title: Juan Gabriel

text: Gabriel continued to do 10 to 12 performances per year as benefit concerts for his favorite children's homes, usually posing for pictures with his fans and forwarding the proceeds from the photo ops to support Mexican orphans. In 1987, he founded Semjase, a house for orphaned and underserved children located in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. It serves school children between the ages of 6 to 12.


title: Juan Gabriel

text: Juan Gabriel was a lifelong supporter of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which governed Mexico from 1929 to 2000 and again from 2012 to 2018. In 1994 he stated that "his best friends [were] from the PRI" and campaigned in support of then-presidential PRI candidate Ernesto Zedillo. In the 2000 election he again campaigned for the PRI candidate, Francisco Labastida (who eventually lost the election). In 2015, he wrote a letter to the then-President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto (a member of the PRI), expressing his support for his administration and for the PRI, which he stated, "will never go away".


title: Juan Gabriel

text: In 2015, Billboard listed Gabriel among their list of the 30 most influential Latino artists in history, citing his "dramatic performance style" and his redefined concept of romantic Latin pop music. The publication noted Gabriel's appeal among several generations of Latino Americans and artists. In his list of the most influential Latin music artists in history, Carlos Quintana of About.com, ranked Gabriel number six for shaping "the sounds of Mexican music" and exploring genres from ranchera to Latin pop. In 1986, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley declared October 5 Juan Gabriel day. He received the Lo Nuestro Excellence Award in 1991. In 1996, he was inducted into the "Billboard" Latin Music Hall of Fame, while in 2003 he was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame, and posthumously inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame in October 2016.


title: Juan Gabriel

text: The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) honored Gabriel the Latin Songwriter of the Year Award in 1995, 1996, and 1998. In 1999, Gabriel received the People's Choice Awards for Best Regional Artist. That same year, he received the La Opinión Tributo Nacional for Lifetime Achievement Award. A statue was erected by "Billboard" at Mexico City's Plaza Garibaldi in 2001, and remains a popular destination for mariachi performances. In 2009, the singer was honored as the Latin Recording Academy's Person of the Year. He also received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in May 2002.


title: Juan Gabriel

text: His death became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter after news reports were confirmed. President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto, called him one of Mexico's "greatest musical icons". United States President Barack Obama also commented on Gabriel's death and complimented his music for "transcending borders and generations" and that "his spirit will live on in his enduring songs, and in the hearts of the fans who love him". Gabriel Abaroa, the CEO of the Latin Recording Academy, said his legacy was "much more than one or hundreds of songs; he composed philosophy" and that Gabriel "broke taboos, devoured stages and conquered diverse audiences". Leila Cobo of "Billboard" proclaimed Gabriel as a "prodigal performer" and noted that his songs were "romantic, colloquial, emotional compositions that sometimes rambled but managed to strike a universal chord with lyrics that could apply to many people and many situations."


title: Juan Gabriel

text: Gabriel's songs have been covered by artists such as Rocío Dúrcal, Gloria Trevi, La India, and Marc Anthony, the latter of whom credits his song "Hasta Que Te Conocí" as the inspiration to launch his career in Latin music. Tribute albums to Gabriel have been recorded by several artists including Cristian Castro, Pedro Fernández, Lorenzo Antonio, Álvaro Torres, Los Tri-O, Nydia Rojas, and La India. A television series based on Gabriel's life titled "Hasta que te conocí", began airing on April 18, 2016, and the series ended on August 28, coincidentally the same day Gabriel died. He was portrayed by Colombian actor Julián Román and Gabriel served as the executive producer.


title: Sulfate

text: The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many are prepared from that acid.


title: Sulfate

text: "Sulfate" is the spelling recommended by IUPAC, but "sulphate" was traditionally used in British English.


title: Sulfate

text: The sulfate anion consists of a central sulfur atom surrounded by four equivalent oxygen atoms in a tetrahedral arrangement. The symmetry is the same as that of methane. The sulfur atom is in the +6 oxidation state while the four oxygen atoms are each in the −2 state. The sulfate ion carries an overall charge of −2 and it is the conjugate base of the bisulfate (or hydrogensulfate) ion, , which is in turn the conjugate base of , sulfuric acid. Organic sulfate esters, such as dimethyl sulfate, are covalent compounds and esters of sulfuric acid. The tetrahedral molecular geometry of the sulfate ion is as predicted by VSEPR theory.


title: Sulfate

text: The first description of the bonding in modern terms was by Gilbert Lewis in his groundbreaking paper of 1916 where he described the bonding in terms of electron octets around each atom, that is no double bonds and a formal charge of +2 on the sulfur atom.


title: Sulfate

text: Later, Linus Pauling used valence bond theory to propose that the most significant resonance canonicals had two pi bonds involving d orbitals. His reasoning was that the charge on sulfur was thus reduced, in accordance with his principle of electroneutrality. The S−O bond length of 149 pm is shorter than the bond lengths in sulfuric acid of 157 pm for S−OH. The double bonding was taken by Pauling to account for the shortness of the S−O bond. Pauling's use of d orbitals provoked a debate on the relative importance of pi bonding and bond polarity (electrostatic attraction) in causing the shortening of the S−O bond. The outcome was a broad consensus that d orbitals play a role, but are not as significant as Pauling had believed.


title: Sulfate

text: A widely accepted description involving pπ – dπ bonding was initially proposed by Durward William John Cruickshank. In this model, fully occupied p orbitals on oxygen overlap with empty sulfur d orbitals (principally the d and d). However, in this description, despite there being some π character to the S−O bonds, the bond has significant ionic character. For sulfuric acid, computational analysis (with natural bond orbitals) confirms a clear positive charge on sulfur (theoretically +2.45) and a low 3d occupancy. Therefore, the representation with four single bonds is the optimal Lewis structure rather than the one with two double bonds (thus the Lewis model, not the Pauling model). In this model, the structure obeys the octet rule and the charge distribution is in agreement with the electronegativity of the atoms. The discrepancy between the S−O bond length in the sulfate ion and the S−OH bond length in sulfuric acid is explained by donation of p-orbital electrons from the terminal S=O bonds in sulfuric acid into the antibonding S−OH orbitals, weakening them resulting in the longer bond length of the latter.


title: Sulfate

text: However, the bonding representation of Pauling for sulfate and other main group compounds with oxygen is still a common way of representing the bonding in many textbooks. The apparent contradiction can be cleared if one realizes that the covalent double bonds in the Lewis structure in reality represent bonds that are strongly polarized by more than 90% towards the oxygen atom. On the other hand, in the structure with a dipolar bond, the charge is localized as a lone pair on the oxygen.


title: Sulfate

text: There are numerous examples of ionic sulfates, many of which are highly soluble in water. Exceptions include calcium sulfate, strontium sulfate, lead(II) sulfate, and barium sulfate, which are poorly soluble. Radium sulfate is the most insoluble sulfate known. The barium derivative is useful in the gravimetric analysis of sulfate: if one adds a solution of most barium salts, for instance barium chloride, to a solution containing sulfate ions, barium sulfate will precipitate out of solution as a whitish powder. This is a common laboratory test to determine if sulfate anions are present.


title: Sulfate

text: The sulfate ion can act as a ligand attaching either by one oxygen (monodentate) or by two oxygens as either a chelate or a bridge. An example is the complex or the neutral metal complex where the sulfate ion is acting as a bidentate ligand. The metal–oxygen bonds in sulfate complexes can have significant covalent character.


title: Sulfate

text: Sulfate-reducing bacteria, some anaerobic microorganisms, such as those living in sediment or near deep sea thermal vents, use the reduction of sulfates coupled with the oxidation of organic compounds or hydrogen as an energy source for chemosynthesis.


title: Sulfate

text: Some sulfates were known to alchemists. The vitriol salts, from the Latin "vitreolum", glassy, were so-called because they were some of the first transparent crystals known. Green vitriol is iron(II) sulfate heptahydrate, ; blue vitriol is copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate, and white vitriol is zinc sulfate heptahydrate, . Alum, a double sulfate of potassium and aluminium with the formula , figured in the development of the chemical industry.


title: Sulfate

text: Sulfates occur as microscopic particles (aerosols) resulting from fossil fuel and biomass combustion. They increase the acidity of the atmosphere and form acid rain. The anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacteria "Desulfovibrio desulfuricans" and "D. vulgaris" can remove the black sulfate crust that often tarnishes buildings.


title: Sulfate

text: The main direct effect of sulfates on the climate involves the scattering of light, effectively increasing the Earth's albedo. This effect is moderately well understood and leads to a cooling from the negative radiative forcing of about 0.4 W/m relative to pre-industrial values, partially offsetting the larger (about 2.4 W/m) warming effect of greenhouse gases. The effect is strongly spatially non-uniform, being largest downstream of large industrial areas.


title: Sulfate

text: The first indirect effect is also known as the Twomey effect. Sulfate aerosols can act as cloud condensation nuclei and this leads to greater numbers of smaller droplets of water. Many smaller droplets can diffuse light more efficiently than a few larger droplets.


title: Sulfate

text: The second indirect effect is the further knock-on effects of having more cloud condensation nuclei. It is proposed that these include the suppression of drizzle, increased cloud height, to facilitate cloud formation at low humidities and longer cloud lifetime. Sulfate may also result in changes in the particle size distribution, which can affect the clouds radiative properties in ways that are not fully understood. Chemical effects such as the dissolution of soluble gases and slightly soluble substances, surface tension depression by organic substances and accommodation coefficient changes are also included in the second indirect effect.


title: Sulfate

text: The indirect effects probably have a cooling effect, perhaps up to 2 W/m, although the uncertainty is very large. Sulfates are therefore implicated in global dimming. Sulfate is also the major contributor to stratospheric aerosol formed by oxidation of sulfur dioxide injected into the stratosphere by impulsive volcanoes such as the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines. This aerosol exerts a cooling effect on climate during its 1-2 year lifetime in the stratosphere.


