assist in recordings for successful jazz vocalist Georgie Fame. Visconti moved to London—in a move that would soon become career-defining.


title: Tony Visconti

text: One of his first production projects in England was with the British outfit Tyrannosaurus Rex (later to become T. Rex) on their debut album "My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows" (1968). This began a relationship with T. Rex that would last for their next eight albums, and eleven UK Top Ten singles in a row, commencing with "Ride a White Swan" (1970). One of Visconti's greatest successes was "Electric Warrior" (1971), the album that made T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan a superstar and cemented Visconti's producing prowess.


title: Tony Visconti

text: More early production work included David Bowie's second album (1969), and for the Welsh group The Iveys (later known as Badfinger). He produced several tracks for the Iveys' first LP "Maybe Tomorrow" (1969) and "Magic Christian Music" (1970), released on The Beatles' Apple label.


title: Tony Visconti

text: He produced the first two albums by influential progressive rock band Gentle Giant. Shortly afterwards, Visconti began to work again with David Bowie and, along with guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer John Cambridge, formed and toured with the band The Hype in which he played bass. Although the band name would be very short-lived, most of the line-up persisted and – with Woody Woodmansey replacing Cambridge – would go on to record Bowie's album and single "The Man Who Sold the World" in 1970. He would further go on to work on Bowie's albums "Diamond Dogs" (1974), "Young Americans" (1975), "Low" (1977), ""Heroes"" (1977), "Lodger" (1979), "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" (1980), "Heathen" (2002), "Reality" (2003), "The Next Day" (2013) and "Blackstar" (2016).


title: Tony Visconti

text: Visconti scored the orchestral arrangements for Paul McCartney and Wings' 1973 album "Band on the Run". He later produced two albums for the Moody Blues, "The Other Side of Life" (1986), and "Sur La Mer" (1988).


title: Tony Visconti

text: In 1990, he produced several tracks on the Moody Blues' "Keys of the Kingdom" album (1991), Luscious Jackson's "Electric Honey", "Leisure Noise" by Gay Dad, "Soul Caddy" for Cherry Poppin' Daddies and "Dawn of Ananda" for Annie Haslam. In 1997, Visconti produced the debut album of The Stone Roses member John Squire's new band, The Seahorses, entitled "Do It Yourself". In the 2000s Visconti renewed his association with David Bowie, producing the albums "Heathen" in 2002, and "Reality" in 2003.


title: Tony Visconti

text: He produced and played bass on a handful of tracks from The Dandy Warhols' 2003 album "Welcome to the Monkey House". In 2003 he teamed up with the Finn Brothers (Neil and Tim of Crowded House and Split Enz fame) to record and produce their second collaborative album, eventually released in 2004. In 2004, he produced three songs on the Manic Street Preachers album Lifeblood. In 2005, he collaborated with Copenhagen band Kashmir, whose fifth album, "No Balance Palace", featured David Bowie. He has also collaborated as co-writer and producer on the album project by Richard Barone. He worked in Rome and produced the #1 UK album by Morrissey "Ringleader of the Tormentors".


title: Tony Visconti

text: His autobiography, "Bowie, Bolan and The Brooklyn Boy", co-written with Richard Havers, was published in February 2007 by HarperCollins UK. The book has been translated into French by Jérôme Soligny as "Tony Visconti Bowie, Bolan et le Gamin de Brooklyn", published by Tournon.


title: Tony Visconti

text: In 2007 and 2008, Visconti was very active in the studio with Benin singer Angélique Kidjo, producing her Grammy-winning album "Djin Djin". Guest artists include Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, Joss Stone, Josh Groban and Carlos Santana. He has also produced two albums at Saint Claire Recording Studio in Lexington, Kentucky: "The Bright Lights of America" by Pittsburgh punk band Anti-Flag and an album by Alejandro Escovedo called "Real Animal" released in June 2008. He produced the new No. 1 album (in France) by French artist Raphael in Paris and New York. He produced and mixed Kristeen Young album "Music for Strippers, Hookers, and the Odd On-Looker", released in 2009 and arranged Fall Out Boy album "Folie à Deux". 2010 marked the release of Richard Barone's Visconti-produced "Glow" album, which includes five songs co-written with Barone and a remake of T. Rex's "Girl." He also played bass, guitar, synth, and Stylophone on the album and performed live in concert with Barone on numerous occasions.