title: Sulfate

text: The hydrogensulfate ion (), also called the bisulfate ion, is the conjugate base of sulfuric acid (). Sulfuric acid is classified as a strong acid; in aqueous solutions it ionizes completely to form hydronium () and hydrogensulfate () ions. In other words, the sulfuric acid behaves as a Brønsted–Lowry acid and is deprotonated to form hydrogensulfate ion. Hydrogensulfate has a valency of 1. An example of a salt containing the ion is sodium bisulfate, . In dilute solutions the hydrogensulfate ions also dissociate, forming more hydronium ions and sulfate ions ().


title: Jason Becker

text: Jason Eli Becker (born July 22, 1969) is an American composer and former virtuoso guitarist. At the age of 16, he became part of the Shrapnel Records-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty Friedman, and they released two albums, "Speed Metal Symphony" (1987) and "Go Off!" (1988). Since the dissolution of Cacophony in 1989, Becker has undertaken a solo career, releasing seven albums since his 1988 debut "Perpetual Burn". He later joined David Lee Roth's solo band and recorded one album with him, "A Little Ain't Enough".


title: Jason Becker

text: Becker's performing career was cut short by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which he was diagnosed with in 1989. By 1996, Becker had lost the ability to speak, and he now communicates with his eyes via a system developed by his father. He continues to compose with the aid of a computer and has since released "Collection" in 2008 and "Triumphant Hearts" in 2018, as well as various compilations.


title: Jason Becker

text: Becker was born and raised in Richmond, California, by his parents, Gary and Patricia (Heffley) Becker. He was born in Richmond Hospital on 23rd Street in 1969. His maternal grandfather was actor Wayne Heffley. Becker graduated from Kennedy High School where he performed Yngwie Malmsteen's "Black Star" with his band at a talent show. While still in high school, Becker was introduced to Marty Friedman. He was exposed to the guitar at an early age because both his father and his uncle were guitar players. He absorbed all kinds of music from around the world and melded different aspects of each style into his playing. He cited Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen as early influences.


title: Jason Becker

text: Becker started out playing alongside Marty Friedman in the Mike Varney-produced duo, Cacophony. Together, they put out an album, and toured Japan and the U.S. While they never went mainstream in the U.S., they proved popular enough in Europe to sell out almost every performance. In 1990, Friedman left to join Megadeth and Becker began to pursue a solo career, having released his first solo album titled "Perpetual Burn" in 1988. He has since released the albums "Perspective" and "Collection", as well as two albums of demos, entitled "The Raspberry Jams" and "The Blackberry Jams".


title: Jason Becker

text: In 1989, Becker joined David Lee Roth's solo band to work on his third album "A Little Ain't Enough", replacing Steve Vai, who left the band to record and tour with Whitesnake. While preparing for the album, Becker began to feel what he called a "lazy limp" in his left leg. He was soon diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS; Lou Gehrig's disease) and was given three to five years to live. He finished the recording using lighter gauge guitar strings and other techniques, which made it easier for him to play with his weakening hands. Although he managed to finish the album, he did not join the supporting tour due to his inability to perform on stage; former Lizzy Borden guitarist Joe Holmes took Becker's place on tour.


title: Jason Becker

text: His ALS gradually robbed him of his ability to play guitar, to walk, and eventually his ability to speak. He now communicates with his eyes via a system developed by his father. Due to the nature of the disease, he remains mentally sharp and, with the aid of a computer, continues composing. In the back of the "Perspective" CD case, Becker states "I have Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. It has crippled my body and speech, but not my mind." His medical condition has remained stable since 1997. In 2003, Becker posted on his website that he was feeling better and had gained some weight, while the folder for his 2008 album "Collection" also mentions an upcoming book.


title: Jason Becker

text: In 1996, Becker released an album entitled "Perspective", an instrumental album composed by him (with the exception of Bob Dylan's song "Meet Me in the Morning"). The writing of the music had been started before ALS completely crippled his abilities. By using guitar, and, later, when he was unable to use both hands, a keyboard, he continued to compose while his disease worsened. However, when Becker could no longer physically play even a keyboard, his friend and music producer Mike Bemesderfer helped him with a music-composing computer program that reads movements of his head and eyes, enabling Becker to continue to compose after he lost control of the rest of his body.


title: Jason Becker

text: Several years later, Becker released "Raspberry Jams" (1999) and "Blackberry Jams" (2003); the first contained various unreleased demo-tracks, and the latter contained demo-tracks and alternate versions of songs that were later reworked and published into other albums.


title: Jason Becker

text: Two tribute albums to Jason Becker have been issued. Respectively entitled "Warmth in the Wilderness I" and "Warmth in the Wilderness II," they feature guitarists such as Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman, Joe Becker, Rusty Cooley, and Mattias Eklundh. The album profits were sent to Becker to help him with his medical finances.


title: Jason Becker

text: On November 4, 2008, Shrapnel Records released a new Jason Becker album entitled "Collection". The album includes three new songs in addition to some older recordings (some never before released) and features Marty Friedman, Greg Howe, Joe Satriani, Michael Lee Firkins, Steve Vai, and Steve Hunter.


title: Jason Becker

text: On August 20, 2010, Becker declared that he was considering releasing an album of music he recorded when he was in his teenage years. He has since released this album, titled "Boy Meets Guitar", in 2012.


title: Jason Becker

text: In October 2016, Becker launched a campaign to fund an album, which was initially estimated for release in July 2017. The campaign raised more than $100,000. The album, "Triumphant Hearts" was released on December 7, 2018.


title: Jason Becker

text: Considered a virtuoso guitarist and one of the top players of his time, Becker studied the works of violinist Niccolò Paganini and was a playing partner with Marty Friedman. He later arranged Paganini's 5th Caprice, performing it during an instructional guitar video. Becker's compositions often include high speed scalar and arpeggio passages—trademarks of his shred style of guitar playing. Often incorporating advanced techniques such as sweep picking, alternate picking, artificial harmonic accenting, tapping and hybrid picking; he was among the leaders of the field during the technical shred guitar and neoclassical metal trend of the mid to late 1980s and is still respected and honored by his musician peers today. The song "Serrana" appearing in the album "Perspective", is an example of his sweep-picking skills. He demonstrated the arpeggio sequence during a clinic at the Atlanta Institute of Music. A video of this performance first appeared on his "Hot Licks" guitar instructional video.


title: Jason Becker

text: Becker's playing has proven to be influential on countless guitarists, including Nita Strauss, Guthrie Govan, Herman Li, Chris Broderick, and Daniel Mongrain, among others.


title: Jason Becker

text: Becker has appeared on many magazine covers throughout his career, including the February 1991 issue of "Guitar for the Practicing Musician" along with Jim Martin of Faith No More, the June 1991 issue of "Young Guitar", and the July 2012 issue of "Guitar Player", among others. He was also extensively interviewed for the 2017 book, "Shredders!: The Oral History Of Speed Guitar (And More)", by author Greg Prato.


title: Jason Becker

text: Becker's first guitar was a Franciscan acoustic. Prior to joining Cacophony in 1987, Becker worked his way through the Franciscan, a Takamine acoustic, a Fender Musicmaster, and finally, a black "Dan Smith" era Fender Stratocaster (likely a 1982 or 1983 model) with a DiMarzio Steve Morse humbucker in the bridge (seen in the "Black Star" video, circa 1986). On his message board, Becker said "I recorded SMS [Speed Metal Symphony] with my Strat."


title: Jason Becker

text: For his next guitar, Becker said on his message board "Mike Varney got Hurricane to endorse us after we recorded Speed Metal Symphony. I liked how they were like Strats, only beefier."


title: Jason Becker

text: On "Perpetual Burn", Becker said on his message board: "I used my white and black Hurricane guitar for everything. For clean tone I went direct. For dirty tone I used a 100 Watt Marshall with a Boss Super Overdrive pedal."


title: Jason Becker

text: The Moridira Hurricane guitar he used is called a Limited Edition LTD.2 model, believed to be made in Japan. (It is not a Hurricane EX series, which appears to be lower quality.) His LTD.2 was a "strat copy", but with a HSS pickup setup, a 24-fret rosewood fingerboard, and unique Floyd Rose where you do not have to cut the strings. For pickups, Becker said on his message board: "I just used the stock pickups it came with." The pickups were Japanese-made pickups.


title: Jason Becker

text: While Becker is pictured with a blue Hurricane guitar on the cover of "Perpetual Burn", he did not use this blue guitar on the album. Differences on this guitar from his first Hurricane include DiMarzio pickups, a maple fretboard, and 24 frets. (Marty Friedman recorded the whammy parts of his song "Dragon Mistress" using Becker's blue Hurricane, one of the rare times Marty has recorded whammy work.)


title: Jason Becker

text: For the second Cacophony album, Becker switched over to Carvin gear, utilizing 2 DC Series models, one in a trans blue finish with flamed maple top, and another one in a solid burgundy finish (This is the guitar seen in the famous "Yo Yo" video from the 1989 Japan tour with Cacophony). Both have double cutaway bodies, Kahler locking tremolo systems, six in line machine heads and two Carvin humbucker pickups. He used these up until he was diagnosed with ALS in 1989.


title: Jason Becker

text: During the sessions for "A Little Ain't Enough", Becker used various Carvin, Ibanez, ESP and Valley Arts guitars, as well as a Les Paul on some tracks and a Gibson acoustic for select things. Becker has also been pictured with a few Hamer superstrats as well. From 1989–1991, Becker used various guitars, most notably a Peavey custom model with the numbered fretboard markers. Also used were an Ibanez Custom Shop guitar (probably based on an RG), a custom from Performance Guitars, a couple of various unknown Strat style guitars and a black Hurricane with three single coil pickups.


title: Jason Becker

text: Becker has allowed Paradise Guitars USA to release a Jason Becker signature guitar. It is similar in appearance to the numbered Peavey, but with a different headstock shape.


title: Jason Becker

text: Becker used various types of amplifiers in his music. Before joining Cacophony, he used a small Peavey Studio Pro 40 with the older style Peavey vertical silver stripes on the grille cloth. During his early days Becker was also seen with a red Marshall JCM800 head and 4x12 cabinet.


title: Jason Becker

text: For the first Cacophony album, Becker used an ADAMP1 preamp. He recorded Perpetual Burn with a borrowed 1970s Marshall half stack and a BOSS Super Overdrive and Cacophony's second album was recorded with a Carvin X100B stack.


title: Jason Becker

text: For the David Lee Roth album "A Little Ain't Enough", Becker used "eight different Marshall amps." He also used the SX300H head at some point during that era. After Cacophony, Becker used various amps, including a "Fender M80", an unknown Marshall amp, an ADA Preamp and possibly the aforementioned Peavey combo.


title: Jason Becker

text: In 2008 Paradise Guitars worked with Becker to design a Jason Becker signature guitar. The design is based on the Peavey with colored number fret inlays. Features include an alder body, maple neck with steel 2-way truss rod, maple 16" radius fingerboard, 24 jumbo thin frets with colored number fret marker inlays, black Floyd Rose Pro Style floating Tremolo with Floyd Rose Tremolo stop, Sperzel red satin tuners, 14-degree tilt-back headstock with black Paradise logo and matching tremolo and electronics plates. The pickups are DiMarzio pickups; a PAF Pro-Custom in the neck colored yellow and red, a DP116 HS-2 in the middle colored green, and a Tone Zone-Custom in the bridge colored pink and blue. These colored pickups complement the colored inlays and seem to give the guitar a rainbow effect. There is also a red five-way switch and purple 1–11 volume knob.


title: Jason Becker

text: In 2012, Carvin worked with Becker to design the JB200C Jason Becker Tribute, a guitar that is modeled after the original DC200 guitar he used toward the latter part of his career. The guitar features an Alder body with flamed maple top, maple neck with a flamed maple fingerboard, a Floyd Rose tremolo, jumbo frets, 2 humbuckers, active electronics, and comes standard in a transparent blue finish.


title: Jason Becker

text: In 2015, Kiesel Guitars, which took over Carvin's guitar manufacturing, worked with Becker to release a second tribute model, called the JB24 "Numbers" guitar. It is the third incarnation of his "Numbers" guitar, previously released by Peavey and Paradise guitars, and is also one of the first Carvin guitars to feature a 24-fret bolt-on neck, alongside the GH24 Greg Howe signature model released in the same year. It features a tung-oiled ash body, maple neck and fingerboard, colored number inlays, stainless steel frets, and 3 custom-colored Seymour Duncan pickups (Perpetual Burn in the bridge, Vintage Hot Stack in the middle, and Jazz in the neck).


title: Jason Becker

text: For the official launch of Becker's signature Seymour Duncan Perpetual Burn Humbucker and the Carvin JB24 numbers guitar, Danny Young was chosen as the guitarist for both performances due to stylistic resemblance to Jason Becker and Niccolo Paganini. The Perpetual Burn performance was played on the Carvin JB200C. These performances led to the widespread notability of Danny Young's virtuosity in the guitar community and an authority in the tone and playing style of Jason Becker.


title: Jason Becker

text: A feature-length documentary film about the life of Jason Becker entitled "", was released in 2012. The film includes interviews with Becker, his family and friends, and the various musicians he has worked with, including Marty Friedman, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Richie Kotzen, and Steve Hunter. The film was generally well received by fans and critics and won many awards.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB-FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The series currently races a modified version of Group GT3 grand touring cars, replacing the silhouette later Class 1 touring cars of earlier years.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: From 2000 to 2020, the "new DTM" continues the former Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (German Touring Car Championship) and ITC (International Touring Car Championship) which had been discontinued after 1996 due to high costs. The series raced prototype silhouette racing cars based on a mass-production road car in the same period.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: During the ITC era, a large proportion of the revenue generated by the championship went to the FIA, which led to complaints from the teams regarding the small return on their increasingly large investment in the high-tech touring car series. Since 1997, many ideas had been discussed in order to find a compromise for the rules of a new DTM racing series. Opel put the primary emphasis on cost control, Mercedes-Benz supported expensive development in competition, BMW wanted an international series rather than one focused on Germany only, while Audi insisted on allowing their trademark quattro four-wheel drive system (despite running the rear wheel drive Audi R8 in sports car racing).


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: The DTM returned in 2000 as Mercedes and Opel had agreed to use cars that were based on the concept car that was shown by Opel on various occasions (e.g. the 1999 24 Hours Nürburgring where Opel celebrated its 100th anniversary). The series adopted the format of the 1995 championship, with most rounds held in Germany and occasional rounds throughout Europe, but having learnt the lessons of the ITC format, the ITR constantly made efforts to keep costs in the revived series from exploding to unreasonable levels, and to keep the championship firmly tied to its German roots. As too many races were initially planned outside Germany, no Championship (Meisterschaft) status was granted by the DMSB, and the DTM initials now stand for Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (German Touring Car Masters).