title: Tony Visconti

text: Visconti produced the 2013 David Bowie album "The Next Day", and remixed and remastered both "The Slider" anniversary box set and "Electric Warrior" 40th anniversary boxed set by T. Rex. In 2013, he produced "Solar Secrets" by Capsula.


title: Tony Visconti

text: In 2014 Visconti produced and arranged several tracks on Marc Almond's album "The Dancing Marquis". Almond had wanted to work with Visconti since hearing some of Visconti's earliest production work with T-Rex and David Bowie, stating "It was a dream to work with Tony".


title: Tony Visconti

text: From 2016 to 2022, Tony Visconti was a jury member of the ANCHOR-Award, linked to the Reeperbahn Festival.


title: Tony Visconti

text: In 2018, Visconti produced "Evil Spirits" for The Damned, their first album in 10 years. He also produced "Merrie Land" the new album by The Good, the Bad & the Queen (2018).


title: Tony Visconti

text: In 2019, Visconti produced the song "The Dragon Cries" with Band-Maid vocalists Miku Kobato and Saiki Atsumi. The track was released on Band-Maid's 2019 release "Conqueror".


title: Tony Visconti

text: Visconti served as music producer on the 2022 film "Moonage Daydream", a documentary about Bowie written, produced, directed and edited by Brett Morgen.


title: Tony Visconti

text: After divorcing his first wife Siegrid, Visconti married Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkin in 1971; they divorced in 1981. The pair have two children, musicians Jessica Lee Morgan and Morgan Visconti. In 1989 he married his third wife, May Pang; they had two children before they divorced in 2000. Visconti currently lives with his girlfriend of 20 years, musician Kristeen Young.


title: Tony Visconti

text: Visconti played bass on David Bowie's 1970 album "The Man Who Sold the World". Since 2015 he has toured the UK, Japan and the US with the Bowie cover band Holy Holy, playing the album in its entirety and other early Bowie classics, along with the album's original drummer Mick Woodmansey and other well known musicians including singer Glenn Gregory and guitarist James Stevenson. The band have followed this up with later shows in which they perform "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" album.


title: Tony Visconti

text: In September 2016, Kingston University opened Visconti Studio, a tape-based recording studio in partnership with Visconti, the British Library and the Science Museum.


title: The Fray

text: The Fray is an American rock band from Denver, Colorado, formed in 2002 by schoolmates Isaac Slade and Joe King. Their debut album, "How to Save a Life" released in 2005, was certified double platinum by the RIAA and platinum in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Their first single, "Over My Head (Cable Car)", became a top ten hit in the United States. Their second single, "How to Save a Life", charted in the top three of the "Billboard" Hot 100 and was a top 5 single in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.


title: The Fray

text: The group's self-titled, second album debuted at on the "Billboard" charts after its release in 2009 and was certified gold in the United States, Australia and Canada. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album in 2010. While both the albums were commercially successful, critical reception was mixed. The Fray was ranked No. 84 on "Billboard"s Artists of the Decade list. Their third album "Scars & Stories", released in 2012, achieved moderate commercial success, debuting and peaking at on the "Billboard" 200. This album also received mixed reviews from critics. The band's fourth album, "Helios", was released in February 2014, and the band's greatest hits album, "", was released in November 2016.


title: The Fray

text: The band's use of the piano as the lead instrument in their music has led critics to compare the band with English, piano-driven bands such as Coldplay and Keane. The Fray's lyrical content and mood have been described as austere, theatrical, cathartic, poignant, and ethereal; their lyrical content contains themes of tribulation, yearning, regret, and angst. However, the band lists its influences as the Wallflowers, Counting Crows, Better Than Ezra and U2.