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: Unlike the previous incarnation, which primarily used saloon models like the Mercedes-Benz W201, the new DTM featured only 2-door coupés. Opel used the upcoming Coupé version of the Astra as in the concept car, and Mercedes used the CLK model which was already used as the basis for the Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR GT1-class sports car.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: The motorsport arm of the Bavarian tuning company Abt Sportsline was allowed to enter on short notice. Abt used the Audi TT as a basis for a DTM car, as Audi had no suitable 2-door coupé in its model lineup at the time, even though the dimensions of the car did not fit into the rules of the series. This also meant that the 1999 STW-Supertouring-champion Christian Abt could not defend his STW title as this series was also discontinued, with Opel then moving into DTM.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: In May 2000, the new DTM started with the traditional Hockenheimring round on the short course. Some cars competing in the race had no or few sponsorship decals. While Opel's cars could match the speed of most Mercedes cars in the 2000 season, the hastily developed Abt-Audi ended up outclassed. As the body shape of the TT had rather poor aerodynamic properties, Abt was allowed to use a version with a stretched wheelbase and bodyshell in later years. Further dispensation was also granted, such as increased rear wing height, which helped the Abt-Audi TT-R win the DTM championship in 2002 with Laurent Aïello.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: In 2002, the DTM also introduced the HANS device to increase driver safety and reduce injuries from accidents.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: In 2000, Manuel Reuter came second in the championship. After that year, no Opel driver was among the top three in the overall championship, with few podium finishes and no victories for the disappointing "lightnings". On the other hand, it was Opel team boss Volker Strycek who brought a new highlight to the fans, by racing a modified DTM car on the old version of the Nürburgring in 2002, 20 years after the top classes had moved to the modern Grand Prix track, and ten years after the old DTM stopped racing there. The Opels did not win in many of their race entries in the VLN endurance racing series, as they were mainly testing, but the speed was said to be impressive, and the fans loved it. However, they won the 2003 Nürburgring 24 Hours against factory efforts by Audi, who also ran a DTM-spec TT and BMW, who ran an ALMS-spec M3.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: After their successes with the Audi R8 and the official support of the Abt-TT-Rs at the Nürburgring, Audi finally joined the DTM as a factory entrant in 2004. The three constructors involved decided to switch to D-segment compact executive-based saloon bodies. The road models used as patterns since 2004 are the Audi A4, Opel Vectra GTS and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. All dimensions, like the wheelbase, are identical in order to provide equal opportunities without the actual design of the road cars having any influence. Audi immediately had success in 2004 with Swedish driver Mattias Ekström, now a long-time veteran of the sport, becoming a DTM series champion for the first time.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: The championship suffered a setback in 2004 when long-time entrant Opel decided to pull out of the series at the end of the 2005 season, as part of a large cost-cutting operation in General Motors European division. Initially, the gap looked set to be filled by MG Rover, however their plans to enter the series were canceled after the company collapsed in April 2005. As a result, Audi and Mercedes ended up fielding 10 cars each in 2006, but the television deal with the major German television station ARD required three marques to participate in 2007 in order to continue the broadcast agreement.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: The DTM carried on with only two manufacturers in spite of the television agreement requiring three manufacturers to participate in the series. The 2007–2009 seasons were marked by the dominance of Audi. Swede Mattias Ekström won the second of his two titles in 2007, and Timo Scheider took the driver's championship in the following two years. Mercedes-Benz were in the runner-up positions in both 2008 and 2009 (Paul di Resta in 2008 and Gary Paffett in 2009). In 2010, Mercedes finally bridged the gap to Audi, as di Resta won the 2010 championship driving for AMG-Mercedes.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: In 2011 and 2012, the DTM held a Race of Champions-style exhibition event in the Munich Olympic Stadium.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: In 2012 BMW made a return to the series after a twenty-year absence, and won the drivers, teams, and manufacturers titles. 2012 also marked the return of three-car manufacturers since 2005 season.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: Audi switched from the A4 to the A5 in 2012 and to the RS5 in 2013. In 2013, the Drag Reduction System identical to the system used in Formula 1 was introduced by ITR to improve racing in DTM.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: In 2014, the body shape and aerodynamic pieces of all DTM cars were modified to improve racing. The double-header races (Saturday and Sunday races) were also revived in 2015, thus switching from races with total laps run to timed races. The qualifying format was also reformatted into a single-session timed qualification (similar to the Formula One qualifying format used from 1996 to 2002), but DTM only run a single 20-minute qualifying session for Saturday and Sunday races. Performance weights were also introduced to determine the winning car's weight.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: In 2017, the DTM field size was reduced from 24 to 18 cars total to improve quality as well as increasing affordability for its existing manufacturers, while making the series a more attractive proposition for any prospective entrants and manufacturers.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: For the 2019 season, turbocharged engines were reintroduced to the series for the first time since 1989 (see article below for full story). Mercedes left the series following the conclusion of the 2018 season, but R-Motorsport joined the series in 2019 to run four Aston Martin-branded cars, although they would withdraw after a single season that did not yield competitive results. The 2019 season also saw the three Super GT GT500 manufacturers – Honda, Lexus and Nissan – each field a guest entry at the final race of the season, before entries from both series would compete at the non-championship Super GT x DTM Dream Race held at Fuji Speedway in Japan.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: The 2021 season switched to a GT3-based regulation otherwise known as GT Plus. The Class 1 cars were replaced in order to attract more manufacturers to the series.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: In March 2010, The GT Association (the governing body of the Super GT series in Japan) initially announced that the ITR were beginning to align the technical regulations with Super GT's GT500 class and NASCAR's Grand American Road Racing Association Grand Touring division to form a new Grand Touring specification. In October 2012, a cooperation agreement between DTM and Super GT was signed in Berlin. The agreement regarding the use of the 'New DTM' regulations by Japan's Super GT began in 2014 and ran for four years. DTM moved away from its previous 4.0-litre V8 specification in favour of 2.0-litre turbos in 2019, which Super GT had implemented in 2014.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: On 27 March 2013, the ITR and NASCAR Holdings road racing division, the International Motor Sports Association announced a North American DTM series that was scheduled to start between 2015 and 2016 based on the 2014 DTM/Class 1 regulations. As of 2019, a North American DTM series has yet to run, despite interest being shown by the North American sanctioning body to run DTM/Class 1, either as a series under IMSA sanction or possible integration into the sports car championship as a potential replacement for the GTLM/GTE class in 2022. The initial 2013 agreement to run a North American DTM Series was signed by IMSA's predecessor, Grand-Am Road Racing and did not take into account the subsequent merger of the sanctioning body with the rival sports car championship American Le Mans Series in 2014 to form United Sportscar Racing, now known as the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: When the DTM series returned, it used a similar format to the final season of the former DTM in 1996: two races of 100 kilometres, with a short break between them. In 2001 and 2002 there was a short race of 35 kilometres as well as a long race of 100 kilometres, which included one pit stop and points scored for the top 10 as in earlier seasons. From 2003 to 2014 there was only one race, which had a distance of about 250 kilometres, and two mandatory pit stops.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: For the 2015 season a new race format was introduced. Race weekend consisted of 40-minute (Saturday) and 60-minute (Sunday) races. On Saturday's race a pit stop was optional, while on Sunday's race a pit stop was mandatory and all the four tyres had to be changed. Both races had the same scoring system.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: In the 2017 season, both races of the weekend featured the same distance – 55 minutes plus a complete lap, with one race being held on Saturday, the other on Sunday. In both races, the drivers had to pit at least once for a set of fresh tyres. For the 2019 season the time limited race format was abolished and the series reverted to the fixed lap race format that was last used in 2014. However, after the opening round of the 2019 season, the series reverted the 55-minute plus one lap distance format due to issues with television broadcasts running longer than expected.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: The drivers have been a mixture of young and older drivers, including well known former Formula One drivers David Coulthard, Bernd Schneider, Allan McNish, Jean Alesi, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, JJ Lehto, Pedro Lamy, Karl Wendlinger, Emanuele Pirro, Stefano Modena, two-time F1 world champion Mika Häkkinen and former F1 2008 Canadian Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica. Others, such as Laurent Aïello, Tom Kristensen, Dindo Capello, Frank Biela, Marco Werner, Lucas Luhr, Alexandre Prémat, Yves Olivier, Jaroslav Janiš, and Alain Menu have made their career racing in sports cars and touring cars.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: The DTM is also increasingly being used by young drivers such as Robert Wickens and Gary Paffett to jump-start their racing career in single-seaters. Wickens was in the 2012 Mercedes young driver program and in his first year of DTM. This strategy appears to have worked well for Christijan Albers, who built a reputation by finishing second and third in the 2003 and 2004 championships with Mercedes-Benz and then graduated to Formula One in 2005. He came back in 2008, but this time driving for Audi. After winning the championship in 2010, Paul di Resta raced from 2011 until 2013 for Mercedes-engined Formula One team Force India. He has now returned to the Mercedes DTM team. Pascal Wehrlein, who has won the championship in a Mercedes car in 2015 went on to race for Sauber F1 Team and was a test driver for the Mercedes F1 team.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: Gary Paffett has also used his championship win to gain a test with McLaren, and they signed him as permanent test driver for 2006. This prevented Paffett from defending his title in 2006, however he thought that it will be a springboard for a race seat during the 2007 Formula One season. The plan failed however, and Paffett returned to DTM in 2007, but in a 2006 specification car.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: Four female drivers have taken part in the championship. In 2006 Vanina Ickx started racing for Audi and Susie Stoddart-later-Wolff in 2011 for Mercedes. In 2008 Ickx was replaced by Katherine Legge, who was subsequently replaced for the 2011 season by Rahel Frey.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters cars closely resemble public road vehicles but custom-built into a racing version as a reference of silhouette racing car format. The championship controls and specifies the chassis/car and engine manufacturers that teams are allowed to use each season. The league's choice of manufacturers are changed every year. Opel provided cars and Spiess engines in 2000–2005 with two different models (Astra in 2000–2003 later Vectra GTS V8 in 2004–2005). Opel ended its DTM program after the 2005 season, citing costs and company restructuring. Aston Martin provided the cars to R-Motorsport team in 2019, but left DTM after the 2020 season unable to secure an engine supplier.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: In 2000, Mercedes-Benz AMG came to the new DTM from the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mercedes-Benz won their first race in 1st Hockenheimring round, as well as the series title. In July 2017, Mercedes-Benz AMG company officials announced the company's withdrawal from German touring car racing after 2018 season and the immediate discontinuation of its DTM program, coinciding with its entrance into FIA Formula E Championship in 2019, and its discontinuation of its DMSB program.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: During the first inaugural resumption season, all DTM car styles were utilized shorter S-segment compact sports two-door coupé-style cars until 2003 season but in 2004 coupé-style cars were minority due to the transition to four-door sedan saloon-style cars. In 2004 the four-door sedan saloon-style cars were introduced due to touring car racing's core philosophy (several touring car racing tournaments have a "de facto" 4-door sedan saloon cars) until 2011. For 2012 season onwards the two-door coupé-style s were returned until 2020 but the two-door coupé-style cars are much more different than 2000–2003 cars (longer length, longer wheelbase, slightly lower height and aggressive aero package as based on compact D-segment compact executive cars). The updated new coupé-style cars were introduced in 2017 thanks to new rear wing.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: The cars are supposed to be fast and spectacular, while still fairly cheap to build and run. All DTM race cars have RWD and 4.0-litre V8 engines (later 2.0-litre inline-4 turbocharged engines) which are air-restricted to 460 hp but now into over 500 hp since 2017 until 2018 season and now into 610 hp including 30 hp push-to-pass since 2019 season and later 580 hp + 60 hp push-to-pass since 2020 season onwards, no matter if similar layouts or engines are available in the road cars. Instead of the road car bodies, unrelated purpose-built chassis are used, which are closer to prototype racing. Many drivers have in fact described the handling of the cars as closer to single seater racing cars than road cars. Only the roof sections of the road cars are put on top of the roll cages, and lights and other distinctive design features are used in order to provide a resemblance to the road cars. Also, in order to save money and provide close racing, many common parts from third party specialists are used, like transmission (from Hewland), brakes (from AP Racing), wheels (from ATS) and Hankook tyres (see below). The all-important aerodynamic configurations are tested in wind tunnels before the season, brought to an equal level, and kept that way throughout the season.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: DTM cars adhere to a front engine rear-wheel-drive design (similar to public legal road car). A roll cage serves as a space frame chassis, covered by CFRP crash elements on the side, front and rear and covered by metallic bodywork. They have a closed cockpit, a bi-plane rear wing, and other aerodynamic parts such as front splitter, side winglets and hood holes (see also on Aerodynamics section for more details).


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: All Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters cars aero packages are completely assembled. The car floor underbody is flat. Serratured side front fenders are included along with triple-decker front side winglet flicks, multiple side winglet flicks and multiple rear winglet flicks. The 2017–2018 generation of rear wing for all Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters cars are slightly wider, bi-plane wing and also parallelogram rear wing end plate. Since 2019 season onwards, the new generation of rear wings are wider than 2012–2018 generation of rear wing, single-plane wing and uniquely shaped rear wing plate. DTM cars have included a Drag Reduction System since the 2013 season (similar to Formula One) for helping the driver to overtake.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: The HYLO (High Yaw Lift-Off) aerodynamic safety is integrated on the rear wing for all Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters cars started form 2020 season onwards.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: Previously Hankook and Dunlop Tyres were the tyre partner and supplier of DTM from 2000 to 2010 seasons (Dunlop) and 2011 to 2020 seasons (Hankook), carrying the SP Sport Maxx (Dunlop 2000–2010) and Ventus (Hankook 2011–2020) brands respectively. The DTM runs the bespoke compounds and same size as LMP and GT cars since 2000 and re-profiled in 2012. The current front tyre sizes are 300/680-R18 (11.8/26.8-R18) and the rear tyre sizes are 320/700-R18 (12.6/27.9-R18) (previously front tyre sizes were 240/650-R18 (9.45/25.6-R18) and the rear tyre sizes were 280/660-R18 (11.0/25.6-R18) in 2000–2003 later front tyre sizes were 265/660-R18 (10.4/25.9-R18) and the rear tyre sizes were 280/660-R18 (11.0/25.9-R18) in 2004–2010 and later front tyre sizes were 260/660-R18 (10.2/25.9-R18) and the rear tyre sizes were 280/660-R18 (11.0/25.9-R18) in 2011). The compounds of Hankook Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters tyres are currently only one dry slick compound (standard prime hard) and one wet treaded compound (full-wet only). Option tyres were used as a soft compound in 2013–2014 seasons.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: According to research and pre-season stability tests, the pre-2019 model can go 0 to 100 km/h in approximately 2.6 seconds. The car had a top speed of meaning that it is the second fastest touring car behind the Australian V8 Supercars.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: Since DTM switched from traditional classic electronic indirect-injected V8 naturally aspirated engines to fuel-efficient direct-injected inline-4 turbocharged engines since 2019 season, the current model can go 0 to 100 km/h in approximately 2.8 seconds and now has a top speed of and thus outperforming Australian Supercars top speed (Albeit, DTM cars use 102 RON fuel compared with Australian Supercars using E85 fuel. A fair comparison would be both series cars using the same fuel type).


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: In 2015, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters introduced a Balance of Performance (BoP) system to improve racing spectacle. The Balance of Performance (BoP) weight regulations specified a car weight allowance range between in 2015–2016, later changed to from the mid-2017 season, in effect being closer to success ballast system used in British Touring Car Championship and Super GT despite the name. The Balance of Performance (BoP) weight regulations were scrapped just before the Austrian race due to several protests and criticisms from DTM teams.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: Driver aids like ABS, traction control, launch control, active suspension, cockpit-adjustable anti-roll bar and partial car-to-team radio communications are currently prohibited except fuel mapping and Drag Reduction Systems, which can only be used for 12 laps in 2018 when near enough.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: The safety is very important for all Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers. Drivers are required to wear a race suit, Nomex underwear, gloves, socks, boots and headsocks in the DTM. Meanwhile, the helmets for all Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers are made of carbon-fibre shell, lined with energy-absorbing foam and Nomex padding. The helmet type must meet or exceed FIA 8860-2010 certification approval as a homologation for all auto racing drivers. HANS device are required to be worn by DTM drivers since the 2002 season that meets or exceeds FIA 8858-2010 certification approval. Earpieces are also required by DTM drivers to improve communication.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: As Super GT GT500-style "Class 1" format retired after 2020 season, the series will adopt the GT3 Pro from 2021 season onwards. The engine format of new GT3 Pro will no longer mandated instead of free (displacement, shape, number of cylinders and injectors). As a result of GT3 Pro transition, the series will no longer utilize full-factory manufacturer entrants in order to save budgets. Michelin will served as official tyre partner despite GT3 Pro transition.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: The race start format will no longer have standing start with a rolling start being implemented in place.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: Michelin is now currently sole tyre partner for the series since 2021 season onwards, carrying the Pilot Sport GT S9M brand until at least one-year deal as a result of GT3-style GT Pro transition.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: If in the case of a tie, DTM will determine the champion based on the most first-place finishes. If there is still a tie, DTM will determine the champion by the most second-place finishes, then the most third-place finishes, etc., until a champion is determined. DTM will apply the same system to other ties in the rankings at the close of the season and at any other time during the season.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: ProSiebenSat.1 Media is currently owned the domestic DTM broadcasting rights from 2018 until 2021. Qualifying and race sessions is broadcast live on ran but Sat.1 only shows the race sessions. In Switzerland, the coverage also available on MySports through UPC.