title: The Fray

text: The band members' lives were largely formed in Denver churches where they helped lead worship, and in the Christian school three of them attended. Isaac Slade and guitarist Joe King were several years ahead of drummer Ben Wysocki at Faith Christian Academy. Wysocki and guitarist David Welsh played in the same worship band. In the spring of 2002, former schoolmates Slade and King reconnected and began regular two-man jam sessions that led to writing songs. Slade and King later added Mike Ayars on guitar, Zach Johnson on drums, and Slade's younger brother Caleb on bass, though Caleb was later asked to leave. Caleb's departure from the band caused a rift in his relationship with Isaac, and this rift later became the inspiration for the song "Over My Head (Cable Car)", which is about the brothers' waning relationship. Following this Johnson left the band to attend an art school in New York.


title: The Fray

text: Ben Wysocki, a former bandmate of Isaac Slade, joined as drummer and later, Dave Welsh, who was another former bandmate of Slade and Wysocki, was added as lead guitarist to the band. The newly formed band was named the Fray. The band members decided on a name after asking people to put band names on a piece of paper from which they picked randomly. The members of the band first claimed that they found the name suitable because they frequently quarreled about the composition of the lyrics in their songs, but they have since stated they are usually on good terms while composing music and acknowledge contributions from all members. The band has had no permanent bassist since Caleb, instead employing touring bassists on a temporary basis. The current bassist is Matt Rubano, who has been touring with the band since 2022.


title: The Fray

text: The band released its first record, "Movement EP", in 2002. The next year, the band released "Reason EP" produced by "How To Save A Life" co-producer Aaron Johnson, which garnered the band local fame and acclaim. "Westword", an alternative newsweekly, gave "Reason EP" a positive review, stating "The music is epic, no doubt, but it's played on a wholly human scale". Despite these reviews, the band struggled to launch a single; Denver radio station KTCL rejected eight of their songs before the band decided to submit a demo of a song then-named "Cable Car". The song found airplay on a KTCL radio show highlighting local bands, and the radio station received a large number of requests for it soon thereafter. The band changed the name of the song to "Over My Head (Cable Car)", and as the song's airplay increased alongside their local following, the band was voted "Best New Band" by "Westword" in 2004. Mike Flynn, working in the artists and repertoire division of Epic Records, discovered the band through the article in "Westword" and soon after, Epic Records officially signed the band on December 17, 2004.


title: The Fray

text: The band's debut album, "How to Save a Life", was released on September 13, 2005; its style is between traditional rock and alternative rock. "Over My Head (Cable Car)" was released as the first single from the album, and it soon became a Top 40 hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in late 2005, peaking at No. 37. The single gained airplay nationally, entering the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart on the issue marked February 25, 2006. Fourteen weeks later, it reached its peak position at No. 8 on the Hot 100 chart. On the "Billboard" Adult Top 40 chart, the single reached the No. 2 position. Internationally, the song was a Top 25 hit in on the national charts of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The song was the fifth-most downloaded single of 2006.


title: The Fray

text: While "Over My Head (Cable Car)" was rising on the charts, the song "How to Save a Life" was first featured during an episode of "Grey's Anatomy", aired March 19, 2006, and then on an episode of "Scrubs", aired April 25, 2006. Despite not having been originally released as a single, "How to Save a Life" entered the Hot 100 chart on the issue marked April 15, 2006. The song was released as the band's second single. On August 18, 2006, ABC announced that the song would be used for the main advertising promotion for the season premiere of "Grey's Anatomy".


title: The Fray

text: Only weeks after this promotion started, the song became the Fray's second Top 40 hit in the United States. The song peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 chart, surpassing the peak position of "Over My Head (Cable Car)". It tied for the seventh-longest charting single of all time on the Hot 100 chart, with Santana's "Smooth", at 58 consecutive weeks. The song also topped the Adult Top 40 chart for 15 consecutive weeks. "How to Save a Life" was a major hit internationally, topping the singles chart in Ireland, Spain and Canada. The song also charted in the top five in Australia, Italy and Sweden and was the band's first hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: The Fray

text: "Look After You" was released as the third single from the album. It peaked at No. 59 on the Hot 100 chart and was the band's first single to miss the Top 40. The song was written by the lead singer of the Fray, Isaac Slade. It is about his then girlfriend, whom he later married.