title: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

text: Free-practices available worldwide via DTM official YouTube channel but for qualifying and race sessions only available for selected markets (including unsold) through OTT service DTM Grid.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Roy Wayne Farris (born January 25, 1953), better known by the ring name The Honky Tonk Man, is an American retired professional wrestler. He previously wrestled for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). He is best known for his first run with WWF, where he held the WWF Intercontinental Championship for a record 64 weeks before losing it to The Ultimate Warrior at the 1988 SummerSlam. He is the cousin of fellow professional wrestler and color commentator Jerry Lawler.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Farris began his career in 1977 working in Malden, Missouri and wrestled alongside his training partner Koko B. Ware for promoter Henry Rogers. Farris then moved on to Memphis Wrestling in 1978, originally working as a jobber to the stars. He wrestled frequently in Birmingham, Dothan, Mobile, and Pensacola as "Dynamite" Wayne Farris. He achieved greater success when he teamed with Larry Latham to form The Blond Bombers when they were put together by Jerry Brisco in Florida Championship Wrestling. The Bombers were later put with Sgt. Danny Davis as their manager when they came back to Memphis.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: The Blond Bombers were involved in heated feuds with several fan favorite teams across the two competing Tennessee promotions, appearing in both Nick Gulas's Nashville based territory, and Jerry Jarrett's Memphis area. Their signature moment was the now famous "Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl" against Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee. He then had stints in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promotions, World Wrestling Council (WWC), Southeastern Championship Wrestling, Southwest Championship Wrestling, National Wrestling Alliance and Stampede Wrestling through the early 1980s, winning multiple singles and tag team championships in each.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Farris made his debut for Stampede Wrestling in Calgary in 1982 where the Honky Tonk Wayne gimmick was born. A spinoff of rock star Elvis Presley, he sported slicked-back hair, sideburns, and carried a guitar. Honky and Ron Starr won the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship in 1985 and 1986. He later teamed with Cuban Assassin to win the International Tag Team titles. On June 20, 1986, he defeated Bad News Allen for the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship; the title was vacated when Honky left for WWF in 1986.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Farris entered the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in July 1986 under the ring name The Honky Tonk Man. Honky made his televised debut on the August 30, 1986 episode of The Body Shop (the last Body Shop interview segment conducted by Don Muraco), held on the final taping of All Star Wrestling. Taped several days later, he was introduced to fans at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center by Junkyard Dog in the final expisode of WWF Championship Wrestling, which also aired on August 30th.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: The WWF's introduction of the new character continued apace on their new clutch of syndicated programs that debued that fall. On Sep 6, 1986 on the first episode of WWF Superstars, a promo aired from Honky where he declared that he would tap dance on the head of Paul Orndorff. Similar promos aired on following episodes of Superstars that month, as well as the new Wrestling Challenge syndicated program. Honky made his televised WWF debut on the September 28, 1986, episode of "Wrestling Challenge", defeating Terry Gibbs. Originally pushed as a fan favorite wrestler with an Elvis impersonator gimmick, he was endorsed via an inset promo by none other than WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan himself. He made his debut on the house show circuit on October 8, 1986, defeating WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage via disqualification in a match in Warren, OH. Wrestling as a fan-favorite, he competed against Randy Savage and Jake Roberts in subsequent matches. Honky received a televised match against Savage on October 18, 1986 in an encounter broadcast from Philadelphia, but lost by countout.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Fan support was lukewarm to hostile, and the company pivoted as Honky soon cut a series of promos with Jesse "The Body" Ventura that aired on the WWF's syndicated programming asking fans for a "vote of confidence", while these promos actually insulted fans in the manner of Andy Kaufman before him. On November 16th he wrestled Mr X (Danny Davis) in a match taped in Toronto for Prime Time Wrestling, with those in attendance firmly against him. In December the results predictably came back negative, and it was not long before Honky turned into a cocky villain and took on "Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart (later billed "Colonel" as a reference to Elvis Presley's manager Colonel Tom Parker) as his manager.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Honky's first major feud came against Jake "The Snake" Roberts, who was in the midst of a fan favorite turn. The feud intensified when Honky attacked Roberts on his talk show set, "The Snake Pit". According to Roberts, Honky was supposed to hit him with a gimmicked balsa wood guitar (which was fiberglass); he believes Farris accidentally grabbed a real, non-gimmicked guitar and smashed it across Roberts' back, legitimately injuring him. According to Roberts, this started his dependence on prescription pain medication (in an interview, Roberts alleges that he was picking pieces of the guitar out of his back for weeks after he was hit). This has been disputed as Roberts had been a known drug user years before this incident. However, in an interview for "World Wrestling Insanity", Honky disputed Roberts' assertion saying, "That's not true and, in fact I attribute most of that to Mick Foley, who wrote about it in his book, and Jake, who lied about it", although television footage of the incident showed that the guitar did not break like a gimmicked one would have and that it took several more hits to Roberts' back for the guitar to break apart. Yet Roberts continued to wrestle regularly following this angle bringing into question the alleged non-gimmicked guitar shot. During their feud, which culminated at WrestleMania III, Honky grabbed the ring ropes to score a tainted win; afterward, Roberts cleared the ring of Honky before he and Alice Cooper attacked Hart with Damien, Roberts' python.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Following WrestleMania his feud with Jake Roberts was temporarily sidelined, with the newly returned Ken Patera substituting for the injured Roberts in multiple house show matches. For the first time since his WWF debut he was on the losing end of a feud, being pinned numerous times. On the May 18, 1987 episode of Prime Time Wrestling he suffered his first televised pinfall, losing again to Patera. On the June 8th episode of Prime Time he again loss by pinfall, this time to Billy Jack Haynes. On May 30th he again lost to Patera on Prime Time.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: On the June 13, 1987, episode of "Superstars", Honky defeated Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat for the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship; Honky reversed Steamboat's inside cradle and grabbed onto the bottom ropes for extra leverage to get the pinfall win. Butch Reed was originally scheduled to win the title. Honky was originally meant to be a transitional champion to only hold on to the title for a short period of time, however, Roberts failed several drug tests following WrestleMania and Honky became booked to remain champion for what would be a record-setting run. In a later interview, Honky remarked that Hulk Hogan, whom he then had a friendly, collaborative relationship with outside of the ring, had helped give Honky a chance at the title after a coincidental meeting between Hogan, Honky, and Vince McMahon took place. Hogan stuck up for Honky, even though McMahon had someone else in mind.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: To preserve his title, which could only be taken by pinfall or submission, Honky often got himself deliberately counted out or disqualified against challengers such as Steamboat, Billy Jack Haynes, Bruno Sammartino, and George "The Animal" Steele. Also during this time, Honky began using a 50s-styled, themed entrance song performed by Farris (included on "", the WWF's second album of wrestling themes). By September 1987, "Macho Man" Randy Savage was in the midst of a fan favorite turn and began challenging Honky for the title (after Honky had made comments about himself being "the greatest Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion of all time" and making disparaging comments about former champions, particularly Savage). Although they had several matches beforehand – they had also met in 1986, when the then-villain Savage was champion and challenged by the fan favorite Honky – the first Savage-Honky match to air on national television was on the October 3, 1987 "Saturday Night's Main Event XII", which was taped on September 23 in Hershey, Pennsylvania. During that match, Savage nearly defeated Honky until Honky's allies in Jimmy Hart's stable, The Hart Foundation (who had interfered throughout the match), ran into the ring and attacked Savage, getting Honky disqualified. Savage's manager, Miss Elizabeth, attempted to stop the attack on Savage, but Honky shoved her down and she fled to the locker room; meanwhile, Honky completed his attempt to break his guitar over Savage's head. Shortly thereafter, Miss Elizabeth returned with Savage's former rival, Hulk Hogan, who aided Savage in running off the heels (leading to the formation of The Mega Powers). Honky continued his bitter feud against Savage, as Honky would frequently make advances toward Miss Elizabeth – including one such incident at the 1987 Slammy Awards – to agitate his challenger. The last high-profile Savage-Honky match, aired as part of the undercard to Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant on the 1988 "The Main Event I", saw Honky lose by countout after Savage rammed him into the ring post on the outside of the ring. Their feud was blown off in the weeks before WrestleMania IV through a series of tag team-style steel cage matches, involving various allies of both Honky and Savage on their respective sides and Savage usually emerging victorious.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Honky retained the title in matches with Savage and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Honky's next major rival. During the Beefcake-Honky feud – which began at WrestleMania IV (where Jimmy Hart got him disqualified by knocking out the referee with his megaphone while Beefcake had Honky in a sleeper hold, and this saw Honky retain the title, but Hart got a haircut from Beefcake himself) and continued during the spring and summer of 1988 – Honky vowed not to let Beefcake cut his ducktail hair, something Beefcake often said he would do in promos. In their matches, Honky was often seconded by a mysterious woman named Peggy Sue; while WWF Women's Champion Sherri Martel played the role for television tapings, more often than not, "Peggy Sue" was Jimmy Hart dressed in drag. Beefcake countered with a "woman" of his own: "Georgina" (George "The Animal" Steele in drag). Honky and Beefcake were scheduled to square off at the 1988 SummerSlam in what was billed as Beefcake's last shot at the now renamed Intercontinental Championship.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: However, in a storyline twist, Beefcake was thrust in a feud with "Outlaw" Ron Bass after Bass committed a sneak attack on Beefcake; the incident was aired the weekend before SummerSlam. At the event, it was announced that a "mystery opponent" would face Honky for the title. When it came time for the match, Honky grabbed the microphone and proclaimed that he did not care who his opponent was. The Ultimate Warrior then ran out and pinned his stunned opponent in just 31 seconds for the Intercontinental Championship, ending his reign at 454 days. Honky had been the champion for one year, two months and 27 days – the longest Intercontinental Championship reign in history.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: In 1989, Honky entered the Royal Rumble, where he was eliminated by Tito Santana and Bushwhacker Butch. In late 1989 and 1990, he and Greg Valentine, who was also managed by Jimmy Hart, aligned themselves as the tag team Rhythm and Blues. At WrestleMania VI, they notably rode in a pink Cadillac, with future WWE Hall of Famer Diamond Dallas Page as the driver. with After competing against such teams as The Hart Foundation at WrestleMania V and The Legion of Doom, Rhythm & Blues were part of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Team along with his "mystery" partner, the debuting Undertaker, against Rhodes' Dream Team of The Hart Foundation and Koko B. Ware at the 1990 Survivor Series, where they emerged victorious. Honky wrapped up his WWF career with a stint as a pro-villains color commentator alongside Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper on "Superstars" before leaving in January 1991.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Universal Wrestling Federation promoter Herb Abrams immediately set about signing Ferris to his growing roster of former WWF stars, adding to a burgeoning roster which also included recent signings Andre the Giant, Greg Valentine, and Rick Rude. He (as well as Rude and Valentine) made their debuts on the January 9, 1991 tapings of UWF Fury Hour. Appearing as The Honkytonk Man, Ferris did an in-ring segment with Captain Lou Albano where he was prevented from singing for the fans in attendance. The WWF filed a lawsuit claiming trademark to the Honkytonk Man character, with the segment subsequently not airing. This would also extend to Rick Rude and Greg Valentine, who would never actually appear on UWF television. Ferris left the promotion following a pay dispute with Abrams, and the latter refused to pay him or Valentine.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: After leaving the UWF, Honky went the independent circuit. He wrestled his former partner Greg Valentine to a double disqualification for United Wrestling Alliance on February 19, 1991. He faced USWA Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler at the TWA Spring Spectacular 2 on May 18, 1991, losing via disqualification. Ferris next appeared for the TWA (Tri State Wrestling Alliance), where he faced Paul Orndorff. He lost to Don Muraco at Century Toyota on June 28, 1992. Then he made a one night appearance on November 11, 1993, for United States Wrestling Association as he lost to Jeff Jarrett by disqualification.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: On August 5, 1994 Ferris resurfaced in the Big Two, joining World Championship Wrestling and defeating Terry Taylor on WCW Worldwide. Promotional vignettes began airing for the former WWF star, and he next appeared on August 15, 1994 on WCW Pro with a win over Brad Armstrong. The Clash of Champions XXVIII special on August 24, 1994 featured the debut of his new song "Honkytonk Baby". Honkytonk Man remained undefeated on WCW television, defeating Mike Winner and Sam Houston. He began appearing on WCW's renewed house show circuit in October, defeating Brian Pillman in multiple encounters. On October 24, 1994 he appeared on his first WCW PPV, wrestling WCW World Television Champion Johnny B. Badd on Halloween Havoc 94 in a match that went to a time limit draw.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Honkytonk suffered his first WCW defeat on October 28, 1994, losing to Johnny B Badd at a house show in Tampa, FL. This presaged several further defeats to Badd on the house show circuit; in the meantime it was announced he would face the WCW World Television Champion in a rematch at Starrcade 94. Honkytonk continued to remained undefeated on television, with his final match before the PPV coming on December 17th in a win over Steve Collins on WCW Worldwide. At Starrcade 94 he left the company due to a dispute with management. In his book "Controversy Creates Cash", Eric Bischoff stated that his favorite firing was that of Honky. Honky has responded by saying that it was an honor, as Bischoff had fired a number of people while in WCW until he got himself fired.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: After an unsuccessful stint with WCW, Honky returned to the indies. In 1995 he wrestled for the National Wrestling Conference having matches against former WWF stars Virgil, Ultimate Warrior, and Jake Roberts. He worked with them until 1998.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: In 1998 he worked for Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW) in British Columbia, Canada. On May 5, 1999, he wrestled Michael Hayes in a losing effort for SSOW.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: After a brief stint in the American Wrestling Federation, Honky resurfaced in the WWF on December 17, 1996 at a Monday Night Raw taping in Tampa, FL. In a show that aired on December 29, Honkytonk told the fans that he could not sing for the fans and instead provided color commentary. This would expand to commentary work on "Raw Is War", "WWF Superstars", and "Shotgun Saturday Night", and then as the manager of Billy Gunn, who had started a singles run. Under Honky's tutelage, Gunn became known as "Rockabilly", which was a short-lived and unsuccessful gimmick and was also disliked by Honky himself. He then made an appearance in the 1998 Royal Rumble event eliminated by Vader. Honky returned to the WWF for a one-time appearance at the 2001 Royal Rumble, but was quickly eliminated by Kane after being hit on the head with his guitar.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: In 2008, Santino Marella announced his intention to break Honky's record for longest Intercontinental Championship reign, usually displaying a special "Honk-a-meter" comparing Honky's 64-week record with the length of his own reign at the time. On the October 6 episode of "Raw", Honky (now a fan favorite for the first time since 1986), along with Goldust and Roddy Piper, was named as one of the possible opponents for Marella's Intercontinental Championship at Cyber Sunday. He was elected by fans to challenge for the title with 35% of the vote; despite concern that his injured finger might require surgery, he did appear, winning the match by disqualification (thus failing to win the title). After the match had ended, Goldust and Piper came down to the ring and, along with Honky, attacked Marella. On the October 27 episode of "Raw", Honky appeared as a special guest commentator. After an impersonation of Marella's on-screen girlfriend, Beth Phoenix, Charlie Haas was knocked into the announcer table, and Marella attacked Honky, prompting Piper and Goldust to block Marella's escape from the ring. Upon Goldust's entry to the ring, Marella turned around to be smashed over the head by Honky's guitar. Honky inducted Koko B. Ware into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 4, 2009.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: In 2010, WWE offered him a place in the WWE Hall of Fame, but he rejected it. Honky made a brief appearance on "Old School Raw" on March 4, 2013. Following a match between the team of Brodus Clay and Tensai and 3MB, he smashed 3MB member Heath Slater over the head with a guitar. He then danced with Clay and Tensai to his signature "Cool, Cocky, Bad" theme song.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Since 2000, Honky has worked independent wrestling shows all over the world. Honky, along with Ryan Smith and a host of others, ran a series of controversial wrestling websites from 2000 to 2006. TheHonkyTonkMan.com featured frequent updates from Honky himself, a highly interactive message board community, extensive photo gallery, audio updates, and more. Notable online feuds began between The Honky Tonk Man and Jerry Lawler, Roddy Piper, and others. These often intense online rivalries became a major drawing point for fans. The website unexpectedly closed without much explanation in December 2006. The site now forwards to various new ventures of former website manager Ryan Smith, who remains tight-lipped about the closing.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Honky has wrestled for Southern Championship Wrestling in Castroville, Texas, and MSW in eastern Canada. On April 23, 2008, Honky was seen wrestling in Presque Isle, Maine for the North Atlantic American Wrestling Association promotion. He appeared on Heavy on Wrestling on June 14, 2008, in Superior, Wisconsin. He wrestled as a fan favorite, defeating Big Brody Hoofer and hitting Cameron Steele with a guitar. He also appeared at PDX Wrestling (the new-age Portland Wrestling, run by Sandy Barr's son Josh) teaming with a local fan favorite against two villains.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: On April 26, 2008, Honky was inducted into the XWF Hall of Fame by its creator Jack Blaze at their 2008 XWF Superbrawl event. XWF was later renamed LPW (Legends Pro Wrestling) where Honky is still honored in their Hall of Fame. On June 28, 2008, in Chicago Ridge, Illinois, he made a special guest appearance for Ring of Honor with the storyline that "Sweet N'Sour" Larry Sweeney had brought him on board with his Sweet N'Sour Inc. faction. He praised the crowd and was about to sing and dance for them until Sweeney stepped in and told him he would not be doing either until their demands were met.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: On July 27, 2008, Honky almost had the index finger of his right hand severed during a public appearance in Canada before an Ultimate Championship Wrestling show in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. He was making an appearance at Boston Pizza in Charlottetown several hours before the show when someone wanted to take a photo with him with both men clashing guitars. When the guitars collided, the neck of Honky's guitar turned and sliced into Honky's finger, almost severing it. Honky was immediately taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital where doctors stitched the finger and bandaged it. Honky made his appearance at the Ultimate Championship Wrestling show several hours later. He was unable to wrestle his scheduled match due to the injury and was replaced by Trash Canyon, whom he managed from ringside. Honky, although injured and in obvious pain, sang his theme song twice in the ring.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: In August 2008, Honky appeared at Wrestling Supershows across Canada. Honky also made appearances in SWCW in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. On October 24, 2008, he wrestled for Big Time Wrestling (his first match in four months), beating L'Empereur. On January 7, 2009, he appeared in a World Pro Wrestling event in Colusa, California, teaming with Doink The Clown (a new masked version) to face WPW World Tag Team Champions The First Class Express, Jerry Grey and Mighty Henrich. The match ended in a no contest as Doink turned on Honky and the three triple-teamed him. On May 7, 2009, Honky and Bushwacker Luke defeated "Kowboy" Mike Hughes and "Wildman" Gary Williams for the UCW Tag Team Championship. On January 31, 2011, Honky made his Dynamic Wrestling Alliance debut defeating Col. Jonathan James at the "Golden Opportunity II" event in Middletown, Ohio.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: On June 5, 2016, Honky wrestled in Impact Pro Wrestling in New Zealand, at the Armageddon Expo in Wellington. He teamed up with Brook Duncan and Britenay to defeat the team of the IPW New Zealand Heavyweight Champion Curt Chaos, Taylor Adams and Mr Burns.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Honky made a cameo appearance in the first episode of season 3 of Lucha Underground, appearing as a warden in a prison, returning Dario Cueto's things upon his release.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: On February 26, 2019, WWE confirmed that the Honky Tonk Man would join the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2019. He was inducted on April 7, 2019, by his former manager Jimmy Hart.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Honky appeared in the coin operated arcade game WWF Superstars which debuted in 1989. Honky appeared in an episode of the court based show "Judge Jeanine Pirro" as a witness to the defendant; the episode, which aired on October 11, 2010, was also the highest rated show for "Judge Jeanine Pirro" of all time. Honky appeared in the video game "WWE All Stars" as a free downloadable character. He also has appeared in "WWE 2K15" as part of a downloadable content pack and is in "WWE 2K16" as an unlockable character from the special objectives. He was cast in John Wesley Norton's film "Executive Ranks". Honky also appeared in Insane Clown Posse's music video for "How Many Times" along with The Bushwhackers and his former tag team partner Greg Valentine.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Farris is a first cousin of Jerry Lawler and a first cousin once-removed of the late Brian Christopher. He is an avid golfer in his spare time.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Farris's first marriage to Judy Lynn Nuckolls was brief, but he has been married to his current wife Tammy since 1984. He has lived in Gilbert, Arizona since June 1993.


title: The Honky Tonk Man

text: Although a kayfabe rival of Randy Savage, Farris had a professionally friendly relationship with him. Both men held the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship for over one year, with Farris beating Savage by a few weeks.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: Nicknamed "Sassy" and "The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine Grammy Awards. She was given an NEA Jazz Masters Award in 1989. Critic Scott Yanow wrote that she had "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century".


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: Vaughan was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Asbury "Jake" Vaughan, a carpenter by trade who played guitar and piano, and Ada Vaughan, a laundress who sang in the church choir, migrants from Virginia. The Vaughans lived in a house on Brunswick Street in Newark for Vaughan's entire childhood. Jake was deeply religious. The family was active in New Mount Zion Baptist Church at 186 Thomas Street. Vaughan began piano lessons at the age of seven, sang in the church choir, and played piano for rehearsals and services.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: She developed an early love for popular music on records and the radio. In the 1930s, she frequently saw local and touring bands at the Montgomery Street Skating Rink. By her mid-teens, she began venturing illegally into Newark's night clubs and performing as a pianist and singer at the Piccadilly Club and the Newark Airport.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: Vaughan attended East Side High School, then transferred to Newark Arts High School, which opened in 1931. As her nocturnal adventures as a performer overwhelmed her academic pursuits, she dropped out of high school during her junior year to concentrate on music.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: Vaughan was frequently accompanied by a friend, Doris Robinson, on her trips into New York City. In the fall of 1942, by which time she was 18 years old, Vaughan suggested that Robinson enter the Apollo Theater Amateur Night contest. Vaughan played piano accompaniment for Robinson, who won second prize. Vaughan later decided to go back and compete as a singer herself. She sang "Body and Soul", and won—although the date of this victorious performance is uncertain. The prize, as Vaughan recalled to Marian McPartland, was $10 and the promise of a week's engagement at the Apollo. On November 20, 1942, she returned to the Apollo to open for Ella Fitzgerald.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: During her week of performances at the Apollo, Vaughan was introduced to bandleader and pianist Earl Hines, although the details of that introduction are disputed. Billy Eckstine, Hines' singer at the time, has been credited by Vaughan and others with hearing her at the Apollo and recommending her to Hines. Hines claimed later to have discovered her himself and offered her a job on the spot. After a brief tryout at the Apollo, Hines replaced his female singer with Vaughan on April 4, 1943.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: Vaughan spent the remainder of 1943 and part of 1944 touring the country with the Earl Hines big band, which featured Billy Eckstine. She was hired as a pianist so Hines could hire her under the jurisdiction of the musicians' union (American Federation of Musicians) rather than the singers union (American Guild of Variety Artists). But after Cliff Smalls joined the band as a trombonist and pianist, her duties were limited to singing. The Earl Hines band in this period is remembered as an incubator of bebop, as it included trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, saxophonist Charlie Parker (playing tenor saxophone rather than alto), and trombonist Bennie Green. Gillespie arranged for the band, although the contemporary recording ban by the musicians' union meant that no commercial recordings exist.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: Eckstine quit the Hines band in late 1943 and formed a big band with Gillespie, leaving Hines to become the band's musical director. Parker joined Eckstine, and over the next few years the band included Gene Ammons, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Dexter Gordon, and Lucky Thompson. Vaughan accepted Eckstine's invitation to join his band in 1944, giving her the opportunity to record for the first time on December 5, 1944, on the song "I'll Wait and Pray" for De Luxe. Critic and producer Leonard Feather asked her to record later that month for Continental with a septet that included Dizzy Gillespie and Georgie Auld. She left the Eckstine band in late 1944 to pursue a solo career, although she remained close to Eckstine and recorded with him frequently.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: Pianist John Malachi is credited with giving Vaughan the moniker "Sassy", a nickname that matched her personality. She liked it, and the name and its shortened variant "Sass" stuck with colleagues and the press. In written communications, Vaughan often spelled it "Sassie".


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: Vaughan began her solo career in 1945 by freelancing on 52nd Street in New York City at the Three Deuces, the Famous Door, the Downbeat, and the Onyx Club. She spent time at Braddock Grill next to the Apollo Theater in Harlem. On May 11, 1945, she recorded "Lover Man" for Guild with a quintet featuring Gillespie and Parker with Al Haig on piano, Curly Russell on double bass, and Sid Catlett on drums. Later that month, she went into the studio with a slightly different and larger Gillespie/Parker aggregation and recorded three more sides.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: After being invited by violinist Stuff Smith to record the song "Time and Again" in October 1945, Vaughan was offered a contract to record for Musicraft by owner Albert Marx, although she would not begin recording as a leader for Musicraft until May 7, 1946. In the intervening time, she recorded for Crown and Gotham and began performing regularly at Café Society Downtown, an integrated club in New York's Sheridan Square.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: While at Café Society, Vaughan became friends with trumpeter George Treadwell, who became her manager. She delegated to him most of the musical director responsibilities for her recording sessions, allowing her to concentrate on singing. Over the next few years, Treadwell made changes in Vaughan's stage appearance. Aside from a new wardrobe and hair style, she had her teeth capped, eliminating a gap between her two front teeth.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: Her recordings for Musicraft included "If You Could See Me Now" (written and arranged by Tadd Dameron), "Don't Blame Me", "I've Got a Crush on You", "Everything I Have Is Yours" and "Body and Soul". With Vaughan and Treadwell's professional relationship on solid footing, the couple married on September 16, 1946.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: In 1947, Vaughan performed at the third Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on September 7, 1947. The Valdez Orchestra, The Blenders, T-Bone Walker, Slim Gaillard, The Honeydrippers, Johnny Otis and his Orchestra, Woody Herman, and the Three Blazers also performed that same day.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: Vaughan's recording success for Musicraft continued through 1947 and 1948. Her recording of "Tenderly"—she was proud to be the first to have recorded that jazz standard—became an unexpected pop hit in late 1947. Her December 27, 1947, recording of "It's Magic" (from the Doris Day film "Romance on the High Seas") found chart success in early 1948. Her recording of "Nature Boy" from April 8, 1948, became a hit around the time the popular Nat King Cole version was released. Because of a second recording ban by the musicians' union, "Nature Boy" was recorded with an a cappella choir.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: The musicians' union ban pushed Musicraft to the brink of bankruptcy. Vaughan used the missed royalty payments as an opportunity to sign with the larger Columbia record label. After the settling of legal issues, her chart successes continued with "Black Coffee" in the summer of 1949. While at Columbia through 1953, she was steered almost exclusively to commercial pop ballads, several with success on the charts: "That Lucky Old Sun", "Make Believe (You Are Glad When You're Sorry)", "I'm Crazy to Love You", "Our Very Own", "I Love the Guy", "Thinking of You" (with pianist Bud Powell), "I Cried for You", "These Things I Offer You", "Vanity", "I Ran All the Way Home", "Saint or Sinner", "My Tormented Heart", and "Time".


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: She won "Esquire" magazine's New Star Award for 1947, awards from "Down Beat" magazine from 1947 to 1952, and from "Metronome" magazine from 1948 to 1953. Recording and critical success led to performing opportunities, with Vaughan singing to large crowds in clubs around the country during the late 1940s and early 1950s. In the summer of 1949, she made her first appearance with a symphony orchestra in a benefit for the Philadelphia Orchestra entitled "100 Men and a Girl." Around this time, Chicago disk jockey Dave Garroway coined a second nickname for her, "The Divine One", that would follow her throughout her career. One of her early television appearances was on DuMont's variety show "Stars on Parade" (1953–54) in which she sang "My Funny Valentine" and "Linger Awhile".