title: The Fray

text: The album itself peaked at No. 15 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, and charted in the top ten in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom and was certified the best-selling digital album of all time, breaking the record held previously by Coldplay's "X&Y".


title: The Fray

text: While the album was met with commercial success, critical reception from mainstream critics was mixed: Allmusic gave the album a modest review, stating that the Fray "lacked originality" and the album itself lacked any "inspiration and excitement". "Stylus Magazine" gave the album a negative review, stating, "The Fray, as a rule, are moribund, emotionally strained and uninvolving." "Rolling Stone" and "Blender" echoed many of these statements while giving the album three stars out of five. However, the album garnered acclaim from Christian music magazines: Jesus Freak Hideout gave the album a glowing review, stating ""How to Save Life" is nearly perfect", and gave the album four-and-a-half stars out of five. "HM Magazine", another American magazine devoted to Christian music, also gave the album a positive review, rating it four stars out of five.


title: The Fray

text: To promote the album, the Fray began a worldwide tour and released a live album, "", on July 18, 2006. The concert was recorded on May 21, 2006, at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On September 19, they re-released "How to Save a Life" as a CD/DVD set including a documentary on the making of the album. On September 4, 2007, the band released another live album, "", which was recorded in late 2006. The album could only be purchased with the original CD from Target but was made available on the iTunes Music Store on November 13, 2007. On October 16 of the same year, the band re-released their 2003 EP, "Reason EP". The band also released a live cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" as a 2006 Christmas single. This song debuted and peaked on the Hot 100 chart at No. 50 on the strength of a large number of digital downloads. The Fray also worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for their 2007 summer tour.


title: The Fray

text: The band finished recording their self-titled, second album at the end of July 2008 for a February 3, 2009, release. The album was produced by Aaron Johnson and Mike Flynn, the same production duo from the band's debut album, and recorded by Warren Huart. A documentary named "Fair Fight", directed by Rod Blackhurst, was included with the first 300,000 copies of the second album. The lead single from the album, "You Found Me", debuted online on December 9, 2009, on VH1.com, and debuted at No. 28 on the Hot 100 chart, the band's highest debut on the chart at that time. The song peaked at No. 7 on the chart, making it the band's second-highest charting single, and topped the "Billboard" Adult Top 40 chart as well as the Australian Singles Chart, becoming the band's first song to reach in Australia. It is also the band's third song to sell two million digital downloads in the United States, after "Over My Head (Cable Car)" and "How to Save a Life". Following the success of "You Found Me", the album debuted at No. 1 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, selling 179,000 copies in its first week of release. The music video was directed by fellow Denverite Josh Forbes. It was filmed in Chicago and was an homage to the Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire.


title: The Fray

text: The Fray released their self-titled, second album to the Christian market on the same day as the secular market. In a video for the song "You Found Me" that includes some behind-the-scenes footage, lead vocalist Isaac Slade says that this album is what they would have done the first time if they had the time. He adds the band wants to model the rest of their careers after this second album. On February 13, 2009, the Fray wrote a song called "Be the One". The song was written in the space of 24 hours when the British magazine "Q" asked the band to write a love song for the occasion of Valentine's Day.


title: The Fray

text: The demo version of the song was released on the band's official website on November 11, 2009. The band also covered Kanye West's song "Heartless", which charted at No. 79 on the "Billboard" Hot 100; a video for the cover was released worldwide on iTunes on August 11, 2009. Both songs were included in the deluxe edition of the band's second album, released November 10, 2009. "Heartless" was also included on the band's third live album, "The Fray: Live from SoHo".


title: The Fray

text: The band released "Never Say Never" as the second single from the album. The song was a modest hit in the US; it peaked at No. 32 on the Hot 100 chart and at No. 10 on the Adult Top 40 chart. Internationally, it failed to match the success of "You Found Me". The song was used in the first and last episodes of the television series "The Vampire Diaries". The third single from the album, "Syndicate" was released on January 12, 2010, and peaked at No. 16 on the Adult Top 40 and at No. 40 on the Pop Songs chart, becoming the band's second single to miss the Hot 100 chart and the lowest-charting single from the album.