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: In 1949, with their finances improving, Vaughan and Treadwell bought a three-story house on 21 Avon Avenue in Newark, occupying the top floor during their increasingly rare off-hours at home and moving Vaughan's parents to the lower two floors. However, business pressures and personality conflicts led to a cooling in Treadwell and Vaughan's relationship. Treadwell hired a road manager to handle her touring needs and opened a management office in Manhattan so he could work with other clients.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: Vaughan's relationship with Columbia soured as she became dissatisfied with the commercial material and its lackluster financial success. She made some small-group recordings in 1950 with Miles Davis and Bennie Green, but they were atypical of what she recorded for Columbia.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: In 1949, Vaughan had a radio program, "Songs by Sarah Vaughan", on WMGM in New York City. The 15-minute shows were broadcast in the evenings on Wednesday through Sunday from The Clique Club, described as "rendezvous of the bebop crowd." She was accompanied by George Shearing on piano, Oscar Pettiford on double bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: In 1953, Treadwell negotiated a contract for Vaughan with Mercury in which she would record commercial material for Mercury and jazz-oriented material for its subsidiary, EmArcy. She was paired with producer Bob Shad, and their working relationship yielded commercial and artistic success. Her debut recording session at Mercury took place in February 1954. She remained with Mercury through 1959. After recording for Roulette from 1960 to 1963, she returned to Mercury from 1964 to 1967.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: Her commercial success at Mercury began with the 1954 hit "Make Yourself Comfortable", recorded in the fall of 1954, and continued with "How Important Can It Be" (with Count Basie), "Whatever Lola Wants", "The Banana Boat Song", "You Ought to Have a Wife", and "Misty". Her commercial success peaked in 1959 with "Broken Hearted Melody", a song she considered "corny" which nevertheless became her first gold record, and a regular part of her concert repertoire for years to come. Vaughan was reunited with Billy Eckstine for a series of duet recordings in 1957 that yielded the hit "Passing Strangers". Her commercial recordings were handled by a number of arrangers and conductors, primarily Hugo Peretti and Hal Mooney.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: The jazz "track" of her recording career proceeded apace, backed either by her working trio or combinations of jazz musicians. One of her favorite albums was a 1954 sextet date that included Clifford Brown.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: In the latter half of the 1950s, she followed a schedule of almost non-stop touring. She was featured at the first Newport Jazz Festival in the summer of 1954 and starred in subsequent editions of that festival at Newport and in New York City for the remainder of her life. In the fall of 1954, she performed at Carnegie Hall with the Count Basie Orchestra on a bill that also included Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Lester Young and the Modern Jazz Quartet. That fall, she again toured Europe before embarking on a "Big Show" U.S. tour, a succession of performances that included Count Basie, George Shearing, Erroll Garner and Jimmy Rushing. At the 1955 New York Jazz Festival on Randalls Island, Vaughan shared the bill with the Dave Brubeck quartet, Horace Silver, Jimmy Smith, and the Johnny Richards Orchestra.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: Although the professional relationship between Vaughan and Treadwell was quite successful through the 1950s, their personal relationship finally reached a breaking point and she filed for a divorce in 1958. Vaughan had entirely delegated financial matters to Treadwell, and despite significant income figures reported through the 1950s, at the settlement Treadwell said that only $16,000 remained. The couple evenly divided the amount and their personal assets, terminating their business relationship.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: She made her UK debut in 1958 at Sunday Night at the London Palladium with several songs including "Who's Got the Last Laugh Now".


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: The exit of Treadwell from Vaughan's life was precipitated by the entry of Clyde "C.B." Atkins, a man of uncertain background whom she had met in Chicago and married on September 4, 1959. Although Atkins had no experience in artist management or music, Vaughan wished to have a mixed professional and personal relationship like the one she had with Treadwell. She made Atkins her manager, although she was still feeling the sting of the problems she had with Treadwell and initially kept a closer eye on Atkins. Vaughan and Atkins moved into a house in Englewood, New Jersey.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: When Vaughan's contract with Mercury ended in late 1959, she signed on with Roulette, a small label owned by Morris Levy, who was one of the backers of Birdland, where she frequently appeared. She began recording for Roulette in April 1960, making a string of large ensemble albums arranged or conducted by Billy May, Jimmy Jones, Joe Reisman, Quincy Jones, Benny Carter, Lalo Schifrin, and Gerald Wilson. She had pop chart success in 1960 with "Serenata" on Roulette and "Eternally" and "You're My Baby", a couple of residual tracks from her Mercury contract. She recorded "After Hours" (1961) with guitarist Mundell Lowe and double bassist George Duvivier and "Sarah + 2" (1962) with guitarist Barney Kessel and double bassist Joe Comfort.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: In 1961 Vaughan and Atkins adopted a daughter, Deborah Lois Atkins, known professionally as Paris Vaughan. However, the relationship with Atkins proved difficult and violent. After several incidents, she filed for divorce in November 1963. She turned to two friends to help sort out the financial affairs of the marriage. Club owner John "Preacher" Wells, a childhood acquaintance, and Clyde "Pumpkin" Golden Jr. discovered that Atkins' gambling and spending had put Vaughan around $150,000 in debt. The Englewood house was seized by the IRS for nonpayment of taxes. Vaughan retained custody of their child and Golden took Atkins' place as Vaughan's manager and lover for the remainder of the decade.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: When her contract with Roulette ended in 1963, Vaughan returned to the more familiar confines of Mercury. In the summer of 1963, she went to Denmark with producer Quincy Jones to record "Sassy Swings the Tivoli", an album of live performances with her trio. During the next year, she made her first appearance at the White House for President Lyndon Johnson. The Tivoli recording would be the brightest moment of her second stint with Mercury. Changing demographics and tastes in the 1960s left jazz musicians with shrinking audiences and inappropriate material. Although she retained a following large and loyal enough to maintain her career, the quality and quantity of her recorded output dwindled as her voice darkened and her skill remained undiminished. At the conclusion of her Mercury deal in 1967, she lacked a recording contract for the remainder of the decade.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: In 1971, at the Tropicana in Las Vegas, Marshall Fisher was a concession stand employee and fan when he was introduced to Sarah Vaughan. They were attracted to each other immediately. Fisher moved in with her in Los Angeles. Although he was white and seven years older, he got along with her friends and family. Although he had no experience in the music business, he became her road manager, then personal manager. But unlike other men and managers, Fisher was devoted to her and meticulously managed her career and treated her well. He wrote love poems to her.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: In 1971, Bob Shad, who had worked with her as a producer at Mercury, asked her to record for his label, Mainstream, which he had founded after leaving Mercury. Breaking a four-year hiatus, Vaughan signed a contract with Mainstream and returned to the studio for "A Time in My Life", a step away from jazz into pop music with songs by Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Marvin Gaye arranged by Ernie Wilkins. She didn't complain about this eclectic change in direction, but she chose the material for her next album after admiring the work of Michel Legrand. He conducted an orchestra of over one hundred musicians for "Sarah Vaughan with Michel Legrand", an album of compositions by Legrand with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The songs brought some of the musicians to tears during the sessions. But Shad wanted a hit, and the album yielded none. She sang a version of the pop hit "Rainy Days and Mondays" by the Carpenters for "Feelin' Good". This was followed by "Live in Japan", her first live album since 1963. "Sarah Vaughan and the Jimmy Rowles Quintet" (1974) was more experimental, containing free improvisation and some unconventional scatting.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: "Send in the Clowns" was another attempt to increase sales by breaking into the pop music market. Vaughan disliked the songs and hated the album cover depicting a clown with an afro. She filed a lawsuit against Shad in 1975 on the belief that the cover was inconsistent with the formal, sophisticated image she projected on stage. She also contended that the album "Sarah Vaughan: Live at the Holiday Inn Lesotho" had an incorrect title and that Shad had been harming her career. Although she disliked the album, she liked the song "Send in the Clowns" written by Stephen Sondheim for the musical "A Little Night Music". She learned it on piano, made many changes with the help of pianist Carl Schroeder, and it became her signature song.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: In 1974, she performed music by George Gershwin at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The orchestra was conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, who was a fan of Vaughan and invited her to perform. Thomas and Vaughan repeated the performance with Thomas' home orchestra in Buffalo, New York, followed by appearances in 1975 and 1976 with other symphony orchestras in the United States.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: After leaving Mainstream, she signed with Atlantic and worked on an album of songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney that were arranged by Marty Paich and his son, David Paich of the rock band Toto. She was enthusiastic to be more involved in the making of an album, but Atlantic rejected it on the claim that it contained no hits. "I don't know how they can recognize hits in advance", she said. Atlantic canceled her contract. She said, "I don't give a damn about record companies any more".


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: In 1977, filmmaker Thomas Guy followed Vaughan on tour to film the documentary "Listen to the Sun". She traveled throughout South America: Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. She was enamored of Brazil, as this was her third tour of Brazil in six years. In the documentary, she called the city of Rio "the greatest place I think I've ever been on earth". Audiences were so enthusiastic that she said, "I don't believe they like me that much." After rejection by Atlantic, she wanted to try producing her own album of Brazilian music. She asked Aloísio de Oliveira to run the sessions and recorded "I Love Brazil!" with Milton Nascimento, Jose Roberto Bertrami, Dorival Caymmi, and Antonio Carlos Jobim.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: She had an album but no label to release it, so she signed to Pablo run by Norman Granz. She had known Granz since 1948 when she performed on one of his Jazz at the Philharmonic tours. He was the record producer and manager for Ella Fitzgerald and the owner of Verve. After selling Verve, he started Pablo. He was dedicated to acoustic, mainstream jazz and had recorded Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Clark Terry. In 1978 he recorded Vaughan's "How Long Has This Been Going On?", a set of jazz standards with veteran jazz musicians Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, Ray Brown, and Louis Bellson. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award. Pablo released "I Love Brazil!" and it, too, was nominated for a Grammy.


title: Sarah Vaughan

text: In the summer of 1980 she received a plaque on 52nd Street outside the CBS Building (Black Rock) commemorating the jazz clubs she had once frequented on "Swing Street" and which had long since been replaced with office buildings. A performance of her symphonic Gershwin program with the New Jersey Symphony in 1980 was broadcast on PBS and won her an Emmy Award the next year for Individual Achievement, Special Class. She was reunited in 1982 with Tilson Thomas for a modified version of the Gershwin program, played again by the Los Angeles Philharmonic but this time in its home hall, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion; the CBS recording of the concert "Gershwin Live!" won a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female.